Product Description

Nearly 100 stars from television's formative years bring their stories to PBS in a revealing documentary series, PIONEERS OF TELEVISION. Featuring sitcoms, late-night, variety and game shows -- the film melds compelling new HD interviews with archival clips to offer a fresh take on television's first celebrities, with fascinating stories, never-before-seen images and timeless clips that still entertain decades later.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18031 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
• Released on: 2008-02-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 240 minutes

Amazon.com
Until television history gets the Ken Burns treatment (preferably by Ken Burns), this four-part PBS pledge-bait documentary series should warm the nostalgic cockles of Baby Boomers' TV-lovin' hearts. A generous sampling of clips and interviews with some of TV Land's most beloved personalities fondly and reverently recall television's golden age and the pantheon of mold-breakers and template setters. "Late Night" confers King status on Johnny Carson, but it does pay tribute to his trailblazing predecessors, Steve Allen, with his unpredictable blend of wit and silliness, and Jack Paar, equally unpredictable (he once quit his show on the air after a tiff with network censors), who mastered the art of conversation. "Sitcoms" spotlights five groundbreaking series, The Honeymooners, Make Room for Daddy, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. "Variety" begins with The Ed Sullivan Show and proceeds through a host of entertainers who fronted their own shows, culminating in the gold standard, The Carol Burnett Show. "Game Show" is a winner with hilarious, rarely seen clips of classic game show moments (it's always a naughty delight to hear Paul Lynde's Hollywood Squares zingers).

There will be quibbles. Ernie Kovacs is but one glaring and bewildering omission, and icons such as Carol Burnett are missing in action. The series often blurs the line between being a pioneer and merely popular. But talking heads don't come any more entertaining than Tim Conway, Barbara Eden, Andy Griffith, Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, Betty White, Jay Leno, Jim Nabors, Marlo Thomas (talking about her father, Danny, but herself something of a pioneer), Joyce "Trixie" Randolph, Dick Cavett, Regis Philbin, and Tony Orlando (Tony Orlando?). Pioneers breaks little new ground. Most of these stories have been told better elsewhere, and certainly less clichéd ("The winds of ambition were blowing Johnny westward"). But there is much to treasure in the well-chosen clips, including Johnny Carson's earliest talk- and game-show gigs, Carl Reiner's failed pilot, Head of the Family, which became The Dick Van Dyke Show, and an early Honeymooners clip with Pert Kelton as Alice. There are still pioneers breaking new ground, but this welcome series is a reminder of those who paved the way. And if nothing else, in this era of reality television, it's a great escape to a bygone era. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

Outstanding insight and background information
This series is among the finest documenting television's early history. Complete with interviews from those involved with the earliest broadcasts and programs, this series reveals the inside story behind the quiz show scandal, the Smother's Brothers cancelation, the popularity of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, as well as the various talk shows to grace late-night television. Each program discusses one facet of television's history: game shows, talk shows, comedy, etc...

A must for those interested in the history of the medium.

My Childhood Makes More Sense Now
I wasted a lot of time when I was young watching re-runs of these shows. I felt, watching this DVD, like I was looking through an old family photo album.

This DVD explains a lot of stuff I could never have figured out on my own. "Family secrets", explained 30 years later.

These actors, shown in color and black & white clips, never seem to get any older. Their faces are so familiar. It's kind of freaky to realize that none of them have the slightest idea who I am.

Excellent purchase
Not much to say besides great timing and great service. With purchase more from this source.