The Bob Newhart Show: Group Therapy

Another great set from Shout
 Factory (not a paid endorsement)

The Bob Newhart Show: Group Therapy
Direct to DVD?
Early 2014? (recorded in December '13)
Documentary
DVD
B

Although some of the material isn't exactly fresh, it's still good to see the old friends gather together to pay tribute to a series they are justly proud of, and to remember their late comrades Suzanne Pleshette and Marcia Wallace.  There's obviously a certain poignancy built in, especially since Jack Riley looks so frail in his wheelchair, although still able to get laughs with just a few words.  Bob does most of the talking but the others chime in, as when Bill Daily says he had no funny lines on I Dream of Jeannie but the writing on BNS was so sharp everything afterwards paled in comparison.

Riley hung on till 2016, and the other four are still with us.

Arena: Just a Minute

Paul Merton and long-time panelist
Clement Freud, on a different episode

Arena: Just a Minute
BBC4
26 December 2002
Documentary
DVD
B

A television look at the long-running radio show, which I own several episodes of.  We see the history of the series, mixed in with the taping of one episode, as well as interviews with those contestants.  Some of this is almost '60s experimental and it shouldn't hold together as well as it does.  And, yes, Paul has the best lines, like usual.

(I would've reviewed this earlier, but my ex-husband mislabeled it as October '07.)

M*A*S*H: 30th Anniversary Reunion

M*A*S*H: 30th Anniversary Reunion
Fox
May 17, 2002
Documentary
DVD
B

The then surviving cast, producers, and some of the writers gather together to reminisce about the making of the show.  It's good to see them together, enjoying each other's company-- an anecdote about the late Larry Linville (whom I didn't have room to tag) cracks the whole gang up-- but in a way it's too many people for this format, and not everyone gets an equal chance to talk.  (Alda, no surprise, does more than his share.)  Larry Gelbart, Burt Metcalfe, and Gene Reynolds do contribute a lot.  Note that at the time not only Linville but Stevenson and some of the supporting cast had died since the last M*A*S*H special I reviewed; last year of course we lost William Christopher, and Wayne Rogers the year before that (both on December 31st); Harry Morgan had gone at 96 in 2011.

Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter

Discovering the Real World of Harry Potter

"American Public Television"

December 10, 2001

Documentary

DVD
C

So-so tie-in for the release of the first HP movie, this has the myths and history that inspired (or might've inspired) J.K. Rowling.  Narrated by Hugh Laurie, whose chum Stephen Fry was narrating the audiobooks.

The South Bank Show: Paul Merton

The South Bank Show: Paul Merton
Channel Four
26 September 1999
Documentary
DVD
B

This isn't quite a biography but it does feature different points of a life, from a boyhood as Paul Martin to success as a comedian in the '90s.  If you want to know about Paul's (by then defunct) marriage to Caroline Quentin, you're out of luck, as there's just one sentence in passing.  However, we do see footage of him as a scruffy, bearded teen living on the dole, as well as a star in hit television programmes.  My favorite part was the taping of a Comedy Store Players session and the analysis by the team in a pub afterwards.  And Paul's honesty, including about his stay in a psychiatric hospital, is refreshing.  Note that Julian Clary appears not only in television clips but in an interview, where he indeed comes across as a good friend to Paul.

The Beatles Anthology: Episode 3

The Beatles Anthology: Episode 3
ABC
November 23, 1995
Documentary
VHS
B+

"And in the end the love you take, is equal to the love you make."  Backing up to Brian's death, this is mostly about the "slow death" of the Beatles, so there's less giddiness here, and more reflection.  No mention is made of the years that came after the break-up, including Lennon's murder, but John's spirit is present throughout of course.  My favorite part is about the rooftop concert in Let It Be, especially with the reactions of the spectators, including a delighted little old man.  Overall, a very moving documentary, maybe not "complete," but very satisfying.

The Beatles Anthology: Episode 2

The Beatles Anthology: Episode 2
ABC
November 22, 1995
Documentary
VHS
A-

This takes us into late '67, so it definitely covers a period of the Beatles that is more interesting to me.  Also, I laughed out loud several times, at everything from Ringo praising George's song-writing skills and then asking, "Which of his songs was on Revolver?", to psychedelic-era John doing the Twist.  With both parts (maybe not so much in Part Three I'm guessing, with the break-up and all), I remember that, despite all the drama, this was a four-sided bromance, and part of the charm and joy of the Beatles is that they enjoyed being together and they invited us to watch and listen.  It's fitting that the episode ends with the "Real Love" video, mixing vintage and '95 footage.  Again though, death is omitted, even as important a death as Brian Epstein's.

The Beatles Anthology: Episode 1

The Beatles Anthology: Episode 1
ABC
November 19, 1995
Documentary
VHS
B+

This is the version that aired on ABC, edited from the version that had aired in Britain, and of course not containing whatever's on the DVD version.  And through a concatenation of circumstances, I honestly never watched it before.  The ex taped it at the time I think but then I spent the following semester in England (and, yes, went to Liverpool) and somehow never got around to playing the three videotapes, until now.  I'm very pleasantly surprised.  There's a great deal of material-- footage, interviews, and even songs-- that I don't have in any other form.  The editing is well done, concise and yet playful.  And the whole thing ends with the video to "Free As a Bird," which I'd also never seen before.  (I'd of course heard the song, and "Real Love.")

The documentary isn't perfect.  To take just one example, it feels weird to hear about Julia Lennon and Stu Sutcliffe and not have their deaths mentioned.  The darker side (other than in Hamburg) is generally omitted, and there so far is no mention of the Beatles' wives or siblings.  This part goes up to mid-1964, with Ringo happily rejoining the group on tour after having his tonsils out.  I look forward to the other two parts, especially since, to be honest, I don't like the pre-Rubber-Soul music of theirs as much.

(And, no, I'm not going to tag everyone, but I will note that a youngish Dudley Moore appears briefly, and we see clips from The Wild One and The Girl Can't Help It.)

Brady Bunch Home Movies

Brady Bunch Home Movies

CBS
May 24, 1995
Documentary
DVD
B-

Pardon the pun, but this is a little unfocused.  Is it, like Bradymania two years earlier, a look at the "phenomenon" of BBunch?  Is it a look at what the cast did before and after the series?  Is it a behind-the-scenes presentation, including of the "home" movies the kids shot after Robert Reed bought them hand-held cameras?  A little of all of that I guess, sometimes paired with odd background music, e.g. "Tequila."  I do like the tribute to Reed and that they got six of the surviving eight onstage together.  (Maureen and Eve's segments were shot separately, but it is interesting to see that they were actually much better friends than you would now think.)  Note that a couple clips from Day by Day appear, as do clips from the various spin-offs.  I'm not tagging all the other folks who appear, including co-producer of this special Lloyd Schwartz and Bob Cummings in a clip from his '50s show, but yeah, again Jerry Houser has to be omitted.

TV's Perfect Moms

TV's Perfect Moms
Nickelodeon
1989
Documentary
VHS
B-

Again, I'm not really sure what genre to put this under, but I think it is closer to a documentary than anything else.  Hostess Kerns talks about growing up with the "perfect" moms of the past and how her character on Growing Pains deals with that legacy.  Henderson and Billingsley provide insight into what it was like to play such moms, including the effect this had on their real families.  At times this feels like a plug for the Nick at Night line-up-- Mr. Ed for instance makes the cut-- but it's pretty well put together and it is nice to see these shows, even if I'm not a big fan of most of them.

Note that Kerns refers to the '90s, which I think Who's the Boss? started doing in '88.  People were a lot more impatient for this decade to end than the '60s or '70s as I recall, although honestly I don't think any of us fathomed what the '90s would actually be like.

Summer Sunday, U.S.A.: Woodstock

A different episode, with Andrea Mitchell, who's absent here.

Summer Sunday, U.S.A.: Woodstock
NBC
August 1984
Documentary
VHS
B-

This was repackaged in 1989 as Woodstock Remembered, but there seems to have been no effort to update the content, and towards the end we see such 1984 faces as Geraldine Ferraro and the (original) Ghostbusters.  Summer Sunday, according to Ellerbee's And So It Goes was mostly a mess, and this is somewhat unfocused, but it does have some interesting moments.  (Including with John Kerry and Julian Bond.)  I do wish the program had focused more on the music.  It's all well and good to offer background, especially on the Vietnam War and protests, and to show what people, including twentysomethings, thought fifteen years later, but the music is what brought folks to the event and is what the word "Woodstock" is mostly synonymous with.  The moment of Crosby, Stills, and Nash harmonizing is lovely, but it is just one moment.  Still, this is worth watching, partly to see how the somewhat arrogant certainty of the mid-'80s has dated as much as that of the late '60s.

Our World: All Shook Up, Autumn 1957

Our World: All Shook Up, Autumn 1957
ABC
December 18, 1986
Documentary
VHS
B

Co-hosts and co-writers Linda Ellerbee and Ray Gandolf made this too short-lived show a thought-provoking little gem then and now.  The series offered a mini-documentary each week, focusing on a specific time period, sometimes just a few days, or here a whole season.  I wish I'd been able to tape more episodes, but the reruns stopped airing soon after my boyfriend bought a VCR.  This particular episode is of course about a time that was then about as many years ago as have passed since.  It looks at the major occurrences of that fall: from Little Rock and Sputnik to Edsel and American Bandstand.  It's most interesting to see the interviews of people who were part of these stories, how Governor Faubus still stood by what he did, and how Little Richard threw his jewelry in the ocean after hearing about Sputnik.