GUNSMOKE: THE THIRD SEASON, VOLUME 2 -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 5/9/09

 

Back when westerns were the number one genre on TV, the number one western was "Gunsmoke." For twenty seasons--1955 to 1975--viewers could tune in every week to watch Marshall Matt Dillon keep law and order in the wild and woolly streets of Dodge City, Kansas, and now, with the release of the 3-disc DVD collection GUNSMOKE: THE THIRD SEASON, VOLUME 2, we can relive 20 half-hour episodes worth of that excitement all over again. As John Wayne, in his original on-air introduction to the show, described it: "It's honest, it's adult, it's realistic."

Originally a successful radio show, "Gunsmoke" made the move to television along with its creators, producer Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston, who maintained a high level of quality and authenticity during these early episodes. The mood is often somber, with adult-oriented stories and strong characters, and when there's violence, it has an impact beyond the standard shoot-'em-up. Marshall Dillon tries to avoid using his gun whenever possible, save to whack people over the head with it before they can clear leather.

Several episodes begin with him taking a wistful stroll through Boot Hill, looking back on all the lives that have been wasted through unnecessary violence. Tough as nails and quick on the draw, with scarcely a personal life outside his duties as a lawman, Dillon never allows his job to rob him of his humanity. Writer John Meston took great pains to present the character in an honest and realistic fashion, eschewing the cliches of the standard western hero who seemed forever unfazed by the violence and death that were a part of his everyday life.

Despite the show's more mature focus, however, it still retains some of the appeal of the old Saturday matinee westerns like the ones rising star John Wayne used to churn out back in the 30s. James Arness, who plays Matt Dillon, even resembles the young Wayne with his towering 6'7" frame and easygoing yet highly-capable demeanor. (Wayne was offered the part but suggested his friend Arness instead.)

Matt still possesses incorruptible virtues, infallible common sense, and an unbeatable fast draw, but is more three-dimensional and complex than his earlier counterparts. The combination of these two styles, not too kid-oriented and not too adult, makes for a pleasing blend.

The supporting cast is one of the finest ever. Dennis Weaver plays Chester Goode, the down-to-earth, fiercely loyal deputy with the famous limp. As the gruff old Doc Adams, Milburn Stone is one of the most skilled actors ever to appear in series television, and the show's occasional moments of unforced comedy relief usually involve some good-natured needling between him and Chester.

Much of their spare time is spent at the Longbranch Saloon, where half-owner Miss Kitty provides a constant supply of free drinks and moral support. (For western heroes, these guys really do guzzle a lot of whiskey.)

Pretty Amanda Blake is very appealing in the role, a strong, dependable female presence who enjoys equal status in the group. The fact that Miss Kitty is basically the madame of Dodge City's leading whorehouse doesn't seem to bother Matt, Doc, or Chester, so it never bothered viewers much, either. (As a kid, I always thought all those saloon gals were there just so the lonesome cowpokes could chat with them and buy them free drinks!)

As in most classic TV shows of the period, there's an abundance of familiar faces in guest roles. Some of the ones appearing in this DVD set are Corey Allen ("Buzz" in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE), Strother Martin, Jeanette Nolan (who would later star in the spin-off series "Dirty Sally"), Vaughn Taylor, Werner Klemperer, Jack Weston, Phyllis Coates, Murray Hamilton, Wayne Morris, June Lockhart, Harry Dean Stanton, Claude Akins, Patricia Barry, Gail Kobe, John Dehner, Ross Martin, Virginia Gregg, Ken Lynch, Simon Oakland, Ruta Lee, Timothy Carey, and Jack Cassidy.

The episodes in this set look great, with beautiful, sharp black-and-white photography. DVD image and sound quality are fine. In addition to the 20 episodes, there's a brief montage of commercial spots which include Arness, Stone, and Blake puffing on L & M cigarettes ("Live modern--smoke L & M!" the announcer advises us) and Arness showing us a putty impression of his pesky facial stubble before taking an electric razor to it.

Over its two-decade run, "Gunsmoke" evolved from a simple half-hour western adventure to the more complex hour-long adult drama of its later years. GUNSMOKE: THE THIRD SEASON, VOLUME 2 finds the series in my favorite stage of this progression, with an ideal combination of both sensibilities. It's just serious enough to enjoy for its compelling characters and intriguing stories, and just enough of a good old-fashioned western yarn to erupt into smoke-filled gunplay at any moment.

GUNSMOKE: THE THIRD SEASON, VOLUME 2 -- DVD review by porfle

THE MOD SQUAD: SEASON 2, VOLUME 2 -- DVD review by porfle

Originally posted on 5/11/09

 

I used to think "The Mod Squad" was soooo cool when I was a kid. That opening titles sequence, with the three young cops running for their lives through an abandoned warehouse (we never got to find out what they're running from, did we?) to the tune of one of TV's most dynamic musical themes ever, is still emblazoned on my cerebral cortex. But after refreshing my memory of the show with the new 3-disc DVD set THE MOD SQUAD: SEASON 2, VOLUME 2, all I can think is: "What the heck was I thinking?" In retrospect, there's just no way for me to appreciate this show except with a fond nostalgia and a healthy dose of condescension. Yeah, that's right--I'm condescending! Nyaaahh!

Looking a lot like what would happen if Greg Brady fantasized about growing up to become a groovy, outasite cop himself, "The Mod Squad" is an attempt by those well-known hepcats Aaron Spelling, Danny Thomas, and Harve Bennett to appeal to "the kids" on their own level. Their inability to comprehend, and thus convincingly reproduce, any elements of the same counterculture that they're trying to attract makes the show fascinating even though it's hard to take a single moment of it seriously.

Not that it's all that much dumber than most of the other primetime cop dramas being made during the same era, but the pseudo-hip trappings and weak attempts at "relevance" that pop up all over the place just add an inescapable element of unreality to the show. And despite the "mod" angle, it's often as painfully arch and cliched as the sort of shows that "Police Squad!" used to spoof. This, of course, lends the show a whole different kind of retro-camp appeal, the same way that the far-out polyester grooviness of "The Brady Bunch" gives it a dimension of watchability beyond the standard sitcom formula.

The premise, as most people know by now, is that a group of young hippies ("one white, one black, one blonde", according to the famous tagline) are given a choice to either go to jail for their relatively minor crimes or join the police department as undercover cops. Well, you've just turned off much of the actual counterculture audience right there, since it's doubtful that many of them harbored any secret fantasies of becoming narcs. Who did this show appeal to so much that it stayed on the air from 1968-1973? There were the little kids like me, who thought it was super cool because we didn't know any better. (Teenybopper magazines like "16" and "Tiger Beat" had a field day with the lead actors.) And I guess a lot of older folks imagined that they were hip if they liked the show, even though it actually played up to and affirmed their values more than those of their kids.

As white Beverly Hills outcast Pete Cochran, Michael Cole displays that mumbly, self-conscious sort of demeanor which suggests that he wants to imitate the Method acting style without actually going to the trouble of learning it. (At least he isn't as odd and inaccessible as Michael Parks was around that time.) Clarence Williams III as Lincoln "Linc" Hayes, the black character with the awesome afro, is so arch and stiff that he's either one of the most wooden actors in television history or just incredibly intense. Sometimes he looks as though he's summoning a superhuman force of will just to unbutton his windbreaker, but it could be due to all that concentrated coolness.

He does break out some great action moves, though, performing breathtaking diving leaps to push people out of the way of danger or scrambling up the side of a building parkour-style. Linc also keeps things real with catchphrases like "you can't drink champagne out of a paper cup" and "solid." Winsome, waifish Peggy Lipton rounds out the trio as the blonde runaway Julie Barnes, who is totally ineffectual action-wise but you just wanna hug her anyway. Her main talents are going undercover as a hippie girl or a nun, or getting kidnapped and held hostage. And as their straight-laced boss Captain Greer, Tige Andrews is such a glowering, tire-screeching cop show caricature that he's sort of hilarious. A father figure to the group, the big lug even persuades Pete and Linc to endure something as totally uncool as fishing.

The sets have a chintzy look with lots of those bright pastels common to early color TV. There's an abundance of ugly late-60s atmosphere such as the dayglo paisley curtains in Julie's apartment, and the similarly horrific decor on display whenever we visit one of those hippie lairs just like the ones in the later episodes of "Dragnet." It's funny how similarly unreal the "Mod Squad" view of the hippie lifestyle is to Jack Webb's, with the same tacky psychedelic trappings, smooth-talking gurus, and ever-present sitar music, as we see in the episode "The King of Empty Cups." Here, the police commissioner's daughter falls under the evil spell of an abusive rock star (a delightfully miscast Noel Harrison, who definitely wasn't rock-star material), leading to the inevitable finale in which the drugged-out girl stands teetering on a balcony threatening to jump off.

Comical "Police Squad!"-style obviousness rears its head in this set's first episode, "The Debt." Linc impersonates a lunch wagon driver so that he can infiltrate a factory, whereupon he then sneaks around peering in windows and eavesdropping on private conversations. I don't know about you, but if the lunch wagon guy where I used to work did stuff like that, we'd have noticed. In "A Town Called Sincere", faux biker types take over a backlot Mexican village and hold everyone hostage until they find out who killed two of their own. During one tense situation, Pete confides to Linc: "This whole scene is getting very uptight, man." Later, Linc loses his cool with a reluctant witness: "BABY, DON'T YOU DIG IT? THEY'RE GONNA HANG A MAN!"

Sammy Davis, Jr. pops up in another "relevant" episode called "Survival House", playing a recovering addict who's about to be promoted to director of his halfway house until he gets falsely accused of statutory rape. Sammy does his best with the character but the script by Joanna Lee (who played flying saucer pilot Tanna in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE) and slapdash execution of it are just too dumb to take seriously. In "The Exile", Julie falls in love with a nice Middle Eastern guy from one of her night classes, only to find out that he's secretly a prince who's about to become king when his father gets assassinated! (Yeah, I hate it when that happens, too.) A dark-haired Lawrence Dane (Michael Ironside's ruthless henchman in SCANNERS) appears as a military officer.

The show's best episodes are the ones that ignore the whole "hippie cops" premise and simply tell interesting stories. Two of the ones I recall most fondly from the series' initial run, in fact, are right here in this set. The first, "Mother of Sorrow", stars Lee Grant as a rich eccentric artist and a very young Richard Dreyfuss as the neglected son who decides to take drastic measures to get her attention. Grant and Dreyfuss are both outstanding actors and they have some really strong scenes together here. It's especially fun watching Dreyfuss at the beginning of his career, playing this flaky, egotistical kook with all he's got.

The second episode that I was really glad to see in this set is "A Time For Remembering." This is the one where Linc gets shot and almost dies, and it's what comes to mind whenever I recall watching the show as a kid. Partly a clip show with some great use of earlier scenes (which strongly suggest that the show's first season was superior to this one), it allows the characters to open up and convey their feelings for each other in a way that I somehow find more moving than cloying. I like the part where the nurse tries to throw Pete out of Linc's hospital room, telling him that only family are allowed. "But I am family--" he starts to say, realizing that the lie is obvious even though the sentiment is real.

The biggest casting surprise for me comes in the episode "Return to Darkness, Return to Light." Gloria Foster is radiant as Linc's old friend Jenny, a blind woman engaged to a man (Ivan Dixon of "Hogan's Heroes") who may be concealing a criminal past. It's interesting to see "The Oracle" from the first two MATRIX movies in her younger days--not only is she quite stunning to look at, but her sincere performance helps to make this one of the most emotional episodes in the collection.

"Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot" is a nifty murder mystery that takes place on a Hollywood soundstage and stars Frank Converse and Ed Asner. In "Call Back Yesterday", a young Margot Kidder plays Pete's old girlfriend and Anita Louise is his Beverly Hills mom.

Other notable names making guest appearances in this set are Ford Rainey, Lisa Gaye, William Smithers, Bert Freed, Don Dubbins, Mark Goddard, Norm Alden, Diana Muldaur, Frank Aletter, Charles Aidman, Milton Selzer, Marion Ross, and teen idol David Cassidy. In full screen format with English mono, the 13 episodes on these three discs look and sound about as good as ever. No extras. Total running time is 663 minutes.

Yeah, I love this show, but not quite the same way I did when it was new. Because since then--somehow--it got kinda dumb. So now, I have to either give up and revel in its campy elements, or force myself to ignore them and try to take it all seriously. This show is tearing me apart! (Baby, don't you dig it?) But no matter how you turn on and tune in to its groovy vibe, THE MOD SQUAD: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO is a mind-blowing blast from the past.

THE MOD SQUAD: SEASON 2, VOLUME 2 -- DVD review by porfle

THE LOVE BOAT: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/23/09

 

Recently I've begun to develop a perverse enjoyment of extremely cheesy 70s and 80s television shows that I wouldn't have been caught dead watching during their first run. Curious to test my newfound ability to withstand anything the likes of Aaron Spelling could launch at me, I was eager to take on one of the all-time undisputed champeens of cheese, "The Love Boat." So as soon as I got my mitts on the new four-disc, 12-episode DVD collection THE LOVE BOAT: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO, it was on, baby! DING!

Actually, once you resign yourself to how silly and totally corny it all is, the show isn't that hard to like at all. If you're looking for "Playhouse 90", you're on the wrong boat. And who doesn't want to spend a little time on a cruise ship with a fun-loving crew and dozens of pop culture icons gettin' it on with each other? As one of the first and best of these "Grand Hotel"-style multi-plot, multi-guest star shows, "The Love Boat" is simply a boatload of dumb fun.

The first episode alone features none other than Abe Vigoda and Nancy Walker sharing romantic dialogue on deck with a scenic sunset in the background. Also representing the older set in later episodes are: Ray "Scarecrow" Bolger and Martha "Poli-Grip" Raye as high-school sweethearts who haven't seen each other in forty years; Arthur Godfrey and Minnie Pearl as eloping lovebirds on the run from their overprotective offspring (Elinor Donahue and Warren Berlinger); and Barry Nelson and Nanette Fabray as an empty-nest couple whose plans for a round-the-world vacation are deep-sixed by news of a surprise package.

One of the best of the show's December-December flings takes place when rich widow Celeste Holm winds up on the same cruise with her vacationing chauffeur, John Mills, and they discover that they're in love with each other. The awkward situation builds to a romantic crescendo (with that same sunset in the background) which actually has some pretty decent writing for a change, and a couple of seasoned actors with the talent to turn it into something substantial. The director goes in for some tight closeups in this scene because he knows that old pros Holm and Mills are working this material for all it's worth.

On the flip-side, where things are just plain goofy, we get Ron "Horshack" Palillo as a magician filling in for his brother in the ship's lounge and falling for his pretty assistant (Melinda Naud), who, incredibly, returns his affections. Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara play harried parents who can't get any private time away from their gaggle of brats, including a fledgling Corey Feldman. Roddy McDowell, surely one of the most ubiquitous actors of all time, plays a constantly sneezing dweeb who discovers he's allergic to his demanding bride-to-be Tammy Grimes. We also get to witness the startling sight of "Match Game" stars Gene Rayburn and Fannie Flagg sucking face like there's no tomorrow while her yappy little dog (the specially-billed "Cricket") tries to come between them. And...omigod...Charo. 'Nuff said.

The biggest surprise is that I didn't remember how serious some of these stories could get. We're talking actual soap-opera-level melodrama here. A man (Randy Mantooth) introduces his girlfriend (Cathy Lee Crosby) to his dad (Robert Mandan)...the girlfriend and the dad fall in love...the son blows his top and dad slaps him! Elsewhere, Craig Stevens is a WWII vet wounded on Omaha Beach, suddenly reunited after all these years with the only woman he ever loved (Cyd Charisse), only to find her attached to some young French stud named Francoise. This is classic "women's picture" stuff just like all the studios were churning out back in the 40s and 50s.

Even when Sonny Bono guests as Deacon Dark, a ludicrous cross between Alice Cooper and Gene Simmons, it's played mainly for bathos because Sonny really wants to be a lounge singer (despite resistance from his materialistic manager, Arte Johnson). This is compounded when he meets a cute deaf girl who falls for the real Sonny and "listens" to his sensitive ivory-tinking by feeling the vibrations in his piano. Talk about laying it on with a trowel--you gotta love it!

Gavin McLeod plays Captain Stubing, the distinguished and very proper main man of the Love Boat, and it's nice to see McLeod in a successful starring role after all those years as a second banana on shows like "McHale's Navy" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Too bad he's usually the straight man for his wacky underlings here, since he was always pretty adept at comedy himself. He does get his share of dramatic subplots and sappy love affairs, as evidenced by this hair-curling exchange:

"Hey, hey...eyes as lovely as yours shouldn't be clouded with tears."
"You say the nicest things."
"Only to the nicest people."

Future four-term Iowa congressman Fred Grandy is Yeoman-Purser "Gopher" Smith, easily the biggest idiot on the ship. Gopher takes center stage in some of the silliest stories, as when his supermodel dreamgirl (the always delightful Hayley Mills) comes aboard and he retreats into a Walter Mitty-style fantasy world, or the one in which he overhears a couple of murder-mystery writers (Peter Lawford, Dana Wynter) discussing their next book and thinks they're planning to kill the Captain. Surprisingly, the season finale features Gopher in one of the most dramatic scenes of the whole set when he has an extremely emotional reconciliation with his estranged father (Bob Cummings).

The concept of Bob Cummings and a Godzilla-like Ethel Merman playing Gopher's parents is almost too much to bear, as is the big finale with father and son crooning a comedy version of "Sonny Boy" to each other during the crew's "Talent Night" show. And yet, like everything else that happens on this series, I feel compelled to watch. I guess it's just one of the mysteries of life.

As Isaac, the ship's bartender with the chipper attitude and big kid smile, Ted Lange is one of the brightest performers on the show. Isaac is always there to help the passengers get sloppy drunk and to dole out helpful advice when they unload their sob stories on him. I like the episode where Isaac's old friend Reggie Jackson books passage to get away from all the constant fan adoration, only to have his ego crushed when nobody on board recognizes him. But even Isaac has his serious side, which we see when he tries to help a troubled young girl who's a convicted shoplifter by getting her a job in the gift shop. Sure enough, a pair of expensive pearl earrings turn up missing.

Bernie Kopell as ship's medic "Doc" Bricker is another TV veteran who excels at light comedy while also handling some pretty bleak material, such as the episode in which his old surgeon friend (Richard Anderson) is dealing with the loss of an arm in a car crash while his wife (Diana Muldaur), stricken with guilt for having caused the accident, suffers an addiction to prescription drugs. Less turgid and a lot more fun is the time one of Doc's several ex-wives (Tina Louise) hires narcissistic pretty-boy Lyle Waggoner to pose as her new fiance to make Doc jealous.

Lauren Tewes, who, sadly, would later have to leave the show due to her own real-life drug problems, is all winsome and chipper as cruise director Julie McCoy. Her character comes to the fore in one of the set's two feature-length episodes, in which Julie's high-school graduating class has its ten-year reunion on board the ship. This episode is loaded with guest stars and subplots, including a self-destructing alcoholic teacher (Raymond Burr), a wheelchair-bound Viet Nam vet (Michael Cole), his best friend who is wracked with guilt for evading the draft (John Rubinstein), and a heavy-set gal (Conchata Ferrell) who has a fling with Doc until she suspects him of ridiculing her behind her back. Also appearing in this one are Christopher George as a famous TV star and Bob "Gilligan" Denver as the class dork.

Looking cuter than I've ever seen her in anything else, Kim Darby (TRUE GRIT) plays a classmate trying to uncover the identity of a secret admirer within the group's ranks, which gives her an excuse to get romantic with just about all the male guest stars. Julie, meanwhile, shows her ruthless side as she tries to steal handsome disco instructor Michael Lembeck away from a pre-nosejob Lisa Hartman. Much of the episode's later scenes take place during a big disco party, which is typical of the show's obsession with this much-reviled dance craze. There's nothing like seeing a ballroom full of people with absolutely no sense of rhythm boogeying down like a bunch of brain-damaged storks.

In addition to those already mentioned, this collection's incredible roster of guest stars includes Phyllis Davis, "Hollywood Squares" host Peter Marshall, Barbara Rush, Elaine Joyce, Bobby Van, Carol Lynley, Hans Conried, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Ben Murphy, Donna Pescow, David Hedison, Juliet Mills, Telma Hopkins, Debbie Allen, Maren Jensen, Dennis Cole, Samantha Eggar, Paul Burke, Arlene Dahl, James Dobson, Leslie Nielsen, Jill St. John, and Charlie Callas. Ken Berry and Beth Howland star in one of the show's most moving segments about a woman who is trying in vain to be accepted by the daughters of the widower she's just married. Howland, of TV's "Alice", is particularly good here.

Aside from the opening titles and some of the stock footage used on the show, the picture quality here is pretty good. The DVD image is 4.3 full-screen with Dolby Digital sound. English and Spanish subtitles and closed-captioning are available. Each episode comes with its original promo, which is the set's sole bonus feature.

By the time I got to the final episodes of THE LOVE BOAT: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO, I was actually looking forward to the next sappy romantic adventures aboard the Pacific Princess. Not only that, but I caught myself singing along with the theme song! Aaron Spelling strikes again, and another hapless TV junkie winds up with a Gopher on his back.

THE LOVE BOAT: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO -- DVD review by porfle

THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES: THE OFFICIAL THIRD SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 
 

 

Originally posted on 2/2/09

 

THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES has been one of my all-time favorite TV shows since its premiere back in the olden days. Since I'm cheap, I've bought some of those crappy PD bargain bin DVDs that look awful and can't even use the original theme song. That's why watching CBS' official third season set is such a treat--it contains a whopping 34 episodes on five discs, with picture and sound quality that are about as good as the original elements allow, and you get that classic theme song.

Which, as everyone should know by now, gives us a nutshell recap of how Jed Clampett struck oil while "shootin' at some food" and then hauled his backwoods family to Beverly Hills to live in an elegant mansion--the ultimate fish-out-of-water tale. Jed (Buddy Ebsen), his feisty mother-in-law Granny (Irene Ryan), his gorgeous, tomboy daughter Elly May (Donna Douglas, one of the most beautiful women ever to appear on any screen), and his big-lummox nephew Jethro (Max Baer, Jr.), are so incredibly backward that everything they encounter in their new environment--telephones, doorbells, swimming pools, billiard tables, etc.--becomes fodder for a neverending series of hilarious running gags and mind-warping miscommunications.

Rounding out the regular cast of characters are uber-greedy banker Milburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey), who fawns over the Clampetts because he's passionately in love with their millions, and his intelligent-but-homely secretary Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp), who often serves as a sympathetic buffer between the Hillbillies and civilization. In this set we also get to see Larry Pennell as movie star Dash Riprock and Sharon Tate in a recurring role as a bank secretary, along with other guest stars such as Don Rickles, Hedda Hopper, and Flatt and Scruggs.

The third season episodes, which are still in glorious black-and-white (and still #1 in the ratings at the time), have less of the bizarre, "Green Acres"-style hijinks that would come later as the show became more farcical and cartoonish, but they're still pretty way-out. Some of the series' funniest and most fondly-remembered storylines are here:

Jethro the double-naught spy--After watching some James Bond movies, Jethro gets bitten by the spy bug and outfits the old truck with a bulletproof washtub, rear-firing shotguns, oil slick spewer, and pot-bellied smoke screen maker, while outfitting himself with a secret radio taped to his boot heel and a solid iron hat that knocks him out whenever he puts it on too fast.

Jed the movie mogul--Jed becomes the owner of a declining movie studio and the Clampetts help out by making their own silent movie. They also mistake a backlot Western set for a real town and set up a general store, which guest star Hedda Hopper eventually levels with a bulldozer.

The Beatniks--Cool cat Sheldon Epps (Alan Reed, Jr.) and his hipster pals meet the Clampetts in a colossal culture clash. Granny tries to teach the beatniks the joys of working for a living and accidentally invents a new dance craze called "Diggin' Taters."

These are only a few of the many storylines in this set, which represents what may be the show's prime (although characters Aunt Pearl and Jethrine are sorely missed). I used to like the even wackier color episodes the best, but lately I've begun to enjoy the ones from this period even more. The comedy scripting is sharp and often screamingly funny, the direction is imaginative, and the principal cast is composed of expert comic actors giving top-notch performances. It's a joy to watch them milk each script for all it's worth.

Extras consist of a photo gallery and a documentary called "The Legend of the Beverly Hillbillies", which originally aired on CBS in 1993 shortly before the release of that awful Penelope Spheeris movie. It's a pretty sappy affair with smarmy host Mac Davis and some pointless appearances by the likes of Reba McIntyre, Ray Charles, Hoyt Axton, and G. Gordon Liddy (?) but it also features Buddy Ebsen, Max Baer, Donna Douglas, Louis Nye, and Larry Pennell playing their original characters in mock "where are they now?" interview segments with lots of funny clips from the show. Earl Scruggs and original theme song vocalist Jerry Scoggins appear at the end to reprise their famous tune as the surviving Clampetts do the old wave.

As an added bonus, you have the choice of hearing the theme song at the top of each show with or without the added sponsor-of-the-week verses. The DVD, of course, contains a disclaimer so modern viewers won't think CBS is still hawking Kellogg's cereals or, heaven forbid, Winston cigarettes. You can also see the Clampett clan stuffing themselves with corn flakes at the end of several episodes, but, unlike the Flintstones, they refrain from lighting up to get their sponsor-approved nicotine fix.

For fans, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES: THE OFFICIAL THIRD SEASON is a must-have set that will provide hours of hilarity and nostalgia. And if you're new to the show, then sit a spell, take your shoes off, and check it out.

 

THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES: THE OFFICIAL THIRD SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH: THE FIFTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 2/3/10

 

I just did something extremely out of character for me--I actually watched SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH: THE FIFTH SEASON on DVD. If you knew me, you'd be saying "Holy schnikes! Have you lost your freakin' mind?" Which is entirely possible, but the truth is, to paraphrase Sally Field, I liked it. I really liked it!

Not being familiar with seasons 1-4, I checked out the show's IMDb forum and discovered that season five came right after a network switch from ABC to the WB, which included a format change. Sabrina's high school friends were ditched along with her boyfriend Harvey, in favor of a whole new life in college. Instead of living at home with aunts Hilda and Zelda (also witches), she's staying on-campus with three roommates--crabby Roxie (Soleil Moon Frye), vain Morgan (Elisa Donovan), and space-case Miles (Trevor Lissauer)--and she works part-time in a coffee house with her friend Josh (David Lascher), a potential romantic replacement for Harvey. And with Hilda now the owner of the coffee house and Zelda teaching at the college, they're still right in the middle of things, along with Sabrina's wisecracking black cat Salem.

At first, I had a little trouble buying Melissa Joan Hart as the "Sabrina" from the old Archie Comics series. For one thing, she doesn't look a thing like the comics character, and for another, I still tend to think of her as Clarissa (as in Nickelodeon's "Clarissa Explains It All"). Being on that show must've been good practice for this one, although its pace wasn't nearly as frenetic. As I watched the first episode of this collection with its characters zipping around at hyper-speed and breathlessly spouting rapid-fire dialogue as though they were trying to beat the clock, it reminded me of Jack Webb's streamlined, no-frills direction on DRAGNET. I wondered if this cast read its lines off a teleprompter as they did on that show. Then I realized that since Anson Williams had directed this episode, I had just indirectly compared Jack Webb to Potsie Webber! Sorry, Jack!

Anyway, Melissa has always had a natural ease in front of the camera and a deft way of handling this sort of light comedy. Her energetic, self-effacing style and comedy skills make Sabrina an endearing character. Once I became familiar with the characters, pieced together some of the backstory, and got into the rhythm of the show, I started enjoying it. It helps that her new best friend Roxie is played by Soliel Moon Frye, another former child sitcom veteran who knows her way around wacky comedy hijinks, and who, in the intervening years, seems to have transformed from cute little "Punky Brewster" into something of a babe, which is always a good thing.

The stories are good-spirited and fun while rarely ever getting either too stupid or too sappy. The Halloween episode is pretty elaborate, of course, packed with monsters and ghouls. This season also includes an outstanding Christmas episode and a spring break trip to Florida that turns into an awesome "Beach Party" spoof. Even the Valentine's Day episode failed to make me gag. The rest of the time Sabrina contends with the usual college and romantic problems, and the humor is funny without getting overly raunchy or insult-oriented, which is pretty refreshing. All in all, this batch of stories wasn't hard to get through at all.

Caroline Rhea is her usual cute self as Hilda, and Beth Benedict sorta grew on me as Zelda. The rest of the supporting cast is good, with some interesting guest stars including David Garrison, Kal Penn, Estelle Harris, Matt McCoy, Richard Kline, Leslie Jordan, Gedde Watanabe, and even Frankie Avalon. In addition to Anson Williams, the direction is capably handled by the likes of Amanda Bearse ("Married w/Children") and Henry Winkler, and castmembers Melissa Joan Hart and Beth Benedict.

Visually, the show is bright and colorful, and generally looks great. Even the frequent use of cheap CGI is pretty nicely-done. The 3-disc, 22-episode DVD set is full screen (4.3) with Dolby Digital sound but (alas) no extras.

So, once again I've found myself delving into previously-uncharted "wacky sitcom" territory that I normally wouldn't be caught dead in, and emerged feeling curiously entertained. SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH is a surprisingly fun and appealing show which, according to its IMDb fans, was even better in its first four seasons. But I, being blissfully ignorant of the show's previous greatness, found myself enjoying this fifth season DVD set very much. In fact, you might even say that I was--here it comes--"bewitched." Ha ha, get it? Never mind.

 

 

SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH: THE FIFTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

MATLOCK: THE THIRD SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/28/09

 

It's a shame that "Matlock" is widely perceived as an "old people's show." I never watched it during its first run for that very reason, figuring that it would be about as much fun as spending an hour with Andy Rooney. Boy, was I wrong!

MATLOCK: THE THIRD SEASON has converted me. This 5-disc set of twenty episodes has turned me into a certified "Matlock" addict, marvelling at the sharp, clever writing and hanging on every nuance of Andy Griffith's brilliant performance as the title character. Griffith milks the role for all it's worth, with such a relaxed, natural style that it barely looks like he's working at all. Which, of course, is a testament to the effort, skill, and devious intelligence behind the creation of his onscreen persona.

Ben Matlock has the soul of a cantankerous country lawyer in the big city (Atlanta, Georgia) with the kind of clientele that reflects his exhorbitant fee. He's not a big spender, though--he lives in a modest suburban house, his favorite food is hot dogs, and he wears the same light gray suit every day. Although possessing an easygoing sense of humor most of the time, he's still a crotchety old coot who's set in his ways. This sometimes lulls suspects into underestimating until he gets them on the witness stand and goes in for the kill.

 

Griffith's co-stars changed a lot over the show's nine seasons (1986-1995); in year three, he's ably supported by regulars Nancy Stafford, Julie Sommars, and Kene Holliday. The statuesque Stafford plays Matlock's assistant, Michelle Thomas, and aside from being a knockout she's good at giving the star someone to trade dialogue with. Even more appealing is Sommar's character Julie March, a district attorney who has some sweetly romantic interplay with Matlock when she isn't opposing him in court. Unfortunately, her character is sparsely seen, probably to give Ben more combative courtroom opponents like APOCALYPSE NOW's Albert Hall, who makes numerous guest appearances as a no-nonsense D.A. Holliday is great as private investigator Tyler Hudson, taking care of Matlock's legwork in addition to handling most of the show's infrequent action scenes.

One of the best things about season three is that it introduces Andy Griffith's old pal Don Knotts as his bothersome new neighbor, Les "Ace" Calhoun. Similar to their relationship as Mayberry's sheriff Andy Taylor and deputy Barney Fife, Ben and Les are an odd couple who have a warm affection for each other even though Les can often be an insufferable, self-important screw-up who gets in the way a lot--in other words, he's not much different from Barney Fife. Knotts is his usual excellent self in the role and his appearances on the show are always a cause for celebration.

 

Some of the other noteworthy guest stars to appear in season three include Seymore Cassell, Cindy Morgan (TRON), Lisa Hartman, Dorian Harewood, David Ogden Stiers, Georg Stanford Brown, Mitchell Laurance, Richard Herd, Dennis Franz, Ford Rainey, Nana Visitor ("Deep Space Nine"), Peter Mark Richman, John Harkins, Dirk Blocker, Frances Fisher, Claude Akins, Don Swayze, Fran Ryan, Heidi Swedberg (the ill-fated Susan from "Seinfeld"), former "Andy Griffith Show" regular Jack Dodson, Roger Davis, Anne Francis, Thomas "Tiny" Lister, Roddy McDowall, Sam McMurray, Nia Peeples, and John Rubinstein. Daniel Roebuck would join the cast a few years later but shows up a couple of times here as aspiring attorney Alex Winter.

Like "Perry Mason", each episode begins with a murder and offers several suspects besides the one actually charged with the crime (whom we know is innocent, or else Matlock wouldn't be defending them). Then it's up to Matlock to investigate and uncover the evidence that the police missed, mull it all over in his mind until he comes up with some brilliant deduction, and then do his stuff in the courtroom. One thing's for sure--Matlock gets away with a lot more than Perry Mason ever did. He's often given such free reign while grilling a witness that you expect to hear an objection after every other sentence, and when it doesn't come you wonder if the judge and D.A. have fallen asleep or something. The only thing that I don't like about this show is that once Matlock gets that final witness/suspect on the stand, his prolonged and barely-contested dismantling of the poor sap is pretty much like shooting fish in a barrel. Still, Griffith is always able to play each of these scenes to the hilt.

Be that as it may, this collection is filled with sharply-written, well-mounted episodes that rarely fail to entertain. Some of them are directed by formerly blacklisted Leo Penn (father of Sean and Chris), who also appears onscreen as a murdered priest in the aptly-titled "The Priest." Don Knotts' series debut is in the episode "The Lemon", in which he gets gypped by a crooked car salesman who later turns up underneath one of his own cars, with Les himself as the main suspect. "The Black Widow" is an intriguing look at one of the rare cases Matlock lost, after which the wrongly-convicted man is paroled after seven years only to discover that the wife he's supposed to have killed is still alive--whereupon he gets charged with murdering her again!

In "The Model", Matlock is hit by a car just as he makes a mental breakthrough in a case, then must struggle to remember it while lying in a hospital bed. "The Vendetta" guest-stars Mitchell Laurance as a revenge-seeking man who holds Michelle, Julie, and Tyler hostage in Ben's office until he arrives. This turns out to be a clip show, but it's one of the best I've ever seen and ends on a delightfully hilarious note. The set also features three 2-part episodes that are consistently involving.

All in all, this is a superb collection. Aside from being Grandpa Simpson's favorite show, MATLOCK is one of the most entertaining series I've ever watched--it fully qualifies as "classic television" in every sense of the term. And as a showcase for the great Andy Griffith's remarkable skill as an actor, it's in a class by itself.

MATLOCK: THE THIRD SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

GHOST WHISPERER: THE FOURTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

 

Originally posted on 9/20/09

 

 

It took me a few discs to build up a tolerance to GHOST WHISPERER: THE FOURTH SEASON, but once I stopped expecting a serious (or scary) paranormal drama and accepted it as the schmaltzy tearjerker that it is, I began to kind of enjoy it.

Basically, this show is a slickly-produced and richly-photographed series of variations on the movie GHOST, with most episodes doing their best to reproduce that famously emotional "Ditto" finale in one form or another. Although supposedly inspired by the experiences of certain real-life spirit communicators, this rather conventional series dwells on the more fanciful, romantic, and melodramatic storylines that can be drawn from such a premise.

Jennifer Love Hewitt stars as Melinda Gordon, who, just like Haley Joel Osment's character in THE SIXTH SENSE, "sees dead people" and tries to help them solve whatever problems are keeping them earthbound so that they can cross over into the light. Her paramedic husband Jim (David Conrad), antique store employee and best friend Delia (Camryn Manheim), and Delia's teenage son Ned (Christoph Sanders) are aware of Melinda's "gift" and help her whenver they can. In this season Melinda also acquires a new friend, Dr. Eli James (Jamie Kennedy), who has recently gained the ability to hear ghosts and becomes her reluctant sidekick.

Most stories play like a Halloween episode of "Touched By an Angel", with a few mildly scary elements giving way to heart-tugging emotional situations once Melinda discovers the ghost's problem and seeks to solve it. These apparitions are usually just troubled people with unfinished business or unresolved issues, although on some occasions they may have more sinister or destructive intent.

The standard ending for these supernatural sob stories is a prolonged scene of reconciliation between the troubled spirits and the living, with Melinda relaying the ghost's final sentiments before he or she enters the light with a beatific smile. More often than not, these scenes are allowed to drag on until they become unbearably cloying. "Bloodline", for example, starts out as an interesting "angry ghost" story, but the blubber-fest ending, complete with maudlin piano music, lasts about five minutes too long. Several episodes also contain an inordinate amount of sappy emo ballads popping up with disconcerting regularity.

"Body of Water" is about as horrific as the show gets, with a teenage girl going for a late night swim in a pond which she discovers is filled with decaying corpses. It turns out that a failing funeral home director (David Clennon) has been dumping the bodies after the furnace he was using to cremate them broke down, and their spirits are upset and ashamed that their loved ones must now be called upon to identify their gruesome remains. But by the end of the story Melinda straightens everything out in time for the obligatory extended cry-a-thon.

The most noteworthy aspect of season four is a prolonged story arc that begins with Melinda and Jim's concerted efforts to conceive a child, then veers suddenly in a totally unexpected direction. (Skip the rest of this paragraph and the next if you don't want to know what happens.) In episode 6 of the season, "Imaginary Friends and Enemies", Jim is accidentally shot by the police while trying to disarm an assailant, and, to Melinda's horror, dies in the hospital soon after. But while visiting Melinda in her car the next day, Jim's ghost witnesses a man's death in a traffic mishap. After seeing the accident victim's spirit rise and go into the light, Jim enters the vacated body and returns to life, only to wake up with a different identity and total amnesia.

For much of the rest of the season, considerable time is spent showing Jim (now "Sam") trying to get his memory back and coping with his new life. Living in Melinda's garage, he finds himself falling for her all over again until the surprise appearance of Sam's fiancee, Nikki (Terri Polo), complicates things further. Not only must Sam now decide between his old and new lives and loves, but an inexplicably vehement new skepticism toward anything supernatural becomes a massive stumbling block between him and Melinda. Needless to say, this continuing subplot which spans several episodes is pure soap-opera stuff.

As Melinda's husband, David Conrad is just the kind of sensitive, supportive, yet hunky guy needed to compliment such a saintly heroine. Jennifer Love Hewitt's Melinda comes off as a cross between Mother Teresa and Marlo Thomas in "That Girl", with a calculated, superficial acting style that's more about the way she looks in her pouty closeups and various outfits than anything else. Not to mention the fact that her cleavage often plays such an important co-starring role on the show that it should get its own billing. Jennifer does, however, have the ability to squirt out streams of tears on cue, which proves invaluable in many scenes.

Camryn Manheim, whom I can't stand, does her usually capable job in the role of Melinda's friend Delia. Replacing regular castmember Jay Mohr in the season's first episode, "Firestarter", is comedian Jamie Kennedy as college professor and psychologist Eli James. After a fire in which Dr. James dies for a brief time before being resuscitated, he suddenly finds himself capable of hearing (but not seeing) ghosts. Melinda helps him cope with his newfound ability and he soon becomes an invaluable helper in her paranormal endeavors. Kennedy is well-suited for this role, playing it with just the right comedy touch while remaining a believable character.

The CBS/Paramount DVD set contains 23 episodes on 6 discs which are boxed in three slimline cases. The anamorphic widescreen 1.78:1 image and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound are fine. Extras include the featurettes "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment", "Season 4: Love Never Dies", and "Scoring the Spirit World" with composer Mark Snow ("The X-Files"). Disc six features an interactive haunted-dollhouse trivia game, interactive fashion style guide, The Other Side III Webseries, and another trivia game called "Grave Mistakes." Closed-captioning for the hearing impaired is available.

If you're a sucker for mildly spooky ghost stories and shamelessly sappy chick flicks, GHOST WHISPERER: THE FOURTH SEASON is a combination of the two which should provide several hours of mildly spooky and shamelessly sappy entertainment. Others may find the show's sickly-sweet oversentimentality to be the scariest thing about it.
 

GHOST WHISPERER: THE FOURTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

TAXI: THE FOURTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/25/09

 

 

I caught a few episodes of "Taxi" during its original run (1978-83) and never got into it. But now that I've had a chance to watch TAXI: THE FOURTH SEASON and really get a feel for the show, I've found things to like about it that I missed the first time around. Like Bob James' beautiful soft-jazz theme music that opens each episode, "Taxi" has an almost melancholy feel that adds some realism to its light comedy plots--the characters seem oppressed by the crowded, impersonal city in which they live and work, and find emotional solace in each other.

The show doesn't have a lot of big, dumb slapstick moments designed to get the live studio audience whooping and hollering. Compared to most sitcoms of its era, it's low-key and character-driven. It would be hard to come up with a more reserved, contemplative lead character than Judd Hirsch's Alex Reiger, who serves as a de facto father figure for the group. Alex plays straight man for the nuttier characters but has a talent for deadpan one-liners and snags a good share of the laughs himself. He's also a conduit for the writers to insert a more rational point of view into the show's nuttier scenes.

The main setting is the New York City taxi garage where Reiger and his coworkers spend an awful lot of time just hanging around. (As in "Welcome Back Kotter", the place is haunted by those spooky extras who always hover silently in the background but never interact with the main characters, just like the "other" students in Mr. Kotter's class.) Danny DeVito is great as their vain, self-centered blowhard of a boss, Louie De Palma, whose bombastic personality compensates for his diminutive stature and trollish appearance. Marilu Henner is divorced single mom Elaine Nardo, an ultra-cute redhead who also works at an art gallery. She isn't funny, but she's ultra-cute.

Ex-boxer Tony Banta is played by Tony Danza with his usual obnoxious street-doofus style. As aspiring actor Bobby Wheeler, Jeff Conaway appears only a couple of times in this season since he left to pursue his own acting aspirations. This is okay with me because I never cared for his jittery character and, by this point, the cast seems overcrowded when he's there. I like Conaway a lot in GREASE, but I don't think his style is very well suited for this kind of sitcom.

The two comedy characters most people remember when they think about "Taxi" are mechanic Latka Gravas (Andy Kaufman) and Reverend Jim Ignatowski (Christopher Lloyd). Lloyd, who entered the public consciousness along with DeVito when they appeared as mental hospital inmates in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, gets plenty of laughs with his cockeyed, spaced-out character--he's the show's crowd-pleasing equivalent to Kramer from "Seinfeld"--but I don't always find Reverend Jim to be nearly as knee-jerk funny as we're supposed to. He can, however, be very amusing at times.

Latka Gravas, of course, is Andy Kaufman's "Foreign Man" character which he'd been performing in his stand-up routines for years, transplanted into a sitcom setting. As a Kaufman fan, I look forward to his appearances although his bizarre sense of humor is watered-down here. Kaufman would later regret having sold out the character, whom he regarded as an expression of his own more innocent side.

Latka's comedy potential was greatly expanded when it was decided to give him multiple personalities, enabling Kaufman to come up with characters such as sleazy lounge lizard Vic Ferrari, a cornfed cowboy, and his friend Reiger. Latka, along with Reverend Jim, gives the writers a chance to get sillier once in a while. My only regret is that Kaufman's most abrasive and off-putting alter ego, the horrendous Tony Clifton, was fired during rehearsals for a guest appearance and ousted from the studio lot.

High concept comedy this isn't--the writers generally keep things simple and indentifiable. The season opener, "Jim the Psychic", has a skeptical Alex disregarding Jim's ominous premonition of his future while Louie becomes a nervous wreck. In "Tony's Lady", Tony gets a second job as a chaffeur and falls for his sexy new boss. "Nina Loves Alex" features a young female cabbie who becomes fixated on Alex until he can't stand it anymore. Episodes don't necessarily end on a big laugh, or work up to some emotional crescendo. They just end when the story's over.

One of the funniest episodes is "Take My Ex-Wife, Please", in which Louise Lasser of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" appears as Alex's ex-wife, Phyllis, who ends up on a disastrous date with Louie. An excellent comedienne, Lasser applies her comedic skills to this modestly funny script and turns her scenes with DeVito and Hirsch into some of the best moments of the whole season.

Another memorable guest star is the adorable Carol Kane in the recurring role of Latka's girlfriend, Simka Dahblitz. In "Simka Returns", Latka becomes jealous of her growing infatuation with the more outgoing Vic Ferrari. "The Wedding of Latka and Simka", with CUCKOO'S NEST alumnus Vincent Schiavelli as the priest who performs the ceremony, is both touching and comically surreal as we observe the strange wedding customs of their native country.

Ted Danson guests as a flamboyant hairdresser who gives Elaine the most embarrassing hairstyle imaginable in "The Unkindest Cut." In "Tony's Comeback", Bubba Smith is funny as an ex-football player who encourages Tony to get back into the boxing ring. The great Martin Short plays a struggling TV programmer who takes advantage of Jim's psychic abilities in "Jim Joins the Network." In "Like Father, Like Son", Alex's estranged father returns in the form of venerable comic actor Jack Gilford and becomes his surprise romantic rival. Danny DeVito's real-life mom and his wife Rhea Perlman can be seen in other episodes.

In the two-part season finale, "The Road Not Taken", Elaine's indecision about taking a better job in Seattle leads to everyone recounting stories about various turning points in their own lives. Reiger is shown as an ambitious business executive whose career is derailed by his rebellious nature. J. Pat O'Malley plays the cab company's previous dispatcher who is forced into retirement by the devious Louie. Latka tells of the day he left home to come to America, and Tony reveals his first encounter with the shady side of boxing. Best of all, we get to see Reverend Jim as the bright, straight-arrow Harvard student that he was before he became a drug burn-out, with a young Tom Hanks as his stoner roommate.

The 3-disc, 24-episode DVD set from CBS/Paramount is in the original 4.3 full-screen with Dolby Digital sound and closed-captions. Episodic promos for all episodes are included.

The main thing I didn't like about "Taxi" originally, besides the fact that a lot of the jokes were lame, was my feeling that it was trying to appear deeper and more thoughtful than it really was. I still think a lot of the jokes are lame, but upon viewing TAXI: THE FOURTH SEASON, I've come to see the show as an often genuinely affecting combination of dumb comedy, naked sentiment, and grown-up sensibilities.

TAXI: THE FOURTH SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

THE FUGITIVE: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 3/12/09

 

When I was growing up, "The Fugitive" was a television show that just about everybody watched. Not only was it very well made on all counts, but the premise was one which anyone could identify with. There was something for everyone--fast action, nail-biting suspense, intense human drama, desperate romance. The only thing I don't remember was comedy, since the story of an innocent, haunted man on the run after being found guilty of murdering his wife doesn't really lend itself to comic relief. For such a popular show, which had a four-season (1963-67) run of 120 episodes, it's consistently somber and downbeat.

The tragic odyssey of Dr. Richard Kimble continues with CBS-Paramount's four-disc DVD collection THE FUGITIVE: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO. In these fifteen episodes, David Janssen's classic character travels from town to town, taking different jobs under assumed names as he stays one step ahead of his dogged pursuer Lt. Philip Gerard (co-star Barry Morse) and searches for the one-armed man who killed his wife and got away with it. Try as he might to mind his own business and remain anonymous, the kind-hearted, compassionate Kimble can't help but get mixed up in the personal lives of those around him, often being forced to expose his identity and risk capture in order to help others.

One of the main assets of this series is its perfect casting. David Janssen, one of television's most unusual stars, invests the Kimble character with a deeply sad and wistful quality that's never less than totally convincing. Always introspective and withdrawn, Kimble often stands slumped with his hands in his pockets, looking down and mumbling as though beaten by the world. At any moment he may be forced to flee for his life like an escaped animal or perform desperate acts in order to survive. Yet his humanity is never far from the surface, revealed by a caring look and the briefest of smiles, and his frequent emotional connection with the people he meets keeps the show from becoming too disheartening.

As Lt. Gerard, Barry Morse is an excellent, interesting actor whose angular physique and intense demeanor make Gerard seem almost like a relentless bird of prey, obsessed with seeing Kimble meet his appointment with the executioner. The character appears only sporadically to avoid overuse, and the episodes in which he is featured usually bristle with suspense.

Although the series would later switch to color, season two is still beautifully shot in atmospheric, noirish black-and-white, which adds greatly to the overall mood and distinctive visual style, while the episodes are helmed by veteran TV directors such as Alexander Singer, Don Medford, and Abner Biberman. The writing is generally top-notch.

William "Cannon" Conrad's deep-throated narration grimly recounts Kimble's story during the dramatic opening titles--the still-photo montage of him coming face-to-face with the fleeing one-armed man who just murdered his wife, and his subsequent escape from a train derailment while on his way to be executed, are still haunting. Conrad's voice also bookends each episode with grave observations about Kimble's continued plight as we watch him furtively make his way to the next town.

The episodes are replete with interesting guest players, from past and future "big name" stars to those familiar character actors who could always be relied on to give solid performances. Among those appearing in this set are Robert Duvall, Angie Dickinson, James Doohan, Pat Hingle, Tom Skerritt, Celeste Holm, Bruce Dern, Shirley Knight, Ed Asner, Telly Savalas, Norman Fell, Dabney Coleman, Jack Klugman, Ruth White, Harry Dean Stanton, Louise Sorel, Barry Atwater, Lou Antonio, Ed Begley, Murray Hamilton, Virginia Christine, Richard Anderson, June Harding, Roy Jensen, Dabbs Greer, Whit Bissell, Virginia Gregg, John Anderson, Jean Hale, Harry Townes, Geraldine Brooks, R.G. Armstrong, Vaughn Taylor, Mort Mills, Peter Haskell, Jan Shutan, Richard Devon, Sharon Farrell, Ben Piazza, Steve Forrest, Laurence Naismith, and John Erickson. Paul Birch, a familiar face in several schlock sci-fi/horror flicks from the 50s, appears a few times as Lt. Gerard's boss, Captain Carpenter.

The DVD is 4.3 full-screen with Dolby Digital mono sound, and the episodes are transferred from the original negatives so they look as good here as they did when first broadcast. A major gripe with earlier sets was the replacement by CBS-Paramount of much of Pete Rugolo's dynamic original music in order to avoid potential legal problems. Here, however, Rugolo's classic score is intact, along with the occasional recognizable musical cues from shows such as "The Twilight Zone." Episodes are listed with summaries and original airdates inside the keepcase. There are no bonus features, but the shows themselves amount to a total running time of almost 13 hours.

I'm glad "The Fugitive" is being released on DVD because it was a great series that deserves to be made available to both old fans and new audiences. I had a great time reliving the richly entertaining episodes contained in THE FUGITIVE: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO, and anyone who enjoys quality classic television should make it a point to track this show down.

 

THE FUGITIVE: SEASON TWO, VOLUME TWO -- DVD review by porfle

THE LUCY SHOW: THE OFFICIAL FIRST SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 7/5/09

 

Seeing Lucy and Viv climbing up onto the roof of their two-storey house to put up a TV antenna just seems to activate some primal response of giddy nostalgia in me. Sure, I love shows like "The Simpsons" and "Married with Children", but after years of seeing the traditional sitcom being deconstructed all to hell, it's nice to go back to basics and watch the real thing every once in a while. "The Lucy Show", needless to say, is definitely the real thing, a prime example of pure, cornball situation comedy with only one goal--to make us laugh--and every episode pays off like a slot machine.

THE LUCY SHOW: THE OFFICIAL FIRST SEASON gives us the first thirty of those episodes on four discs, looking just about as good as they did when the show hit the airwaves back in 1962. Shot in beautiful black-and-white, it was the second TV collaboration between (now former) husband-and-wife team Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball after their long-running classic "I Love Lucy." Desi executive-produced the first fifteen episodes, making sure the show got off to a well-nurtured start before bowing out and leaving Lucy in charge of Desilu Studios, making her the first woman since Mary Pickford to fulfill such a position.

The show was filmed like a stage play before a live audience, using the same three-camera method pioneered by Desi and giving it a fast-paced, immediate quality. (Other series such as "The Dick Van Dyke Show" would use the three-camera method as well, which became especially prevalent in the 70s thanks to Norman Lear.) Of course, after the principal live photography was done, the director would shoot a number of obvious close-ups that are easy to spot and sometimes result in interesting continuity errors, some of which are featured in the "Flubs" section of each disc.

I don't remember the adventures of widowed single parent Lucy Carmichael being this funny when I used to watch the weekday morning reruns as a kid, but this is top-notch comedy writing performed by some of the most talented comics in showbiz history, and it's "wacky" in a way that you just don't see much anymore. Lucy herself was a marvel, plain and simple, able to deliver funny dialogue with perfect timing one minute and execute the most complex, physically demanding slapstick the next. She's so good here, sometimes it's downright awe-inspiring.

Put her in front of that live audience with a pair of stilts, a kangaroo costume, or a trampoline, and she keeps them in stitches with barely enough time to catch their breath. Not only that, but she also gets laughs just by sitting in a chair, trying not to nod off during a boring date at the symphony. I can't think of a single woman who comes close--she's very likely the funniest comedienne of all time.

On top of that, Lucy and Vivian Vance are a wonderful comedy team whose work together often rivals the likes of Laurel and Hardy and other well-known comic duos. Viv, here playing Lucy's divorced best friend and tenant, Vivian Bagley, is the perfect straight woman for Lucy--her reactions are priceless and the acting skills she brings with her from the theater compliment every gag without her ever having to resort to overstatement or mugging. Many episodes consist of a first half that sets up the premise, and then a second half which is an extended setpiece of compounding hilarity much like the sort of stuff Stan and Ollie used to perform in shorts like "Helpmates" or "Berth Marks." In the aforementioned "Lucy Puts Up a TV Antenna", we see definite echoes of the time "the boys" tried to install a radio antenna on Ollie's roof, with similar results.

It's amazing what they can accomplish with only a set of bunk beds in the episode "Lucy and her Electric Mattress"--one poor guy out in the audience sounds like he's laughing so hard they had to carry him out on a stretcher. "Lucy Buys a Sheep" and "Lucy Digs Up a Date" are more howlers that just keep paying off, especially in the latter when Lucy is forced to fence her way out of a YMCA in drag, using Viv as a human shield. Clearly, the writers (who also worked on "I Love Lucy") walk a tightrope between keeping the show somewhat rooted in reality while serving up slapstick that borders on farce.

"Lucy Builds a Rumpus Room" ends with our heroines literally glued to the wall and buried in coal. You'll just have to watch to see how they managed that feat. In "Together for Christmas", the constantly-squabbling friends go tit-for-tat Laurel-and-Hardy style as they destroy each other's Christmas trees in a frenzy of hacked-off branches and smashed ornaments. Echoes of Stan and Ollie's "Saps at Sea" can be found in "Lucy Buys a Boat", while titles like "Lucy Drives a Dump Truck" and "Lucy Takes Up Chemistry" are enough to make the viewer cringe with apprehension. And for sustained bellylaughs, you can't get much better than "Lucy is a Kangaroo for a Day."

One of the most astounding sequences occurs during the episode "Lucy and Viv Put In A Shower", in which the gals make a disastrous attempt at some do-it-yourself plumbing. A series of steadily mounting foulups results in them being trapped behind the shower door as the stall quickly fills up with water, until finally they have to dog-paddle to keep from going under. Not only do Lucy and Viv perform this difficult setpiece brilliantly, but (according to Wikipedia) Lucy almost drowns at one point and has to recover her breath and her wits while Vivian adlibs. "Where's Lloyd Bridges when you need him?" Lucy finally manages to sputter.

Supporting characters include Lucy's son Jerry and older daughter Chris, and Viv's son Sherman. Jerry (Jimmy Garrett) is the typical wisecracking little kid who manages to be funny without being too obnoxious, while Sherman (Ralph Hart) acts as a big-brother type. Perky blonde Chris (Candy Moore) is the standard early-60s teen who "digs" Bobby Darin and dates dweebs, and is cute enough to make us worry that Humbert Humbert may show up any minute looking for a room to rent. (Although, strangely enough, she's also a dead ringer for "Beaver" Cleaver's friend Gilbert!)

Dick Martin is his usual likable self as Lucy's neighbor and frequent last-resort date, Harry, and brawny Don Briggs plays Viv's jovial, big-lug boyfriend, Ed. Veteran character actor Charles Lane is superb, as always, in the role of Lucy's penny-pinching banker Mr. Barnsdahl (in the second season he'd be replaced by Gale Gordon as the immortal Mr. Mooney). In "Lucy the Soda Jerk", Lucy's real-life daughter Lucie Arnaz, who would later co-star with mom and brother Desi, Jr. on "Here's Lucy", makes her first major guest appearance on the show. Desi, Jr. also pops up as a cub scout in Lucy and Viv's troup in "Lucy Visits the White House."
The DVD collection's colorful packaging and animated menus are fun, and so are the scads of bonus features. Each of the four discs contains a selection of extras including:

"Flubs" --mostly continuity errors and such. In one episode, for example, a chair with Lucy's name printed on the back is visible in the background, and in another, Lucy calls a character by his real name.

"Special Footage" --A half-hour interview with Lucie Arnaz on disc one is filled with great insights about Lucy and the show, as is a 15-minute talk with Jimmy Garrett on disc four, in which he gives his former-child-star perspective and also takes a look at various "Lucy Show" comic books, games, and toys. There are also several 1962 promos for the show including scenes from "Opening Night" with Andy Griffith, Danny Thomas, Garry Moore, and Jack Benny.

"Original Elements" --These are the sponsor-related spots that are attached to the show's opening and closing, plus cast commercials for the various products, all of which can be viewed either seperately or included with each episode. Watch Vivian Vance read the cue cards! These elements were recently rediscovered and are a fun addition to the show.

"Meet Special People" --Profiles of the cast and crew.

"Production Notes" --miscellaneous behind-the-scenes tidbits of trivia.

"Guest Cast" --Profiles of all the main guests in each episode. Some of the many notable people appearing in this set are Hans Conried, William Windom, Majel Barrett, John McGiver, Del Moore, Vito Scotti, Don Grady, William Schallert, Mary Jane Croft, Mary Wickes, Ellen Corby, Philip Carey, Parley Baer, Paul Hartman, Nancy Kulp, Frank Aletter, Reta Shaw, Alan "Fred Flintstone" Reed, Janet "Judy Jetson" Waldo, Leon Belasco, Bobs Watson, "Hollywood Squares" host Peter Marshall, Frank Nelson (the "Yessss?" guy), Carole Cook, Jim Boles, Benny Rubin, and Stafford Repp.

Richly entertaining and brimming with comic surprises at every turn, THE LUCY SHOW: THE OFFICIAL FIRST SEASON is a delightfully joyous wallow in just plain, good-old-fashioned sitcom fun. Not to mention a great reminder of just why Lucille Ball will always be considered TV's First Lady of Comedy.

 

THE LUCY SHOW: THE OFFICIAL FIRST SEASON -- DVD review by porfle

T.V. SETS: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/11/09

 

I think these first-episode collections from CBS/Paramount are a pretty cool idea. Not only are they useful for helping prospective buyers decide which shows to collect in season sets, but they're fun samplers on their own. T.V. SETS: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, featuring the first episodes of "Dexter", "Hawaii Five-O", "The Streets of San Francisco", and "CSI: NY", is a good example--I blew through it in one sitting and it left me wanting more.

I was never a big fan of the "CSI" shows--that is, I never watched any of them. But "Blink", the first episode of "CSI: NY", is a gripping serial killer whodunnit that not only offers an absorbing forensic procedural but also gets into the emotional heart of the story. It seems someone is killing women and dumping their bodies (so what else is new?), but the reasons behind the dastardly acts are strange indeed.

Gary Sinise is the strong silent type as lead detective Mac Taylor, whose sober exterior hides a deeply feeling, empathetic man. His scenes with the killer's sole surviving victim, a woman whose entire body is paralyzed except for her eyes, are moving. Sinise's supporting cast, led by Melina Kanakaredes ("The Guiding Light", "Providence") as Detective Stella Bonasera and featuring DEATH PROOF's Vanessa Ferlito, doesn't get to do much in the way of character development here, though this will surely change in subsequent episodes.

The main draw here, of course, is watching the team make deductions and follow leads based on the tiniest of clues. This is well done for the most part although at times the killer is a bit too accomodating. At one crime scene he leaves behind a camera full of exposed film, for Pete's sake! Anyway, the show looks great, is well-written, and has a fine cast, so it's worth watching.

"The Thirty-Year Pin", which is the 1972 pilot for "The Streets of San Francisco", is your typical 70s-era Quinn Martin cop show. It offers a well-known star (in this case, the great Karl Malden as Detective Mike Stone), a host of familiar guest stars (Edmond O'Brien, Tim O'Connor, Eileen Heckart, David Opatoshu, Rex Holman, Leo Gordon, Ed Lauter), a hokey story that could be altered to fit any number of similar shows, screeching tires, frenetic foot chases, shootouts, and really cheesy production values. In other words, fun stuff!

Of course, this show also had an embryonic Michael Douglas as Stone's young partner Steve Keller. (At this point in his budding career we still weren't sure whether or not Mike would ever get any farther than just being Kirk Douglas' son, which thank goodness he did.) Here, Steve must try to rein in his hotheaded older partner after his best friend, a beat cop from the old days (O'Brien), is gunned down while trying to foil a jewelry store robbery. It's the usual 70s cop show melodrama, but Malden's earnestly over-the-top performance plus lots of action make this an entertaining episode.

The best is yet to come, starting with the 1968 premiere of the classic "Hawaii Five-O", entitled "Full Fathom Five." With one of the greatest musical themes and opening titles sequences in TV history, the story gets off to a rousing start as heartless "lonely hearts" killer Kevin McCarthy and his accomplice-wife knock off a rich widow for her money and dump her body in the ocean in a barrel. Enter tall, dark, and gruesome Detective Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) and his crack detective squad, who enlist the help of an undercover policewoman (Patricia Smith) to pose as the killer's prospective next victim.

Aside from the often grim plots, "Hawaii Five-O" always benefitted from its great use of Hawaiian locations and the charisma of its stars. Lord's "McGarrett" is a TV icon with his huge, jet-black hairdo and droll demeanor. A somber James MacArthur is more impressive than I remembered as Detective Danny "Danno" Williams, reminding me somewhat of Rick Shroeder's character on "NYPD Blue."

Rounding out the good guys are the relatively jovial Kam Fong as Detective Chin Ho Kelly and the barrel-chested Zulu as "Kono." B-movie stalwart Richard Denning (CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) makes the first of many appearances as the governor and character actor Phillip Pine pops up in a subplot that has hippies in it.

And, finally--as a recent convert to the fandom of Showtime's "Dexter", that series' pilot is my favorite part of this collection. This fills in a lot of Dexter's backstory that I wondered about while watching the third season set, such as how his policeman stepfather Harry (James Remar) channeled the young Dexter's innate killer tendencies into a more constructive purpose, namely the elimination of bad guys who have slipped through the legal system.

We learn about how the emotionless Dexter (Michael C. Hall) forms an odd romantic relationship with Rita (Julie Benz), whose horrific abuse by a former husband has left her emotionally damaged and leery of sexual contact. And we meet Dexter's foulmouthed, impulsive, and very likable adoptive sister Deb (Hall's real-life wife Jennifer Carpenter), a young policewoman who yearns to rise above posing as hookers to become a detective.

Dexter himself is a blood-splatter analyst for the Miami police, giving him access to lots of bloody crime scenes which fascinate him. But none more so than the work of a killer who is apparently able to neatly dismember his victims and drain them of their blood without leaving a single drop behind. ("I'd never seen such clean, dry, neat-looking dead flesh," he marvels during his voiceover narration. "Wonderful.") Right before the fadeout, we discover that this killer has made contact with Dexter in a strange, perhaps threatening way.

Unfortunately, we only see the beginning of this potentially fascinating storyline (making me want to purchase the season one set, thus fulfilling the main purpose of these sampler sets!) although we do get to see Dexter engage in the stalking and grisly killing of two particularly deserving individuals. I'm just plain captivated by this series, and having the first episode to watch here is a real treat.

I've always been interested in seeing the first episodes of long-running TV shows, and T.V. SETS: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT is a colorful assortment of them which is well worth having.



Dexter:
Third Season Review

Fifth Season Review

Sixth Season Review

T.V. SETS: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT -- DVD review by porfle

T.V. SETS: BEYOND THE ORDINARY -- DVD review by porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/12/09

 

Another of CBS/Paramount's sampler sets containing premiere episodes of various TV series, T.V. SETS: BEYOND THE ORDINARY takes us back to our first encounters with the sci-fi and paranormal shows "Star Trek: The Original Series", "The 4400", "Medium", and "Joan of Arcadia." Actually, "ST:TOS" was the only show that I'd previously encountered, making this a journey of discovery which proved quite enjoyable--mostly.

As any Trekker worth his high-water pants can tell you, "Star Trek: The Original Series" had two pilot episodes--"The Cage", starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike, and "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which introduced William Shatner as Captain James Kirk. The show's television premiere, however, was "The Man Trap", chosen by NBC to introduce the series to the world because it had a scary monster in it.

It's also one of the most glum and dreary of the first season episodes, telling the story of husband-and-wife archeologists on an alien planet who, for some reason, resist getting their annual physicals from Dr. McCoy and clearly don't want any outsiders around. The woman, Nancy Crater (Jeanne Bal) happens to be an old flame of McCoy, who acts like a lovesick puppy around her. The man, Dr. Crater (Alfred Ryder), is hostile and evasive.

Strangely enough, although the doctor still sees Nancy as the young woman he once loved, Kirk perceives her as a graying middle-aged matron while the security man accompanying them (Michael Zaslow) sees her as a hot babe he once had a fling with on Wrigley's pleasure planet! When this doomed "red shirt" follows her outside and later ends up dead, with every trace of salt sucked from his corpus, Kirk deduces that something's up. As the episode progresses, more sodium-free bodies begin to pile up until finally our heroes have a showdown with the grotesque, sucker-fingered "salt vampire" that's now loose on the Enterprise.

I've seen this episode roughly, oh, ten-thousand times, but it's nice having this crystal-clear remastered version. It's also interesting to watch since it's one of those revamped episodes in which the original special effects have been digitally "improved." I've been curious to see what this process looks like and now I have a better idea, although "The Man Trap" doesn't really feature any space battles or other effects that warrant the George Lucas CGI makeover treatment. Mainly we just see new, improved shots of the Enterprise circling the planet. The new stuff looks neat, but I'm old-fashioned and like the original effects better.

"Medium" begins with the words: "There really is an Allison. Really." And indeed, Allison DuBois is credited as the technical advisor for the show. Who is she? As we discover in the pilot episode, Allison (Patricia Arquette) is a happily-married mother of three who is an intern in the district attorney's office and wants to be a lawyer. She also happens to be a psychic who communicates with the dead. The latter, as you might guess, proves to be a hindrance to her professional ambitions until her abilities are recognized as genuine and she is allowed to utilize them to their fullest extent. This, however, comes later.

She gets her first chance to prove herself when a dubious Texas Ranger named Captain Push (FULL METAL JACKET's Arliss Howard) reluctantly requests her help in the case of a missing child. Howard, who seems to have actually listened to how Texans talk before taking the role, gives his usual strong performance and goes from hostile skeptic to amazed believer in plausible fashion. Arquette herself does a nice, low-key job in the lead role and it's gratifying to see her character's self-confidence pay off as her visions are proven correct again and again. This is a self-contained episode with a satisfying resolution, and I can see how it would make for a successful series.

Not so promising is the 2003 pilot for "Joan of Arcadia", about a teenage girl (Amber Tamblyn) who suddenly starts getting stalked by God. That is, various strangers begin approaching Joan and claiming to be God in different guises, and giving her "errands." Why Joan? Beats me, since she's just your typical angsty, emo teenager. I guess God couldn't resist the bad "Joan of Arc" pun and she was the closest candidate. But it seems to me that the original Joan had to do more than a few errands to rate the title.

The first sign that this show isn't going to be on my favorites list is the use of that awful "God on a bus" song by Joan Osborne as its theme. Then we get Joe Mantegna in full smarm as Joan's police chief dad at a crime scene where a serial killer has dumped a body. Are we eventually going to have serial killers dumping bodies on every freakin' TV show? There's also Mary Steenburgen at her most irritating as Joan's mom, and Jason Ritter, who was recently pretty good in Fred Durst's THE EDUCATION OF CHARLIE BANKS, as Joan's wheelchair-bound brother Kevin. Joan's most important accomplishment in this episode is to inspire Kevin to look for a job and get his life in gear again. Which is great, but on a Joan-of-Arc level it ain't.

Joan's conversations with God are on the cutesy and coy side. "I don't answer the 'why' questions," God tells her after she grills Him with stupid questions. "So, what if I don't do what you tell me to?" she asks. "Am I going to burst into flames?" George Burns and John Denver already did this routine a long time ago, and better. The best exchange in this vein is probably when Joan asks to see a miracle as proof that the guy she's talking to is really God, and He points to a tree.

Speaking of which, what's the "point" (see, I can make bad puns, too!) of this show? God tells Joan to get a job in a bookstore, working for the guy from GALAXY QUEST who worshipped the Alan Rickman character (Patrick Breen), so I guess this will be part of her divine task--helping people who like to read. I know, it's just the pilot and it sets us up for what will probably be a grand life adventure for Joan. But this episode is all I have to go by, and it just doesn't give me that vibe. Now, if the series ends with this Joan actually getting burned at the stake, then I'll take it all back.

Since I live on that weird planet filled with strange alien beings who don't have cable TV, I'd never seen an episode of "The 4400." The premise always sounded fascinating to me, though, and it was a distinct pleasure to watch the feature-length first episode in which a huge, comet-like ball of fire blazes its way to Earth and then comes to a stop over a lake, whereupon it deposits exactly 4400 people who have mysteriously disappeared over the last sixty years or so.

To them, it seems like they've only been gone for an instant, but the fact that years, and in some cases several decades, have elapsed means that their personal lives have been pretty much destroyed. And in addition to that, they're viewed by the government and the public at large as a potential threat. This fear proves somewhat well-founded when, one by one, the 4400 begin to display strange and sometimes destructive new powers. So, in a way, it's a little like "The X-Men" but without the spandex.

Naturally, the Department of Homeland Security gets into the act. Head guy Peter Coyote pairs up a couple of mismatched field agents, rumpled loner Diana (Jacqueline McKenzie) and deeply troubled Tom (Joel Gretsch), whose wife is divorcing him and whose son is still in a coma after witnessing the abduction of his cousin Shawn (Patrick Flueger) three years earlier. This odd couple supplies fun and quirky character moments together while investigating the latest scary and weird events surrounding the returnees.

This is an awesomely intriguing idea for a series with lots of potential for good stories. The premiere episode is handled very well and features several dramatic and suspenseful subplots. Michael Moriarty is great as a man whose anger over the various injustices resulting from his 35-year absence manifests itself as lethal waves of energy. Conchita Campbell plays eight-year-old Maia, who was gone the longest (since 1946) and can now see the future. Her strangely serene character is mysterious and compelling, like most of the characters and events in this gripping story, and it's frustrating that the episode ends just when it's getting interesting. So, just as those sneaky people at CBS/Paramount intended with this sampler DVD, I now want to buy the first season of "The 4400." Or at least borrow it from somebody, heh heh.

T.V. SETS: BEYOND THE ORDINARY -- DVD review by porfle