Virgin River Season 5, Part 1 has arrived, and with it a host of new, gasp-worthy drama. The hit Netflix series dropped more than a few bombshells this season, but even some of the less, ahem, traumatic happenings on offer might have left viewers scratching their heads — like, for instance, Mel's (Alexandra Breckenridge) Episode 7 line about the classic 1960s sitcom Green Acres. For the young and/or uninitiated, here's the meaning behind the reference.
In Episode 7 of Virgin River's new season, Tara (Stacey Farber) and her baby sister Chloe swing by Mel's cabin for an emotional goodbye. Their farmhouse was destroyed during the catastrophic wildfires, leading Tara to take a job offer in Sacramento. Going from the rustic environs of Virgin River to the bustling city is, Mel says, like pulling "a reverse Green Acres" — a show about a couple of New Yorkers who make a go of it on a farm in the Midwest.
Green Acres aired for six seasons on CBS from 1965-1971. Starring Eddie Albert (The Heartbreak Kid) and Hungarian-American actress Eva Gabor (sister to Zsa Zsa Gabor), the sitcom centered on wealthy Manhattan attorney Oliver Wendell Douglas (Albert), whose childhood dream was to be a farmer, and his glamorous wife Lisa (Gabor). When Oliver purchases a rundown farmhouse sight-unseen in the middle-of-nowhere town of Hooterville, the big-city couple stumble their way through #farmlife.
Best remembered for its iconic theme song and clever one-liners, Green Acres is one of those zany old sitcoms you could find airing on TV Land late at night. Sometimes, characters broke the fourth wall and spoke to the camera or confusedly looked around to find where that strange music was coming from. Much like Virgin River, the town of Hooterville in Green Acres was packed with oddball types. (If you think Hope McCrea is off her rocker, try Fred and Doris Ziffel in Green Acres: They refer to their pig, Arnold, as their son.)
In fact, Mel took a page out of the Green Acres playbook when she stole away to Virgin River without ever having glimpsed the place — right down to the ramshackle cabin. So the next time you settle in for a Virgin River rewatch, recite these lines in honor of those city-slickers who came before: "Green Acres is the place to be / Farm livin' is the life for me!"
