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The Catalog of Cool describes Green Acres this
way:
To be truly cool, one must genuinely
understand the uselessness of logic and reason in a world
gone mad.... Eddie Albert (ostensibly sane) spent six
seasons appealing to the whacked out citizens of Hooterville
to behave in a rational and orderly manner. Naturally, he
got just what he deserved--the gradual erosion of his own
mental stability. Aficionados of this show like to call it
surreal. I call it real life.
All one can add to that, to paraphrase the
classic title song, is that DVD is the place for Green Acres
to be. Hooterville may have been condemned by critics as a vast
wasteland, but as the first season demonstrates, it provides
fertile ground for bizarre behavior for a gallery of classic
characters who rival the residents of Twin Peaks. "Oliver
Buys a Farm," the series pilot, is a comparatively tame episode
that gives little hint of the weirdness to come. Lawyer Oliver
Wendell Douglas (Albert), weary of life in New York ("It's a rat
race, and the rats are winning!" he declares), buys the Haney
place to the horror of his socialite wife Lisa (Eva Gabor),
whose ditziness has yet to be established. Look for appearances
by Petticoat Junction denizens Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchannan),
Sam Drucker (Frank Cady), Hooterville Cannonball engineer Floyd
Smoot (Rufe Davis), and everyone's favorite wonder pig, Arnold
Ziffel.
Among the season's other episodes, in "The Day of Decision,"
all of Hooterville wonders whether "she will" or "she won't" as
Lisa chooses between life on the farm or returning to New York.
In "Never Look a Gift Tractor in the Mouth," Hooterville is
beginning to look like Peyton Place when Doris Ziffel (Barbara
Pepper) becomes convinced that her husband Fred (Hank Patterson)
and Lisa are having an affair. "Lisa Bakes a Cake," in which
Lisa lists Oliver in the phone book as an attorney, is about as
flat and heavy as one of Lisa's infamous creations. --Donald
Liebenson
Product Description
Head back to Hooterville with the complete first season of this
TV favorite! Oliver (Eddie Albert), Lisa (Eva Gabor), Arnold the
Pig and a hilarious assortment of oddballs and bumpkins are back
and ready to deliver a bumper crop of laughs!
Season One 1965-1966
(32 Episodes)
#
Title
Air date
Prod#
1
"Oliver Buys a Farm"
September 15, 1965
001
Oliver Wendell Douglas, a big city lawyer who
longs for a farm, buys a spread near Hooterville.
2
"Lisa's First Day on the Farm"
September 22, 1965
002
Oliver brings his wife Lisa to their new
home, a ramshackle farm near Hooterville.
3
"The Decorator"
September 29, 1965
003
Oliver and Lisa call in a decorator to begin
a major overhaul of their dilapidated farm.
4
"The Best Laid Plans"
October 6, 1965
004
The Hooterville rumor mill has it that Lisa
packed up and left Oliver. Actually, she went back to New
York to close up their penthouse apartment.
5
"My Husband, the Rooster Renter"
October 13, 1965
005
Oliver calls in a roofer, a plumber and an
agricultural expert. All of them give the same appraisal of
his farm: a disaster.
6
"Furniture, Furniture, Who's Got the
Furniture?"
October 20, 1965
006
The Douglases are awaiting the arrival of
their furniture. When it is accidentally delivered to Mr.
Haney, he tries to sell them their own possessions.
7
"Neighborliness"
October 27, 1965
007
It's plowing time and Oliver runs into
trouble with equipment bought from Mr. Haney. The neighbors
come to the rescue and plow the field in time for planting.
8
"Lisa the Helpmate"
November 3, 1965
008
When Oliver sends a sample of his soil to the
State Scientific College, a report comes back that his farm
contains ingredients never before found in soil.
9
"You Can't Plug in a 2 with a 6"
November 10, 1965
009
Relying on statistics provided by the
Department of Agriculture, Oliver plants wheat. His
neighbors, using Mrs. Ziffel's lumbago to predict a crop,
plant corn.
10
"Don't Call Us, We'll Call You"
November 17, 1965
010
Oliver finally has a phone installed, but the
Hooterville Phone Company installs it directly outside his
bedroom window--on top of the telephone pole.
11
"Parity Begins at Home"
November 24, 1965
011
Oliver plants his entire 160 acres (0.65 km2)
with wheat, only to hear from the Conservation of
Stabilization Committee (a local farm organization) that he
is not allowed to do so.
12
"Lisa Has a Calf"
December 8, 1965
012
The cow Oliver bought from Mr. Haney is
pregnant. Eb is afraid that if Mr. Haney finds out, he will
claim that the calf belongs to him. But the pregnancy leaks
and Haney thinks it's Lisa that's due, and this rumor
spreads through Hooterville and right to Oliver's mother in
New York!
13
"The Wedding Anniversary"
December 15, 1965
013
It's the Douglases' wedding anniversary.
Oliver remembers the date but cannot recall the exact number
of years he and Lisa have been married.
14
"What Happened in Scranton?"
December 22, 1965
014
Lisa decides to bring a little culture and
charm to Hooterville by means of a beauty parlor.
15
"How to Enlarge a Bedroom"
December 29, 1965
015
After persistent pleas from Lisa, Oliver
agrees to have the bedroom enlarged. But Alf and Ralph, the
contractors, rip the room apart and cannot finish it because
they're only licensed for hen houses and chicken coops!
16
"Give Me Land, Lots of Land"
January 5, 1966
016
Oliver buys 140 acres (0.57 km2)
of land adjoining his property, excluding the farmhouse on
it. Lisa misunderstands and thinks the farmhouse is their
new home.
17
"I Didn't Raise My Husband to Be a Fireman"
January 19, 1966
017
Oliver discovers the only requirement to join
the Hooterville Valley Fire Department is that he must play
a musical instrument.
18
"Lisa Bakes a Cake"
January 26, 1966
018
Oliver is annoyed when Lisa puts a listing in
the new phone book: "Oliver Douglas, Attorney at Law."
Unfortunately, nobody calls for his services.
19
"Sprained Ankle, Country Style"
February 2, 1966
019
Oliver falls through the roof and sprains his
ankle while putting up a TV antenna. And while Lisa takes
care of him, almost everyone in Hooterville stops by to
unintentionally annoy him or hog control of his TV.
20
"The Price of Apples"
February 9, 1966
020
Oliver's apple crop is ready to be harvested,
but he must harvest and ship them himself after Pixley
reserves the rest like every year.
21
"What's in a Name?"
February 16, 1966
021
Ralph, the lady carpenter, becomes enamored
of Mr. Kimball, the county agent. However, he refuses to go
out with a girl named Ralph.
22
"The Day of Decision"
February 23, 1966
022
Lisa must decide whether she and Oliver will
remain on the farm or go back to New York. She decides yes
and Oliver angrily prepares to leave. But Lisa reverses her
decision after learning what happens to the animals after
they're gone, so Oliver keeps his farm for six more months!
23
"A Pig in a Poke"
March 9, 1966
023
Oliver and Lisa leave for New York to attend
a reunion of the Harvard Alumni. They are unaware that the
Ziffels' pig, Arnold, is a stowaway in the trunk of their
car.
24
"The Deputy"
March 16, 1966
025
Sam Drucker is leaving on vacation, and talks
Oliver into assuming his duties as deputy sheriff.
25
"Double Drick"
March 23, 1966
026
Oliver's generator breaks down and he decides
it's finally time for the electric company to run power
lines into his house.
26
"The Ballad of Molly Turgis"
April 6, 1966
024
There is a local superstition in Hooterville
concerning an old hag named Molly Turgiss, who died twenty
years before the Douglases came to town.
27
"Never Look a Gift Tractor in the Mouth"
April 27, 1966
028
It's a few days before Oliver's birthday, and
Lisa goes out and buys the biggest and fanciest tractor she
can find. But confusion causes it to be shipped to the
Ziffels, who think Mr. and Mrs. Douglas gave it to them as a
gift. Their being so generous for it makes it impossible to
straighten things out and get their new tractor back.
28
"Send a Boy to College"
May 4, 1966
027
Oliver discovers that Eb has a way with sick
animals and offers to put him through college. Eb is
rejected because he never graduated from high school.
29
"Horse? What Horse?"
May 11, 1966
029
A horse follows Oliver home, but every time
he tries to show it to his wife, the horse disappears. Lisa
assumes that her husband is imagining things and calls a
doctor. But Oliver soon thinks he's going mad too when he
sees zebras, camels and a boxing kangaroo. Eventually it's
revealed that they all escaped from the circus.
30
"The Rains Came"
May 18, 1966
031
Mr. Haney sues Oliver for non-payment of a
vital contract. He claims that his native american friend
caused the rain that helped Oliver's crops grow, now he
tries to prove it false and not have to pay Haney.
31
"Culture"
May 25, 1966
030
The
Every-Other-Wednesday-Afternoon-Discussion-Club decides that
Hooterville needs a little "culture."
32
"Uncle Ollie"
June 1, 1966
032
Oliver's nephew arrives for a visit, and
Oliver is shaken up when the boy turns out to be a beatnik.
