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(More customer reviews)For all of you who truly love The Honeymooners, it is truly a shame that MPI holds the exclusive rights to this show. The DVD's of the Lost Episodes are without question the worst home video releases of any TV show in history, with many episodes that are not actually lost but essentially lost to us, since MPI still hasn't released them. Rumors have abounded about an eventual re-release of the Lost Episodes by MPI, which would finally give them the DVD treatment most other shows now get, with full season sets and extras truly worth watching. Now after two years since the release of the first volume of the Color Honeymooners, MPI is now releasing Color Honeymooners Vol. 2. For a MSRP of $39.99, we get a grand total of NINE episodes, which is the same number that was included on Vol. 1. For that amount of money, we should have gotten all 18 episodes from Volumes 1 and 2. It seems that we will have to pay through the nose to eventually own the complete Honeymooners, which will probably take until well after 2010.
As for the Color Honeymooners themselves, by and large they are a pale imitation of the black & white Honeymooners of the 1950's. As much as I love this show, no one could come close to replacing Audrey Meadows as Alice Kramden, especially Sheila McRae, who is truly abysmal in the role. The same can be said for Jane Kean as Trixie, who has no charm, no appeal, and like Ms. McRae, very little acting ability. As for Jackie Gleason, his portrayal of Ralph in the black & white episodes was without question a performance for the ages. In the color episodes, he is nowhere close to that level. Gleason was famous for his excessive lifestyle which unfortunately already started to take its toll on him by the time these episodes were done in the late 1960's. As for Art Carney, his performance of Ed Norton never suffered. A few years ago on the first TV Land awards, the award for Greatest Second Banana went to Don Knotts as Barney Fife. No offense to Mr. Knotts, but he is not even in the same league as Art Carney as Ed Norton, who in my opinion is the most essential character in The Honeymooners. In the color episodes, his performance is every bit as great as it was in the 1950's.
It is also truly sad that many of the color episodes were remakes of earlier and much better black & white versions. I find it hard to believe that Jackie Gleason would prefer to simply redo old episodes than have writers create all new stories for these characters. There is an episode of the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour that features the Ricardos, the Mertzes and the Williams family from Make Room For Daddy. One can only imagine what might have been if the Kramdens and the Nortons could have met the Ricardos and the Mertzes.
Lastly, in spite of these complaints, one clear truth emerges. The sitcoms of today cannot touch classics like The Honeymooners or I Love Lucy. It is the reason why so many people prefer to watch episodes of shows they have seen many times rather than watch what passes for entertainment now.
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The Color Honeymooners (a/k/a The Jackie Gleason Show), a top-rated comedy/variety program aired, from the sun and fun capital of the world Miami Beach! on Saturday night from 1966-70 on CBS-TV. This long-running series marked the final weekly TV show for The Great One. Reprising their famous characters from The Honeymooners, the cast was led by Jackie Gleason (Ralph Kramden) and Art Carney (Ed Norton). Newcomers Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean played long-suffering wives Alice and Trixie. Like popular variety series of the time, the show s format was a clever combination of new comedy sketches coupled with classic Honeymooners bits. Plenty of big name guest stars and a generous helping of singing and dancing rounded out the hour.Regulars included Gleason s glamorous Glea-Girls; the June Taylor Dancers; Sammy Spear and His Orchestra, and announcer, Johnny Olson.
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