Saturday, March 30, 2013
Digital Digest: Possibilities for The New Dick Van Dyke Show on DVD?; The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies DVD Review
DIGITAL NEWS
"There are master-quality and clearance issues that need to be resolved, but the outlook is positive and a release likely at some point."
Original series have slowly been becoming a part of online streaming video websites lately, and Crackle has been finding success with this as well. This week, Crackle announced a second season of their original thriller series, Chosen. The first season stars Ventimiglia as a husband, father and lawyer who awakens one morning to discover a mysterious box on his doorstep containing a loaded gun and a photo of a stranger he is instructed to kill within the next three days. Production of the second season will begin this summer.
UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW
BLOG FEATURE REVIEW
Of course, not all reunions can be perfect. The main cast of the series consisted of essentially six actors and actresses during the original run. By the time this movie came around, two of those cast members had died, one refused to participate, and one only minimally participated. In the end, Paul Henning (with his hands already tied by a writer's strike) ended up creating a movie focusing on Jed Clampett (Ebsen), Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp), and Jane Hathaway's new boss (Werner Klemperer).
No longer is Jane Hathaway the assistant at Beverly Hills Commerce Bank. She has moved up in the world... WAY up to the White House, where she now works for the government. Jed is no longer living in Beverly Hills (due to the budget being too low to afford to use the original mansion...), and has given all of his money to Jethro and Elly May, while he is back in the country. Granny (much like Irene Ryan) has passed away, but fear not, Granny's Maw (Imogene Coca) is now suddenly part of Jed Clampett's everyday life. The plot of the movie focuses on Jane Hathaway trying to get the recipe to Granny's moonshine due to the powers within it... specifically, the power to solve the country's energy crisis. The movie has a runtime of 1:35:59.
The DVD is packaged in a standard DVD case, with a cast photo on the cover (you'll notice that only three of the eight people pictured were original cast members). There are a few more photos on the back, along with a brief description of the movie and a list of special features. Inside, you'll find the disc, which has the same artwork as seen on the cover.
The main menu has the movie theme song playing in the background, along with options of Play, Play with Introduction, Special Features, and Episode Subtitles On/Off. Selecting Special Features brings up a menu where all of the special features are listed on one screen. Chapters are placed throughout the movie.
I really did expect the worst for the video and audio quality on this DVD, but actually it is pretty good. There is a little bit of grain in the picture, but the video quality is mostly pristine. There is a mono audio track that isn't extraordinary, but it certainly does the job. The movie contains English subtitles.
Of course, MPI is well known for their special features on their releases, and there are plenty of these on this DVD. Admittedly, though, most of these are "repeats" from MPI's previous releases of the series... but that isn't a huge deal. First, there is an introduction to the movie (11:01) where Linda Kaye Henning (daughter of Paul Henning) gives her introduction to the movie. "Paul Henning and the Hillbillies" (51:20) is a feature that talks about Paul Henning's life and the series, with interviews from those who knew him well (including Max Baer). Cast Commercials (10:05) gives a lot of cast commercials from the episodes of the first two seasons... but fans will notice that they only included the Kellogg's commercials here (none of the Winston Cigarette ones). Promo Spots (3:22) is a series of CBS commercials for the series, all of which are from the later seasons of the series (indicated by the promos pointing out that the series is in color). Finally, we have Elly's Critters Promotional Trailer (3:41). After watching this a few times, I'm still not quite sure what this is, but it seems to be some sort of pitch by Paul Henning (he narrates) to have Donna Douglas do a tour where she shows children different animals in nature.
I'm glad that MPI released this... seriously. But it would be outright dishonest for me to say that this was a good movie. In fact... and this is something that I rarely say... was an awful movie. Even in the introduction provided by Linda Kaye Henning, you could hear her admitting that the movie was a nice thought, but very poorly executed (her own father was a bit harsher three decades ago in criticizing his own product). This movie was plagued from the get-go. There was a writer's strike at the time which interfered with Paul Henning's ability to work with the script, Max Baer refused to take part in the movie, Imogene Coca was Granny's Maw (huh?), Werner Klemperer from Hogan's Heroes was (poorly) imitating Mr. Drysdale, and we didn't even get to see any interaction between any of the original members of Clampett family. This movie is an example of how everything can go wrong in a reunion movie of one of the greatest series of all time. But despite all of that, it is actually great to see this on DVD. I'd heard over the years how "awful" this movie was, but even so, I still wanted to see it for myself. Now, having seen it, I can fully disagree. But I still think that it complements the collection of any fan of The Beverly Hillbillies, which was one of the funniest sitcoms to ever air on TV, and as usual, MPI has put together an excellent DVD in spite of the flaws of the movie.
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That's all for this week. Until next time, keep it digital!
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Wednesday, March 3
The Goldbergs - "Mr. Ships Ahoy" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
As William Penn’s new Quaker Warden, Beverly is thrilled to have co-workers for the first time and sets out to make them all love her. To her dismay, it’s more difficult to win them over than she anticipated, as her reputation of being a difficult school parent precedes her. Meanwhile, Geoff competes in the “Mr. Ships Ahoy” beauty pageant to prove to Erica that he can be seen as desirable by other women.
American Housewife - "The Guardian" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Katie and Greg secretly put Kathryn (Wendie Malick) through a series of tests to see if she would make a good guardian for Anna-Kat in the unlikely event something should happen to them. Meanwhile, after tracking down J.D.’s (Jake Choi) potential egg donors, Tami (Holly Robinson Peete) and Katie scheme to learn more about them.
The Conners - "A Stomach Ache, a Heartbreak and a Grave Mistake" (ABC,
9:00PM ET/PT)
Mark is stressed out and feeling sick, convinced he has COVID-19. Meanwhile, Becky and Harris team up to confront Josh who has been “ghosting” Harris; and when Jackie visits Roseanne’s grave, she finds an appalling headstone right next to it and sets out to make it right.
Call Your Mother - "Feelings" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Jean and Danny’s relationship grows complicated emotionally and physically as they try to resist their feelings for one another until his divorce is final. As Celia is moving into Freddie’s apartment, Freddie is disappointed to learn that Celia plans to keep her place as a backup plan, causing some hard conversations between the two.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 1)
Wednesday, March 3
- Ben Schwartz (Space Force/Parks and Recreation) - Watch Ben on The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS. He will also be on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Annaleigh Ashford (B Positive) - Annaleigh appears on Watch What Happens: Live at 3:30am on Bravo.
- Kyra Sedgwick (Call Your Mother) - Kyra is a guest on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Arsenio Hall (Arsenio) - Arsenio talks about Coming 2 America on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
- Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly/Samantha Who?) - Melissa appears on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
- Kristen Bell (The Good Place) and Dax Shepard (Bless This Mess) - Kristen and Dax are guests on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
- Jermaine Fowler (Superior Donuts) - Jermaine will be on The Real, so check your local listings.
- Awkwafina (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens) - Awkwafina appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
- Hillary Duff (Younger/Lizzie McGuire) - Hillary talks about My Brave Little Girl on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (October-February)
10/13 - The Jetsons - The Complete Series (Diamond Collection)
10/13 - Our Cartoon President - Season Two
10/23 - Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em - The Complete Collection
10/27 - The Flintstones - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
10/27 - Head of the Class - The Complete Second Season (WBShop.com)
11/10 - Letterkenny - Seasons 5 & 6
11/10 - The Office - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/10 - Schitt's Creek - The Complete Collection
11/17 - Carol's Second Act - The Complete Series
11/17 - Robbie - Season 1
11/24 - Corporate - Season 1
11/26 - Man with a Plan - Season Four
12/01 - The Neighborhood - Season Two
12/15 - Avenue 5 - The Complete First Season
01/22 - Corporate - Season 2
01/22 - Corporate - Season 3
02/02 - Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - The Complete Series (2021 Retail Release)
02/16 - Fam - The Complete Series
02/23 - Betty White's Pet Set - The Complete Series
03/02 - Blue Mountain State - The Complete Series
03/02 - Happy Together - The Complete Series
03/02 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-4 (DVD) (Blu-ray)
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