"What happened to the other ones?"
"They broke them."
"They didn't like them."
"No..."
Screenplay by Jay & Dick
Story by Al Schwartz & Lou Huston
I would guess that this means Al & Lou submitted an outline or a script. Jay & Dick bought it and then rewrote it to fit their needs. That's a guess. This will happen again.
The first episode with someone other than Jay & Dick on the credits is quite a good one, although we are still in a Mom-heavy realm. She gets a plotline where she gets asked out on a date with Uncle Joe and then she fiddles with Oliver's soil samples and causes much confusion & worry. Honestly, she's fine when she's up against Uncle Joe but even Oliver is getting tired of her trying to get Lisa to go back. Even my wife said "OK, Old Lady. We get it." I'm afraid I agree with my wife and Oliver Wendell Douglas. Luckily, her tirade during this episode happens while Lisa is making the bed in a rather funny fashion.
This episode still has a touch of Petticoat Junction to it. The strangeness that was building up in the first six episodes isn't here again, with one exception. However, the two main plotlines, that converge nicely in the end, are funny and one of them brings the Soil Sample running bit of the past few episodes to a close. I'm interested now in seeing at what point the show becomes itself. It seems to be moving towards its own identity but now its in a strange limbo. Funny, yes. Charming, yes. Paced nicely, yes. Green Acres? Not quite. Could it be Mother's influence? Possibly with her around Jay & Dick feel like they need to write in a different way than they had been planning? Guesswork, all guesswork.
Here's something that always confused me: the episode title doesn't really make sense. The Soil Sample jars break. Oliver's Mom throws all sorts of junk in the soil, like cold cream and makeup. He's given a bad Soil Report but finds out about Mother's trick. In the meantime, Lisa plants a parcel of land with rented vegetables to make Oliver feel better. She's certainly a helpmate here but it's at the very end...I wonder if Al & Lou's original script had Lisa putting all the junk in the soil. Jay & Dick changed it to Lisa's mom since she was still there. I don't know.
Regardless of my musings...
Oliver gets some lovely moments here. He begins planting his seeds. One seed at a time using one finger to make the hole. And, he keeps pulling up bottles that Mr. Haney buried back there during his big parties. Eventually, Oliver has a big old bandage on his finger. Once he discovers that Mr. Kimball broke his soil samples, he spirals downwards pretty quick. Why wouldn't he? The whole farm is in jeopardy. He is very visibly sad when he returns from the University and tells Lisa to pack it up because their soil is nutty. And, once he learns that his Mother played a trick on him, he's right back to being Oliver again.
Lisa doesn't do a lot here. She makes the bed and is part of the matchmaking squad that gets Uncle Joe and Mother together and she declares that she's not happy if Oliver's not happy, which is why she's giving him the six months. In the end, her renting of the vegetables (and the subsequent cleaning of the vegetables) is wonderful. She loves Oliver. They love each other. It's really cool.
Uncle Joe and Kate get a long scene at the Shady Rest, which leads me to believe that Al & Lou may have been PJ writers. That scene is 100% pure Junction. If the show was really becoming more like its sister, than they would have been perfect. As it is, their contribution here fits right into the show at this moment. Outside writers won't begin to look strange until next season. When the show has its own identity, it becomes pretty obvious that most writers really don't quite know what is needed.
The one person here who seems to be on the GA track to Magic and Wonder in Hooterville is Hank Kimball. His first scene in the field with the broken Soil Samples is almost the Hank we will know and love. As with the first time we saw him, the sort of confused forgetfulness he exhibits here is more him covering up a mistake than intrinsic to the character but its funny. And, I can only think that Jay & Dick saw him in this scene and thought "That character is real funny when he can't remember a darn thing. Let's follow that down." I'm glad they did.
Overall, I enjoy this episode. The show has now gone for two episodes drawing ever closer to sharing the same disposition as PJ. But, this is a detour. It'll change soon. I think the proper alignment of Hank Kimball's character and, as I've mentioned before, the arrival of the full-on supporting cast will bring us truly to life. Until then, enjoy the calm loveliness of the show...before the farmyards of Hooterville go really nutty.
Next episode: The electricity chart arrives.
At first Hank Kimball got on my nerves, but the more I watched, the more I liked him. He's crazy funny. I don't know how the actors kept from laughing out loud. I would love to see outtakes from Green Acres.
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