On The Road with Charles Kuralt – Set
3 (Acorn Media DVD)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Main Program: B
When CBS was still in its glory days, the news division
was especially amazing and this included programming that was not hard news and
not the exploitation that has permanently befallen television in general all
the way to its sometimes embarrassing news networks. This included news that told us about people
and places in the U.S.
worth knowing about when TV and media were much more interested in helping and
building up the viewer instead of the total opposite we see today. On The
Road with Charles Kuralt – Set 3 is yet another rich compilation of the
classic series in which Kuralt travels the country to meet the special,
eccentric and different people and places that really make the country great.
A big hit in its time, Kuralt was doing what Johnny Carson
(to his credit as well) did, giving good people their 15 minutes of fame before
this was commonplace and long before the Internet era. Many of these people are quiet heroes, others
are amazing in enduring the times and others are bold individualists that you
would never otherwise hear about. Kuralt
was such a great journalist making smart observations about people, change and
the quality of life.
This 3-DVD set has 14 hour-long episodes running almost
300 minutes (shows for hour-long slots were longer then) and they remain a very
special, priceless contribution to the kind of TV we should have more of now
but rarely if ever see. That is a shame,
but Kuralt also is unique as a personality and a talent. I am glad Acorn Media is issuing this great,
underrated series and that people are buying, or this would not have turned
into a DVD series. Hope this inspires the
industry to issue more classic series like this.
The 1.33 X 1 image is a mix of videotape and 16mm film
depending on the segment, but this is a little softer throughout than I would
have liked it to be or remembered it to be form the original broadcast with
aliasing errors and other minor flaws. I
would like to see the filmed segments restored for High Definition and that
could be done if CBS kept the film masters.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is better for its age, but audio varies due
to age, the way recorded and has the occasional dropout.
Extras include text updates on segments with some website
links and text bio of Kuralt and interview with Kuralt’s longtime cameraman
Isadore Bleckman (55 minutes) that is a nice plus.
- Nicholas Sheffo
