1970s

The Muppet Show - The Complete Third Season

Wocka! Wocka! Wocka! The innovative variety show's sensational third season earned television's prestigious Peabody Award as well as an Emmy(R) Award nomination for outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Program. Featuring a sensational lineup of hilarious guest stars -- including Sylvester Stallone Gilda Radner Raquel Welch and Liberace -- Season Three is loaded with more Muppetational moments than any show in primetime history. Experience all 24 episodes from Season Three -- digitally remastered and restored -- in this special 4-disc DVD set. With hours of bonus features including an all-new behind-the-scenes documentary original Muppet commercials and much more THE MUPPET SHOW: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON is unbeatable entertainment for the whole family.System Requirements:Running Time: 612 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 786936755831 Manufacturer No: 05649900

An iconic variety show that ran from 1976 to 1981, The Muppet Show was a masterpiece of puppetry and slapstick humor as well as a showcase for the best musical and comic talent of its day. Season three ran 1978-1979 and featured 26 famous guest stars, including Roy Clark, Pearl Bailey, Jean Stapleton, Harry Belefonte, Danny Kaye, Cheryl Ladd, Raquel Welch, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and Sylvester Stallone. Some of the most unique episodes of the season were the Lynn Redgrave show, in which she and all the Muppets used the entire show to re-enact the story of Robin Hood; the Loretta Lynn episode, which was ostensibly filmed at the railroad station when the theater was being fumigated; and the visual effects-laden Alice Cooper episode. Other notable moments include Liberace's performances of everything from a Chopin Nocturne to a Boogie Woogie piece, Gilda Radner's amusing musical rendition from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta "Carrots of Penzance" (or was that "Parrots of Penzance," or "Pirates of Penzance?"), and Danny Kaye's appearance as the Swedish Chef's uncle. Naturally, the season features all your favorite Muppet characters like Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, Scooter, Rowlf, Crazy Harry, Beaker, and Animal as well as the beloved skits Muppet Labs, Pigs in Space, Swedish Chef, Veterinarian's Hospital, and Muppet Newsflash. Truly timeless entertainment for all ages, this third season of The Muppet Show is just as adept at bringing back memories as it is making new ones. --Tami Horiuchi

Dallas - The Complete Ninth Season

Episodes:1. The Family Ewing2. Rock Bottom3. Those Eyes4. Resurrection5. Saving Grace6. Mothers7. The Wind of Change8. Quandary9. Close Encounters10. Suffer the Little Children11. The Prize12. En Passant13. Goodbye Farewell and Amen14. Curiosity Killed the Cat15. The Missing Link16. Twenty-Four Hours17. The Deadly Game18. Blame it on Bogota19. Shadow Games20. Missing21. Dire Straits22. Overture23. Sitting Ducks24. Masquerade25. Just Desserts26. Nothing's Ever Perfect27. J.R. Rising28. Serendipity29. Thrice in a Lifetime30. Hello Goodbye Hello31. Blast From the PastFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 883929023783 Manufacturer No: 1000039444

Happy Days - The Complete First Season

The daily lives of the Cunningham family in 1950s Milwaukee, their friends, and their greaser tenant Arthur \""Fonzie\"" Fonzarelli.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: HAPPY DAYS
Title: SEASON 1
Street Release Date: 08/17/2004
Domestic
Genre: TELEVISION

Less than a year after Ron Howard played a college-bound adolescent enjoying a final, summer-of-1962 romp with old friends in American Graffiti, he turned up as high school innocent Richie Cunningham in the memorable, ABC television network debut of Happy Days, set a few years earlier in Milwaukee. The show would last a decade and go through many changes in tone, cast, and character development, but that first season got a boost from the natural perception that it had some things in common with Graffiti: Howard, of course, but also fumbling teenage sex, drag races, drive-in food, pesky little sisters, and laconic greasers.

Happy Days: The Complete First Season is a sweet trip back to the Garry Marshall-produced sitcom's 1974 entry in primetime television, before political correctness would make stories about clean-cut boys fixated on seducing girls unthinkable, and long before older kids were defined by angst on the WB and Fox TV. At least in its first year, before Happy Days developed more of a comic-book feel and energy, the show was about Richie's all-too-human inclination to grow up too fast, to bite off more than he could chew and learn poignant lessons in the process. He was a sympathetic naif, not the charming braggart he later became, and major characters appear to have been created to provide both ballast and motivation. Among them is best friend Potsie (Anson Williams), a superficial hustler who typically incites Richie's enthusiasm for booze, reputed nymphomaniacs, and sophisticated, older girls, and fast-talking Ralph Malph (Donny Most), owner of a fantastic, yellow hot rod. More important are counterparts Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler), a vaguely dangerous drop-out, and Richie's exasperated father, Howard Cunningham (Tom Bosley), each of whom provides Richie the validation of an experienced male: Fonzie's raw worldliness versus Mr. C's seasoned view of a man's responsibilities. First-season highlights include the pilot episode (co-written by Rob Reiner), "All the Way," in which Richie's typical decency allows him to see past the sex-mad reputation of an amiable girl from school. Season closer "Be the First on Your Block" finds the Cunninghams' plans to build a bomb shelter turning into a popularity contest as Richie's friends vie for a guaranteed spot in the event of nuclear war. --Tom Keogh

Hawaii Five-O - The Fourth Season

Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii the show followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett head of an elite state police unit investigating "organized crime murder assassination attempts foreign agents felonies of every type." James MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno") Williams with local actors playing members of the Five-O team.System Requirements:Running Time: 1215 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368920743 Manufacturer No: 892074

Could it be that with Hawaii Five-O's fourth season, a third of the way into its remarkable '60s-'70s run, the show has gotten... well, cool? Actually, there are signs throughout this six-disc set of 24 digitally-remastered episodes that point to yes. Let's not get carried away here; Five-O is still basically as square as Tiananmen and Trafalgar, and as long as Steve McGarrett (portrayed, as ever, by Jack Lord) is in charge, its groove factor will never rival that of, say, CSI: Miami, or any other glossy new millennium cop drama. Indeed, the show's corniness and utter lack of irony remain integral to its charm. But there are a few interesting developments in this '71-'72 season. There's a good complement of snappy dialogue (one particularly large perp is "so big he could go bear-hunting with chopsticks"). And although the pacing can be pretty stodgy, the editing is a bit more deft; many scenes flow more naturally, and in at least one instance ("I Want Some Candy, and a Gun that Shoots," wherein a sniper is picking off cops on a coastal highway), the entire episode is more exciting than the Five-0 norm. The direction and lighting are also more stylish, while the music (not just Morton Stevens' classic theme song but the incidental sounds as well) and location scenery, two elements that have always been among the series' strong suits, are as good as ever; in fact, the islands look so lush and inviting that one wonders why the bad guys can even get motivated to commit their dirty deeds.

But they do, of course, and McGarrett and his faithful team (James MacArthur as Danno, Kam Fong as Chin Ho, and, in what remains one of the great TV credits ever, "Zulu as Kono") are there to stop 'em. This time around they're dealing with everything from a big money travelers check scam ("3,000 Crooked Miles to Honolulu," with Jed Clampett... er, Buddy Ebsen as a guest villain), eco-terrorism ("Is This Any Way to Run a Paradise"), political assassination ("Rest in Peace, Somebody"), and racism-rape ("Skinhead"), along with the usual murders and encounters with Red Chinese nemesis Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh). McGarrett is for the most part still as stiff as his hair, but Lord occasionally displays considerable passion, as when he breaks down in tears upon being informed that a nasty car accident did not leave him paralyzed (in "The 90-Second War," a two-parter). As always, bonus material is limited to brief, previous-week promos for each episode. --Sam Graham

Mork & Mindy - The Complete First Season

Children who love Robin Williams as the voice of Aladdin or as Mrs. Doubtfire will get a blast out of the show that blasted him into the stratosphere, and made "Nanoo, Nanoo" a national catch-phrase. Mork & Mindy, a spin-off of a season 5 Happy Days episode, was a tailor-made star vehicle for Williams, who won a Golden Globe for this inaugural 1978 season. The role of extraterrestrial Mork from Ork gave free reign to Williams's stream-of-consciousness riffing as Mork observed life on Earth and reported back to his leader, Orson, on all that he learned about friendship, love, family, and emotions. As Mindy, the down-to-Earth Boulder, Colorado, girl who takes the stranded alien under her roof, fresh-faced Pam Dawber does her best to keep up. When Williams is really in the (Twilight?) zone, it's not acting: she does seem like she's dealing with someone from another planet.

The highlight of this first season is "Mork's Mixed Emotions," a tour-de-force that TV Guide ranked among the top 100 TV episodes of all time (#94, to be exact). Mork believes that emotions are bad, and tries to lock them inside himself, but they are unleashed in a lusty, happy, weepy, angry, envious torrent. Helping to launch Williams as a primetime player in the series pilot are Henry Winkler and Penny Marshall in their iconic roles as the Fonz and Laverne. Another notable guest star in season 1 is David Letterman as an abusive EST-like guru in "Mork Goes Erk." Mork & Mindy rapidly jumped the shark, and much of the '70s sitcom trappings have not aged well, but this first season is a giddy time capsule record of Williams at his most spontaneous and out of this world. Shazbot--the set contains no extras. --Donald Liebenson.

A spin-off from the hit show "Happy Days," MORK & MINDY stars Robin Williams as the lovable alien from the planet Ork. Sent to Earth by his fellow Orkans who see him as a misfit, Mork is assigned to observe the customs of the crazy Earthlings. Landing in a giant eggshell in Boulder, Colorado, Mork is soon befriended by Mindy McConnell (Dawber) a music store clerk, and allowed to stay in the attic of her apartment.

The Odd Couple - The Fourth Season

Two divorced New Yorkers---a slob and a fussbudget---try to live together without driving each other crazy' in this classic sitcom based on Neil Simon's hit play and movie. Both Jack Klugman and Tony Randall won Emmys in the leads the latter in the final year of a five-season run. Now if I only had a job' Randall said at the Emmy gala. The show inspired two remakes one an animated series portraying the main characters as a cat and a dog and a 1982-83 version with a mostly black cast.System Requirements:Running Time: 562 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097361327549 Manufacturer No: 132754

Even at its guest-starringest, Will & Grace had nothing on The Odd Couple's fourth season stunt casting. Just two months after their epic "Battle of the Sexes" drew the largest-ever live audience for a tennis match, Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King squared off against each other at the ping-pong table in the episode, "The Pig Who Came to Dinner." Ballet superstar Edward Villella performs in "Last Tango in Newark" and Marilyn Horn, as a baker with an operatic voice and an unrequited crush on Oscar, sings selections from Carmen, as well as "People," in "Vocal Girl Makes Good." "The Songwriter" features legendary disc jockey Wolfman Jack and entertainer Jaye P. Morgan, who performs the ever-popular Felix-penned ditty, "Happy and Peppy and Bursting with Love." Playboy emperor Hugh Hefner drops in for the flashback episode, "One for the Bunny," in which a jealous Felix is undone when he must photograph his future wife, Gloria, for a possible Playmate spread. But the chemistry between Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, Best Actor Emmy nominees in each of this series' five years, is the real attraction. They are so thoroughly at home in their roles that they elevate the more over-the-top material, as witness their ill-fated presentation as glue entrepreneurs in "A Barnacle Adventure." Among the season's best episodes are the ones that go back to the basics of Neil Simon's warhorse play: Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? In "The Insomniac," Felix cannot get to sleep ("I'm up as a pup") despite Oscar's best efforts. In "Cleanliness is Next to Impossible," Felix hypnotizes the unwitting Oscar into becoming a neat freak after Oscar's new girlfriend calls him sloppy (Felix's heartbreak at having to bring Oscar out of it is palpable. "It's like a dream come true," he moans). Elinor Donahue's Miriam, Felix's girlfriend, is conveniently forgotten in the episodes in which Felix tries to win back his ex-wife ("Gloria Moves In"). Zinger-queen Brett Somers also returns as Oscar's ex-wife, Blanche, in flashback episodes that continue to play havoc with Felix and Oscar's backstory (so now they were in the Army together?) Randall, Klugman and company (including Penny Marshall as Oscar's secretary, Myrna) clearly relish playing to their enthusiastic live audience, and this richly entertaining season is brimming with classic moments and bits of comic business that continue to bring down the house. --Donald Liebenson

Laverne & Shirley - The Complete First Season

As a spin-off from Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley was an instant hit and one of the most popular sitcoms of the '70s. It's a bit quaint by contemporary standards, and its light-hearted sentiment is strictly old-school, due to the crowd-pleasing influence of producer and cocreator Garry Marshall, a veteran of The Dick Van Dyke Show whose subsequent film career peaked early with Pretty Woman. As working-class roommates in mid-1950s Milwaukee, Laverne De Fazio (Penny Marshall, future director and Garry's sister) and Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams) were a classic case of opposites: Laverne was relatively saucy and cynical, while Shirley was cheerfully naive and eternally optimistic. As bottle-cappers at the Shotz brewery, they regularly associated with colleagues (and eventual neighbors) Lenny (Michael McKean) and Squiggy (David L. Lander), and as an inaugural ratings-booster, Happy Days superstar Henry Winkler (as "Fonzie") appears in the first three episodes including "Bowling for Razzberries," later named by TV Guide as a classic episode. As Shirley's crooning would-be beau, Carmine "The Big Ragoo" Rugusa (Eddie Mekka) provided a touch of romance to Shirley's otherwise lackluster love life.

Despite personal rancor that later erupted between its energetic costars, Laverne & Shirley was always a showcase for polished, professional comedy and effortless chemistry between characters, giving it the same widespread appeal later enjoyed by Friends. A mid-season replacement with a prime time-slot (following Happy Days at 8:30 Tuesdays on ABC) the show placed its good-natured characters in a variety of standard sitcom predicaments, typically set in L&S's apartment, the "Pizza Bowl" diner run by Laverne's father Frank (Phil Foster), or the Shotz brewery, where some of the show's funniest slapstick humor emerged. These 15 episodes are guaranteed to please longtime fans on a stroll down memory lane, but bonus features are nonexistent, and newcomers may not relate to the clean-cut humor of a bygone era. Still, Laverne & Shirley started strong and continued to improve, at least for another season or two, with a variety of popular guest stars. This three-disc set represents the best of times for everyone involved. --Jeff Shannon

Getting its start as a spin-off from "Happy Days," LAVERNE & SHIRLEY takes place in Milwaukee in the 1950's and features Laverne, an outspoken, hot-headed woman who would love more than anything to be rescued from her job by a nice man, and Shirley, a naïve young woman who worries about her reputation and often finds herself assuming the role of Laverne's conscience in an effort to keep her best friend out of trouble. The two quirky friends have many fun times with Lenny and Squiggy, two greasers who share an apartment above Laverne and Shirley and always seem to have some kind of scheme up their sleeves.

The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset

This unassuming case is packed with 16 tons of funny: 14 discs of THE COMPLETE MONTY PYTHON S FLYING CIRCUS packed with every madcap moment from the programme s four year run plus 2 MONTY PYTHON LIVE! discs featuring--well you figure it out.While to the uninitiated they may look like ordinary .65 oz. digital video discs due to the unique physics of comedy (it s like quantum but with fewer dead cats) each disc actually weighs a full metaphoric ton! Please remember to lift with your knees.This 16-Ton Megaset contains every single episode of MONTY PYTHONG S FLYING CIRCUS--four years of blood sweat and blancmange--jammed into slivers of plastic the size of a tea plate and MONTY PYTHON LIVE!--Legendary live performances the 20-year celebration of Monty Python Parrot Sketch Not Included and the all-German Monty Python s Fligender Zirkus episode #1 squashed like pancakes. Sad really.Want to find the funny fast? Jump right to your favorite sketches in The Flying Circus with this index!Disc 1: The Funniest Joke in the World The Wrestling Episode and Nudge NudgeDisc 2: Art Critic Silly Job Interview and Crunchy FrogDisc 3: Dead Parrot Lumberjack Song and Vocational Guidance CounselorDisc 4: Undertaker s Film Upperclass Twit of the Year and AlbatrossDisc 5: The Ministry of Silly Walks The Spanish Inquisition and ComplaintsDisc 6: The Bishop Blackmail and DungDisc 7: Attila the Nun Silly Vicar and Exploding Penguin on the TV SetDisc 8: Scott of the Antarctic Dirty Hungarian Phrase-book and Exploding Blue DanubeDisc 9: Icelandic Saga Fish-Slapping Dance and Argument ClinicDisc 10: Blood Devastation War and Horror Mount Everest - Hairdresser Expedition and Gumby Brain SpecialistsDisc 11: Cheese Shop A Naked Man and The Olympic Hide and Seek FinalDisc 12: Elizabethan Pornography Smugglers Kamikaze Scotsman and PenguinsDisc 13: Montgolfier Brothers Department Store and RAF BanterDisc 14: Hamlet and Ophelia Mr. Neutron and Most Awful Family in BritainDisc 15: Live at the Holl

New for 2005, The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset packs together the original 14-DVD megaset with the two-disc Monty Python Live in space-saving Thinpaks. While more cautious fans may want to pick and choose among the previously released individual volumes of Monty Python for their collection, true Pythonites will want to own this definitive megaset that contains all 45 episodes (in chronological order) of Monty Python's Flying Circus. This "persistently silly" collection encompasses three-and-a-half seasons of dead parrots, cross-dressing lumberjacks, loonies, upper class twits, and spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, and spam. Click past the occasional clunker and go directly to such signature sketches as the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Spanish Inquisition, the Fish-Slapping Dance, the Dead Parrot Sketch, the Lumberjack Song, the Cheese Shop, the Argument Clinic, and Nudge, Nudge. Taken as a whole, one marvels at how Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam thoroughly subverted television convention with "something completely different," like sketches with no punch lines ("Your average TV viewer isn't going to understand this"). A warning to the uninitiated: there is much "material that some may find offensive, but which is really smashing." Violations of something called the "Strange Sketch Act" are the least of the troupe's offenses, as witness the Oscar Wilde Sketch, the Dirty Vicar Sketch, and the Most Awful Family in Britain Sketch, all of which achieve "the really gross awfulness" all Python fans are looking for. Say no more.

Monty Python TV shows, movies, records, and books are a time capsule of their anarchic lunacy. But more precious is an audience with Python, and as close as we can get is Live at the Hollywood Bowl, the long-sought-after 1982 concert film in which the Fab Six perform their greatest hits before a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Robert Klein moderates Live at Aspen, the irreverent 1998 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival tribute that reunited John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones onstage for the first time in 18 years on the occasion of the troupe's 30th anniversary. Highlights include a shockingly funny moment involving Graham Chapman's ashes, and a joyous "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" sing-along. Less essential is 1989's clip show Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years of Python, which also does not include "The Oscar Wilde Sketch," "Cheese Shop," "Nudge-Nudge," and many other signature sketches. --Donald Liebenson

The Muppet Show - Season Two

Quick wit, slapstick comedy, excellent puppets and puppetry conceived by Jim Henson, an astounding array of guest stars, and a whole lot of backstage chaos made The Muppet Show a favorite family show for a whole generation in the mid to late 1970's and those same ingredients make it equally enjoyable for today's audiences. The 24 episodes of this second 1976 season of The Muppet Show represent the family variety show at its strongest, with familiar characters like host Kermit the Frog, his assistant Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Rolph the piano playing dog, and regular segments like "Pigs in Space," "Veterinarian's Hospital," "Swedish chef," and "At the Dance." Intermingled throughout are silliness, skits, and songs featuring an impressive roster of guest stars including entertainment greats like Judy Collins, Don Knotts, Bernadette Peters, Dom Deluise, George Burns, John Clese, and Bob Hope. The hilarious predicaments of the Muppets and their guest stars are absolutely timeless and the look back in time at the earlier careers of enduring stars like Steve Martin, Julie Andrews and Elton John is equally fascinating. Highlights of this second season are Kermit's emotional ballad "It's Not Easy Being Green," Judy Collins classic rendition of "Send in the Clowns," the two old men's curmudgeonly and witty criticism of every show, Miss Piggy's determined and amorous pursuit of Kermit, and the Swedish Chef's bumbling inability to catch up with the chicken. Bonus features include the rare 1974 Muppets Valentine Special featuring a young Mia Farrow and a host of virtually unknown Muppet characters including the enormous blue monster, Thog. Also included is Muppets' music video of "Keep Fishin'," and interview footage of "The Muppets on the Muppets." Whether reliving childhood evenings spent with family around the television or experiencing The Muppet Show for the first time, viewers of all ages will adore this second season. --Tami Horiuchi

And now a show that needs no introduction, but here's one anyway... Go bonkers with Beaker, goofy with Gonzo and join the brave cast of "Pigs In Space" for one of the most revolutionary and acclaimed shows in the history of television. Garnering an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Program in its hilarious second season, THE MUPPET SHOW redefined prime time and showcased a host of outrageous guest stars, including Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Elton John, Julie Andrews and more. Experience all 24 episodes from Season Two - digitally remastered and restored - in this special 4-disc DVD set. With hours of bonus features, including THE MUPPETS VALENTINE SPECIAL and rare archival footage, THE MUPPET SHOW is even better than you remember!

Fawlty Towers - The Complete Series

Basil Fawlty, as created and performed by John Cleese, is the rudest, most boorish, most hilariously obnoxious man on the face of the planet. What a natural for a TV sitcom! His screen wife, Sybil (Prunella Scales), put it best in the episode "The Psychiatrist": "You're either crawling all over them, licking their boots, or spitting poison at them like some Benzedrine puff adder." He mockingly replies, "Just trying to enjoy myself, dear." With his gangly frame and contortionist abilities, Cleese brilliantly punctuates Basil's outrageous faux pas with absurd gymnastics and turns Three Stooges-style pokes and kicks into a slapstick ballet. Scales's Sybil is the genial but obliviously chatty voice of reason and Andrew Sachs mangles the English language as the Spanish bellhop Manuel, whose struggles with simple directions results in comic lunacy reminiscent of Robert Benigni. After a six-episode run in 1975, Cleese and cowriter and costar Connie Booth (who plays Polly, the maid all too often pulled into Basil's ridiculous plans) reunited the cast in 1979 for another six episodes without missing a punch line. The four-volume collection contains all 12 shows, interspersed with interview segments featuring Cleese discussing the genesis of the series and anecdotes about the individual episodes. Remember to watch the opening credits of each show to spot the creative misspellings on the hotel sign (my favorite: "Fatty Owls"). --Sean Axmaker

Inspired by a hotel John Cleese once stayed in when he was filming "Monty Python." This complete set of Fawlty Towers episodes includes special new commentary by John Cleese. Please see individual volumes for episode descriptions.