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 Read more…
From Lucy-tormented Hollywood A-listers and bongo-propelled production numbers to archival goodies such as long-lost footage, there is much to love in this collection of all 13 episodes from The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show (also known as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour). Following I Love Lucy’s sixth and final season, these monthly (give or take) specials reunited America with Ricky and Lucy (and Keith Thibodeaux’s adorable Little Ricky, still living the country life in Connecticut. Read more…
Boy, the way the Beaver played. Ricky Nelson made the hit parade. Voices they were seldom raised. Those were the days. And then, on January 12, 1971, America met the Bunkers, and sitcoms would never be the same. The Bunkers were TV’s first dysfunctional family: blue-collar bigot Archie (the late Carroll O’Connor in his iconic role), his long-suffering but loving wife Edith (Jean Stapleton), “little goil” Gloria (Sally Struthers), and her liberal husband “Meathead” Mike (Rob Rein Read more…
Like a groovy Family von Trapp, The Partridge Family arrived in 1970 with matching velvet outfits and wholesomeness bursting from every pore. Watching it now, you expect little more than kitsch–but the show, though certainly a sitcom representation of the world, is curiously fresh and appealing. This sheer likeability comes partly from the cast–Shirley Jones (The Music Man) looks foxy in miniskirts while still being the cool mom everyone wishes they had; teen idol David Cassid Read more…
History comes alive in this excellent Emmy and Humanitas Award-nominated 40-episode, animated series about the experiences of two young teens during the American Revolution. Far more than a simple chronicle of the battles and major events of the American Revolution, Libertys Kids tells the story of the cultural, scientific, political, and social forces that helped shape Americas fight for independence from the perspective of two young teens from very different backgrounds. S Read more…
The residents of Lark Rise and Candleford return for a second season of heart-warming adventures in this critically acclaimed adaptation of Flora Thompson’s novels. The second season sees the arrival of a dashing and elegant stranger in Candleford. Rich, enterprising worldly, and without a wife, James Dowland is a successful businessman with a string of London hotels and has come to transform Candleford and bring it new prosperity. But not everyone welcomes his entrepreneurial e Read more…
