Bosom Buddies – The First Season
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: C+
Can a
simple change destroy the comedy and context of a good TV show? Fans have already complained and hit the red
alert when edited syndicated copies of Roseanne
and Too Close For Comfort arrived in
butchered copies, while WKRP In
Cincinnati fans wonder what the show will be like missing al the hit
records of its time (though we’d say look no further than the awful revival
series a decade or so later). With Tom
Hanks one of the biggest movie stars around, Bosom Buddies finally hits DVD in
its First Season, but these are not
the original shows as broadcast.
So what
is missing? Are the episodes
shorter? Can’t tell. Is something covered up or edited? Don’t know.
Is it just not as funny as it used to be? Well, maybe.
The show was built on the idea that Kip (Hanks) and Henry (Peter
Scolari) are life-loving bachelors who want the American Dream and to meet many
women, but financial realities are not helping and it becomes so bad that they
pretend to be women to get cheap rent at an all-women/ladies only apartment
building. That is the comic premise.
To
highlight this, the show featured a cover version of the Billy Joel classic My Life, expressing
their freewheeling ways and that they were a bunch of funny, great guys. We were not expecting the original Joel
record (now available in a great 5.1 SACD of 52nd Street, the album it originates from), but in its
place is a very 1980s Soul/Pop record trying hard to sound like Denise Williams
instead! WHAT!!!!!!
Yes, you
read correctly. The very silly record
that apparently landed up on syndicated versions. So what does that do to the context of the
show? Does that make them secretly
gay? Is it gay baiting? Does it say Telma Hopkins was only a token
African American character and the show was too white? Hard to tell.
It does break the show’s necessary connection to the 1970s to make it
work and everything lands up playing like a lopsided mess and makes these shows
seem like demo copies.
It does
not matter whether the idea of the male leads pretending to be women would work
this long and the show only lasted so long, but people liked it. 19 half-hours were made for the 1980 – 1981
season and some of the jokes still work, but not as much in the cut copies. Wendie Jo Sperber is their friend Amy who
lives there to begin with and gives them the idea to pull their crazy scheme,
Holland Taylor is their work boss, Lucille Benson plays the landlady not in the
know and Donna Dixon became the sexy bombshell Kip was especially interested
in.
There was
some real chemistry here among the cast members and you can see why the show
was popular as it was briefly like Mork
& Mindy, but you would not necessarily know it from these copies. Yes, editing and timing are very important,
especially in comedy and you may want to take a look at these lesser copies,
but most will want to see the originals.
Maybe someday.
The 1.33
X 1 image is all shot on NTSC professional analog tape, except the pilot, which
was filmed. All look second generation
and with the music changes and only-fans-know what editing, are as second
generation as the sound, here in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. There are no extras, but none should exist
until the original cuts are issued.
And if
you care and do not believe me, play the original Joel record to the opening
credits (no specific syncing needed) and judge for yourself.
- Nicholas Sheffo
