Wiard, William

Baa Baa Black Sheep, Vol. 2

Baa Baa Black Sheep - Volume 1

A likable mix of WWII action and light comedy, the first 10 episodes of the NBC series Baa Baa Black Sheep (1976-78) wing their way onto DVD in this double-sided two-disc set. Based on the adventures of Marine Corps pilot Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (played in the series by the always dependable Robert Conrad) and his squadron of roguish ace fliers in the South Pacific Theater, Baa Baa Black Sheep benefited from an excellent cast (which included such TV and film vets as Simon Oakland and Dana Elcar, as well as up-and-comers like John Larroquette and Larry Manetti of Magnum, P.I.) and scripts from series creator Stephen J. Cannell (as well as long-time TV scribes like Philip De Guere and Milt Rosen) that offered a enjoyable balance of humor and combat. The blend gets an excellent showcase in the 1976 two-hour pilot, Flying Misfits, which kicks off volume 1; the remaining 10 adventures pit Pappy and the Black Sheep boys against the Axis Japanese in a secret squadron of captured planes ("The Meatball Circus," episode 8), a brainwashed American captain ("Presumed Dead," episode 7), and a tough major (Charles Napier) with designs on commanding the squadron ("Best Three out of Five," episode 3). Fans of the series may question the decision to include only half of the first season's episodes in this set (the 1976-77 season ran for an additional 12 episodes before being dropped by NBC; the series was revived in late 1977, rechristened Black Sheep Squadron, and ran for an additional 13 episodes before being canceled in 1978), but the inclusion of the two-part pilot and interviews with the real Pappy Boyington (who served as the show's consultant and even cameos in the pilot) should appease any concerns. --Paul Gaita

The Rockford Files - Season One

From the premiere of its first hour-long episode on September 13, 1974, The Rockford Files was a critical and commercial success that gained a large and loyal following. Like other private-eye shows of the 1970s (such as Columbo and David Janssen's Harry O), the series offered smart mystery plots in the hardboiled-sleuth traditions of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Rex Stout, given a sunlit spin in contemporary California. But ex-convict turned private investigator Jim Rockford (who served time for a crime he didn't commit) was anything but a conventional gumshoe; for one thing, he rarely carried a gun, and resorted to violence only when he'd exhausted his options. As played to perfection by James Garner (in what would become his signature role, surpassing his previous success as Maverick), Rockford preferred wisecracks over violence, and his going rate ("$200 a day, plus expenses") was typically applied to cold cases, missing persons, and family disputes, frequently leading to entanglements with organized crime and L.A.P.D. Sergeant Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), whose friendship with Rockford lent the series one of its pivotal character relationships. As Rockford pursued the truth from his rusty trailer-home on the Pacific Coast Highway, his inherent warmth and compassionate sleuthing were further enhanced by engaging interplay with his retired ex-trucker father "Rocky" (Noah Beery, Jr.), his lawyer and on-and-off girlfriend Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett), and his weasely former cell-mate "Angel" Martin (Stuart Margolin), a trio of supporting players as memorably appealing as any in '70s television. As a loose-knit ensemble, they followed Garner's capable lead with intelligent dialogue (the best of it written by series cocreator Stephen J. Cannell and frequent contributor Juanita Bartlett) and occasionally burst of stunt-laden action, typically involving Rockford's expert driving of a versatile Pontiac Firebird. (As Garner fondly recalls in the disc 1 bonus interview, "That car could do anything.")

With a catchy Mike Post theme song, The Rockford Files began each week with a new message on Rockford's telephone answering machine, usually a humorous indication that Rockford's life was always in some kind of financial disarray. Garner played this angle to the hilt, portraying Rockford as a nice guy who knew all the scams and wasn't above using them if it aided his case. His portrayal, and the show's excellent writing, attracted a wide variety of new and established guest stars, and these 23 episodes (24 if you count the two-part "This Case Is Closed," originally broadcast as one 90-minute episode) feature appearances by Joseph Cotten, James Woods, Sharon Gless, Lindsay Wagner, James Cromwell, Suzanne Somers, Ned Beatty, and others, along with lesser-known but familiar TV regulars like Sian Barbara Allen and Mills Watson, all adding flavor to a series that was routinely hailed by mystery writers as one of the best private-eye shows in TV history. Speaking of mysteries, one can only wonder why Universal failed to include the series' 90-minute pilot (originally aired in March 1974), and while this reviewer experienced no playback problems with these three double-sided DVDs (four episodes per side), many consumers have reported DVD freeze-ups likely resulting from lower-quality players less capable of handling high-compression DVDs. These caveats aside, season 1 of The Rockford Files is a bona fide treat, setting the tone for even better episodes that followed in subsequent seasons. --Jeff Shannon

The world's most unlikely detective comes to DVD for the first time ever in all 23 thrilling Season One episodes of The Rockford Files. Emmy(r) winner James Garner stars as the offbeat Jim Rockford, an ex-con-turned-private-investigator who would rather fish than fight, but whose instinct on closed cases is more golden than his classic Pontiac Firebird. From his mobile home in Malibu, this wisecracking private eye takes on the cases of the lost and the dispossessed, chasing down seemingly long-dead clues in the sun-baked streets and seamy alleys of Los Angeles. Including an interview with James Garner himself, this phenomenal DVD set contains 23 TV hours of classic Rockford action and includes such stellar guest stars as Lindsay Wagner, James Woods, Abe Vigoda, Suzanne Somers and Ned Beatty. The Rockford Files are now open and declassified for mystery fans everywhere!

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

By the show's third year ratings were high enough to give the writers and creators more leverage with the network and thus a bit less trouble with the censors. In addition, the show's writers were more experienced with the TV format and had more in-depth knowledge of the characters. By this time they could also gauge how much serious material the audience would accept mixed in with their comedy.

But most importantly, between the second and third seasons Larry Gelbart and Gene Reynolds visited Korea, a trip that they say affected the stories in the third season.

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

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

As the eighth season opens, Radar receives a letter from home proving war is not the only place where death strikes unexpectedly. The news quickly has Radar shipping stateside, followed by a period of adjustment as everyone tries to get used to a nervous and bumbling Klinger being in charge as company clerk. Things go from bad to worse as both Colonel Potter and Charles have to be quarantined with mumps. Then Hawkeye decides to stop drinking after receiving a bar bill so big that he's shocked into realizing, "I could have bought a used Studebaker for this!"

Aside from incoming wounded, the 4077 is besieged by congressional aides, doctors demonstrating new techniques, inspecting colonels and a return visit from psychiatrist Sidney Freedman. Now if only everyone would just go away so the docs could get some sleep!

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

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

After a first season in which M*A*S*H barely rated among television's top fifty shows, the show received a boost in its second season when CBS switched their time slot to Saturday nights right after "All in the Family."

Knowing a lot of new people would be tuning in to the second season, creator/writer Larry Gelbart reveals, "We wrote the first episode as a sort of second pilot to introduce all the new viewers to the characters." Almost immediately after the second season began, the show became a hit—and the actors became household names.

Little did they know the show was going to last longer than the war itself.

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

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

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."

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

In M*A*S*H's ninth season, tears flow almost as freely as the blood and laughter, affording the decorated ensemble (Alan Alda, Harry Morgan. Loretta Swit, and David Ogden Stiers were all nominated for Emmys) ample dramatic license. Margaret (Swit) cries while reflecting on a patient to whom she became emotionally attached in "Letters." B.J. (Mike Farrell) tears up when Hawkeye (Alda) and company surprise him with a wedding-anniversary home movie of his wife in "Oh, How We Danced." And Winchester (Stiers) reveals that he's "human like the rest of us" in three of his finest half-hours (each was nominated for an Emmy). In "The Life You Save," he becomes obsessed with death after discovering a sniper's bullet grazed his head. In the moving Christmas episode, "Death Takes a Holiday," he struggles to uphold a family tradition of making an anonymous charitable gesture. In "No Laughing Matter," he is reunited with the colonel who exiled him to the 4077th, but will groveling and brass-kissing get him reassigned to Tokyo?

In its early years, M*A*S*H primarily prescribed laughter, with measured doses of sensitivity and compassion, to combat the tragedies and absurdities of war. By the ninth season, the good doctors of the 4077th were no longer content to be cut-ups, and this television institution began to overdose on self-righteousness. In the episode "Depressing News," Hawkeye builds a "monument" out of 500,000 tongue depressors mistakenly delivered to the camp. "We wouldn't have this supply if they didn't think there'd be a demand," he laments. "My God, hasn't this elimination tournament gone on long enough?" When, after much fanfare, he destroys his creation for the benefit of a confused Stars and Stripes reporter, he spells it out: "Senseless destruction; get the picture?" While there are no groundbreaking episodes on the order of "Point of View" (from season 7), season 9 finds cast and crew working at peak efficiency. --Donald Liebenson

The perfect comic relief, the perfect holiday gift!

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

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

As the sixth season opens, Margaret's marriage has finally driven Frank Burns over the edge. Unfortunately, his subsequent replacement, Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, soon drives B.J. and Hawkeye over the edge as well. From his fur-trimmed coat to his shiny French horn, he almost makes B.J. and Hawkeye wish Frank were still there. Almost.

But as Winchester slowly finds his place within the OR, things get back to normal - or as normal as they ever get. Radar goes off in search of the perfect tattoo. Black marketeers steal all the unit's penicillin. Hawkeye and B.J. refuse to shower unless Charles stops blowing his horn. And Hawkeye and Margaret find comfort in each other's arms...if only for one night.

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

The war in Korea wages on with no end in sight, but the medical corps at the 4077th valiantly battle on against soulless military bureaucracy, tedium, and insanity. The seventh season of one of television's most decorated series continued to break new ground, with episodes such as "Point of View," which unfolds under the subjective eye of a wounded soldier. And just when you think you have these characters pegged, the writers provocatively challenged them. One of the most powerful episodes of the season, and the series, is "Preventive Medicine," in which Hawkeye (Alan Alda) takes drastic measures to stop a gung-ho colonel from further endangering his men. "Inga," another series benchmark, written and directed by Alda, finds Hawkeye threatened by an accomplished woman doctor (Mariette Hartley).

Unlike Larry Linville's one-note Major Burns, David Ogden Stiers found new notes to play as Charles Emerson Winchester III. His character remains, as Hawkeye observes, "pompous, arrogant, conceited, and a total bore." But he's also "all right" in three of his finest half-hours: "Major Ego," in which he lets a magazine profile go to his swelled head; "Rally Round the Flagg, Boys," in which he outwits camp nemesis Colonel Flagg; and "Ain't Love Grand," in which he falls for a Korean girl he meets at Rosie's Bar (the setting for another essential episode, "A Night at Rosie's," in which the company seeks refuge from the war). The seven-year itch got to Gary Burghoff, who would depart the series in season 8. Episodes such as "Hot Lips Is Back in Town," in which Radar sweetly woos a new nurse, demonstrate why he would be keenly missed. The two-part "Our Finest Hour" is anything but. It is a rehash of the season 4 classic, "The Interview," that serves as a clip episode. This is a rare misstep in another satisfying season that did this series proud. --Donald Liebenson

As the seventh season opens, peace talks to end the war have been going on for over a year and Hawkeye has had enough. He jumps in a jeep and roars off to the talks, and although he makes it onto the speaker's floor, his rant does little to speed up the negotiations. His discontent isn't helped by the return of war correspondent Clete Roberts who has came back to the 4077 to tape another one of his television talks for the folks back home.

Yet Hawkeye isn't the only one feeling the pressures of war. BJ nearly drives himself to exhaustion trying to help a poor Korean family, Father Mulcahy almost gets himself killed trying to get a promotion, Charles falls in love with a working girl at Rosie's Bar, and Margaret's divorce is finally made official. It's all part of life during wartime.