The Nanny The Complete First Season – 1993-1994 (Sony-2005) The Nanny is a series that is sure to turn off a large portion of the population immediately. How unfortunate. It’s so much better than the initial impression it makes. For a show that celebrates life on the shallow surface, it should not be dismissed as such. … Continue reading
Dallas The Complete First and Second Seasons (1978-1980) (Warner Home Video-2004) When Dallas premiered in early 1978, it was just what America’s doctor ordered. The previous decade had turned us wussy, and there seemed to be no cure for our malaise (even our president said so). The United States had been reeling from the same old miserable … Continue reading
The Brady Bunch The Complete Third Season 1971-1972 (Paramount Home Video-2005) There is so much more to Season Three than Greg’s tremendously awkward growth spurt. This is easily the best year of the series, encompassing everything from the clan’s wild escapade in Grand Canyon to Jan reaching out to us with the immortal phrase, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” Here, … Continue reading
Disneyland U.S.A. Walt Disney Treasures (Disney-2001) The Disney Company, in all its market-hogging magic, can trace its TV legacy back to the medium’s inception, in 1954. It was that year in which the fledgling, struggling ABC network invested millions of dollars in the construction of the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California. In return, Walt … Continue reading
The Office Season One – 2004 (Universal Home Video-2005) In most cases, television never gets the office environment right, and most real-life office slaves – who watch TV precisely to escape their pointless daytime duties – don’t seem motivated enough to write angry letters about the infuriatingly glaring inaccuracies. Office comedies are usually put together … Continue reading
The Brady Bunch The Complete Second Season 1970-1971 (Paramount Home Video-2005) The second season of The Brady Bunch is a letdown only in that there are absolutely no commentaries or extras – not even from its tireless promoter and executive producer Sherwood Schwartz – nor from any of its cast members, most of whom are always game for … Continue reading
Fat Actress The Complete First Season (2005) (Showtime-2005) “She’s not the same chick from Cheers, is it?” a cop asks in awesome wonder when spotting Kirstie Alley outside her lavish California home. Not too long after that, a parking valet asks her, “When is the baby due?” A black NBC executive observes, “she has an LA face … Continue reading
Dragnet 1967 Season 1 (1967-1968) (Universal-2005) It’s easy to be hard on Dragnet 1967, with its obvious squareness, its sexlessness, its lack of (intentional) humor and its blatant modesty. However, the only real weak link in its chain is its obsessive need to deliver an easy, uninspiring payoff. Each cop-n-criminal tale is a success story – no cold … Continue reading
Steven Biel United States of American Gothic by Ronald Sklar Copyright ©2005 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted June 27, 2005. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Grant Wood must be flattered out the wazoo. Although the artist of “American Gothic” died in 1942, his painting has gone on to symbolize all things American, and parodied by … Continue reading
TOM WOPAT STATE OF BLISS By Ronald Sklar Tom Wopat had the nerve to forge a solid show business career that boldly defied the odds. Born and raised among seven other siblings on a dairy farm in rural Wisconsin, he is now – you’ll never guess — a veteran Broadway actor and singer who has played … Continue reading
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