olds2347-1 Reviews

Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963)

Product of its times

[18 November 2005]

I have read the other comments about Leave It to Beaver and noticed there was an important aspect about the late fifties that is not brought out by the writers. Several make general reference to the show reflecting its times, but not with anything elaborated on. Watching the show it would be useful to recall what was happening in the world while this show was on. People forget today the fifties were the peak of the cold war. Children in schools were practicing duck and cover air raid drills to get ready for the bombs to start falling. In the movies, a whole new generation of horror films began appearing, many of which were about monsters created by nuclear testing and science meddling where it shouldn't. The other side of this insecurity in the fifties was reflected in the TV shows that showed happy families living in safe town where problems always had a solution. It might be interesting for some viewer to try to study the show by correlating certain episodes to what was in the news at the time the show was being written. Also, by the way, I always liked the show.

Police Squad! (1982)

Time for the DVD

[3 November 2005]

This was a truly unique show. Many of the comments in this section regret that there were only 6 episodes made. But to be honest, the show used so many jokes per episode, I don't see how they could have gone too much further without running out. The great thing about this show is that every one who watches it has a favorite one-liner that they remember, and like to repeat. One could say the same thing about the movie "Airplane". There are so few things that are really original, especially in television, the medium that thrives so much on imitation of previous success. So the time has come for this limited series to get its chance on DVD. But not just another release. Visualize this. The show did such a good job of satirizing police dramas from M Squad to the QM series, that the DVD should do the same this for DVD special features. In short, the DVD release should have all the usual special features, but they would all be send-ups of special features. Now that would make for a great DVD release of this great show.

Mission: Impossible (1966–1973)

Great show

[20 September 2005]

The verdict I think is unanimous. This was a great show. You name it, it had it. The great acting by the ensemble cast, fascinating plot lines, great music. I always remember looking forward to watching the show. Perhaps this was Martin Landau and Barbara Bain's Best work. My big question is, How come this show has not come out in DVD format. DVD is going like hot cakes and so many shows are coming out in whole season box sets. Surely this show deserves release with a lot of extras. Network execs please take note. Along the same lines, I can't believe that several other great shows particularly, Perry Mason and Gunsmoke have not been released in whole season box sets yet.

Columbo: Mind Over Mayhem (1974) Season 3, Episode 6

Co-incidence or inside joke

[10/10 · 15 September 2005]

I watched this Colombo movie and enjoyed it. Considering the format limitations of a television series, the story was very interesting, the acting excellent and worth repeated viewing. But my comment goes more to a couple things I noticed and I wonder if other IMDb viewers know more about it. There were a couple of characters in the story with names that must surely be an inside joke. Is the name of the lead character, Marshall Cahill, a nod to the 1973 John Wayne movie, Cahill US Marshall, and is the boy genius named Steve Spelberg a nod to Steven Spielberg who directed a 1971 Colombo TV movie? I turned to IMDb to see if this would be mentioned as trivia or in user comments. Surely this can't be just a co-incidence. Maybe others have something to add.