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Pratfall-prone Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) and his plucky wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore), along with wisecracking co-workers Sally (Rose Marie) and Buddy (Morey Amsterdam), captured America's hearts in this TV favorite that irresistibly combined wit and slapstick. Each Episode Fully Restored for Unsurpassed Quality! Episodes include: Coast-to-Coast Big Mouth, Uhny Uftz, The Ugliest Dog in the World, No Rice at My Wedding, Draw Me a Pear, The Great Petrie Fortune, Odd But True, Viva Petrie, Go Tell the Birds and the Bees, Body and Sol, See Rob Write -- Write, Rob, Write, You're Under Arrest, Fifty-Two Forty-Five or Work, Who Stole My Watch, Bad Reception in Albany, I Do Not Choose to Run, The Making of a Councilman, The Curse of the Petrie People, The Bottom of Mel Cooley's Heart, Remember the Alimony, Dear Sally Rogers, Buddy Sorrell: Man and Boy, Long Night's Journey into Day, Talk to the Snail, A Day in the Life of Alan Brady, Obnoxious, Offensive, Egomaniac, Etc., The Man from My Uncle, You Ought to Be in Pictures, Love Thy Other Neighbor, The Last Chapter, The Gunslinger. Read more
Mary and the gang from WJM-TV return in another award-winning season. No longer the new girl in town, Mary has come to think of the newsroom staff as family. But along with the good times and close friendships come the often trying—and ultimately hilarious—situations every family faces. From Mary explaining the facts of life to Phyllis’ daughter to going on a blind date (set up by Lou!) to attending her disastrous high school reunion, it’s clear why this TV classic is one of the most beloved comedies of all time. The Emmy-winning first season was an auspicious beginning. By its second season, the classic theme song "Love is All Around" has been revamped with an even more optimistic outlook: "You're gonna make it after all." In the sophomore season of this instant gold-standard sitcom, the ace writing staff and peerless ensemble begin to flesh out the iconic characters. Gruff Lou Grant (Ed Asner, enjoying his second Emmy-winning season) reveals his more loveable side when he discovers his son-in-law out with another woman in "The Six-and-a-Half-Year Itch." Vain Ted Baxter (Ted Knight) becomes a more sympathetic character in "Cover Boy," featuring the hilariously preening Jack Cassidy as Ted's competitive brother, and "And Now, Sitting in for Ted Baxter," in which a substitute anchor earns higher ratings than the vacationing Ted. Mary, the sweetheart of prime time, is still something of a pushover (in "Feeb," she feels compelled to write a letter of recommendation for an extraordinarily incompetent secretary), but she develops the backbone to stand up to an anti-Semite who disapproves of Rhoda in one of the season's best episodes, "Some of My Best Friends Are Rhoda." The indelible friendship between Mary and Rhoda (Valerie Harper, also earning her second consecutive Emmy) is sorely tested when they become temporary roommates in "Where There's Smoke, There's Rhoda." As with the most enduring shows, The Mary Tyler Moore Show eschewed topical humor that would date the series, and instead, mined its more universal and timeless humor from the wellspring of the characters. More than 30 years later, there is still, as ever, something about Mary. --Donald Liebenson Read more
Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson return for their sixth--and last--hilarious season as "SANFORD AND SON." Join Fred, a cantankerous but loveable sexagenarian, and Lamont, his loving but long suffering son, as they welcome guest stars B.B. KING, CHUCK BARRIS, ROSS MARTIN, PAT PAULSEN, and SHELDON LEONARD to their South Central neighborhood junkyard, as one of TV's funniest sitcoms comes to an uproarious conclusion. This three-disk DVD collection features producers Norman Lear's and Bud Yorkin's legendary comedy series' final 24 sidesplitting episodes. Read more
One of the greatest comedians ever, Sid Caesar has been making America laugh since the 1950s, when he ruled airwaves with his Emmy® Award-winning Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. Now, for the first time ever, 20 of his fans' all-time favorite sketcheWhen we worked together," reminisces Sid Caesar, "it was magic, and you don't question magic." So just enjoy this essential three-disc collection of vintage sketches from Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. To work on these programs was to attend "the Harvard of Comedy," and this "great amalgamation of talents," which included Carl Reiner, Imogene Coca, Howard Morris, Nanette Fabray, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, and Neil and Danny Simon, were at the head of their class. "We did everything," Caesar notes at one point, and the proof is on these discs: domestic sketches ("Life Begins at 7:45"), game show parodies ("Break Your Brains"), spoofs of foreign films ("U-Bet-U"), opera ("Gallipacci"), and classical music (and a pantomime of "the 1812 Overture"). It is a testament to the knowledge, technique, and taste of those who created the show that these 50-year-old sketches hold up as well as they do. This was the golden age of live television, when anything could happen, and the cast would have to go with it. In "Gallipacci," Caesar's make-up pencil breaks when his character, a heartbroken clown, is applying make-up to his face. Without missing a beat, Caesar rises to the potentially disastrous occasion with one of the most inspired ad-libs in television history.
In between the sketches, the cast members and writers, a virtual Who's Who of comedy, affectionately recall working with each other, and creating these classic sketches. Each DVD includes bonus sketches. Caesar also provides illuminating commentary on selected sketches. More than a television time capsule that vividly re-creates a bygone era, this priceless collection is also a master class for aspiring comedy writers and performers. It is not a coincidence that one of Caesar's signature characters was called "the Professor." --Donald Liebenson Read more
Valerie Harper is missed as Rhoda, but the show wisely did not try to replace her with another sidekick for Mary. Instead, episodes this season further flesh out these beloved characters. Sue Ellen (Betty White, who was honored with her first Emmy) reveals her vulnerability in ""What Are Friends For?"" Lou falls for a lounge singer with an active past (guest star Sheree North) in ""Lou and That Woman."" But Ted, happily, is still clueless, thoughtless, and egotistical, whether spreading gossip that he and Mary are having an affair (""An Affair to Forget"") or proposing to Georgette (Georgia Engel) on the air (""Marriage Minneapolis Style""). Mary Richards is an iconic character, the poster woman for what Cloris Leachman's Phyllis calls ""the era of the single girl"" in her Emmy-winning turn in ""Phyllis Whips Inflation."" A character and show of this stature certainly deserve better than this set's bare-bones release. Three years elapsed between the releases of season 4 and season 5. Talk about cliffhangers; ""Chuckles Bites the Dust"" awaits in season 6. --Donald Liebenson" Read more
Lotsa Luck was the first TV show to showcase the comic brilliance and acting skills of Dom DeLuise, although he did go on to star in a couple of other short lived shows. The writing on the series was crisp, funny, and brilliant, because the creators of the series, Carl Reiner, Bill Persky and Sam Denoff picked only the cream of the available writers. They also surrounded Carl with a group of actors who would compliment Dom's special talents. The show first aired on September 10, 1973, and went off the air May 24, 1974, perhaps victim of edgy writing and scripts, but the chemistry of the actors and the wit of the writing contributed to DeLuise receiving a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of the beleaguered Stanley.
The series features DeLuise as the custodian of the New York City bus company's lost-and-found department and while that position generated its share of hilarity, the real strength of the show took place at home, where Stanley had to deal with his mother, sister and her lazy, unemployed husband. There was but one other regular in the cast, his co-worker Bummy. Read more
Now, there's a kick in the self-confidence: Single working mom Christine Campbell has just learned that her ex is dating a much-younger woman with the same first name. To avoid any confusion, everyone calls one woman New Christine and the other Old Christine. You can guess which is which. Julia Louis-Dreyfus' hilarious and insightful performance in the title role won fans and earned her the 2006 Emmy as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Christine struggles to hold it together as she adjusts to her new nickname, confronts the meanie moms at her son's private school, jumps back in the dating pool with a post-bikini bodÄand gets laughs every misstep of the way. You go, -old" girl!Putting an end to the so-called "Seinfeld curse," Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars in her own hilarious 2006 television sit-com as a divorced single mother struggling to raise a child while fighting her own insecurities. The series opens with Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) having recently enrolled her young son Ritchie (Trevor Gagnon) in an exclusive private school and feeling uncomfortably aware that she doesn't fit in with the other moms. Christine's ex-husband Richard (Clark Gregg) doesn't make things any easier when he shows up with his new girlfriend, also named Christine (Emily Rutherfurd), whom Christine doesn't even know exists, and things get even worse when the new girlfriend is quickly dubbed "New Christine" leaving Christine with the distasteful moniker "Old Christine." Even Ritchie senses that things are different at his new school on the first day, blurting out "where are the black kids?" in front of his horrified mother. Thus begin 13 episodes of pure comic fun in which basically good, likeable, yet invariably flawed characters seem destined to blurt out those socially unacceptable thoughts that often run through a person's head as they struggle to fit in and build meaningful relationships with each other. Whether Old Christine is trying to rid the world of prejudice, satisfy her own sexual needs, dating a man who wants more commitment than she can offer, trying to live up to the impossible standards of the meanie moms at school, maintain a friendship with her ex-husband, or just do the best job that she can raising her son, she can always be counted upon to do or say the absolute wrong thing and get herself into one uncomfortable situation after another. What makes it all so side-splittingly funny, besides the amazing comic delivery of each and every actor, is the great writing that ensures viewers can relate on a fundamental level to Christine's every predicament. Special features include unaired scenes, a blooper reel, and a 17-minute "The Real Christine" featurette with interview footage of all the major characters as well as show creator Kari Lizer, writer Katie Palmer, director Andy Ackerman, and co-executive producer Adam Barr. --Tami Horiuchi Read more
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This 4 DVD set includes 11 star packed episodes from the third and final season of the hour-long variety show, uncensored, just as they were originally meant to be aired. The guest list reads like a '60s who's who, including comedy stars like George Carlin, Bob Newhart, Steve Martin, Jackie Mason, Jonathan Winters, David Steinberg and musical performances by The Doors, Ike & Tina Turner, Donovan, Harry Belafonte, Ray Charles, Judy Collins, Liberace, Joan Baez, the cast of Hair and more.O, Brothers, where art thou? That's what fans have long asked about the DVD release of the controversial, infamously cancelled The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In his thoughtful and candid audio introduction, Tommy Smothers admits he was reluctant to release the show on DVD, thinking it might be best left to memory as "a fantastic show of its time." He needn't have worried. No mere '60s time capsule relic, these 11 episodes from The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour's final season are still as funny and entertaining as remembered. After 40 years, the political and social satire and bold anti-war stance are still sharp. With its mix of old-school show business and counterculture comedy, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour revolutionized the staid variety show format for a new generation, and ultimately paved the way for shows such as Saturday Night Live. When the clean-cut brothers got their own variety series, no one expected them to make waves. But at a time when TV's most popular programs offered pure escapism, head writer Mason Williams (and a staff that included Steve Martin and Bob "Officer Judy" Einstein) wanted to push the show in a more subversive direction, and Tommy, who only played dumb opposite his brother, sought and was granted (he thought) creative control from the network. By this third season in the tumultuous year of 1968, the brothers and the show were fully and unapologetically politicized. In the season opener that kicks off this set, their appearance has radically changed. Gone are their signature blazers, and both sport mustaches. With "beeping censors lurking in the wings," the Smothers defiantly sing, "We're still here." Among this set's many highlights: Harry Belafonte's performance of "Don't Stop the Carnival" juxtaposed with footage of the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, which the censors did cut, forcing a noticeably upset Tom and Dick to fill in with an audience Q&A (also included as an extra); the benchmark sketch, "A Fable for Our Time," featuring impressionist David Frye going medieval on Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, George Wallace, and Richard Nixon; a surprise appearance by George Harrison; a charming Donovan sing-along to "Happiness Runs"; and the episode never aired by CBS (and the one said to have gotten the show cancelled) featuring David Steinberg's "Jonah" sermonette. The fourth disc is devoted to deadpan ensemble member Pat Paulsen, whose grass-roots campaign for the White House is chronicled in "Pat Paulsen for President," a special narrated by Henry Fonda. Many happy hours will be spent watching the treasure trove of bonus features, including the Comedy Hour reunion at the 2000 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, never-before-seen "Paulsen for President" outtakes with Robert F. Kennedy (his footage was cut in the wake of his assassination), a delightful bit in which performers from Barbara Feldon and Nancy Sinatra to Jackie Mason hum the Hour's cheerful theme song; contemporary interviews with performers, and footage of the brothers' post-cancellation press conference. Worth the wait, this is one of the year's best DVD sets, and one that does this landmark show justice. --Donald Liebenson Read more
This is a Set of (3) Volumes of the Carol Burnett Show Collector's Edition dvds from Guthy-Renker OR Columbia House. Includes Volumes 1 through 3, with each dvd containing 2 episodes. Sellers may be listing dvds from either of the series under this listing, so be sure to read seller's listing desription carefully to verify what you are buying (Guthy-Renker in regular size cases, Columbia House in slimline cases). Vol 1: Episode 1 - Dinah Shore (Nov 13, 1976), Episode 2 - Roddy McDowall & Jackson 5 (Mar 16, 1974); Vol 2: Episode 1 - Ken Berry & Jack Weston (Oct 20, 1973), Episode 2 - Rock Hudson & Steve Lawrence (Jan 29, 1977); Vol 3: Episode 1 - Carl Reiner (Jan 19, 1974), Episode 2 - Steve Lawrence (Jan 10, 1970) Read more
All 25 episodes of season 2 Studio: First Look Home Entertain Release Date: 03/07/2006 Starring: Bill CosbyAn Emmy-winner for Outstanding Comedy Series its first year, The Cosby Show rapidly became to Thursday nights what The Wonderful World of Color and Bonanza were to Sundays in the 1960s: a family tradition. And the best was yet to come. Season 2 features some of this gold-standard series' benchmark episodes, most notably. "Happy Anniversary," the one in which the family honors Cliff's parents' wedding anniversary with a show-stopping lip-sync routine to Ray Charles's "Night Time Is the Right Time." In "Theo's Holiday," Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) gets a taste of the real world when his family shows him what it takes to live on his own. The Emmy-winning "Full House" anticipates Seinfeld "nothing"-ness as an exhausted Cliff (Bill Cosby) wanders his home in search of peace and quiet.
In The Cosby Show's charmed world, race was beside the point. Cosby strove to address universal truths about parenthood. In this season's first episode, "First Day of School," adorable Rudy (Keisha Knight Pulliam) tells her father she doesn't want to return to school because a classmate called her "a name." Much like Cliff, the audience braces for the worst until it is revealed that she was teasingly called "Rudy Huckleberry." More to the show's point was fostering an appreciation of black heritage, history, and culture. In "The Card Game," Theo gives his girlfriend Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man to read. In "The Auction," Clair (Phylicia Rashad) bids on a painting by her great-uncle, artist Ellis Wilson, which used to hang in her grandmother's house. And in the stirring final moments in "Vanessa's Bad Grade," the entire family congregates in front of the television to watch Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. From the first, The Cosby Show promoted education and fulfilling one's potential. In one of the season's very best episodes, "Mrs. Westlake," Theo's dread math teacher, a.k.a. "The Dragon Lady," (guest star Sonia Braga) comes to dinner. Fearing the worst from the strict teacher who has forced him to study harder, he is stunned not only by her transformed bombshell appearance but by the results of his math test, which he feared he failed. Love and respect for one's elders and each other thrive in the Huxtable household. In the Emmy-winning "Denise's Friend," Cliff and Clair hold a hilarious and heartwarming family meeting to assure their children that no matter what trouble they get into, they can always come to them. From Danny Kaye's delightful Emmy-nominated performance in "The Dentist" to Rudy's gridiron heroics in "Rudy Suits Up," season 2 is brimming with happy memories of TV's most functional family. --Donald Liebenson Read more
By the show’s third year ratings were high enough to give the writers and creators more leverage with the network and thus a bit less trouble with the censors. In addition, the show’s writers were more experienced with the TV format and had more in-depth knowledge of the characters. By this time they could also gauge how much serious material the audience would accept mixed in with their comedy.
But most importantly, between the second and third seasons Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds visited Korea, a trip that they say affected the stories in the third season.In honoring M*A*S*H's third season with the prestigious Peabody Award, the judges praised this series "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." Contained on three discs, season three comprises several benchmark episodes illustrative of what the Peabody judges called "television of high purpose." In "Rainbow Bridge," Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Trapper (Wayne Rogers), Radar (Gary Burghoff), Klinger (Jamie Farr), and an opportunistic Frank Burns (Larry Linville) participate in a swap with the North Koreans of wounded POWs. In "The Consultant," Robert Alda (Alan's dad) guest stars as a visiting doctor who cracks under the pressure of operating so close to the front. And the shocking season finale, "Abyssinia, Henry," took a page from Mister Roberts and killed off commanding officer Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), who was en route home.
M*A*S*H's sense of humor did not go AWOL. The season opener, "The General Flipped at Dawn," earned guest star Harry Morgan an Emmy nomination for his performance as a certifiable general and paved the way for Morgan to join the cast in season four. "Adam's Ribs" is a classic episode in which Hawkeye orders out to Chicago for a very special delivery of spare ribs. In "Iron Guts Kelly," the war's "greatest fighting general" gets a little too gung-ho and perishes in Margaret's (Loretta Swit) tent. Because of its wartime setting and life-and-death struggles, this is that rare sitcom that may actually play better without a laugh track, an option this set offers. To paraphrase the title of one episode, this was a full, rich season that offered each member of one of television's finest ensembles the opportunity to shine. But Alda, who was honored that year with a Golden Globe award, fully emerges as the series' star. --Donald Liebenson Read more
It’s about time somebody put together a fabulous five-DVD pack that brings you the best of The Jack Benny Show, with Jack and his merry troupe, including Mary Livingston, Don Wilson, and of course, Rochester – plus great guest stars! Read more
THREE’S COMPANY delighted audiences and defied critics as it tripped, tittered and jiggled its way to record ratings and pop culture paradise in its third season in fall 1978 to spring 1979. A then- controversial Read more
Star of Vaudeville Radio and the Big Screen Jack Benny brought his highly-successful radio program to the small screen in 1950 and the show ran until 1965. Along for the ride were his famous cast of co-stars including Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Don Wilson Dennis Day and Mary Livingstone who all shared in the fun and misadventures of their famous boss. Whether dealing with his love of money his perpetual age of 39 or his beloved Maxwell automobile Jack Benny and his gang entertained one and all!System Requirements:Running Time: 1260 minutes Genre: COMEDY UPC: 683904505927 Manufacturer No: MV50592 Read more
Pratfall-prone Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) and his plucky wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore), along with wisecracking co-workers Sally (Rose Marie) and Buddy (Morey Amsterdam), captured America's hearts in this TV favorite that irresistibly combined wit and slapstick. EPISODES: My Two Showoffs and Me / My Mother Can Beat Up My Father / Ghost of A. Chantz / The Lady and the Babysitter / The Vigilante Ripped My Sports Coat / The Man from Emperor / Romance, Roses and Rye Bread / 4 ½ / The Alan Brady Show Goes to Jail / Three Letters from One Wife / It Wouldn't Hurt Them to Give Us a Raise / Pink Pills for Purple Patients / The Death of the Party / Stretch Petrie vs. Kid Schenk / The Impractical Joke / Brother, Can You Spare $2500? / Stacey Petrie # Part I / Stacey Petrie # Part II / The Redcoats Are Coming / Boy #1 Versus Boy #2 / The Case of the Pillow / Young Man with a Shoehorn / Girls Will Be Boys / Bupkiss / Your Home Sweet Home Is My Home / Not Now, Anthony Stone / Never Bathe on Saturday / 100 Terrible Hours / A Show of Hands / Baby fat / Br-room, Br-room / There's No Sale Like Wholesale Read more
Mork & Mindy was a spin-off from an episode of Happy Days seen in February 1978, in which an alien from the planet Ork landed on Earth and attempted to kidnap Richie. So popular was the nutty character created by Robin Williams that Williams was given his own series in the fall of 1978, and it became an instant hit. Mork was a misfit on his own planet because his sense of humor (he was heard to call the Orkan leader, Orson, "cosmic breath"). So the humorless Orkans sent him off to study Earthlings, whose "crazy" customs they had never been able to understand. Mork landed, in a giant eggshell near Boulder, Colorado. There he was befriended by pretty Mindy McConnell, a clerk at the music store run by her father, Frederick. Mork looked human, but his strange mixture of Orkan and Earthling customs--such as wearing a suit, but putting it on backwards, or sitting in a chair, but upside down--led most people to think of him as just as some kind of nut. Mindy knew where he came from, and helped him adjust to Earth's strange ways. She also let him stay in the attic of her apartment house, which scandalized her conservative father, but not her swinging grandmother, Cora. After an out-of-this-world first season that unleashed Robin Williams, as extraterrestrial Mork from Ork, on an unsuspecting universe, Mork & Mindy fell to earth. But while season 2 is not as fresh or inspired, it is still worth revisiting to marvel at Williams, a cosmic comic force. There was nothing wrong with Mork & Mindy that a little network tampering couldn't wreck, beginning with a disco-fied version of the show's theme song. Conrad Janis and Elizabeth Kerr, who portrayed Mindy's uptight father and more far-out grandmother, are out (although Janis does return for a couple of episodes, one of them being the inevitable clip show). Jay Thomas and Gina Hecht are in as the sibling owners of the New York Delicatessen. Also joining the cast is Jim Staahl as Mindy's preppy cousin, Nelson, a city councilman candidate, prompting many Mork potshots at politicians. Tom Poston, as grumpy Mr. Bickley and Robert Donner as addled cult leader Exidor enjoy expanded roles.
If nothing else, Mork & Mindy was more ambitious in its second season, with hour-long episodes that veered from allegory (in the season opener, a shrunken Mork finds himself in a parallel universe where he joins a revolution against the Glums, who have outlawed humor) and high camp (Raquel Welch as Captain Nirvana--'nuff said--in "Mork vs. the Necrotons"). The better episodes are those in which extraterrestrial Mork is confounded by human behavior and curious customs. In "Stark Raving Mork," he picks a fight with Mindy (Pam Dawber, holding her own opposite the unpredictable Williams) thinking that it will add excitement to their relationship. In "Mork Learns to See," he befriends Mr. Bickley's blind son to experience life as he does. Mork & Mindy is of more than nostalgic interest. While the pop culture references and topical gags are stuck in the '70s (Mork manages a pun on Menachem Begin's name), Williams' physical shtick is timeless, and Mork's exuberance and innocent, child-like wonder as he tries to find his place in our world will resonate with a (na)new, (na)new generation. --Donald Liebenson Read more
Box Set - Rare Footage of Ernie Kovacs' Quiz Show; Take a Good Look Clues; Edie Adams' Legendary Routine Impersonating Marilyn Monroe; Interviews with Ernie Kovacs' AssociatesFor anyone interested in the history of television comedy, The Best of Ernie Kovacs is indispensable. This five-part series, originally broadcast on PBS, is a six-hour guided tour through Kovacsland, and a more surreal or cockeyed landscape has never been broadcast over "the orthicon tube." The best cigar-mustache combo since Groucho, Kovacs, who perished in a car wreck in 1962, was one of the fledgling medium's pioneers. He turned staid television convention on its ear and satirized the medium itself (David Letterman is a kindred spirit). The Best of Ernie Kovacs offers a generous sampling of more than 100 blackouts, musical diversions (including a simian version of "Swan Lake"), sketches, and technological dalliances. The macabre game show "Whom Dunnit," in which a panel must determine the identity of the mystery guest who has wounded an unfortunate studio audience member, would not be out of place on "Saturday Night Live." Another highlight is "Eugene," a 1961 broadcast in which not a word is uttered. And let's not forget the musical gorilla-costumed Nairobi Trio, one of Kovacs's signature creations. The DVD edition has a few noteworthy additions, including a clip from Kovacs's 1959 quiz show, Take a Good Look. In another memorable clip, Edie Adams, Kovacs's wife, performs her definitive impersonation of Marilyn Monroe (singing "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"). Though this footage dates back to television's early days, this is no antiquated museum piece. Some of it is dated, but much of what Kovacs unleashed on an unsuspecting public is fresher, funnier, and more original than most of what passes for prime-time programming. Boy, do we need him now. --Donald Liebenson Read more
The husband and wife comedy team of George Burns and Gracie Allen developed their popular routine over more than three decades of stage, radio, film and television. They were one of the best-known couples in Hollywood history. Burns left most of the laughs to Allen, who had a way of engaging in dialogues of "illogical logic" that left her verbal opponents dazed and confused and her audiences in stitches. Burns, entertainment's most nimble straight man, balanced Allen's scatterbrained antics. Their chemistry made The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show an instant hit when it moved from radio to television in 1950. Read more
