So, I tried to stay up with Jerry to watch the stars come out this past Labor Day weekend, but no matter how many channels I tried…I couldn’t find the telethon. What’s up―can all those kids walk now?
Continue reading ‘The Jazz Singer’ (1959): A valuable, entertaining piece of vintage TV historyTag Archives: 1950s
Classic Educational Shorts (Volume 6: Troubled Teens): Back to school with Drunk TV
Now that I’m ambulatory enough to ride one of those motorized carts at the store (you can bet your ass I run into people and their carts on purpose―they never say shit to the “handicapped”), I noticed the other day that Walmart has school supplies loaded up and ready to go for all the little bastards heading back to s-cruel. And for the first time in over 30 years, I don’t have to buy any of it.
Continue reading Classic Educational Shorts (Volume 6: Troubled Teens): Back to school with Drunk TV‘Sergeant Preston of the Yukon’ (Season 1): Primitive production is pure fun for nostalgic TV fans
I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing my brass monkeys off in here, as this polar vortex (read: simply “winter” when I was a kid) whips through the Great American Midwest. So I thought a stroll through some appropriately chilly vintage TV might be just what the Eskimo ordered (save it—Mt. McKinley is back, bitches!).
Continue reading ‘Sergeant Preston of the Yukon’ (Season 1): Primitive production is pure fun for nostalgic TV fans‘What Makes Sammy Run?’ (1959): A fantastic, gutsy peek inside the Hollywood machine
“Tears are for losers. What kind of a sissy word is ‘fair?'”
Amen, Sammy…amen.
‘Studio One’: A look back at TV’s early LIVE anthology. Was this the ‘Golden Age’?
You know…when you finally come to, and find yourself unaware of the day or date, or the precise county or state in which your body currently resides, but completely aware that your ribs are all stoved in, three fingers on your craps-throwing hand are busted, your front teeth are loose, your head feels like a basketball is being inflated inside it, and that you’re laying in someone’s pool of something…you start to reminisce about earlier days, better days—, indeed better times—when you could put two coherent sentences together and take a leak without pissing blood. Even writers have “golden ages,” gentle readers.
Continue reading ‘Studio One’: A look back at TV’s early LIVE anthology. Was this the ‘Golden Age’?The Ernie Kovacs Collection: Highly-imitated, TV auteur’s classic moments still hilarious today
When the most talked-about, written-about TV programming these days is a probably-closeted entertainer (rather badly) enacting an utterly phony, NDA-mandated “relationship” with a sports figure so everyone can make more money from the rubes who buy this shit…it’s time to descend into the DVD vaults and pull out something that entertains. That actually matters.
Continue reading The Ernie Kovacs Collection: Highly-imitated, TV auteur’s classic moments still hilarious today‘Bonanza’ (Season 1): Epic Western ropes viewers’ hearts in first of 14 seasons
Bonanza, the single most successful television series of the 1960s (and, at 13 1/2 seasons, second only to Gunsmoke for network TV’s longest-running Western), created and produced by David Dortort and starring Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon, has been lovingly and painstakingly restored and remastered for CBS’s and Paramount’s fabulous DVD boxed set, Bonanza: The Official Complete Series. The hefty set—112 discs in four chunky volumes—was executive produced by Andrew J. Klyde, and his results are spectacular: all 431 full-length episodes have been digitally remastered (including the problematic Season 2 transfers previously released) from the original 35mm color film camera negatives, complete with original music…and with a ridiculous amount of incredibly rare, fascinating bonus material included on this set. It’s an astonishing work of television preservation.
Continue reading ‘Bonanza’ (Season 1): Epic Western ropes viewers’ hearts in first of 14 seasons‘Gunsmoke’ (Season 2): Keeping anarchy in the West at bay while gunning down network competition
Classic Educational Shorts (Volume 5: Rules for School): Pencils down, class, we’re watching a film.
I lived this stuff…and I believed all of it.
Continue reading Classic Educational Shorts (Volume 5: Rules for School): Pencils down, class, we’re watching a film.‘Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank’ (1957): A drunken Christmas from The Frank Sinatra Show, pally!
Merry Christmas, everyone! We had such a nice reaction to our review of the Perry Como Christmas Special co-starring The Carpenters (in short: when I showed it to a bum on the bus, he threw up on my shoes and then tried to shank me), we decided here at the Drunk TV HQ to trim the tree, so to speak, with another holiday TV special review. This time, we’re going to dig out the classic December 20th, 1957 Christmas episode of ABC’s disastrous The Frank Sinatra Show, featuring special guest star, the old Groaner himself, Der Bingle! Entitled Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank, The Chairman of the Board and Bingo from Bingville trade quips and carols while getting thoroughly soused. It’s a Christmas must for fans of vintage Yuletide television specials.
Continue reading ‘Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank’ (1957): A drunken Christmas from The Frank Sinatra Show, pally!‘Gunsmoke’ (Season 1): The iconic 20-year Western begins
Better late than never. I know, I know: I promised over two years ago to begin reviewing the massive 65th anniversary boxed set (beautifully put together for CBS video by pro Andrew J. Klyde) of Gunsmoke, the iconic, legendary 20-year Western series starring James Arness, Amanda Blake, Milburn Stone, and Dennis Weaver. Well…things happen (don’t get me started with the government, okay?), so let’s just all move on and get started on looking at one of the greatest TV series of any decade.
Continue reading ‘Gunsmoke’ (Season 1): The iconic 20-year Western begins‘The Donna Reed Show’ (Season 1): A charming, misunderstood gem
You think the Stone family would make you wear a mask? Please.
Continue reading ‘The Donna Reed Show’ (Season 1): A charming, misunderstood gem‘Maverick’ (Season 1): 50s Western was a genre game changer
Quite simply one of the most satisfying TV Westerns ever created.
Continue reading ‘Maverick’ (Season 1): 50s Western was a genre game changer‘Dennis the Menace’ (Season 1): Comic strip-turned-sitcom remains delightfully fun
VIDEO: ‘Gunsmoke’ – Unboxing the Complete Series on DVD
We know you can’t wait, so take a visual look at Gunsmoke: The Complete Collection:
Continue reading VIDEO: ‘Gunsmoke’ – Unboxing the Complete Series on DVD‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’: Steve McQueen’s hit Western leads to big-screen stardom
As a warm-up, you might say, to our commitment here at Drunk TV—and believe me: “commitment” is the correct word—
Continue reading ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’: Steve McQueen’s hit Western leads to big-screen stardomAre you ready for 440+ hours of ‘Gunsmoke’?
Hey Western and vintage television fans out there in Drunk TV land (would you please sober up—just look at yourselves!), have we got a ridiculous notion for you.
Continue reading Are you ready for 440+ hours of ‘Gunsmoke’?‘True-Life Adventures’: True Disney works of art
Tis the season to watch TV, since it’s getting downright frigid outside, and also because you couldn’t pay me to see most of the new movies out now in theaters (hey, Marty—I’ll settle that little argument for you: The Irishman and all the Marvel movies both stink equally…but at least they stink in 3D).
Continue reading ‘True-Life Adventures’: True Disney works of art‘M Squad’: Lurid, late ’50s actioner forever packs a punch
A wonderfully lurid, pulpy TV actioner.
Continue reading ‘M Squad’: Lurid, late ’50s actioner forever packs a punch‘Merry Sitcom! Christmas Classics From TV’s Golden Age’: A yuletide DVD collection
Do the things they call “TV series” today have Christmas episodes?
Continue reading ‘Merry Sitcom! Christmas Classics From TV’s Golden Age’: A yuletide DVD collection