Rafkin, Alan

Don Knotts 4 Movie Reluctant Hero Pack (The Ghost And Mr. Chicken / The Reluctant Astronaut / The Shakiest Gun In The West / The Love God?)

He's one of the most popular and admired funnymen of all time, a master of comic timing and physical humor. Now four of the classic films starring the delightful Don Knotts are available on DVD for the first time in this fun-filled collector's set.

After catapulting to national fame as the often impossible but ever lovable Deputy Barney Fife on TV's The Andy Griffith Show, Knotts set out to conquer the silver screen in a series of unforgettable feature films. Now four of these hilarious farces are brought together in this amazing collection that keeps the laughs coming.

The Ghost And Mr. Chicken

Remember watching this silly little comedy from your childhood? It may not have aged all that well, but is still goofy, good fun. Okay, so you can spot the stunt double, and Don Knotts's twitches are a little more obvious. Still, fans of his familiar routines will be comforted in knowing they can again watch their skinny underdog hero solve the ghost story while winning the prettiest girl in town. Knotts plays a trembling typesetter hoping to become a reporter by cracking the mystery of the local haunted house. To do so, he must spend a night there. Good-hearted, non-threatening, and completely gooey, this is the equivalent of light-weight cinematic junk food. -- Rochelle O'Gorman

Sanford and Son - The First Season

"Elizabeth! I'm comin, honey!" Those were the words often heard coming from 9114 South Central, home to Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) and his son Lamont (Demond Wilson) - known more affectionately to each other as "Pop" and "Dummy" - and their junkyard business. Sanford and Son was the second TV series from Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, who created the groundbreaking "All in the Family" the year before. "Sanford and Son" aired from 1972-1977 and was NBC's most popular prime-time series for four of its five seasons, earning four Emmy nominations and a Golden-Globe Award for Redd Foxx during its run. Enjoy this hysterical first season - or you'll get one across the lip.

Sanford and Son - The Second Season

This three-disc boxed set compiles all 24 episodes from Sanford and Son's second season, which began on September 15, 1972. The sitcom quickly vaulted to the No. 2 spot on the network ratings--right behind creators Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin's previous effort, All in the Family. The second season brought no changes to the show's basic format--comedian Redd Foxx remained the focus as cantankerous junkman Fred Sanford, with Demond Wilson as his son and perennial foil, Lamont. What the second season did bring was several new characters and some of the series' funniest episodes. The second season supporting cast was filled out by some of Foxx's fellow comics, including Leroy and Skillet ("A Visit from Lena Horne") and LaWanda Page as Aunt Esther, who became a recurring character after "The Big Party." Also joining was Don Bexley as Bubba ("By the Numbers"), Nathaniel Taylor as Rollo ("Have Gun, Will Sell"), and Barney Miller's Gregory Sierra as neighbor Julio ("The Puerto Ricans Are Coming!").

But Sanford and Son's strength remained in Foxx's sharp-tongued and often improvised performance, which was ably abetted by the scripts (a number of plotlines were taken directly from Steptoe and Son, the U.K. series that inspired Sanford). Richard Pryor and Paul Mooney penned two of the collection's most laugh-filled half-hours, "The Dowry" and "Sanford and Son and Sister Make Three," but every episode has its share of hilarity thanks to Foxx and his costars. Though only English and Spanish subtitles are offered as extras, series fans should be pleased with the set, especially as a reference for Fred's best zingers ("I'm gonna stick your face in a bowl full of dough and make gorilla cookies!"). --Paul Gaita

An early milestone in urban TV comedy, "SANFORD AND SON" was an immediate critical and audience favorite when it debuted in the early '70s, signaling the arrival of one of TV's most memorable characters: Cantankerous-but-lovable junk dealer Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx). An African American answer to "Archie Bunker," widower Sanford and his "Dummy" son Lamont (Demond Wilson) run a family junk business in Watts, dreaming up schemes to strike it rich. Outspoken and outrageous, Sanford serves up big laughs as he skewers stereotypes, forever threatening, "How'd you like one across your lip?" Aided by a colorful cast that includes acid-tongued Aunt Esther (LaWanda Page), "SANFORD AND SONS" provided a showcase of black talent of all generations, freaturing guest stars like Lena Horne and episodes written by Richard Pryor. Timely and topical during its highly-rated five-year run (1972-1977), "SANFORD AND SON" emerged as one of the decade's biggest TV hits, inspiring producer Norman Lear to develop more barrier-breaking shows like "The Jeffersons" and "Good Times".

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - The Complete First Season

Gomer Pyle was a sweet but not too smart Marine from Mayberry North Carolina who was stationed at Camp Henderson near Los Angeles California. Gomer's innocence naivete and low-key demeanor often got him into trouble most frequently at the hands of his loud-mouthed superior Sgt. Carter. Duke Frankie Lester and Larry were some of Gomer's pals and fellow enlisted men at Camp Henderson and Lou Anne Poovie was his sometimes girlfriend who worked as a singer at the Blue Bird Cafe where Gomer and the boys often hung out.DVD Features:Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)Commentary by: Jim Nabors (select episodes)Dolby Digital 2.0All 30 episodes from the 1964-65 season on five discsGomer Pyle U.S.M.C. pilot episode from The Andy Griffith ShowAudio introductions by Jim Nabors on select episodesJim Nabors interview on The David Frost ShowThe Jim Nabors Hour clipFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097360788648 Manufacturer No: 078864

Golll-eeeee! The '60s' favorite TV country bumpkin, Gomer Pyle, won the hearts of viewers on The Andy Griffith Show, and spun off in to his own wildly popular series, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.. As the eternally cheery and clueless Gomer, Jim Nabors gives a comic tour de force performance as a newbie Marine under the command of the short-tempered Sgt. Carter, played with demonic fervor by Frank Sutton. Are Pyle and Sgt. Carter bitter foes or comedic sidekicks? "Surprise, surprise, surprise"--the secret to their chemistry was that the actors and characters were both, inseparable and adorable in their signature ways. The scrapes Gomer gets into are fairly routine and never exactly threaten national security, but Nabors' guileless delivery makes viewers tune in for more; the belly laughs are real. The boxed set includes engaging audio commentary by Nabors, who clearly still holds a lot of affection for his hapless alter-ego, as well as all 30 first-season episodes, and the pilot, which actually aired on The Andy Griffith Show. Other gems from the archive treasure trove include appearances by Nabors on The Lucy Show, The David Frost Show, and Nabor's own variety show, which also showcased his accomplished singing. Shazam! --A.T. Hurley

Murphy Brown - The Complete First Season

Candice Bergen stars as Murphy Brown an outspoken TV journalist who along with her hilariously quirky cohorts of the top-rated newsmagazine show FYI struggles to handle personal and professional problems with humor and insight.Running Time: 535 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569596450

The DVD release of Murphy Brown is particularly newsworthy. There had never been anyone on primetime quite like Murphy, the star investigative reporter for the Washington, D.C.-based television news magazine F.Y.I. As created by Diane English and embodied by Candice Bergen, Murphy was, in English's words, "Mike Wallace in a dress." On camera, she was tough, smart, and relentless. Off camera she was intriguingly flawed. In the pilot episode, her character returns to work following a stay at the Betty Ford Clinic. Over the course of the season, her sobriety is supremely tested by the chaotic goings-on inside the funniest newsroom since WJM on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Murphy must contend with an unending parade of ill-suited, stressed-out secretaries (a running joke throughout the series' 10 years), new 25-year-old producer Miles Silverberg (Grant Shaud) whom she rudely dismisses ("While I was being maced at the Democratic Convention in '68, you were wondering if you'd ever meet Adam West"), and new co-anchor Corky Sherwood (Faith Ford), a former Miss America ("by default") with no journalistic background. Murphy is over 40 and prickly, with a penchant for vindictive practical jokes against her colleagues. In short, in the words of a lampooning cartoonist in the episode "Funnies Girl," dynamic, "pain-in-the-butt," Motown-loving Murphy is "a veritable fountain of material."

With its smart and sophisticated writing and seamless ensemble, Murphy Brown instantly established itself as one of television's gold standard series, earning four Emmy Awards for this inaugural season, including Outstanding Lead Actress for Bergen and Outstanding Writing for English. Colleen Dewhurst was also honored for her guest appearance as Murphy's equally intimidating mother in the episode, "Mama Said." A cast and crew retrospective and commentaries by Bergen and English for, respectively, the pilot and classic flashback episode "The Summer of '77" earn this set R*E*S*P*E*C*T. --Donald Liebenson

That Girl - Season 2

One of the all-time great TV stars, Marlo Thomas--with her false eyelashes, fab flip, and an adorable raspy squeak when she got excited--achieved iconic status with That Girl, a top-rated and culture-busting show about the comic trials of an aspiring actress/model in 1960s New York City. Thomas (and her on-screen alter ego, Ann Marie) combined the poise and fashion sense of Audrey Hepburn, the bubbly good cheer of Annette Funicello, and the sly smarts of Claudette Colbert into one surprisingly hip small town girl in the big city. Though dozens of great guest-stars (from Bill Bixby to Ethel Merman) pass through the show and the supporting cast (including Bernie Kopell, The Love Boat, as a neighbor, and Lew Parker and Rosemary DeCamp as Ann's parents) is topnotch, That Girl is fundamentally a tennis match between Thomas and the underrated Ted Bessel as Ann's deceptively mild boyfriend, Donald. Episodes in the second season ranged from loving or satirical portraits of show-biz life (Ann starred in an out-of-town flop; Ann worked as a model for a libidinous British photographer; Ann gets cast in an Italian film that has a nude scene) to keenly observed dustups in Ann and Donald's developing relationship (Donald's mother discovers a pair of his pants in Ann's closet; Ann frets that she doesn't have sex appeal; and, in one oddly surreal show, Ann meets a doctor who's an exact doppleganger for Don). Though the chaste morals of 1960s television--ridiculously out of step with 1960s real life--kept Ann and Donald from ever consummating their enduring relationship, it's amazing how sophisticated and sexy they could be without ever taking their clothes off. Listening to their repartee, you realize how depressingly dumbed-down most sitcom dialogue is, then and now. Ann and Donald talked like adults: Making allowances for each other's foibles, poking fun at them all the same, and respecting each other's independence. It doesn't undercut the show's significance as a proto-feminist milestone to say that it's a love story at heart. Over the course of Season Two, Ann and Donald's relationship grew increasingly subtle and textured; it genuinely smacked of two people growing to know each other better and liking each other all the more. If you don't think a happy, functional relationship can have a real romantic spark, you haven't watched That Girl. --Bret Fetzer

Ann and Donald are back for the second season of the groundbreaking hit situation comedy That Girl which aired in 1967-1968. It remained in a prime ABC spot following Bewitched and the viewer numbers regularly ranked in the top 5 television shows airing at that time. On September 20, 1967, Variety reported that That Girl held 27.5% of the TV viewing audience. This substantial number continued to grow through the season and by January 1968, Nielsen polls showed 45.4% of the TV audience was tuning in.

This season debuted with one of the most popular episodes from the series. In "Pass the Potatoes, Ethel Merman," Ann gets a one-line role in a short-term revival of Gypsy and invites Ethel Merman (playing herself) back to her apartment for a home-cooked meal.

Here are all 30 color episodes from the second season, along with rare bonus material and guest appearances by Sid Caesar, Rob Reiner, Teri Garr, Ruth Buzzi, Rich Little, Bill Bixby, Norman Fell, Joan Blondell and Ethel Merman.

Bonus Features:
• Marlo Thomas Interview Featurette
• Never-Aired 1965 Pilot for Two's Company Starring Marlo Thomas
• Audio Commentaries with Marlo Thomas and series co-creator Bill Persky
• That Girl Promos

How To Frame a Figg

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - The Second Season

Gomer Pyle a naive country boy leaves his home in Mayberry NC to join the U.S. Marine corps. His perpetual wide-eyed innocence frequently gets on the nerves of his tough loudmouthed sergeant. A successful spin-off from THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW.System Requirements:Running Time: 761 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097361225845 Manufacturer No: 122584

Thanks (but no thanks) to Full Metal Jacket, the name of "Gomer Pyle" is associated with a demented, suicidal screw-up. That's not the Gomer (Jim Nabors) we know and love! Sure, our Gomer may be, in the mentoring words of his bellowing Sgt. Carter (Frank Sutton), a "lunkhead," "yo-yo," "knucklehead," and "meatball," who invariably "pulls some beauts." But his heart is always in the right place, as in the episode "PFC Gomer Pyle," in which the newly promoted Private First Class unwittingly cancels Carter's Hawaiian furlough thinking it is a request for a permanent transfer. Our Gomer is unfailingly honest. In "Gomer and the Phone Company," he is arrested for trying to put back ill-gotten money he received from a malfunctioning pay phone. And, our Gomer is forthright, as in "Gomer and the Beast," in which he stands up to a feared, abusive sergeant (guest star Michael Conrad) who takes his waitress girlfriend for granted.

Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, was one of the "surprise, surprise, surprise" hits of its day. In this second season (its first in color), it ranked second to Bonanza in the Nielsen ratings. That Nabors and Sutton were never even nominated for Emmys is a TV Land injustice. Nabors, especially, finds new music in what could have been a one-note bumpkin character (he even demonstrates his unexpected baritone singing voice in "Arrivederci, Gomer"). Providing expert support are Ted Bessell (That Girl) and Ronnie Schell (who demonstrates his standup comedy chops in "Duke Slater, Nightclub Comic") as Gomer's Marine buddies. Look sharp for two future M*A*S*H stars, Jamie Farr in "Gomer Pyle, P.O.W." and, in a couple of episodes, William Christopher. Making welcome visits from Mayberry are George Lindsay in the mistaken-identity episode, "A Visit from Cousin Goober," and Ron Howard in "Opie Joins the Marines," in which Carter bonds with the runaway Opie and, movingly, hints at a less than nurturing relationship with his own father. "The world has changed a lot since I was a kid," he remarks when Andy (Andy Griffith) arrives to retrieve his son, and puts a reassuring arm around the boy's shoulder. Television has changed, too, in the more than 40 years since these still funny episodes were first broadcast. Prime time could use another Gomer, with his boundless optimism, unwavering character and try, try again attitude. --Donald Liebenson

That Girl: Season Three

Before The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Murphy Brown and Ally McBeal, there was That Girl. The groundbreaking situation comedy starring Marlo Thomas debuted in 1966 and was the first to feature a young, independent female character. The wildly successful, award-winning show continues into the third season bringing to life the comedy of Ann Marie's antics as a single girl in New York, her acting pursuits and her relationship with Donald Hollinger (Ted Bessell.)