Green Acres
Oliver Takes Over the Phone Company
TV Flash files “Oliver Takes Over the Phone Company” as hour 67 of 170 in the TV Flash guide — Green Acres (1965–1971) on CBS, season 3, episode 5, aired 1967-10-04, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E05: listed hour 67 of 170 in the Green Acres guide, hour 5 of 30 in season 3. It aired 1967-10-04 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Oliver vs. the Phone Company” (S03E04). Next is “A Kind Word for the President” (S03E06).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Oliver's without an operator on his first day as president of the Hooterville Phone Company. As he wrestles with an exploding switchboard, the locals gossip about how he stole the company from Roy Trendell in a rigged card game. Lisa figures out how to put calls through, but had rather flirt with the president than work the switchboard all night.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Oliver Takes Over the Phone Company sit in the Green Acres guide?
S03E05 is listed hour 67 of 170 — hour 5 of 30 in season 3, season 3 episode 5.
When did Green Acres S03E05 air?
Oliver Takes Over the Phone Company aired 1967-10-04 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Oliver-and-Lisa arriving in Hooterville is the culture-clash contract: Albert's lawyer despair, Gabor's socialite charm. Arnold Ziffel, the pig treated as a child, is the surrealism at full civic personage.
In the series
Why this series still plays
New York lawyer Oliver Wendell Douglas drags glamorous Lisa to a farm where pigs outrank local officials. Eddie Albert's despair against Eva Gabor's charm made Jay Sommers's Hooterville cousin the smartest, strangest rural sitcom. Absurdist television hiding in overalls — canceled in the rural purge, immortal in reruns.
New York lawyer Oliver Wendell Douglas buys a farm and the window goes surreal. Jay Sommers's *Green Acres* (CBS, 1965–1971) ran **six seasons, 170 episodes** as the smartest, strangest cousin in the Paul Henning rural-verse. Eddie Albert's despair. Eva Gabor's charm. Hooterville logic bent reality weekly; Arnold the pig became a civic personage. Pat Buttram's Mr. Haney and Tom Lester's Eb completed the county. Rex will toast overalls. It was absurdist television hiding in a rural slot — meta-farm life before…
Filed against
- Eddie Albert as Oliver Wendell Douglas
Eddie Albert dragged a New York lawyer into Hooterville as Oliver Wendell Douglas on Green Acres — pigs outranking officials, Eva Gabor's charm as the counterweight, and the smartest rural sitcom hiding in overalls. TV Flash files him as…
- Eva Gabor as Lisa Douglas
Eva Gabor glamorized Hooterville as Lisa Douglas on Green Acres — New York chic versus pigs that outrank officials, Eddie Albert's despair as the counterweight, Jay Sommers's rural sitcom as the smartest weird hour in overalls. TV Flash…
- Pat Buttram as Mr. Haney
Pat Buttram played Mr. Haney on Green Acres, the 1960s Hooterville cousin where a New York lawyer drags glamorous Lisa to a farm and pigs outrank local officials. Eddie Albert’s despair, Eva Gabor’s charm, absurdist television hiding in…
- Tom Lester as Eb Dawson
Tom Lester played Eb Dawson on Green Acres — Hooterville farmhand in a 1960s rural sitcom that hid absurdist television in overalls. Eddie Albert’s despair, Eva Gabor’s charm, a pig that outranked local officials. TV Flash files him as…