Product Description

Now you can enjoy all 26 episodes from the first season of the classic sitcom Mister Ed.

Architect Wilbur Post (Alan Young, The Time Machine) and his wife Carol (Connie Hines) move into a beautiful new home complete with a barn in the backyard. When Wilbur takes a look in his new barn, he finds that the former owner left his horse behind. This horse is no ordinary horse . . . he can talk, but only to Wilbur, which leads to all sorts of misadventures for Wilbur and his trouble-making sidekick Mister Ed. Premiering in 1960, Mister Ed became the first syndicated series ever to be picked up by a network when CBS adopted the show in 1961 for the remainder of its five-year run. The program won a Golden Globe Award as Best TV Show in 1963. You never heard of a talking horse? Well, check out the famous Mister Ed.

Bonus Features:

* Interviews With Stars Alan Young And Connie Hines
* Audio Commentary On The Pilot Episode With Alan Young And Connie Hines

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2830 in DVD
• Brand: Uni
• Released on: 2009-10-06
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 780 minutes

Amazon.com
After three episode compilations, nostalgic baby boomers can now saddle up this beloved series' entire first season (those looking for the Clint Eastwood and Zsa Zsa Gabor episodes are directed to The Best of Mister Ed, Volume One). It's funny how well Mister Ed holds up. In its day, it was derided by critics (the Chicago Tribune sniffed that the show was a pale carbon copy of the Francis the Talking Mule films) and snubbed at the Emmy Awards. But despite its fantastic premise, the fundamental things apply: solid writing, a classic theme song, and palpable chemistry between Alan Young, as affable, modest, and unassuming architect Wilbur Post, and gelding Bamboo Harvester as slacker horse Mister Ed. Ed can use the telephone, he enjoys watching television (he prefers Leonard Bernstein to Westerns), and he can talk. "It's been a long time since I was a pony" are the words that launch one of TV's funniest teams, and it is a testament to Alan Young's skills as a comedic actor and his finesse as a straight man that you absolutely believe his genuine friendship with and affection for his equine costar (voiced by B-western star Allan "Rocky" Lane). The rest of the cast is good, but their characters are strictly 1960s sitcom stock. Wilbur's new bride, Carol (the charming Connie Hines), is the dutiful wife with a roast in the oven and who frets over asking her husband for money to buy a new television set. Neighbors Roger and Kay (Larry Keating and Edna Skinner) are the affectionately bickering married couple next door who take the newlyweds under their more cynical wings. It is Ed who gallops off with every scene with the horse's share of the punch lines. In one early episode, Wilbur complains that he could be rich if Ed went on TV and talked. Ed says no thanks to stardom. "I know Trigger," he states. "He's a very mixed-up horse." This season also features a curiosity, an episode that served as a pilot for an unsold spinoff show starring William Bendix as the hapless owner of a rustic lodge (look for a pre-Beverly Hillbillies Nancy Culp). Young, still sharp, and Hines provide audio commentary for the pilot episode. They also appear in a half-hour featurette about the history of the series that yields some surprises, namely that Mister Ed was inspired by a short story that preceded the Francis the Talking Mule movies. They don't make 'em like this anymore, and one can easily see Mister Ed winning over a new generation of kids, of course, of course. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

A great old classic TV show finally in a complete season
How odd that we're suddenly getting such an avalanche of old TV shows in complete seasons - "One Step Beyond", "Bonanza", and now "Mr. Ed" all due out in coming months. These are old favorites that were always either in the public domain or in incomplete collections or both. Maybe people are tired of having half of every channel's schedule filled with either paid programming (Internet Millions! Homes for three hundred dollars! etc.) in which you know you're being lied to or reality TV (Bridezillas - young women dressed in flowing traditional garb and acting like rutting pigs) in which you hope you're being lied to. You'd hate to think humanity has come to this.

To fill the gap many of us have turned to old favorite TV shows on DVD from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. Mr. Ed is one of those shows. Following a storyline similar to the "Francis the Talking Mule" series of films, the animal in question (the horse, Mr. Ed) will only speak to one person - his owner Wilbur, an architect who has an office in the barn where Mr. Ed lives. Mr. Ed doesn't limit himself just to giving advice to Wilbur. Mr. Ed has definite ideas of how he wants to run his own life. He might fancy himself an author or a potential star of the screen, or he might take off on a humane mission to buy his mother when he learns she is a plow horse. As a result, Wilbur is often left in a ridiculous position and not in the good graces of his wife, Carol or his neighbors.

The whole thing is good clean silly fun in the tradition of Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Petticoat Junction. Believe it or not there are still many of us who enjoy such entertainment.

Mister Ed!!!!!!!!!!
Just about anyone that was alive and old enough to watch TV in the 1960's loved this show. If you have never seen Mister Ed it has humor on two levels both for kids and adults. Kids will love Mister Ed and adults will also. It is very funny and spoofs just about everything. Season 1 has 26 episodes and the previously released Best of Mister Ed Volume 1 only has four shows from Season 1 with the Best of Mister Ed Volume 2 having none indicating 22 of the 26 shows will be new to DVD.

The Season 1 shows on the previously released Best of Mister Ed Volume 1 DVD are:
1) The First Meeting,
2) Ed, the Songwriter,
3) Psychoanalyst Show, and
4) Wilbur Sells Ed

Season 1 ran from January to July 1961. The entire six year Mister Ed series was filmed in Black and White. The quality on the Best of Mister Ed DVD's was very high and is assumed that it will be on the Complete Season 1 DVD also. These shows are timeless, as good and funny today as they were when originally broadcast.

Avoid
Just when you thought Shout!Factory had learned its lesson -- here they go again. EIGHT of the 26 episodes in this set are SYNDICATED, 22-minute prints:

Disc 1
The First Meeting (25:56)
The Ventriloquist (25:38)
Busy Wife (22:02)
Kiddy Park (22:03)
Stable for Three (22:04)
Sorority House (25:34)
Ed the Lover (22:05)
The Pageant Show (22:17)

Disc 2
The Aunt (22:04)
The Missing Statue (25:36)
Ed the Witness (25:30)
Ed's Mother (25:33)
Ed the Tout (25:31)
Ed the Songwriter (25:05)
Ed the Stoolpigeon (25:30)
Psychoanalyst Show (25:32)

Disc 3
A Man for Velma (25:31)
Ed's New Shoes (25:32)
Little Boy (22:04)
Ed Agrees to Talk (25:34)
The Mustache (25:30)
The Other Woman (25:33)
Ed Cries Wolf (25:31)
The Contest (22:03)

Disc 4
Pine Lake Lodge (25:31)
Wilbur Sells Ed (25:31)

Yes, ladies and gentlemen: the first three discs have 8 episodes each, and Disc #4 has 2. (!!) So obviously there was no lack of space available for the inclusion of all 26 uncut episodes. And what's even stranger, the 8 CUT episodes are available on bootleg sets. So what gives??

What gives is my money being returned from Amazon.