Surreal Rural Fun

brian_m_hass

This American sitcom is about a Harvard educated attorney named Oliver Douglas who decides to give up city life to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a farmer. He convinces his reluctant wife to move with him to the farm, where the couple resides in a run-down shack. The Douglases find themselves surrounded by a community of eccentric characters from the small town of Hooterville.

The situations depicted in the series were often surreal. Oliver Douglas always insisted on wearing suits while doing his farm chores. The Douglases had to climb out of a bedroom window and up a telephone pole to answer their telephone. A neighboring farm couple adopted a pig and raised it as if it were their own child. Although Oliver Douglas had to persuade his reluctant wife, Lisa, to move to the community with him; Lisa was the one who was eccentric enough to fit in with the rural community far better than Oliver himself did.

This series is easily one of the best-remembered sitcoms from the late 1960's and early 1970's. The show is connected to two other sitcoms, "Petticoat Junction" and "The Beverley Hillbillies." The series is fondly remembered by people who lived through the period when it was first aired. The show's characters are still easily recognized by the public decades after the series ended. Modern audiences will still find the show's zany situations entertaining. The sitcom is highly recommended.

score 9/10

brian_m_hass 7 December 2016

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3593138/