All Star Family Feud (Richard Dawson Era/BCI DVD Collection)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes:
B
After
back to back hits with Hogan’s Heroes
and Match Game (1973, both reviewed
elsewhere on this site) where he was always a highlight, Richard Dawson became
a TV favorite to many and Game
producer/genius Mark Goodson realized Dawson was dominating the big money
segments so much that he eventually found a game show he thought would be a
great idea for Dawson to do. Instead of
a spinoff and even staying on the same network, Goodson sold Family Feud to ABC and it became and
remains one of the biggest daytime hits in TV history.
Not only
has it survived with three new hosts and even a return of Dawson at one point,
but the current revival survived the scandal of one host and adjusted to
another. However, it is the Dawson era
that is unbeatable and along with so many amusing special shows and weekly sets
of real families battling for the bucks, the best shows he made were special
charity shows with big TV stars from big TV shows that only he was able to
land. Aired during the critical rating
sweeps period, All Star Family Feud
was not just a gimmick, but great game show entertainment and now looking at
the shows on DVD from BCI Eclipse, they turned out to offer some of the
greatest moments of TV comedy and classic moments with the casts of some of the
greatest TV shows ever made.
Seeming
more like a dream sequence on Family Guy
than something that actually happened, Dawson and Goodson had the hit,
connections and clout to bring some great casts together, resulting in some
happy accidents, many howler moments and some classic times that have out of
circulation for far too long. Here are
the shows whose casts turned up for the game:
All My Children
Angie
Batman
Benson
The Brady Bunch
Dallas
Dukes Of Hazzard
Eight Is Enough
Family
General Hospital
Gilligan’s Island
It’s A Living
The Jeffersons
Leave It To Beaver
Love Boat
One Day At A Time
Petticoat Junction
Real People
The Ropers
Soap
Three’s Company
The Waltons
Welcome Back Kotter
What’s Happening
WKRP In Cincinnati
Your Hit Parade
Seeing
these original casts, especially in cases where awful feature films have been
made, suggested or are sadly planned, you can see why making entertaining TV hits
into features is a losing, idiotic idea from the start. These shows are about chemistry and in all
cases, you can see the chemistry did not end when a given episode was finished
shooting. If anything, it shows us how
much fun we’d been missing behind the scenes.
We will
not tell you who take son who because that would be giving away the suspense of
the games, but we guarantee that you will not be disappointed. There are also some great theme shows to mix
things up. One is heroes versus
villains, another is Hollywood Studio System Heaven with stars who have stars
on the Wall of Fame liker Keenan Wynn, Cesar Romero, Betty White and Dorothy
Lamour among others. Another is an
ironic send-up of the eliteness of beauty dubbed Battle Of The Perfect 10s which shot down the trend (without
realizing it) of the “new standards” inspired by Blake Edwards hit film “10” with Bo Derek. The show has so much heart and soul, but
never did it show it more than here.
That is
why this is one of the biggest classic TV surprises on DVD in a while and one
set we highly recommend.
The 1.33
X 1 image is clean but a little faded throughout, which is a shame since these
copies are so clean. Still, you even get
opening ends that might not have been broadcast before the shows kicked into
high gear. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is
better, sounding as cleaner than ever, but it is dated a bit. However, the audio is better for its time than
you’d expect. Stills on the fourth disc
are the only extras, but boy, did I wish there were audio commentary track from
the guests and Dawson’s family. Hope we
see another set soon.
For more
great game show classics from BCI, try this great Match Game set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5382/The+Best+Of+Match+Game+(BCI
- Nicholas Sheffo
