Thanks to reruns on MeTV, I was able to check out the entirety of Green Acres. For me, the show began as a childhood oddity back when TV Land reran the show. Eb's Radio Contest and The Special Delivery Letter were the two episodes I saw back then, and back then the logo enthusiast in me gravitated toward the fact that extant prints of Green Acres made use of 80s prints distributed by Orion after they acquired Filmways, those still used even to this day.
Of course I was like, what, a kid back then, and when it came to vintage sitcoms and I never got to see the nuances within them. I figured back then that sitcoms were rigid, void of quirkiness, silliness, and I had to have grown up back then to accept it. But ever since I began watching networks like Antenna TV and MeTV, I actually got lost in the shows they reran and I realized, even in the 50s, shows were quirky, silly, definitely behind the times these days, but there's a comforting charm in them.
In the case of Green Acres, the show can be considered the grandfather to shows like Ned's Declassified: School Survival Guide and Big Time Rush, that is a live action cartoon, well, not the sole grandfather as The Three Stooges exist, but in terms of shows made for television you can see the parallels.
Green Acres was part of Filmways' line of rural-themed sitcoms, including Petticoat Junction and The Beverly Hillbillies, even to the point they shared the same universe. To wit, one character Sam Drucker previously appeared on Petticoat Junction. Add expanded universe to the list. One thing I love about the show is that along with being a live action cartoon in some respects and pulling it off, it also does a hell of a job with its fourth wall gags. Even if I tend to identify more with Oliver Wendell Douglass who tends to get the short end most of the time, the show has charm that keeps me tuning in. The only thing that killed the show was CBS pushing back against rural programs, and thus the last two episodes more or less served as backdoor pilots for shows that went nowhere. There was a movie that came out in the 90s that served as something of a closer, but I doubt I'll get to see it anytime soon, lest MeTV plans to for an anniversary special, so how about it?
Having seen every episode at least once, it got me thinking, who was the worst character on the show? Way I see it, every character, while one note, serves their roles well, they have a purpose and can keep themselves fresh every week, well maybe not week but-
Anyway, having had the chance to absorb each character and their role, I was able to boil it all down to one character. Roy Trundell, or Mr. Wheeler, whatever the hell he's called.
Roy in some respects can be considered a foil to Oliver. Roy is a more established farmer and thus some comedic potential could be sourced from a man with experience dunking on Oliver's lack thereof, a Holden Caulfield (Family Guy character not Catcher in the Rye character) type character that contrasts with the other residents that tolerate Oliver. He doesn't even necessarily need to be accepted by the others, and some comedy could come with his complaints over Oliver's lack of skill not being taken seriously, or Oliver being favored more than him, and even Roy being incompetent himself, just better at hiding it. Perhaps there could even be a hint of tragedy with him, given all he has for connections is his mom, that his attitude prevented him from making friends and thus he resigns himself to his work. Even deeper, Roy could serve as a hidden warning that Oliver's life could be reduced to loneliness and bitterness, and goes to show that Lisa Douglas is essential to Oliver maintaining some sanity and humanity, through all the sheer craziness that plagues Hooterville, he still has the will to face the day and has some people on his side, in their own crazy ways.
And I say that because we barely get that here. Roy became prominent in the show's third season as the former president of the Hooterville Telephone Company, a feud forming between him and Oliver there and any meaningful interactions being reduced to that ongoing plot thread, followed by a few brief appearances in later episodes. The problem there is that said appearances can be taken out with very little consequence, beyond a lost of a few minutes.
My point is that Roy adds nothing beyond being a nuisance at worst, with a hidden subtext at best. Some may argue that Oliver needed a foil of sorts to justify himself. When it comes to the Green Acres cast and their interactions with fish out of water Oliver, the relationship is ambivalent at worst and cordial at best, as far as angatonistic relationships con artist Mr. Haney makes up the gambit, but conflicts are best handled by either outside forces or Oliver finding himself in the center of whatever mischief the other Hooterville residents are up to. You'd begin to wonder why would Oliver need an antagonist to boost off of when the world seems like it's out to get him, therefore making Roy useless.
And something tells me the staff felt the same because after a scant few appearances after the telephone company plot, Roy disappeared, and when he came back for the show's final season he was given a different name but was the same character. I don't know why that was the case, because it seems the same staff was involved with the show from its start through to its end. Mr. Wheeler can be considered a soft reboot of Roy Trundell, becoming the father of a love interest to farmhand Eb, but not only having the same issues as Roy, but them becoming far worse.
The last we see of Wheeler was an unpleasant interaction regarding Eb pinning one of Haney's engagement plots on Oliver. You'd think both men would bond over Eb's embellishments and mischief, I mean if we're not calling him Roy why not try to put a little extra into redoing his character? He started unpleasant and ended worse so, all I know about him is that he is a farmer that hates Oliver's guts, and probably not for the same reasons by season six that he did in the previous ones.
If Roy, Wheeler, whoever, were to work, here's my idea. Why not have him be unpopular with the rest of Hooterville, nobody who has a sounder mind thinks highly of him and passively shuts him down. When Oliver comes around he finally has someone to pass the hate onto and we can see how both of their standings mesh. Build on the contrast between either, perhaps have Roy react more violently to Hank Kimball's confusion or something.
I can laugh at Hank's confusion, Haney's scheming, Eb's mischief, Ralph's lust, stuff like that, but everytime I see Roy/Wheeler it just feels unpleasant, worse so that he just isn't funny enough to have his presence justified. If Eb wasn't seeking to get engaged I question of Roy would've even been brought back at all, like he was only there to add a layer of conflict to the Darlene plot, and even then it felt forced.
The only way this could be justified is if we can see him as part of the resolution, perhaps have Roy be in the center of Eb's embellishments and get a taste of the worst Oliver deals with at the end of most episodes, something that gives an idea why the guy is so bitter. Some may bring up his more friendly behavior to Lisa, but everybody's friendly to Lisa, well, not everybody she owes that guy a new coffee pot. If he expressed the same disdain to Lisa he does to Oliver, I can live with him just being a bitter old man who hates everything around him, and there is potential in that. It could be something that could unite Oliver and Eb to a similar goal, as they basically share a similar enemy. Eb wants to get married to Darlene and Oliver would do whatever to spite Roy/Wheeler, and in a send-off have him go through a bad ending that sees him on the same end as Oliver most of the time... then when they're out of earshot Oliver would remind Eb that he's not his father, just to get cut off by Lisa saying something to the contrary.
For other Green Acres characters, they're limited but it can lend well to brief appearances with little necessity. Viewers get the gist of them and can leave well enough alone with whatever traits are present. As stated before Roy does not have that kind of justification, and it shows how episodes are able to carry on without him. As far as nuisances, other characters can pull that role off better, as far as antagonists other characters can do the job better than him. I got to see a majority of Roy/Wheeler, he started unpleasant and ended unpleasant, and it says a lot that the show could carry on fine without him. Roy is the worst because he's expendable, and beyond plots he has no impact beyond being a rude presence, one that was unneeded in hindsight.
Green Acres is a classic show, but Robert Foulk was definitely the weakest link.
