Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. – The Final Season (Fifth Season/CBS DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
After a
fun run of five seasons, Gomer Pyle,
U.S.M.C. reached its logical conclusion with its Final Season and the show remained funny, but Gomer and Sgt. Carter
at this point were either going to be friends of some kind or Carter would have
either had him discharged or killed him personally. Also, even drafted, you are only going to be
in the service so long. If you are
unfamiliar with the show, you can start at this link for starters:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6287/Gomer+Pyle,+U.S.M.C.+–+The+Comp
Also, the
chemistry with the actors has peaked and as you watch these final 30 half-hours
that they are almost too comfortable with each other, even for a military
comedy. Of course, the controversy over
The Vietnam War finally caught up with the show, so it was becoming dated and
passé to some. Also, they had logged
enough shows to go into syndication, so the show was lucky it started when it
did, or it might have not lasted as long or had the chance to grow and expand
as nicely as it did.
Guest
stars also turned up in the final shows like Larry Storch and Nita Talbot, so
they got to mix in and add energy to the show as it was entering its twilight,
though the regular cast was not slacking.
After all the United States Marine Corp. would have never found that
acceptable!
They
would find the 1.33 X 1 color image acceptable, however, as despite it having some
slight softness and slight inconsistency between the episodes here, this final
set has the same fine picture and sound as the previous sets and even
more. The prints are in incredibly good
shape, especially considering how huge this was in syndication being so
massive. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also
good for its age, recorded nicely and with the picture, these shows play better
than ever. Our only complaint once again
is that there are no extras, but there is always the Blu-ray release down the
line someday. In the meantime, we’ll
recommend this set and also a hilarious appearance Frank Sutton (Sgt. Carter)
made with The Beverly Hillbillies’ Nancy Culp on the original Password. You can read about it at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7913/The+Best+Of+Password+–+The+CBS
- Nicholas Sheffo
