TV Greats Stunner - It's Mr. Kimball at No. 1!

1. Hank Kimball, “Green Acres.” Not only does Alvy Moore’s perpetually self-correcting, precision-seeking Kimball top this list, he’s also a finalist in the Best Television Characters Who Deserved a Spin-off Series But Never Got One category, currently under development somewhere in the Dali-like corridors and Fulleresque domes found at The Punditty Project’s corporate headquarters along the New Jersey Turnpike.

Hank Kimball was the quintessential everyman in his role as “county agent” in the absurd world of Hooterville circa 1967; in his timeless existential quest for clarity of meaning, all divisions melt, all rivalries cease. Well, not exactly “cease,” as Kimball might say, but perhaps more accurately find a peace in their disharmony. Well, not exactly “peace,” and not exactly “disharmony"...

Kimball as Seeker always points to a quest that is at once internal and external, microcosmic and macrocosmic, entirely personal and wholly universal. For who is Hank Kimball if not a man in search of the truth? And who is Hank Kimball if not a man who knows the truth -- well, not exactly “knows” – behind this ancient saying of the wise ones? “Before enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water.”

Kimball, in his undiluted Hootervillian form, is nothing less than the pure Seeker within all of us, struggling against the limitations of physicality and language in every moment, just as all who walk this Earth must struggle. Say what you will, but words can never be precise enough for Kimball; he knows that he doesn’t know. And that is all there is to know. Unless, of course, he knows something you do not know or you know something he needs to know. For while a rose may still be a rose by any other name, it is the essence of that rose, its roseness, if you will, that continues to elude. It dances not only beyond Kimball’s reach, but even escapes the grasp of those who would make their living selling flowers.

The Kimball character had no antecedent in the annals of television prior to the first season of “Green Acres” in 1965, and since the series ended in 1971, no one has even come close to matching Kimball’s earthy brand of cosmic-powered comedic genius, not even the best characters on "Newhart" and "Northern Exposure." It is Kimball’s timelessness – well, not exactly his “timelessness;” more like his energy. No, actually it is more like timelessness, a kind of “timeless energy” – that keeps his schtick ever-fresh no matter how many times you’ve seen that particular episode.

“Truth is truth,” wrote The Bard, “To the end of reckoning.” And so it is with Hank Kimball. Part mystic, part county agent, part absurdist, he moves from moment to moment in search of something not there the moment before, something just around the corner, something always on the tip of his tongue yet already trailing - no longer holding on, not exactly letting go.

In the clip embedded above left, see a hatless Mr. Kimball drink some weird concoction as he tries to understand exactly what it is Mrs. Douglas is asking of him.

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