DVD Talk review of 'Merry Sitcom! Christmas Classics From TV's Golden Age (Father Knows Best, Donna Reed Show, McHale's Navy, Bewitched, more)'

[Tim Tucker]

I read Paul Mavis's DVD review of Merry Sitcom! Christmas Classics From TV's Golden Age (Father Knows Best, Donna Reed Show, McHale's Navy, Bewitched, more) at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=40261 and I have to agree with you about Window on Main Street.

I've watched all the episodes included as extras on Shout! Factory's Father Knows Best sets, and I'm still trying to understand what Robert Young and his collaborators were attempting with this show. I think that they were trying to mix elements of the dramatic anthology (with Cameron Brooks as host/participant) and the sitcom. And it's a odd mixture, to be sure, especially when the canned laughter pops out of nowhere to underline one of the few humorous moments in the scripts.

The result may have been too sophisticated for the audiences of 1961. I believe that Young had inadvertently created the dramedy.

[Paul Mavis]

Hey, Tim -- thanks for the info; I didn't realize they had released other episodes of the series.

It does have a strange feel to it, doesn't it? No laugh track on the Christmas episode, but if it had popped up, that would have been even weirder. I was pretty fascinated by the whole thing. I love seeing classic vintage series coming out, but forgotten shows like Window really grab me.

[GaryO]

Thanks for the review, Paul. I've been wondering about this offering from Shout since the day Brian Ward mentioned it over at their forum a while back. I had been bugging Brian and Shout to include that WINDOW ON MAIN STREET episode for a long time (ever since the 1st season of FKB came out and I saw they had access to that show). I had never seen the show before but being a collector of Christmas-themed TV episodes, this was one I had wanted just because it was such a rarity. So when Brian did some "investigated" and then told us that Christmas Memory would be included I was excited. I had no idea it would be so melancholy. Hope it's not too depressing.

I had also asked Brian if maybe Shout would go back to the Sony vaults (or wherever they were getting the FKB episodes) and get the uncut print of the Christmas episode for this Holiday set. They had used that syndicated print in their 1st season volume of FKB and I was hoping that with a little prodding they might be persuaded to get the right print this time around but I knew they'd probably just use what they already had. Bummer, because you are correct that some of the edits are very abrupt and jarring.

Thanks again for the review. Another excellent job by my favorite online reviewer!


Gary "hoping Shout will keep putting out the FKB season sets" O.

[Paul Mavis]

Thanks for the review, Paul. I've been wondering about this offering from Shout since the day Brian Ward mentioned it over at their forum a while back. I had been bugging Brian and Shout to include that WINDOW ON MAIN STREET episode for a long time (ever since the 1st season of FKB came out and I saw they had access to that show). I had never seen the show before but being a collector of Christmas-themed TV episodes, this was one I had wanted just because it was such a rarity. So when Brian did some "investigated" and then told us that Christmas Memory would be included I was excited. I had no idea it would be so melancholy. Hope it's not too depressing.

I had also asked Brian if maybe Shout would go back to the Sony vaults (or wherever they were getting the FKB episodes) and get the uncut print of the Christmas episode for this Holiday set. They had used that syndicated print in their 1st season volume of FKB and I was hoping that with a little prodding they might be persuaded to get the right print this time around but I knew they'd probably just use what they already had. Bummer, because you are correct that some of the edits are very abrupt and jarring.

Thanks again for the review. Another excellent job by my favorite online reviewer!


Gary "hoping Shout will keep putting out the FKB season sets" O.

Oh, Gary O -- you had me from "Thanks for the review." :)

That Father Knows Best Christmas episode is just brilliant -- a real shame they couldn't get the full episode (maybe it's not available anymore?).
The Window episode ends nicely, I should probably add, but it is quite sad throughout. Which isn't bad...just strange for this kind of show. But then again, a strange show all around, it sounds like.

[GaryO]

Well, I'm glad the Window on Main St. episode at least ends on a nice note. Still can't believe Robert Young would opt for such a melancholy storyline as a Christmas episode. Oh well, I guess he had an itch and needed to scratch it with that show.

I'd be really surprised if the complete 1st Season Christmas episode from FKB wasn't still around. The way I understood things, the uncut prints are still around - it's just that whoever pulled those 1st season ones for Shout didn't do enough checking. With Seasons 2 and 3 of FKB we've gotten full length episodes across the board. And that was because fans of the show let Shout know they were disappointed with those 1st Season syndicated prints and the company made sure to get the correct ones from that point on. So I'm betting there's still an uncut copy floating around in the vault.

Thanks again for the great reviews (all of them)!


Gary "now I'm anxiously awaiting a review on the next Fugitive volume - boy I hope they limit the Heyes as much as possible this time around" O.

[Tim Tucker]

I've been thinking again about the first four episodes of Window on Main Street on the FKB sets, and may have an idea about what the show could be about.

In the first episode, Brooks returns to his home town as a humbled and (now I realize) bereaved man, the author of critically acclaimed, but poor selling, books. There is even a flashback to him in high school boasting about he's was leaving town to become a world famous writer.

The next episode dealt with a teacher overcoming her Puritanical upbringing and falling in love.

Then, there's one about a young doctor and Korean War vet trying to live down his boyhood reputation as a practical joker so he can establish his practice.

And next was an episode about how a society matron had lost everything after her husband died and became a hotel chambermaid.

Dark material for a supposed sitcom, but the running theme appears to be coming to terms with the past so you can live in the present.

[Paul Mavis]

Well, that sounds like what I quoted in the review, where he tells the hotel janitor that our job is to live each new hour, leaving the past behind.

Maybe Shout! is reading some of this, and they'll release the whole series -- it sounds really intriguing.