"That's one of my best hats! It cost 125 dollars!"
"125 dollars! It doesn't even hold water!"
Story By: Phil Leslie
And, here's a surprise, this one feels sligthly off, just like the last one that wasn't 100% Jay & Dick. It's not in bad hands, though. Phil Leslie was one of the chief writers on Fibber McGee and Molly so he knew funny. But, possibly, as the main idea of the episode shows, he was just familiar with the sitcom tropes of the 40's and 50's.
During a crazy rainstorm, Eb enteres the extremely leaky living room of the Douglases and announces that Elinor is pregnant. Immediately, Lisa takes over. She covers the soaked cow with a comforter and holds an umbrella over here. When Oliver tells her she doesn't have to do this, Lisa says that he'd understand if he was a mother. And...all I can think is "Lisa, you're not a mother. Nor have you ever shown a signal maternal sign towards anyone. And, if the main Mother in your life is Oliver's Mom, you've got the wrong idea of Motherhood." It's a bit of a strange conceit for an episode. And, to be honest, I can't imagine Jay & Dick cooking it up.
Of course, the main thrust of the episode is the townsfolk and, eventually, Oliver's Mother thinking Lisa is pregnant. All this stuff doesn't amount to much. It's all the fill-in stuff that adds a bit of zazz. Mr. Haney trying to sell a portrait of Beethoven as a Young Girl is great. And, of course, they have to keep Haney from finding out about Elinor because he'll sue for the calf and win.
I think the episode starts to lose me when Mother shows up. It's been a while and, frankly, it was good to see her gone. She has one funny moment. When Uncle Joe says that Lisa is expecting a "B-A-B-I-E". "What is a babie?" But, then all she can think about is a child growing up on the farm and she makes loud Margaret Dumont noises and I sigh.
It's a good episode but, like Lisa the Helpmate, it doesn't quite feel right. We've got three different Green Acres going here. 1) The calm, charming show that began in the opening episodes and is fading away. 2) The fast paced, funny, oddball show that I love to pieces. 3) A standard sitcom with a bit of a strange thread running through it. This episode is definitely in the Number 3 vein. "Everyone thinks the leading lady is pregnant but it's actually an animal that's having the baby" seems like a plotline older than sitcoms and probably is. One of the great things about the show as it goes is that it will take standard sitcom plots and twist them. This one only has a bit of twisting and all that is on the periphery. For example...
Mr. Kimball is officially here. He keeps backtracking and forgetting things throughout his scene. And, the writers must know they've got a good character, because Lisa, while talking about Hank, acts exactly like Hank with backtracking and all.
And, the big one...
Eb mentions the Beverly Hillbillies in his first (small) run of the episode and it seems like the Eb we know and love. Then, Eb reads a letter from Lisa and they dub in Eva Gabor's voice as Tom Lester speaks. Then, Eb bails out the barn in snorkel and flippers and says that there is a man fishing for barracuda in there. Hooray! Eb is almost here! In fact, I can't help thinking that Jay & Dick added these little bits, grafting them on to Phil Leslie's script.
It's a good episode. Definitely worth a viewing. But, it seems slightly misplaced. We should be focusing on the farm and the house. This episode should have been later on but it wouldn't really have fit there. If you can get past Mother's blustering, it's fun. It just feels kind of wrong.
And, yes, Mother does faint when she learns that Lisa is not pregnant. Even Oliver seems tired of it. He lets out a "For Crying Out Loud!" That's how I felt.
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