Reviews

‘Mister Ed’ (Season 5): The solid laughs continue – an impressive feat!

6 Comments

A solid season of laughs for this beloved sitcom’s penultimate season, with a handful of classic moments. A few years back, Shout! Factory released Mister Ed: The Complete Fifth Season, a four-disc, 26-episode collection that gathered together the CBS sitcom’s last full schedule of shows for the 1964-1965 season. Simply put: hefty laughs throughout most of the episodes here…and that’s saying something for a high-concept fantasy/sitcom that should have burnt out long, long before this point.

Continue reading ‘Mister Ed’ (Season 5): The solid laughs continue – an impressive feat! →
Reviews

‘Gentle Ben’ (Season 1): Sweet, simple, expertly-done family television

4 Comments

When you’re knock knock knockin’ on heaven’s door, you can bet your ass you don’t watch challenging TV while you’re trying to make it through the night—you want familiarity. You want plots you can follow. You want some nice scenery. You want to see a bear eat a kid.

Continue reading ‘Gentle Ben’ (Season 1): Sweet, simple, expertly-done family television →
Extras

‘NBC’s 60th Anniversary Celebration’: As the Peacock turns 100, here’s how it celebrated in 1986!

24 Comments

So apparently, not many of my 13 readers here at Drunk TV know that I have a separate blog—Mavis Movie Madness!…but mostly TV—most probably because absolutely no one reads it. Well, my intrepid editor thought it would be a good idea to cross-reference them, so here’s a piece I wrote about the NBC’s 60th Anniversary Celebration, that aired May 12th, 1986. Enjoy, you booze hounds!

Continue reading ‘NBC’s 60th Anniversary Celebration’: As the Peacock turns 100, here’s how it celebrated in 1986! →
Reviews

‘The Odd Couple’ (Season 3): Every episode is a treat in this exceptional season

3 Comments

Continuing my goal of tying up all the loose ends in my life by December 2025 (don’t particularly care about a will…but I am gonna fix that guy at the paramutial who keeps “accidentally” printing the wrong program number on my track tickets), let’s keep rolling on series reviews, including one of my top five favorite sitcoms, The Odd Couple, starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Simply put: it’s bright, sophisticated, urbane TV farce, at its very best.

Continue reading ‘The Odd Couple’ (Season 3): Every episode is a treat in this exceptional season →
Reviews

‘Wait Till Your Father Gets Home’: A bright spot in Hanna-Barbera’s ’70s output

7 Comments

In case all 17 of my readers were wondering, I’ve been on medical leave here at the Drunk TV offices, and haven’t been posting much. Nothing serious, just life threatening. Fortunately, our fearless leader and editor, Jason (or as he gently chides, “That’s ‘Mr. Hink‘ to you, scumbag!”) has excellent health coverage here so everything’s fine. For him. He has the coverage. I have none.

Continue reading ‘Wait Till Your Father Gets Home’: A bright spot in Hanna-Barbera’s ’70s output →
Reviews

‘The Rhinemann Exchange’ (1977): Final ‘Best Sellers’ miniseries is a 4-hour drag

2 Comments

Okay, okay. I know I wrote months ago (wait…was it years?) that I would finish off my look at the NBC Best Sellers “series of mini-series” from the 1976-1977 season, with a review of The Rhinemann Exchange, based on the Robert Ludlum WWII espionage thriller, starring Lauren Hutton, John Huston, Roddy McDowall, Claude Akins, Vince Edwards, Jose Ferrer, Rene Auberjonois, Larry Hagman, Werner Klemperer, Trisha Noble, and that pedo. I’m also fairly certain that I told you people that I was experiencing actual physical discomfort in doing so, not so much because I would have to write about Stephen Collins (we’ll dissect him later), but because The Rhinemann Exchange is so cosmically dull, so existentially dead, that I honestly don’t know—I mean right now, sitting here—what the hell I’m going to say about it.

Continue reading ‘The Rhinemann Exchange’ (1977): Final ‘Best Sellers’ miniseries is a 4-hour drag →
Reviews

‘Here Comes Peter Cottontail’ (1971): Light, jovial tale is perfect Easter viewing

2 Comments

Do the linear “Big 3” networks still air the Rankin/Bass specials anymore? I know they still show the big one, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but I’m talking about all those “B team” ones they did like The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July, and Here Comes Peter Cottontail? I know people freaked out when Apple bought the Charlie Brown specials and yanked them off linear, but this all started way before streaming.

Continue reading ‘Here Comes Peter Cottontail’ (1971): Light, jovial tale is perfect Easter viewing →
Reviews

‘Sergeant Preston of the Yukon’ (Season 1): Primitive production is pure fun for nostalgic TV fans

4 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing my brass monkeys off in here, as this polar vortex (read: simply “winter” when I was a kid) whips through the Great American Midwest. So I thought a stroll through some appropriately chilly vintage TV might be just what the Eskimo ordered (save it—Mt. McKinley is back, bitches!).

Continue reading ‘Sergeant Preston of the Yukon’ (Season 1): Primitive production is pure fun for nostalgic TV fans →
Reviews

‘Simon & Simon’ (Season 2): How did this P.I. series become a surprise hit? By simply entertaining us

4 Comments

Remember my last Odd Couple review, where I said I wanted to tie up some loose ends? Well…I found another series that needs completing, so before I stage my own phony death and disappear with my old lady and the insurance pay-off in the spirit of our glorious President getting another chance to wrap things up, we’re going to look at the second season of Simon & Simon.

Continue reading ‘Simon & Simon’ (Season 2): How did this P.I. series become a surprise hit? By simply entertaining us →
Reviews

‘The Odd Couple’ (Season 2): Sitcom undergoes drastic production changes. Do they work?

9 Comments

This time of year always brings (drunken) promises of tying up loose ends and making things “right” (how many times can a bookie break your arm? Apparently…lots), so when I sobered up after the holidays (and figured out how to type one-handed), I went back and looked at partially-reviewed titles here on Drunk TV that needed to be completed. And sure enough, one of my top 5 favorite sitcoms, The Odd Couple, had somehow been abandoned after a measly season one review.

Continue reading ‘The Odd Couple’ (Season 2): Sitcom undergoes drastic production changes. Do they work? →
Reviews

‘A Ring for Christmas’ (2020): Spoiled, scheming trust funder makes holiday hijinks

4 Comments

Terrible people make for fun stories, and terrible people are what you need to spice up cable TV Christmas movies!

Continue reading ‘A Ring for Christmas’ (2020): Spoiled, scheming trust funder makes holiday hijinks →
Reviews

‘The Executioner’s Song’ (1982): ‘Director’s Cut’ trims down ‘true life’ crime miniseries

Leave a comment

I made the mistake of going to the movies this week. A new movie. In an actual theater. That I had to pay for. Without thinking, I bought a ticket for Terrifier 3, for no other reason than I wanted to see if I could recreate the feeling I used to have back in the 80s—the golden age of slasher movies—where you just walked into some horror gore fest you didn’t know a thing about, and had a rowdy good time at the movies.

Continue reading ‘The Executioner’s Song’ (1982): ‘Director’s Cut’ trims down ‘true life’ crime miniseries →
Reviews

‘The Norliss Tapes’ (1972): Can the creepy thrill of ‘The Night Stalker’ be duplicated?

6 Comments

Fall’s here! Fall begins with the letter “f,” kids! There are lots and lots of other words that begin with the letter “f,” now that fall is here! Can you think of any? I know can! Like…”f******” leaves to rake! “F******” snow tires to drag out of the garage! “F******” heating bills I can’t afford! “F******” pumpkin spice everywhere you “f******” turn! “F******” elections that are fixed! And “f******” sitting alone in your den, drinking heavily on a dark, rainy afternoon, cleaning the pistol your old man blew his brains out with, while you mentally flip a coin to see if you should just f****** follow suit! Can you think of any others? You can? Great! So remember: Fall means f****** fun!”

Continue reading ‘The Norliss Tapes’ (1972): Can the creepy thrill of ‘The Night Stalker’ be duplicated? →
Reviews

‘Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story’ (1987): Farrah portrays tragic socialite in opulent, soapy miniseries

3 Comments

No one revels in TV excess like myself…but this is just too, too much.

Continue reading ‘Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story’ (1987): Farrah portrays tragic socialite in opulent, soapy miniseries →
Reviews

‘What Makes Sammy Run?’ (1959): A fantastic, gutsy peek inside the Hollywood machine

5 Comments

“Tears are for losers. What kind of a sissy word is ‘fair?'”
Amen, Sammy…amen.

Continue reading ‘What Makes Sammy Run?’ (1959): A fantastic, gutsy peek inside the Hollywood machine →
Reviews

‘The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling’ (2007): The unscripted side of pro wrestling

1 Comment

I’ve been out of the loop on professional wrestling for what seems like forever now. I don’t know the major players; I don’t know the companies, and from the few drop-ins I’ve done over the years, you can basically have it. But I have the fondest memories, as a very small boy, of the syndicated Big Time Wrestling show, out of the National Wrestling Alliance‘s Detroit territory, which could always be counted on to keep an hour of boredom at bay on a rainy Saturday afternoon (“And Pampero Firpo coco-butts The Sheik! He’s killed him! He’s killed him! No, no wait!  He’s getting up!”). And the early days of Vince McMahon’s WWF, when I was a teenager, were some of the best “TV theatre” around, with the hypnotic, hysterically funny “Rowdy” Roddy Piper a true artist at his craft.

Continue reading ‘The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling’ (2007): The unscripted side of pro wrestling →
Reviews

‘Dennis the Menace’ (Season 4): Dennis is an older menace in boomer sitcom’s final season

Leave a comment

Sooo looooooooooong, Dennis…and not a moment too soon.

Continue reading ‘Dennis the Menace’ (Season 4): Dennis is an older menace in boomer sitcom’s final season →
Reviews

‘John Steinbeck’s East of Eden’ (1981): Epic miniseries is Jane Seymour’s finest hour

7 Comments

“I’ve done things that would turn your blood to spit.” Cathy Ames

I know, I know. Months ago, I promised to review all of the miniseries that were featured on NBC’s “miniseries series,” Best Sellers. And I did. I even bought a bootleg DVD of the one that’s impossible to find—that’s how committed I was to the project. I only had The Rhinemann Exchange to go. Well…I’ve watched it. I have the notes. But I’m telling you: it’s so goddamn boring I’m not sure I can face writing a review of it. We’ll see. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s look at a different mini. Come on—give me a break, okay?

Continue reading ‘John Steinbeck’s East of Eden’ (1981): Epic miniseries is Jane Seymour’s finest hour →
Reviews

‘Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie’ (1993): A familial look back at the fascinating, complicated couple

Leave a comment

I hadn’t realized that this past April was the 35th anniversary of the passing of Lucille Ball, television’s greatest comedienne. Probably because that former standby of media information—the old “TV listings”—hadn’t reminded me. Since traditional linear network TV is now essentially a niche joke—the last form of mass communication that actually helped unify our popular culture, as opposed to the internet and streaming, which have completely Balkanized it—I seriously doubt there was any kind of effort on the part of her old network, CBS, to commemorate her death while celebrating her legacy (maybe they did something on MeTV…do people still have cable?).

Continue reading ‘Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie’ (1993): A familial look back at the fascinating, complicated couple →
Reviews

‘Studio One’: A look back at TV’s early LIVE anthology. Was this the ‘Golden Age’?

2 Comments

You know…when you finally come to, and find yourself unaware of the day or date, or the precise county or state in which your body currently resides, but completely aware that your ribs are all stoved in, three fingers on your craps-throwing hand are busted, your front teeth are loose, your head feels like a basketball is being inflated inside it, and that you’re laying in someone’s pool of something…you start to reminisce about earlier days, better days—, indeed better times—when you could put two coherent sentences together and take a leak without pissing blood. Even writers have “golden ages,” gentle readers.

Continue reading ‘Studio One’: A look back at TV’s early LIVE anthology. Was this the ‘Golden Age’? →

A rambling pop culture conversation.