PARAMOUNT CLASSIC TV, Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five Oh, Odd Couple, Sabrina.

First up is The Odd Couple Season Three. Huge Jack Klugman, Tony Randall fan I. Whether it’s movies like Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter or The Seven Faces of Dr. Loa I always found Randall popping up in things that held my attention and his appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson are legendary. I knew Klugman as a veteran of a couple of fabulous Twilight Zone episodes as well as Quincy which was one of the first adult TV series I followed as well. There are no bad seasons of The Odd Couple. Before Frasier this show was a model of how to do ensemble theatrically styled TV comedy.

Gunsmoke? It arrives as a Second Season Volume One with the only extra being the Sponsor Spots.  At this point the show is still in its black and white format which should make it easier for all of you to imagine James Arness in his giant man-eating carrot suit from The Thing. Or maybe you remember him as the hero from the giant ant movie Them. And of course there’s always the pleasure of checking out Dennis Weaver in a cowboy hat a full two decades before McCloud. The bottom line is this is classic western television at it’s shiny best even if it did lead us all inexorably towards the vapidity of junk TV westerns like Bonanza and The Big Valley. I for one never mind revisiting Miss Kitty’s Saloon.

Sabrina? She’s one of a long line of TV witches who’ve had pretty successful runs. Charmed and Bewitched not withstanding this show can also be comfortably placed in the Buffy, My Favorite Martian camp although its quality was somewhere closer to My Mother The Car. Season three contains all the episodes but regrettably no extras. They’ve even changed the music that accompanied the original episodes (because of licensing issues presumably). If I had to lay money on the table I’d say this is about as forgettable as sitcoms get. At least My Mother the car had a memorable title character. It’s difficult to imagine this show generating the nostalgia associated with stuff like Bewitched.

Lastly I was sent Hawaii Five-O The Third Season. Thus far Dano and company have avoided remake hell although I can’t imagine Adam Sandler hasn’t looked into the rights. This show suffered from the usual problem suffered by most police action programming- its hard to generate drama with cardboard characters even if you set the series in an exotic location. CSI Miami gets away with it but this show, especially in retrospect plays as awkwardly as CSI New York.  Only extra here are the episode promos.

Related Links

• ORDER THE ODD COUPLE SEASON THREE http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WQWPSW/twitch-20
• ORDER GUNSMOKE SEASON TWO VOLUME ONE http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000W8OM68/twitch-20
• ORDER SABRINA SEASON THREE http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WQWPRS/twitch-20
• ORDER HAWAII FIVE-O SEASON THREE http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WQWPSM/twitch-20