Trendell obtained the phone company the same way Oliver does: by complaining about the lousy service until the fed-up owner handed him the keys to the business.
Front page stories in the "Hooterville World Guardian" are "Douglas Blows Top at Phone Company" (with a photo of Oliver), "Irate Subscriber Circulates Petition" and "Sarah's Recipe for Rump Roast."
Mr. Haney wants to sell Oliver a "woodified" cigar store Indian named Irving Two Smokes for $98.50. Oliver talks him down to $5. When Haney delivers it, he charges $15 C.O.D., plus $15 every month until the total of $212 is paid in full.
When Sarah's away from the switchboard, she puts on an album. Cuts on the disc include "Operator Out to Lunch", "Operator at Dentist", "Operator Having Her Hair Done", and "Operator Taking The Christmas Tree Down".
This is the sixth of 15 appearances Robert Foulk makes in the series. In his first 11 appearances, he plays Hooterville farmer Roy Trendell; in his last four appearances, all in season six, he also plays a farmer, but farmer Wheeler, the father of Eb's girlfriend Darlene.