Green Acres – The Complete Second Season

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Episodes: B-

 

 

The first set of Green Acres was a pleasant surprise in the performance department when we looked at in a few months ago, so we had the same high expectations for The Complete Second Season.  This is a double set with double-sided DVDs that hold all 30 half-hour shows from the 1966-67 season.  Two things are clear about this set.  One, the picture quality and print quality is not as good as the first, so do not expect the nice color the previous version offered, and two, the episodes fell too quickly into formula.  Besides that, Filmways was anxious to push characters from Petticoat Junction and a slew of spin-offs that made CBS #1 until a surprise change we can discuss at a later date.

 

There was a sudden lack of character development, which is a shame, as leads Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor were so talented and likable.  However, the series continued to be a big hit and Filmways calculated the audience correctly.  The next set of half-hour time-slot designed shows are as follows, with some titles again being rather self-explanatory:

 

1)     Wings Over Hooterville

2)     Water, Water, Everywhere

3)     I Didn’t’ Raise My Pig To Be A Soldier

4)     How To See South America By Bus

5)     The Ugly Duckling

6)     One Of Our Assemblymen Is Missing

7)     The Good Old Days

8)     Eb Discovers The Birds & The Bees

9)     The Hooterville Image

10)  You Ought To Be In Pictures

11)  A Home Isn’t Built In A Day

12)  A Square Is Not A Round

13)  An Old Fashioned Christmas

14)  Never Trust A Little Old Lady

15)  School Days

16)  His Honor

17)  It’s So Peaceful in The Country

18)  Exodus To Bleedswell

19)  It’s Human To Be Humane

20)  Never Take Your Wife To A Convention

21)  The Computer Age

22)  Never Start Talking Unless Your Voice Comes Out

23)  The Beverly Hillbillies

24)  Lisa’s Vegetable Garden

25)  The Saucer Session

26)  Getting Even With Haney

27)  Kimball Gets Fired

28)  The Vulgar Ring Story

29)  Who’s Lisa?

30)  Music To Milk By

 

 

Though from the same producers, The Beverly Hillbillies is treated as if it were a fiction hit and this world was “real” when they shared very similar common denominators of style and humor.  The ethnic similarities may have produced one of the best shows in episode #23, but that does not reverse and help what went wrong with this season otherwise.  At least Arnold The Pig did not start to talk!

 

The full frame 1.33 X 1 image varies from episode to episode, with the credits more often than not looking dirtier than they should.  The prints are not as good as they had been from the old set, having monophonic MGM lion roaring and Orion logos, plus color that was off in more of the prints used.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sounds decent at its best on these shows, being more similar to the first DVD set than the picture.  Once again, there are no extras, not even chapter stops!  I wish more had been offered, but completists and fans will still want to pick this one up.  Others will want to get The Complete First Season reviewed elsewhere on this site before deciding to move on.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo