Eric (or anyone) -- any word on this set so far in terms of edits, content, etc?
I just got a review copy but was curious if fans have already voiced their thoughts on it.
TONIGHT SHOW New DVD Box Set
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AndyDursin
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Eric Paddon
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Re: TONIGHT SHOW New DVD Box Set
I have it, and I can just say that it represents another colossal rip-off from the keeper of the Carson vault, Jeff Sotzing.
First off, I'll admit I'm partly prejudiced because I'm among those fortunate to have in excess of a couple hundred complete and uncut Tonight Shows from the 70s that are the legacy of when the Carson vault used to make uncut shows available to the public. But because these would then make the trade circuit, Sotzing put a halt to that and thus all we got next for years were umpteen repackagings of the same old boring clip videos of the past.
Now this release of a number of "carefully selected" episodes reveals just how much Sotzing still wants to extend a middle finger to the serious Carson collectors who traded the vault copies. A large number of these programs from the 70s, the era of the show that would be of much greater interest (when Carson was still a 90 minute show, the pace was much better and the chatting more interesting) are the SAME programs that have been on the collectors circuit for years. Only now they are being presented in a truncated fashion. Not a single one of these programs runs more than 30 minutes in length and that means what you're getting is usually an intact monologue, maybe the segment at the desk and one or two guests from the show and NEVER the entire program. With a 60 minute show from the 80s this means you're getting at most 60% of a show, but with a 90 minute show the effect is to render them impossible to watch. The transitions and edits are choppy and sloppy and even more inexcusably MANY of these shows will abruptly end in midstream conversation with a guest. They won't even leave in Johnny's goodnight all the time. Why? The same reason why guests will sometimes come out in an awkward fashion because Sotzing, in order to save on having to pay more wants to make sure that if a guest from this show isn't to be spotlighted then that means don't let ANY shots of that other guest sitting further down on the couch come into view.
And in the same tradition of his boring clip packages, Sotzing has loaded up a lot of shows that don't seem tied at all to something special in Tonight Show history but just to find things that feature guests who are still trendy today. Thus we have to get more 80s shows that give us the likes of Bill Maher etc. but as far as some more shows from the earlier years that exist? Forget it. To their credit they do include the oldest extant show in color from New Year's Eve 1965 but there is a much higher volume of shows from 70-72 the last two years in New York that could have been utilized as well.
And the special disc devoted to "lost moments of the 60s" is also underwhelming if one has seen the syndicated package of old Carson material "Carson's Comedy Classics". There is no surviving kinescope material from the 60s like the Ed Ames tomahawk toss, or interviews with Nixon etc. Only material that still exists on videotape is included and almost all of it is stuff that has previously been seen before and is mostly sketch material, which I've noted is always the least memorable element of what made the Carson Tonight Show special. The only two gems in the lot are a full version of a hilarious appearance by Jay Silverheels. In the past we have seen the gag portion of his appearance in which he comes out dressed as Tonto and Johnny does a gag interview of Tonto seeking a new job after "thirty lousy years" with Kemosabe. This time we get the earlier "straight" part of the interview as well. We also get ten minutes of Johnny welcoming the Apollo 13 astronauts a month after their flight but including this among the "rescued" material is odd since the whole program does exist in the Carson vault.
In short, these shows for anyone who remembers the Tonight Show are just going to come off as a badly paced, butchered mess. I have it only for the additional material that I previously did not have but its a lot less than what it could have been.
First off, I'll admit I'm partly prejudiced because I'm among those fortunate to have in excess of a couple hundred complete and uncut Tonight Shows from the 70s that are the legacy of when the Carson vault used to make uncut shows available to the public. But because these would then make the trade circuit, Sotzing put a halt to that and thus all we got next for years were umpteen repackagings of the same old boring clip videos of the past.
Now this release of a number of "carefully selected" episodes reveals just how much Sotzing still wants to extend a middle finger to the serious Carson collectors who traded the vault copies. A large number of these programs from the 70s, the era of the show that would be of much greater interest (when Carson was still a 90 minute show, the pace was much better and the chatting more interesting) are the SAME programs that have been on the collectors circuit for years. Only now they are being presented in a truncated fashion. Not a single one of these programs runs more than 30 minutes in length and that means what you're getting is usually an intact monologue, maybe the segment at the desk and one or two guests from the show and NEVER the entire program. With a 60 minute show from the 80s this means you're getting at most 60% of a show, but with a 90 minute show the effect is to render them impossible to watch. The transitions and edits are choppy and sloppy and even more inexcusably MANY of these shows will abruptly end in midstream conversation with a guest. They won't even leave in Johnny's goodnight all the time. Why? The same reason why guests will sometimes come out in an awkward fashion because Sotzing, in order to save on having to pay more wants to make sure that if a guest from this show isn't to be spotlighted then that means don't let ANY shots of that other guest sitting further down on the couch come into view.
And in the same tradition of his boring clip packages, Sotzing has loaded up a lot of shows that don't seem tied at all to something special in Tonight Show history but just to find things that feature guests who are still trendy today. Thus we have to get more 80s shows that give us the likes of Bill Maher etc. but as far as some more shows from the earlier years that exist? Forget it. To their credit they do include the oldest extant show in color from New Year's Eve 1965 but there is a much higher volume of shows from 70-72 the last two years in New York that could have been utilized as well.
And the special disc devoted to "lost moments of the 60s" is also underwhelming if one has seen the syndicated package of old Carson material "Carson's Comedy Classics". There is no surviving kinescope material from the 60s like the Ed Ames tomahawk toss, or interviews with Nixon etc. Only material that still exists on videotape is included and almost all of it is stuff that has previously been seen before and is mostly sketch material, which I've noted is always the least memorable element of what made the Carson Tonight Show special. The only two gems in the lot are a full version of a hilarious appearance by Jay Silverheels. In the past we have seen the gag portion of his appearance in which he comes out dressed as Tonto and Johnny does a gag interview of Tonto seeking a new job after "thirty lousy years" with Kemosabe. This time we get the earlier "straight" part of the interview as well. We also get ten minutes of Johnny welcoming the Apollo 13 astronauts a month after their flight but including this among the "rescued" material is odd since the whole program does exist in the Carson vault.
In short, these shows for anyone who remembers the Tonight Show are just going to come off as a badly paced, butchered mess. I have it only for the additional material that I previously did not have but its a lot less than what it could have been.