NEWHOOT

Here's an excerpt from a story by Nellie Andreeva, sent out by Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - TV veteran Richard L. Bare, who directed all 168 episodes of CBS' 1960s sitcom "Green Acres," said he has acquired the rights to remake the series for TV from the widow of "Acres" creator Jay Sommers.

Bare hopes the classic TV series will appeal to the networks, which are short of original material as the Writers Guild of America enters its third week Monday.

The thing is, there was already a remake of 'Green Acres' that came out in the late 1980s.

It was called 'Newhart'.

Think about it! Both shows were centered around urban dwellers who uprooted themselves for a late middle-aged change in their location and job situation. So they move to a rural setting which happens to be populated by the type of people who will end up driving them crazy.

Mr. Drucker and the Ziffels in Hooterville; Ms. Goddard and Larry and his brother Darryl and his other brother Darrell in Stratford, Vermont. (At least that's how I think that name situation could be splained away.)

Their wives manage to fit in well enough with the new surroundings. And they both have handymen with somewhat childlike natures. (Eb saw Oliver Douglas as his Dad; George went trick-or-treating into his early sixties.)

Both series leads had to deal with the local wheeler-dealers. In Oleevah's case, it was the slick Mr. Haney; for Dick Loudon, it was his TV show producer, Michael Harris. (And in both cases, both can be considered "MH".)

Hooterville had its government official, Mr. Kimball. Stratford, Vermont, had the local constabulary represented by Officer Schifflett. Neither one of them was as competent as they could have been.

Now.... in Hooterville, there was an intelligent pig named Arnold who was often mixed up in the life of Oliver Douglas. It's a stretch, but I think the equivalent to Arnold can be found in Stephanie Vanderkellen. Meaning no disrespect to her size or even her eating habits (and I doubt that Stephanie had a curly tail), but the analogy is more about her selfish, materialistic, covetous nature. In that way she could be considered "piggish".

As it turned out, 'Newhart' was nothing more than a long dream by Dr. Bob Hartley of 'The Bob Newhart Show'. I don't think it could be analyzed as his interpretation of 'Green Acres', because both series share the same TV dimension. I think Dr. Hartley may have known about the story of Oliver and Lisa Douglas leaving New York and making a new home in Hooterville. And that's what fed into his dream.

Just sayin', is all, Dahlingk.

BCnU!
Toby OB