Averback, Hy

The Rockford Files - Season Four

Series about an ex-con-turned-private-investigator named Jim Rockford who would rather run away than fight and would rather go fishing than work. He isn't a coward and he isn't lazy--just a bit on the cautious side that's all. And he bears a very strong resemblance to Western TV hero Bret Maverick. Rockford is sometimes aided (and sometimes deterred) in his cases by friends Dennis Becker (a police detective) Angel (his cowardly former cellmate) and pretty Beth Davenport (his lawyer).Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025195005715 Manufacturer No: 61100691

M*A*S*H - Season Two (Collector's Edition)

Explores the day-to-day lives of the people who live and work at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) stationed three miles from the front during the Korean War.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 23-JUL-2002
Media Type: DVD

M*A*S*H redux. Sign up for another stint with the 4077th. This three-disc set contains all 24 episodes from the superb second season (1973-74) of the series ranked by TV Guide as among the top 25 television shows of all time. The season opener, "Divided We Stand," is a deft reintroduction to these now iconic characters: bleeding-heart surgeon Hawkeye Pearce (Alan Alda in his signature role), kindred misfit spirit Trapper John (Wayne Rogers), clueless administrator Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), buttoned-up Frank Burns (Larry Linville), and unbuttoned head nurse "Hot Lips" (Loretta Swit). In this episode, a visiting psychiatrist evaluates the 4077th to determine whether the unit "can function as a team." His evaluation can serve as this series' mission statement: "These impossible people are in an impossible place doing totally impossible things. They're mad--quite mad." M*A*S*H experienced no sophomore slump from its Emmy Award-winning first season. It continued to subvert sitcom convention with multiple-story episodes such as "Radar's Report." Scenes in the operating room play without a laugh track (this DVD gives viewers the option of watching entire episodes minus the intrusive chuckles and guffaws). M*A*S*H also tackled such issues as racism ("Dear Dad... Three," "L.I.P.--Local Indigenous Personnel"), homophobia ("George"), and war atrocities (Hawkeye and Trapper try to get the Army to take responsibility for the accidental shelling of a South Korean village). Not that M*A*S*H forgot how to be funny. "Five O'Clock Charlie" and "For Want of a Boot" are strictly for laughs. Hawkeye and Hot Lips memorably exchange flu shots in "Carry On, Hawkeye." Loyal viewers will note the emergence of several supporting characters, including Jamie Farr's Klinger and William Christopher's Father Mulcahy. One also sees the (to some) unfortunate transformation of Gary Burghoff's savvy, crackerjack clerk Radar into a naïve innocent. Allan Arbus makes his first appearance as compassionate psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Friedman in "Radar's Report." This second-season set is representative of why M*A*S*H was a cut above. --Donald Liebenson

The Rockford Files - Season Five

James Garner returns in his Primetime Emmy® Award-winning role as wisecracking ex-con-turned-private detective Jim Rockford in all 22 Season Five episodes of The Rockford Files! In this thrilling five-disc set Rockford chases down underworld mobsters art thieves an organ transplant ring and other criminals who never expect to find the world's most unlikely detective behind Rockford's easygoing laid-back demeanor. Along for the chase this season are such phenomenal guest stars as Tom Selleck Ed Harris John Pleshette Harold Gould and more. From legendary TV producer Stephen J. Cannell the Primetime Emmy® Award-winning series that earned eighteen nominations returns for more intelligent mysteries devious suspects and classic Rockford action!System Requirements:Running time: 297 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025195017237 Manufacturer No: 61102094

The Rockford Files - Season Two

"The best detective series ever," according to TV Guide, the second Rockford Files set begins at the beginning. That's because the double-length pilot ("Backlash of the Hunter") appears as an extra. In this episode, Jim Rockford (James Garner) explains to guest star Lindsay Wagner, "I only handle criminal cases that are closed." The first Rockford file also introduces his errant father, Rocky (Robert Donley, who'll soon be replaced by Noah Beery Jr.), detective buddy Dennis (Joe Santos, The Sopranos), and squirrelly pal Angel (Emmy winner Stuart Margolin) with whom he did time at San Quentin (before being granted a full pardon). Season two highlights include the two-part "Gearjammers," in which Rockford discovers his dad's secret life, "Chicken Little Is a Little Chicken," in which Rockford helps Angel fake his death, and "The Hammer of C Block," with Isaac "Shaft" Hayes as a former cellmate who just can't get his name straight—he thinks it's "Rockfish." (The Oscar-winning Hayes also contributes an original number called "Gandy's Theme.") Even when the episodes are less memorable, Garner's easygoing Oklahoma charm and potent chemistry with his co-stars, including lawyer/ex-girlfriend girlfriend Beth (Gretchen Corbett), makes each one worth watching. Like most Stephen J. Cannell programs (Baretta, 21 Jump Street, etc.), The Rockford Files never had any difficulty attracting famous (and soon-to-be-famous) guests. The second year claims such notables as Linda Evans ("The Farnsworth Stratagem"), Stefanie Powers ("The Real Easy Red Dog"), Blair Brown ("The Girl in the Bay City Boys Club"), Rob Reiner ("The No-Cut Contract"), and Louis Gossett Jr. ("Foul on the First Play'). The only other bonus feature is a short, if informative interview with Cannell, who reveals that the character of Joseph "Rocky" Rockford was modeled after his own father. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Starring James Garner as quirky ex-con turned detective Jim Rockford THE ROCKFORD FILES became a favorite of mystery lovers when it debuted in 1974. Living in a mobile home in Malibu Jim would rather just relax than solve crimes but his undeniable knack for uncovering the truth keeps him busy with casework in Los Angeles. This release gathers every episode from the show's second season.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025192647222 Manufacturer No: 26472

M*A*S*H - Season Three (Collector's Edition)

In honoring M*A*S*H's third season with the prestigious Peabody Award, the judges praised this series "for the depth of its humor and the manner in which comedy is used to lift the spirit and, as well, to offer a profound statement on the nature of war." Contained on three discs, season three comprises several benchmark episodes illustrative of what the Peabody judges called "television of high purpose." In "Rainbow Bridge," Hawkeye (Alan Alda), Trapper (Wayne Rogers), Radar (Gary Burghoff), Klinger (Jamie Farr), and an opportunistic Frank Burns (Larry Linville) participate in a swap with the North Koreans of wounded POWs. In "The Consultant," Robert Alda (Alan's dad) guest stars as a visiting doctor who cracks under the pressure of operating so close to the front. And the shocking season finale, "Abyssinia, Henry," took a page from Mister Roberts and killed off commanding officer Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson), who was en route home.

M*A*S*H's sense of humor did not go AWOL. The season opener, "The General Flipped at Dawn," earned guest star Harry Morgan an Emmy nomination for his performance as a certifiable general and paved the way for Morgan to join the cast in season four. "Adam's Ribs" is a classic episode in which Hawkeye orders out to Chicago for a very special delivery of spare ribs. In "Iron Guts Kelly," the war's "greatest fighting general" gets a little too gung-ho and perishes in Margaret's (Loretta Swit) tent. Because of its wartime setting and life-and-death struggles, this is that rare sitcom that may actually play better without a laugh track, an option this set offers. To paraphrase the title of one episode, this was a full, rich season that offered each member of one of television's finest ensembles the opportunity to shine. But Alda, who was honored that year with a Golden Globe award, fully emerges as the series' star. --Donald Liebenson

No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 18-FEB-2003
Media Type: DVD

M*A*S*H - Season Six (Collector's Edition)

Explores the day-to-day lives of the people who live and work at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) stationed three miles from the front during the Korean War.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 8-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVD

From a human standpoint, things are pretty tight at the 4077th. But adding a new character to a long-embedded, close-knit ensemble is a delicate operation. By M*A*S*H's sixth season, Hawkeye (Alan Alda) and BJ (Mike Farrell) were partners in outrage against the war and army bureaucracy. With the departure of Larry Linville's Frank Burns, the much decorated series was in need of some new blood. Enter David Ogden Stiers as Charles Emerson Winchester III. Just as Henry Morgan's authoritative Col. Potter was the anti-Henry Blake, so was Charles just what the doctor ordered to give Hawkeye and BJ a worthy foil. Charles was pompous and arrogant, but, unlike Frank, he was Hawkeye's equal in the operating room. And he gave as good as was given to him, as witness the conclusion of his inaugural Emmy-nominated episode, "Fade Out, Fade In," in which he turns the tables on one of Hawkeye and BJ's reptilian practical jokes. In season 6, Gary Burghoff's Radar is mostly missing in action (he would transfer out of the series in season 8), but he figures prominently in "Fallen Idol," one of Burghoff's and Alda's finest half-hours, in which Hawkeye lashes out at Radar's "Iowa naivete" and hero worship.

The season's primary dramatic arc is Margaret's (Loretta Switt) marital woes, culminating in the Emmy-nominated two-parter, "Comrades in Arms," in which Hawkeye and Margaret, trapped by enemy fire, engage in a little close-order drill. The humanization of Margaret continues in "Temporary Duty," which also features one of the most memorable visitors to the 4077th, George "Goober" Lindsey, as the wild and wooly Roy Dupree, a temporary transfer who drives BJ and Charles crazy. Alan Arbus's psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman, one of the series' most welcome recurring characters, makes a memorable return in "War of Nerves," one of his most dramatic episodes, in which a soldier Freedman sent back into combat, is unforgiving in blaming Sidney for his injuries. Two excellent ensemble episodes are "The Light That Failed, "in which the reading-starved camp shares a mystery novel, but doesn't have a clue what happens after the last page is missing, and "Mail Call Three," in which the camp reacts to news from home. Demerits again for no cast commentary, but this set once again offers viewers of the option of watching the episodes with or without a laugh track. --Donald Liebenson

M*A*S*H - Season Five (Collector's Edition)

M*A*S*H's fifth tour of duty finds the 4077th operating at peak efficiency. Harry Morgan, as Colonel Sherman Potter, and Mike Farrell as BJ Hunnicutt, pumped new blood into series, and in this, their sophomore year, became integral parts of the ensemble. Gary Burghoff joined the Emmy elite for his role as company clerk Radar O'Reilly. William Christopher was also promoted, finally earning his opening-credit stripes for his role as Father Mulcahy. This season was also pivotal for Loretta Switt's Major Margaret Houlihan. "The Nurses," one of Switt's finest half-hours, humanized her rigid, by-the-book character. Margaret's engagement provided the season with its dramatic arc, and set the stage for the departure of Larry Linville's Major Burns, who by this time had wrung all the music he could from his one-note character. In addition to "The Nurses," another episode that looms large in the show's legend is the Emmy-winning "Dear Sigmund," in which weary and depressed psychiatrist Sidney Friedman sought refuge at the 4077th. This episode further fleshed out BJ, and established him as the camp's practical joker. The episode "Hanky Panky," in which a compassionate BJ consoles a nurse whose marriage has fallen apart, ranks as one of his best.

Alan Alda's Hawkeye suffers physical and psychological crises in two of his most effective episodes, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," in which he is temporarily blinded, and "Hawk's Nightmare," in which the war haunts his dreams. We also see the first warning signs of sanctimony that would infect the show in later seasons. Tell us, Hawkeye--and he does, in "The General's Practitioner"--why war is worse than hell. Whereas Hawkeye and Trapper in earlier seasons were partners in crime, Hawkeye and BJ become tireless (and sometimes tiresome) crusaders to right all wrongs in their "little corner" of the world, as witness their shutdown of a heartless junk dealer in "Souvenirs." One cure is "Movie Tonight," an ensemble episode in which camp members bond during a much-interrupted screening of My Darling Clementine. --Donald Liebenson

No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 9-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD

The Rockford Files - Season Three

Series about an ex-con-turned-private-investigator named Jim Rockford who would rather run away than fight and would rather go fishing than work. He isn't a coward and he isn't lazy--just a bit on the cautious side that's all. And he bears a very strong resemblance to Western TV hero Bret Maverick. Rockford is sometimes aided (and sometimes deterred) in his cases by friends Dennis Becker (a police detective) Angel (his cowardly former cellmate) and pretty Beth Davenport (his lawyer).Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025193281920 Manufacturer No: 61032819

Much like his trusty Pontiac Firebird, The Rockford Files was a particularly well-oiled machine by the third year. Everything was clicking into place, from the writing to the acting (writer/producer David Chase went on to create The Sopranos). Despite a terrific supporting cast, James Garner was always the main draw, and he received an Emmy for the series during year three (1976-1977). Considering that the show was carefully pitched between drama and comedy, it was well deserved as Garner excelled at both. Notable episodes include "Feeding Frenzy," in which Rockford returns stolen loot for a client; "Drought at Indian Head River," in which informant Angel (Stuart Margolin) reinvents himself as a real estate developer; and "Rattler's Class of '63," in which Angel ties the knot. Among the guest stars are such hip cats as Blazing Saddles's Cleavon Little ("Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones...") and Cool Hand Luke's Strother Martin ("The Trees, the Bees, and T.T. Flowers"). Ned Beatty also drops by as a buddy from Korea ("Return to the 38th Parallel"), while R&B legend Isaac Hayes returns as prison pal Gandy Fitch ("Just Another Polish Wedding").

As usual, there are plenty of good lines, like Robert Loggia's "I expect him to tell me the truth. If he doesn't, he's gonna end up in the flower business--as a soil additive" ("Drought at Indian Head River") and Garner's "Stop batting your eyes like that or you're gonna get a muscle spasm" ("Return to the 38th Parallel"). The best part about season three is simply that it adds depth to Rockford's relationships with the four people most important to him: Angel, dad Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.), detective Becker (Joe Santos), and attorney Beth (Gretchen Corbett). The only extra feature is "Quickie Nirvana," an episode from the fourth season. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

M*A*S*H - Season Eleven (Collector's Edition)

As the eleventh season begins rumors are running rampant around camp. One rumor has everyone believing that Marilyn Monroe is going to pay the 4077 a special visit while another claims that the peace talks are finally making headway. This second rumor gets Margaret thinking after Charles mentions how a Los Angeles skyscraper had a time capsule built into its cornerstone. Although he thinks the idea is insane Margaret decides to make a time capsule of her own to bury in camp. We could put something in the ground to remind people we were here she suggested. With Hawkeye s help items from around camp were gathered up for the capsule: a chopper s broken fan belt Radar s teddy bear one of Henry Blake s fishing flies a bottle of Charles s cognac and Father Mulcahy s boxing gloves.And finally the gang of the 4077 hears the announcement they ve been waiting for: This is Robert Pierpoint speaking to you from nearby Panmunjom. It is one minute before ten p.m. We can still hear the sound of nearby artillery. At some point during the next few seconds the guns should go silent as the cease-fire officially goes into effect There it is. That s the sound of peace. System Requirements:Running Time: 390 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543253129 Manufacturer No: 2235312

Here's an essential addition to the TV time capsule, M*A*S*H's complete final season, including the DVD premiere of the historic feature-length final episode, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen." Still the most watched television series episode ever, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" brings M*A*S*H to a richly satisfying conclusion, giving each of its characters dramatic and fitting curtain calls. But the finale shouldn't completely overshadow what was a memorable and multi-Emmy-nominated season. After a decade, Kellye Nakahara, as compassionate and "cute as hell" Nurse Kellye, gets her own showcase episode with "Hey, Look Me Over." Echoing his obsession with "Adam's Ribs" back in season 3, "The Moon Is Not Blue," finds Hawkeye (Alan Alda) determined to secure for the morale-challenged camp a screening of a supposedly scandalous film. In "Friends and Enemies," Col. Potter (Henry Morgan) has the difficult task of confronting an officer, an old friend, who is irresponsibly endangering his men. After 11 seasons, we don't need anyone to tell us yet again that the "good and decent" people at the 4077th "make use of humor as a weapon against war," as a U.N. dignitary observes in one episode. In "The Joker Is Wild," B.J. (Mike Farrell) confirms his status as the camp's reigning practical joker with an epic, "brilliantly conceived" prank against Hawkeye.

Two emotional episodes set the stage for the finale. In "Who Knew?" a nurse's tragic death moves Hawkeye to show what he feels "through the (wise)cracks" and tell those in camp he is closest to that he loves them. In the penultimate episode, "As Time Goes By," Margaret (Loretta Switt) collects camp artifacts, among them, Radar's teddy bear, to put in a time capsule. Finally, after 251 episodes, there is "the sound of peace" in "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen," but not before a traumatic incident sends Hawkeye to a psychiatric ward, B.J. is sent home before he can say goodbye to Hawkeye, Charles (David Ogden Stiers) forms an attachment to a band of Chinese musicians, and Klinger (Jamie Farr) falls in love with a Korean woman separated from her family. That there is no audio commentary for this television benchmark is a major disappointment, but the series eloquently speaks for itself. M*A*S*H, we salute you. --Donald Liebenson

M*A*S*H - Season Eight (Collector's Edition)

Explores the day-to-day lives of the people who live and work at the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) stationed three miles from the front during the Korean War.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 24-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD

Unlike the good doctors of the 4077 (otherwise known as "this hellhole" and "sewer"), M*A*S*H shows little signs of fatigue in its eighth season. Familiar characters reveal new sides of themselves and the series itself performs some radical surgery on sitcom convention. The most pivotal personnel change is the departure of Gary Burghoff, the only ensemble member to have appeared in the original film, as Radar. His splendid two-part send-off sets the stage for one of the season's best episodes, the Emmy-nominated "Period of Adjustment," in which Klinger (Jamie Farr) must begin to make the role of company clerk his own, and family man B.J. Honeycutt (Mike Farrell) is devastated when a letter from home relates how his baby daughter called a visiting Radar "Daddy." Pompous Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers) gets his "Of course I care" episode when he tends to a classical pianist who has lost the use of his hands in "Morale Victory." Harry Morgan, as Colonel Henry Potter, was honored with an Emmy, most likely for the emotional episode "Old Soldiers," in which he receives word that the last of his World War I band of brothers has passed on. Loretta Switt was also saluted by the Academy for her work this season. Among her best episodes is "Are You Now, Margaret?" in which she is accused of being a communist sympathizer.

Two episodes truly distinguish themselves: "Life Time," which unfolds in real time as the doctors race against the clock to perform an emergency procedure that requires a graft from a dying soldier; and "Dreams," writer-director Alan Alda's Emmy-nominated, love-it-or-hate it episode that visits the nightmares of the sleep-deprived doctors. M*A*S*H continues to walk the scalpel's edge between hilarious comedy ("Too Many Cooks," "April Fools") and powerful drama ("Heal Thyself, in which a visiting doctor suddenly suffers a break down, and "Guerilla My Dreams," which climaxes with a tense standoff between the doctors, who have saved the life of a wounded female Korean guerilla, and the North Korean officer hellbent on executing her. As with past M*A*S*H sets, viewers have the preferred option of viewing the episodes without the intrusive laugh track. But we're putting whoever's in command on report for yet again not managing to stitch together any kind of cast commentary, interviews, or archival goodies. --Donald Liebenson