Perry Mason - Season One, Vol. 2 (1957) Review

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(More customer reviews)Perry Mason was certainly the finest courtroom drama ever on television. It was entertainment that kept viewers glued to their seats, waiting for that moment when Perry would nail the killer on the witness stand and free his client.
Raymond Burr had some good roles in films, but will always be remembered for the tough defense attorney you wanted on your side in the toughest jam. Barbara Hale was his pretty secretary, Della Street, who kept Perry human and was in love with him. William Hopper was the dapper detective, Paul Drake. He had a playful and flirtatious relationship with Della but every viewer knew that secretly her heart belonged to Perry.
William Talman as D.A. Hamilton Burger was the perfectly cast guy you almost felt sorry for, as just when he was ready to gloat over his victory in court, Perry would spring his client by revealing the real killer, once again defeating poor old Burger. The relationship of these four people made the mood and mystery of the often gripping conclusion fun to watch. There has never been anything close to it in genre on television since. Its mix of drama, noir, and humor, and its truly likable characters, made for terrific viewing.
Earle Stanley Gardner's original creation of Perry Mason was a bit more two-fisted pulp type reading, but slowly grew into something resembling the show when it became so popular. Gardner's Perry Mason novels, begun decades before the show and continuing for decades more, are still fun to read. The same can be said of every single show in the series.
The first season, unlike many shows, hit its stride immediately, and remained top-notch television for many years. Like the novels, the title of every episode began with "The Case of-" and each one had some wonderful moments, both in and out of the courtroom. Only the first 19 episodes were included on the first release, with the final batch from the first season included on this one. The episodes for season one, all 39 of them, beginning in the fall of 1957 and ending in 1958, are as follows:
THE CASE OF THE------- Restless Redhead -- Sleepwalker's Niece -- Nervous Accomplice -- Drowning Duck -- Sulky Girl -- Silent Partner -- Angry Mourner -- Crimson Kiss -- Vagabond Vixen -- Runaway Corpse -- Crooked Candle -- Negligent Nymph -- Moth-Eaten Mink -- Baited Hook -- Fan-Dancer's Horse -- Demure Defendant -- Sun Bather's Diary -- Cautious Coquette -- Haunted Husband -- Lonely Heiress -- Green-Eyed Sister -- Fugitive Nurse -- One-Eyed Witness -- Deadly Double -- Empty Tin -- Half-Wakened Wife -- Desperate Daughter -- Daring Decoy -- Hesitant Hostess -- Screaming Woman -- Fiery Fingers -- Substitute Face -- Long-Legged Models -- Gilded Lily -- Lazy Lover -- Prodigal Parent -- Black-Eyed Blonde -- Terrified Typist -- Rolling Bones
You can't beat this for entertainment, any more than Hamilton Burger could beat Perry Mason in court. There were great stories, often taking Perry out of the courtroom and his office, but always returning in those final moments of doom for the real murderer. This is one DVD release that everyone who loves great television will want to own. Just hearing that opening theme song will make you nostalgic. Don't pass this one up.

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The defense never rests as Volume 2 of the classic series Perry Mason returns to DVD with 20 more episodes from the groundbreaking first season!

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The Golden Girls - The Complete Fifth Season (1985) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am overjoyed to see that this wonderful series has finally come to DVD. I have watched it for many years on television and recorded all their episodes (thirty tapes worth). After all these years, it is still one of my all time favorite shows due to its atmosphere of camaraderie, coziness, and interesting story lines. The main characters were so well acted that I feel as though they were members of my own family. However, the secondary actors generally did a very poor job.
For those of you who are devoted fans you might be interested in this list of episodes and summaries that I have compiled :
1. Sick and Tired Part 1 :
Dorothy begins to feel rather sick for no apparent reason. She visits numerous doctors who treat her as though she is crazy since they are unable to diagnose her malady. Simultaneously, Blanche begins to write a romance novel.
2. Sick and Tired Part 2 :
Finally, Dorothy is able to locate a doctor who is sympathetic to her problem. He explains to her that she does, in actuality have a malady entitled Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, that has just been discovered. Later, when the girls are at a restaurant, Dorothy encounters one of her previous doctors and embarrasses him in front of the entire restaurant when she delivers her sermon against the conceit and unwillingness of some doctors to believe their patients when they are truly ill.
3. The Accurate Conception :
Blanche disapproves when her unmarried daughter, Rebecca, decides to get artificially inseminated.
4. Rose Fights Back :
When Charlie's old company goes bankrupt, they send Rose a letter telling her that they can no longer send her the pension she had been receiving. Unable to afford to live on her own, she begins her search for a new job with dire consequences. She is refused at every job due to her age. Meanwhile, Sophia acquires a membership at a Shopper's Warehouse and begins to order massive quantities of utterly useless groceries including five cartons of sardines.
5. That Old Feeling
Blanche falls in love with her late husband`s brother. However, he refuses to marry her saying that she is in love with the memory of her dead husband, not in love with him as an individual. Meanwhile, Sophia is stealing the car to go on a blind date.
6. Love Under the Big Top
Dorothy's lawyer boyfriend decides that he would rather take a job as a circus clown. Blanche and Rose participate in a demonstration against killing sea creatures (such as dolphins and tuna.)
7. Not Another Monday
Sophia's friend, Martha, decides that she cannot bear "to die in inches," and thus decides to commit suicide. She then begs Sophia to be with her as she dies. While Sophia continues to debate the morals of this issue, Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy take care of an infant over the weekend that becomes dreadfully ill.
8. Dancing In The Dark
Rose's new boyfriend, Miles Webber, causes her to feel stupid due to his superior intellect. However, they eventually come to realize that they love each other despite their differences.
9. All That Jazz
Michael, Dorothy's son, returns home to tell her that he has quit touring with his band and has separated from his wife. It appears that he has turned away from his responsibilities and intends to reside with his parents in a state of permanent childhood. Meanwhile, Rose demands an assistant at work.
10. Ebbtide
Blanche's eccentric father dies and she is unsure how she will ever be able to live with his absence and her refusal to come and see him. Meanwhile, Rose and Sophia let the house against Blanche's specific instructions.
11. Comedy of Errors
Dorothy decides to pursue one of her lifelong dreams and become a stand up comic. Meanwhile, Rose tries to become friends with one of her co-workers and Blanche gets audited.
12. Clinton Avenue Memories
Sophia is loosing her memory and tries to reclaim it by visiting her old home. This is a very poignant episode, especially the ending where her long dead, and much loved, husband talks to her and tries to encourage her to return to the more spirited personality of her youth.
13. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Dorothy reluctantly helps Stan after he looses most of his money and the girls realize that they should consider others on Christmas.
14. Great Expectations
Blanche avoids commitment when her new boyfriend is hospitalized after a heart attack. As she debates the issues surrounding this controversy in her life, Rose forces her friends to attend a positive think group that gets Dorothy thinking about her general outlook on life.
15. Mary Had A Little Lamb
The girls sixteen year old neighbor comes to their house, begging for help. It appears that she has become pregnant and her father has thrown her out of the house. As the girls try to reunite Mary and her father, Blanche becomes terrified when the convict she was exchanging letters with is let out of jail and wishes to visit her.
16. An Illegitimate Concern
Blanche discovers that her husband was unfaithful to her and that he even had an illegitimate child that has now shown up and wishes to talk to Blanche about the father he never knew. While Blanche is trying to deal with this crushing blow, Dorothy and Sophia enter a mother/daughter contest as Sonny and Cher.
17. Triple Play
Miles introduces Rose to his daughter Caroline. Blanche decides that a good way to attract men is to pretend to be selling a car, one that she rented. Unfortunately, he scheme instantly goes awry when the men become more interested in buying the car than in going out with her.
18. Like the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-Tom
Blanche it distraught when the doctors tells her that she needs a pacemaker and vows never to go out on another date. Meanwhile Rose tests weight loss products for her job and ends up gaining four pounds.
19. 72 hours
Rose is informed by the hospital that during her surgery to remove her gall bladder she might have come in contact with blood containing the HIV virus. Terrified, she rushes to the hospital to have the test and is told that she must wait three days to hear the result. Simultaneously, Dorothy becomes involved in the Save the Wetlands organization.
20. Twice In A Lifetime
Sophia moves out when Dorothy refuses to let her stay out late at night with her new wild friends. While this drama is progressing, Rose is reunited with Buzz Mueller, her first love. Now she must decide between Buzz and Miles.
21. Sisters and Other Strangers
Blanche's sister arrives in town with good news. Her new romance novel is being published and she and Blanche decided to put away the conflicts of their childhood and become close friends, until Blanche deduces that her sister's sleazy novel is about Blanche's life! While Blanche plots her revenge, Dororthy entertains one of Stan's relatives from Czechoslovakia that has nothing but bad things to say about democracy.
22. Cheaters
Dorothy falls in love with a recently divorced man. However, after he proposes to her she begins to wonder if he is really ready for marriage. Meanwhile, Blanche and Sophia loose their money to a con-artist in the mall.
23. "The Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding Present"
Dorothy borrows one of Blanche's men when she needs a date for her goddaughter's wedding. As can be expected, this engenders a massive fight. Meanwhile, Sophia proceeds to put an old Sicilian curse on the grandfather of the groom who deserted her on their wedding day, seventy years earlier. Rose leaves the reception and boards a plane to be reunited with Miles.
24. All Bets Off
Dorothy returns to her addiction to gambling, something she thought she had conquered fifteen years earlier. Meanwhile, Blanche decides to date her co-worker and Rose takes up painting.
25-26. The Presidents Coming! The Presidents Coming! Parts 1&2
The President is coming to Miami to dedicate the new Senior Citizens building and decides that he would like to meet Dororthy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia. As the girls anticipate his arrival, they begin to discuss their past which mostly concerns clips from previous episodes.
This is an excellent show, and I highly recommend it. The characters are so wonderful that you will share their joys and sorrows as though they were your own.

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Travel to Miami for a visit with the original girls gone wild, The Golden Girls! Beatrice Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Estelle Getty are back for Season Five of this multiple Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award-winning comedy. These four young-at-heart ladies couldn't be more different, but they stick together through thick and thin. Enjoy every side-splitting episode of Season Five in this laugh-packed DVD box set, complete with exclusive bonus material. The hilarious adventures include Sophia going on a bulk-buying binge, Rose and Blanche joining a protest to save some dolphins and Dorothy dating a real clown. The girls are also joined by classic guest stars including Dick Van Dyke, and they just might be paid a visit by the Commander in Chief himself! It's off-the-wall entertainment at its finest from the gals who wrote the recipe for great comedy.

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New York (7 Episode PBS Boxed Set) (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Burns family has come up with some fine work, from Baseball, to the Civil War; and now the latest, New York. A fine successor.
Ric Burns explores the early history of New York, starting with the God-created attributes of the region and one of the world's finest natural seaports. But the treasure is found in what man has added to the Apple, starting with the Erie Canal, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Subway system. The Bridge's history has itself been the subject of much scholarship, and Burns does it well also. The creation of the skyline, including the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building are some of the series best moments, filled with some of the fascinating type of information that fans of Burns' documentaries have come to expect and enjoy.
The history of New York is the history of immigrants, and the interaction of Irish, Italians, Africans and other groups is splendidly examined. The politics of the City, such as the rise and demise of Al Smith and Jimmy Walker are well explored also.
My few complaints are minor, and don't detract from the work. F. Scott Fitzgerald seems to have become a demi-god to Burns, and after awhile, I found the continued references to him and his
work tiring. More than a few minutes on the early history of Harlem would have been a welcome replacement.
I purchased the DVD version, although I had the videocassettes. Am I glad I did! It has two additional discs, which try to bring the series up to date. Fiorello LaGuardia and Robert Moses, the two most pivotal figures in the history of the City, are splendidly explored. More examination of the development and contribution of Harlem (which I lamented in the review of the VHS version) is also welcomed. New York's post W.W. II predominance as the true center of the Earth is made plain. As the series progresses, we see the value of the City (any city), the destruction of the great and old in the name of urban renewal, and the slow cancer of suburban sprawl.
Even those not from New York will find it to be a rich, interesting history, worth of the length of time one must devote to its viewing. The rest of the world will understand some of why New Yorkers love their home as they do. Those expatriate New Yorkers will be tugged to head back home. All in all, brilliant, brilliant work.

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Available previously as a 5-part VHS set, New York now boasts two all-new episodes.The series offers fourteen spectacular hours of programming that chronicle the history of New York - from its beginning in 1609 as a Dutch trading post, through the turbulent years of change in the decades following World War II, to its present day status as one of the most important and influential cities in the world. SYNOPSES Episode 1: The Country and the City(1609 - 1825) chronicles the arrival of the Dutch, the impact of the English, the horrors of colonial slavery and New York's critical role in the American Revolution. Episode 2: Order and Disorder(1825 - 1865) looks at New York's rise as a burgeoning cultural center and multi-ethnic port, concluding with the Civil War Riots - America's bloodiest civil disturbance. Episode 3: Sunshine and Shadow(1865 - 1898) turns the spotlight on a period of greed and wealth that fueled the expanding metropolis - even as politics and poverty defined it. Episode 4: The Power and the People(1898 - 1918) follows New York into a new century, examining the interplay of capitalism, democracy and transformation in the wake of an extraordinary wave of immigration and the birth of the skyscraper. Episode 5: Cosmopolis(1919 - 1931) details the African-American experience, the birth of new media industries and the incredible array of human and cultural energies that converged, ending with the construction of the world's tallest building. Episode 6: City of Tomorrow(1929 - 1941) traces the spectacular but often troubling changes that overtook New York due to the crash of 1929 and the beginning of World War II. Episode 7: The City and the World(1945 - Present) chronicles the history of New York from the end of World War II through today, exploring the complexities of the post-modern city and the turbulent years of physical, social and cultural change in the decades following the war.

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