79 of 81 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
"A wonderfully-executed half hour of absurdist comedy.", Oct 19 2005
By Jaime J. Weinman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Green Acres: The Complete Third Season (DVD)
"Green Acres" was and still is often dismissed as a corny country comedy. But its inspired lunacy, with hints of everything from old radio comedy to Theatre of the Absurd, has been a major influence on shows like "The Simpsons" and "NewsRadio" (which is where the quote in the title comes from). Creator Jay Sommers wrote every episode with his story consultant Dick Chevillat, and instead of bland sitcom scrapes and sentimentality, they filled their scripts with satire, meta-humor and outright weirdness. No one can forget the various ways the characters noticed the opening credits, or the fact that most characters can hear the fife music playing under Oliver's rants about "The American Farmer," or the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Ziffel think a pig is their son (something that is taken for granted by everyone except Oliver).
The show started out fairly normal in season 1, turned weird and wonderful in season 2, and by season 3 was at its peak, with memorable episodes like "The Rutabaga Story" and the two-parter where Arnold (yes, the pig) gets a chance at Hollywood stardom. Highly recommended, but be warned: this is weird stuff.
60 of 65 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Third of Six, Dec 22 2005
By joseph Corey "party favors columnist" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Green Acres: The Complete Third Season (DVD)
This was the third of the six seasons that Green Acres ran on CBS before the purge. Lisa and Oliver keep up the laughs. The cast is still amazing, although I was told that they changed Arnold the Pig. Here's the episode rundown.
63: The Man For the Job 9/6/1967
64: Lisa's Jam Session 9/13/1967
65: Love Comes to Arnold Ziffel 9/20/1967
66: Oliver vs. the Phone Company 9/27/1967
67: Oliver Takes Over the Phone Company 10/4/1967
68: A Kind Word For the President 10/11/1967
69: Don't Count Your Tomatoes Before They're Picked 10/18/1967
70: Eb Elopes 10/25/1967
71: The Thing 11/1/1967
72: Das Lumpen 11/8/1967
73: Won't You Come Home, Arnold Ziffel? 11/15/1967
74: Jealousy, English Style 11/22/1967
75: Haney's New Image 11/29/1967
76: Alf and Ralph Break Up 12/13/1967
77: No Trespassing 12/20/1967
78: Eb Returns 12/27/1967
79: Not Guilty 1/3/1968
80: Home is Where You Run Away From 1/10/1968
81: How to Suceed in Television Without Really Trying 1/24/1968
82: Arnold Ziffel, Boy Hero 1/31/1968
83: Flight to Nowhere 2/7/1968
84: My Mother the Countess 2/14/1968
85: The Spring Festival 2/21/1968
86: Our Son, the Barber 2/28/1968
87: Oliver's Jaded Past 3/6/1968
88: The Hungarian Curse 3/13/1968
89: The Rutabaga Story 3/20/1968
90: Instant Family 3/27/1968
91: A Star Named Arnold is Born (1) 4/3/1968
92: A Star Named Arnold is Born (2) 4/10/1968
34 of 38 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
MGM, what is your problem??, Jan 7 2007
By Peter J. Hornick Jr. - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Green Acres: The Complete Third Season (DVD)
Green Acres has to be the funniest comedy ever and it should be no surprise that I have all of the episodes on video. I also have all 3 of these dvd sets. Which makes me wonder why cant MGM get off their idiotic butts and release more of these. Folks, just look at the release dates of these sets. They make us wait well over a year for another set of these to come out. Season 3 came out in December 2005, 13 months ago. I see all of these box sets of series in their entirity which were lame compared to Green Acres. Reality shows get box sets, tv series of today are released almost immediately when the seasons are over and yet, MGM keeps jerking us Green Acres fans around. Has anyone tried writing to them on their website? Has anyone ever gotten an answer from them? I think they give us the standard "due to vast volumes of mail we receive, we cant answer individual letters." Yeah, right. They used to have a phone number which I tried calling but all I got was an answer machine. Now their phone number is a Best Buy telephone number. You would have better luck talking to a wall instead of talking to one of their representatives. They dont know a thing about when season 4 will come out. It is totally ridiculous for the delay and I am not shy about saying so. MGM, put some Green Acres product out. Seems like they sold well and it would be foolish of you guys not to put out the other 3 seasons. Thank you.
Joey Hornick