Reviewed by Glenn Gaslin (December 2006/January 2007) Starring Morgan Freeman, Judy Graubart, Luis Avalos, Skip Hinnant, Rita Moreno, Jim Boyd, Lee Chamberlin, Hattie Winston, Bill Cosby, Danny Seagren, Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Mel Blanc, Zero Mostel. Directed by Henry Behar, John Tracy and Bob Schwarz. Released by Shout Factory. Great children's television never goes out of style, and neither does surreal sketch comedy about suffixes, cheesy skits starring a mute Spider-Man, Morgan Freeman reading really slowly or, for that matter, Bill Cosby. Even if the songs about numbers and cartoons about pronunciation are part of a funky, mildly psychedelic '70s variety show, the one-time PBS staple is loaded with so much style and earnest love of learnin' that it holds up. Before the release of these DVDs, most of the 780 episodes languished out of circulation for decades, and only GenX-ers remembered, say, Fargo North, Decoder or the Six Dollar and Thirty-Nine Cent Man. More than a nostalgia trip, though, these four star-packed, soul-flavored discs are just as rich and weird 30 years later, in a world of pocket monsters and PSPs, that 21st Century kids might just dig it. The alphabet hasn't changed that much, either. |
