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Eddie Albert on the benefits of acting in a television series
Albert set the record straight on television.
While today, television is heralded as an impressive medium, that wasn't always the case. Many believed television wasn't as good as film, and therefore a lesser form of entertainment. Likewise, those who acted in television weren't given the same respect as film stars.
In 1966, actor Eddie Albert went to bat for television by writing an article in the South Bend Tribune in its defense. Albert was a talented and experienced actor with a resume to back it up. But for Albert, nothing in his career was quite as sweet as his time on Green Acres.
"For an actor who's done just about everything there is to do in show business except to be shot out of a cannon, this year has clearly been a time of euphoria for me," wrote Albert. "My high spirits, of course, are my principal yield from Green Acres, one of the big winners this season in audience popularity."
Albert sent his compliments to television and explained the many benefits that people, especially actors, seemed to be overlooking. "Don't let anyone tell you that a weekly series is to be avoided like a medieval plague," he wrote. Every freelance actor in the business is auditioning for his own series each time he's a guest on someone else's show."
Albert argued that on a series, he was given more free time, as he knew he'd had a real job and didn't need to keep fighting for screen time as he might have previously. "All the time I was playing guest roles on television, I had been reading pilot scripts and story outlines, looking for a series I could throw myself into," he wrote. "My mind is freer now than in the days when I was taking my acting jobs one by one."
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Albert also enjoyed the consistency of the shooting schedule provided by Green Acres. "I knew at the end of each week that I was going back to work on Green Acres, so I just relaxed," he wrote. I didn't feel 'locked in' or 'cut off' as some series actors do."
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So there you have it. Albert was fiercely devoted to television, and for good reason. Green Acres was a hit series, one that was incredibly popular with its audience. For that, Albert was grateful. "With production the way it is and with the show's popularity as high as it is, I look forward to a long run," he wrote.
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