Rating: - You had to be there
This Epic Spotlight anthology of bits and pieces from perhaps two or three episodes shoehorned a visual phenomenon onto LP, the unaccountably popular NBC success of 1968, a rapid-fire grab bag of stupid jokes, catch phrases and occasional "satire" recited by a phenomenal cast (and I include Dan and Dick, though in retrospect they seem the least talented of all). That the show inspired "Sesame Street" and "Hee-Haw" (and alas, the ever-tiresome "Saturday Night Live") does not make this CD less historical, or more hysterical. Would the show's producers had attempted an original comedy album rather than getting out the VTR and the scissors; the less-than-optimal sound and fake stereo canned laughter (!) show just how cheap and easy it was. And face it, neither the approach nor the jokes hold up; what's more it's painful to think of the humiliations poor Judy Carne faced for being the "Sock It to Me" Girl, and how Arte Johnson wasted his career on game shows and voiceovers. They were much too talented to deserve it; but where was the place for them?

I've seen only fragments of the show since its hey-day, most recently an edited version of end credits on YouTube, and on video it holds up better thanks to the roaring camaraderie, so perhaps a brand-new recording wouldn't have worked. It's still a shame no one tried.

P. S. Kevin Stafford very observantly notices the missing fragment of opening music, but this is par for the course with Collectables, which didn't credit Jonathan Winters on "It's So Peaceful in the Country/European Holiday" and did less than a favor to Doris Day on "Billy Rose's Jumbo", and which indeed seems uncomfortable with anything that isn't doo-wop. Blame the now Sony Music too; these are all its licensed goods.

Television Show Collectibles

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