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…

The third and final season of Seth MacFarlane’s late, lamented Family Guy finds television’s most dysfunctional cartoon family even more animated than usual. As MacFarlane notes in a bonus segment about the controversial series’ censorship battles, he was inspired to go for broke, thinking that the series, already juggled like a hot potato in the schedule (at one point, it aired opposite the mighty Friends), had been cancelled. Just as Spinal Tap walked the fine line between “cl Read more…

Okay, let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Family Guy is not, never has been, and never will be, The Simpsons. Nor is it South Park, King of the Hill, or any one of a number of other shows on Adult Swim. But yes, it is in many ways a rip-off of those other shows (especially The Simpsons; let’s not even pretend otherwise). But so what? By now, you either think the show’s funny, or you don’t, and the derivativeness either bothers you, or it doesn’t. Volume 4 is li Read more…

Family Guy lives! That’s great news for the devoted fans who watched in record numbers the reruns on Cartoon Network and made the Family Guy DVDs bestsellers. It’s bad news for Mel Gibson, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon, Rob Schneider, Skeet Ulrich, Corey Haim, My Two Dads, and other pop-culture detritus this show’s writers take infinite delight in kicking when they’re down (or up, for that matter). The long, long, awaited fourth season begins with a bravado 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…

After the critical acclaim and retail success of Season 3, Tom and Dick are back with Season 2. (Remember, we’re going backwards–we started with Season 3 and are working our way back to Season 1!) And, as with the first release, every moment in this 3-DVD set has been handpicked by Tom and Dick Smothers! The set’s pièce de résistance is the famous Who performance of My Generation, during which the band destroys all their instruments–and then proceeds to smash Tom Smothers’ a Read more…