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Get the bag. As The Honeymooners continues to get
bumped from late-night TV schedules across the
nation--by laughably unfunny shows such as Friends
and Murphy Brown no less--legions of Honeymoonies
will need to get their fix in other ways. This set--the
Honeymoonie's Holy Grail--contains all 39 episodes from
the legendary 1955-1956 season. There's no commentary
from some "expert" who compares Ralph to gods from Greek
mythology or memories from some assistant producer--it's
just the meat, and that's enough to make any fan
salivate. This was the only season that The
Honeymooners had a life of its own apart from the
Jackie Gleason Show, and as much as we tried to
welcome the "Lost
Episodes" into our family, they very rarely matched
the high quality of the classic 39. Rather than sequence
them in order, the producers have decided to group them
by eight different themes including Ralph's jealous
nature, his life at the Gotham Bus Company, his
friendship with Norton, domestic troubles, and financial
woes. Sometimes this approach is a bit forced, but it
does illustrate why The Honeymooners is the
ultimate situation comedy: You can show them out of
order. No matter what happens to the Bensonhurst
foursome, Ralph will still work for the bus company,
Norton in the sewer. They'll be struggling to get by,
passing the time bowling, shooting pool, arguing with
the wives, and dreaming of a better day. And it's in the
mundanity of everyday life that The Honeymooners
finds boundless humor. Even when the events were
anything but mundane--bank robbers, counterfeiters, TV
commercials, game shows, golf dates with The Boss--the
real story and the best jokes were about the reality of
their lives and the realization that, because of
marriage and friendship, they didn't really have it so
bad after all. The chemistry between Jackie Gleason and
Art Carney still amazes after all these years. Audrey
Meadows's Alice is the perfect foil for Ralph, stern but
sympathetic. And Joyce Randolph's Trixie? Well, let's
just call her "earnest." Still, for all of Norton's
frenetic energy and Alice's wisdom, the show belongs to
Ralph Kramden. Somehow, Gleason took a chauvinistic,
paranoid, insensitive, scheming, bitter, loudmouth,
underachieving bus driver and made him a hero to
millions. --Marc Greilsamer
Product Description
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 06/21/2005
Rating: Nr
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