Adieu Ralph Monroe

Mary Grace Canfield has died. If you don't know who she is then you didn't watch "Green Acres" or 1960's or 1970's television she was a character actress fixture. Her most notable character was Ralph Monroe one of the Monroe Brothers in the surreal world that was Hooterville. This was a world where a woman named Ralph could be a brother but still a woman. Ralph was always looking for love and eventually found a man and his name was Evelyn. The world of Hooterville was enchanting and magical. A place anything could happen and the fourth wall was fluid. Everyone was in on the joke and that is waht made it funny.
Thanks for being a part of one of the best written television shows in TV history Mary Grace Canfield,

What About Hootersville?

The DGA announced their list of the 101 best written television programs this week and there was one glaring omission from their list. The did not mention "Green Acres" at all. How they could mention a show like "Modern Family" a relatively bland and predictable sitcom and neglect "Green Acres" is a mystery to me.
"Green Acres" premiered on September 15, 1965 on CBS. The first episode was shot in a "mockumentary" style following the main characters of Oliver Wendell Douglas (Eddie Albert)and his Hungarian wife Lisa from their home in a penthouse over looking mid-town Manhattan to Oliver's agrarian dream of owning a farm. It was during the second episode when the absurdist element of the show started to take form. They lived in a world where rules of nature, logic and common sense did not come into play. Every character lived in this surreal world except for Oliver who was the voice of reason but then he too lived in his own world, that of gentleman farmer. He was a farmer in the sense that he owned a farm yet he dressed in a suit and tie to plow his fields and feed his livestock. The fourth wall was often broken when characters would speak directly to the camera.
The characters that were created by Jay Sommers and Paul Henning were some of the most memorable in television history. Lisa Douglas (played by Eva Gabor) as the European socialite whose strongest desire is to go back to New York was a woman with a tentative grasp on the English language and minimal house keeping skills. Their hired hand Zeb who was under the impression he was the Douglas' son to the great disturbance of Oliver. There was Mr. Haney the huckster extradonaire who sold them their farm and was always just happening by with a new transparent scheme. One of the most popular and enduring characters was Arnold Ziffel the pig who was the child of the Douglas' nearest neighbors Fred and Doris Ziffel. Arnold watched television and at one point was a film star himself.
The town of Hooterville was not far from Pixley and shared many of its characters with Another Paul Henning TV show "Petty Coat Junction". These included Mr. Drucker and The Monroe Brothers who were actually a brother and sister.
"Green Acres" ran very successfully for 6 seasons until what was known as the rural purge at CBS when the network cancelled their rural themed  programs. Because of the caliber of the writing and performances the show lived on in re-runs and one of its episodes is ranked in TV Guide's 100 top funniest sitcom episodes.
It must have just been a terrible mistake on the part of the DGA to have forgotten to mention "Green Acres". Perhaps they will revise their listing in the future and this sitcom satire its just rewards.