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
