10/23/09 Green Acres Is The Place For Me!

It's not that I haven't written because I don't love you guys. It's mostly that I haven't written because I haven't been doing anything, and I love you guys too much to subject you to little episodes of me sitting on the couch while staring at my own feet. (Holy Smokes! Look at my toenails! Didn't I just cut them...what, two days ago? I am a toenail growing freak! Mental note to cut down on the Flintstone vitamins). Still... I figured that a bunch of nothing is better than nothing about nothing, assuming you were able to follow that in the first place.

Anyway.

So last night I spent an hour laying in bed, trying to remember all the words to the Green Acres song. Don't ask me why. No, scratch that, I do know. Earlier in the day I had been talking with my neighbor about his German Shepard, and I mentioned that Tony always liked German Shepherds, and if he had his way, we'd have one. Actually, if Tony had his way, we'd have German Shepherds and goats and sheep and cows and more cats (Heaven help us) and we'd live on a farm out in the middle of the country with our little animal menagerie, and that led to the phrase, "Faarrrm living is the life for me!" I couldn't remember what came after that line though, even though I could clearly picture whats-his-face from the show pitching hay and whatnot during the opening credits. I did manage to recall all of Eva Gabor's part, and even the part where they go back and forth with the "The chores!" "The stores!" "Fresh air!" "Times Square". Then he says, "You are my wife!" while forcefully dragging Eva into the country (and don't think that didn't get my feminist dander up...I mean, I realize it was a different time then, but if Tony just up and decided that we were going to live in the middle of nowhere, you can bet we'd be having several discussions about it first) and they finish the whole bit with "Green Acres we are theeeeeere!". Anyway, the longer I thought about it, the more I remembered, but I still don't have the first part after "Faarrrm living is the life for me!" If anybody has that odd little nugget tucked away somewhere in their long-term memory, let me know how it ends, huh? I know I could just Google it, but that seems to be cheating for some reason.

You may be wondering how someone on the cusp of thirty (ack!) managed to become exposed to Green Acres in the first place. I mean, it quit running in 1971, 9 whole years before my blessed birth. Well, 3 words for you: Nick at Nite. Do you remember Nick at Nite's TV Land? It was the Nickelodeon station after 8pm, and they showed wonderful old shows like Green Acres, and the Patty Duke show, and my all time personal favorites, Dragnet and Mr. Ed. (Who doesn't remember "A Horse is a Horse, of course, of course?") Good times, good times. I remember the Seester and I racing through dinner so that we could catch the beginning of the shows. It didn't matter that some of them were in black and white. (As a matter of fact, I don't think we ever even questioned it. It didn't occur to me that these were even "old" shows...I just figured that they made them look like that on purpose). And it turns out that the antics of family shows from the 60's are just as hysterical to a 5 and 7 year old growing up in the early 80's. (Remember Arnold the pig that used to live in the house? And the time that whats-his-name had to climb the telephone pole to make a call and he split the seat of his pants? To a 7 year old, that's comic gold, my friends, pure comic gold. I remember laughing until I almost fell off the couch). I wish they still made shows like that.

Do they still do TV Land? Not having anyone in the house under 4' tall, we don't get the Nickelodeon channel. And if they do, do they still play these old shows? And if they don't, am I the only one remembering them? Like I said, Mister Ed and Dragnet were my favorites, although I didn't catch Dragnet as often because it came on waaaaay after my bedtime (10:00!), which was a shame, because I thought Joe Friday was about the coolest thing since sliced bread.
Anybody else have an old favorite?



PS- Actually, in a shocking coincidence, while setting up the links to Green Acres above, I just saw the headline that the guy who wrote the song to the show died a few days ago. Vic Mizzy, the composer to not only the Green Acres song but also the one for the Adams Family, died earlier this week on the 20th. He was 93. Now, how weird is it that a song that I haven't thought about for probably 20 years suddenly popped into my head right after the guy dies? I like to think that it was the Universe's way of giving the guy a proper send-off, an exit cue if you will, and my subconscious pre-sleep brain waves picked up on it. So hat's off to you, Vic Mizzy! You and your annoying catchy tune have wormed your way into the brains of generations.

Not to mention keeping me occupied while I wait to fall asleep.