Box Populi Down On The Farm

Press, Issue 30997, 1 March 1966, Page 11

Box Populi Down On The Farm

Some aspects of New Zealand life have received generous treatment from the N.Z.B.C. It has given full TV recognition to most sports; it still has to do more for racing than graft a radio commentary to the film of a race.

Sport is not everything, although some of the regional programme advisory committees would have us believe it is. It would be unfair to suggest that the N.Z.B.C. has been preoccupied with sports coverage to the detriment of the coverage of other events in the life of the community. But for some reason or other farming and fanners have not received the attention they deserve. We have had faithful coverage of agricultural shows, occasionally with a touch of imagination, we have seen dog trials and the shipment of stud sheep overseas, and I can recall a short programme devoted entirely to one breed of sheep, which was dreary to watch and even worse to listen to. PRODUCE EMPHASIS In the past the emphasis seems to have been on sheep and cattle, meat and wool, not on the men and women who produce so much of our income. There has been no attempt to deal with the farming community in depth. TV has not considered the farmer’s problems or studied his land and the way in which he makes his living. Presumably the spread of television beyond the cities has caused the N.Z.B.C. to devote more attention to the

country. This week we will see the first edition of a national programme called “Country Calendar,” which will be screened weekly from all channels. It could well become one of our best New Zealand efforts because of the wide field in which the producers will be able to work.

I will be disappointed if the suggestion that “Country Calendar” will bring the country to the city turns out to be correct. Once upon a time a cow had to be exhibited in the Bronx Zoo because thousands of New York children knew milk only as a liquid which arrived in bottles. Bringing the country to the city sounds a trifle patronising: it suggests that city dwellers have to be educated about farming, and that they know little of the paddocks and the people beyond suburbia.

“If “Counry Calendar” deals understandingly with farming as part of the New Zealand way of life it is likely to be a success. It is to be hoped that the producers will not concern themselves only with sheep and cattle and their owners. There are other farmers besides those who produce butter and cheese, meat and wool. Pigs and poultry, fruit and vegetables, come from the country, and the life and work of the small farmer can be just as interesting as that of the man on the broader acres.

“Country Calendar” is an indication that the N.Z.B.C. is showing more concern for our green acres. The report that it is about to complete negotiations for the purchase of an American comedy

series called “Green Acres” has nothing to do with fanning.

Admittedly “Green Acres” is likely to contain a fair percentage of corn. There was plenty of it in the “Beverley Hillbillies,” and the new programme reverses the theme of the country folk coming to the city. This time a New York lawyer forsakes city life for the farm, and his elegant wife has to attune herself to pigsties instead of penthouses. One of the producers of the series is Paul Henning who was responsible for “Petticoat Junction” and “The Beverley Hillbillies.” NAME ACTORS

Many fine film actors seem to find their way into TV programmes, and in most cases they use their talents to stiffen a sagging series. Eddie Albert, now in the veteran class, and long remembered for a fine film called “Brother Rat,” plays the lawyer in “Green Acres,” and his presence should make the series acceptable no matter how many bushels of comedy corn it produces. But I am doubtful whether Eva Gabor will make the acres greener.

In the film world the Gabor girls have gained a spurious reputation. Hungarian accents, jewellery, and husbands have been more important than their acting. Eddie Albert loyally says that Miss Gabor is sensational in “Green Acres.” Ridiculous rather than sensational seems to be the word for an actress who is going to appear on our screens in a negligee and a 150,000-dollar emerald necklace, feeding pigs with one hand and flipping pancakes with the other. —ARGUS.