Product Description

Kip and Henry work at an advertising agency as an artist and writer respectively. When the apartment that they were living in was condemned, they had no place to live. So Amy their co-worker, who has a crush on Henry, suggests that they stay with her but the only the problem is that it's for girls only. So they get into drag and assume the personas of Buffy and Hildegarde. When Kip meets Sonny, Amy's attractive roommate, he is smitten and when they learn that there's a vacancy in the building, Kip convinces Henry to take it so he can be close to Sonny, and so that this experience might be good material for a book that Henry can write.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38575 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2007-03-13
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .55 pounds
• Running time: 478 minutes

Amazon.com
Some like it Hanks in this cross-dressing sitcom that launched one of Hollywood's most accomplished careers. It doesn't get any "Before They Were Stars" than this. The future Oscar-winner hadn't even made Bachelor Party yet! Hanks (in riffing, wiseass mode that lives on in Vince Vaughan), and Peter Scolari star as struggling ad-agency artist and writer Kip and Henry, best friends whose apartment building is demolished. Desperate for a place to live, they transform themselves into Buffy and Hildegarde so they can live in the for-women-only Susan B. Anthony Hotel. Kip and Henry pass themselves off as the "girls': brothers, allowing Kip to romance nurse and aspiring dancer Sunny (Donna Dixon), and Henry to write a book about the experience. "This is nuts, stupid, crazy," Kip rants, and so it is, but Bosom Buddies is never a drag, thanks to Hanks and Scolari's spontaneous chemistry. They are a comedy team without, pardon the expression, a straight man. The late Wendie Jo Sperber is a force of nature as Amy, the ad-agency receptionist with an unrequited crush on Henry, leading to one of this season's less jokey, more character-driven episodes, "Beauty and the Beasts." Holland Taylor is at her imperious best as Kip and Henry's credit-grabbing boss. Lucille Benson replaces the pilot's Edie Adams as the Susan B. Anthony's formidable new manager.

Bosom Buddies fitfully finds its voice in its inaugural season. Hanks and Scolari are able to elevate the clunkiest of jokes with seemingly ad-libbed asides or physical bits of business. Greeting the morning in wigs and shaving cream while singing "Macho Man" is a signature giddy moment. A Hanks-Scolari reunion for the DVD release would have been nice, but if Bosom Buddies requires any kind of makeover, it is to restore the show's original theme song, Billy Joel's "My Life," which has been replaced by some generic tripe that ages the series at least 25 years. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

You are missed, Wendie Jo
The first season of "Bosom Buddies" is the very best. Because everything is so fresh and comedic. There are a total of 19 eps from Season One. I got this set partly because I am a big fan of Wendie Jo Sperber. She was always so cute and funny. I loved her in "Back To The Future." Wendie Jo sorta reminded me of Mama Cass (and who doesn't love Mama Cass?) This show came out before I was born, but I have seen most of the reruns on TBS and I fell in love with it. If you've never seen "Bosom Buddies" before, it's a lot like "Three's Company" or "Prefect Strangers" but even better!

Edited and destroyed
I like Bosom Buddies when it was an 1980's show. You heard Billy Joel's My LIfe as tne theme song. A young Tom Hanks, a pre-Newhart Peter Scolari. Telma Hopkins, (The late great) Wendy Jo Sperber, Holland Taylor and Donna Dixon. It was "Some Like It Hot" in a boarding house. Hanks and Scolari sold us Kip (buffy) and Henry (hildy) to save money. It was two guys trying to woman for less rent. it was a cute, fun little show that was good for a few laughs

Now the DVD incarnation is not great. Some of the shows seemed over edited, as these were the syndicated shows and NOT the original masters. It is missing Billy Joel's My Life for some lame theme which does not work against the opening credits. There are NO extras to speak of and the stuff thats here is not up to quality

Paramount/CBS video should have known better. They should have spend a few extra dollars and gone for the best (like Billy Joel's My Life), not like the Mama's Family (see the reviewe) [...] that Warner Brothers heaped upon us last year. Yes, It seems cut

It is worth it to see a young Tom Hanks, but PLEASE PARAMOUNT/CBS get us the real thing and not wash out, syndicated shows that seem cut to ribbons and my opinion destroyed, that why only 3 stars

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

One of the funniest comedies of the late 70's - early 80's period
Sure, the storyline had been done before in "Some Like it Hot", but I really loved this show. The obvious reason for looking back on it now is to see Tom Hanks "back in the day" before he hit the big screen. After all, he was the only actor besides Spencer Tracy to ever win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars. Wouldn't you be curious if we had 40 or so half-hour episodes of Spence as a young man parading around in a dress in a situation comedy? I know I would. Besides Tom Hanks, the other castmembers were terrific, and most had pretty good careers. Peter Scolari (Henry Desmond) had a long run on "Newhart" in the 80's, Donna Dixon (Sonny Lumet) was adequate enough as Hank's love interest on the show, the late Wendy Jo Sperber (Amy Cassidy) was very good as the overweight girl who hoped against hope that Scolari's character would come to love her, and finally there's the early appearance of Telma Hopkins (Isabelle Hammond) who had other comedic roles on "Gimme A Break" and then "Family Matters". There were 19 episodes in the first season, even though it didn't debut until late November 1980:

Pilot" - Kip and Henry dress up as women so that they can live in a hotel that is restricted to women.

"My Brother, My Sister, Myself" - Kip is discovered in Hildy's room, which is strictly against hotel rules.

"Loathe They Neighbor" - After an argument with Amy, Sonny moves in with Buffy and Hildy.

"Macho Man" - Henry becomes a macho man when their masquerade has him doubting his masculinity.

"What Price Glory?" - Kip and Henry try to get the account of the unscrupulous Dr. Bob without losing their self-respect.

"Kip and Sonny's Date" - Kip blows his first date with Sonny.

"Beauty and the Beasts" - Kip and Henry go to a singles bar as Buffy and Hildy and are not picked up by guys.

"Revenge" - A date who dumped Amy has a very bad practical joke played on him.

"Amy's Career" - Amy is put in charge of a mouthwash advertising campaign and totally blows it.

"Gotta Dance" - Kip has to tell Sonny that a spot in a commercial he arranged for her has been given to another girl.

"Sonny Boy" - Hildy and Buffy stop a robbery and make the TV news, which prompts Henry's mother to pay `him' a visit.

"How Great Thou Art" - Henry arranges for some of Kip's paintings to be displayed at a gallery as a birthday surprise.

"Kip Quits" - When a client wants a campaign run his way, Henry conforms but Kip quits to sell hot dogs in the park.

"Only the Lonely" - Ruth invites Kip and Henry over for dinner, then will not let them leave.

"The Re-Write" -Kip asks Henry to spice up his autobiography.

"The Show Must Go On" - Kip and Henry wash dishes at a night club so that Isabelle can sing there.

"The Hospital" - Buffy and Hildy become hospital candy stripers so Kip can be closer to Sonny.

"Best Friends" - Henry feels left out when Kip renews his friendship with a rock and roll star.

"Cahoots" - Kip and Amy team up to advance their respective romances with Sonny and Henry but the efforts backfire.

It isn't until the second season that Sonny learns the truth about Buffy and Hildy actually being Kip and Henry. As for the rumor about the theme song on the DVD not being sung by Billy Joel, or possibly not even being the original "My Life", I don't know, but I can believe it might be true. I bought a DVD set of "Bonanza" recently, and the original theme song and background music had been replaced by music that sounded like it had been cranked out by some teenager in his garage on a synthesizer. This all has to do with contracts that made provisions for copyrighted music in syndication, but not such avenues as DVD since the medium didn't even exist at the time.