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Arnie Bernstein's avatar

I've always argued that "Green Acres" is aburdist comedy worthy of an Ionesco play. From the book "Conversations with Eugene Ionesco" by Claude Bonnefoy: "These characters act as a foil. I use them to highlight the fantastic side because if you set realism aganst the unreal, you obtain a contrast which is also a union; in other words, the realism makes it easier to bring out the fantastic aspect and vice versa." That's "Green Acres." Also, with my parents having blessed me with an unsual forename (at least for a kid of my generation) it was inevitable that other kids gave me the nickname "Arnold the Pig." Yet it failed to make the intended dent in my ego, given my love then (and now) for the best example of absurdism outside of "The Bald Soprano" and "Rhinosaurus."

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Rex Fermier's avatar

Your synopsis of the Green Acres episode reminded me why I loved that surreal comedy. Every summer, my parents took me to Connecticut to visit their farmer friends and I got to hang out with their kids and help with the chores. They all loved Green Acres in part because they loved to make fun of city folk! The other part was the county agent, Hank Kimble who was just as useless as their own county agent. I never before thought that Oliver might be dead and this was his own hell, but when you describe it, it makes sense. To this day, I can find Green Acres on the Pluto streaming service to take me back to the days when I was in High School.

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