"They Don't Make 'em Like That Anymore!"
The Demise and Resurrection of Classic TV Comedy
An Ongoing Work in Progress
People ask me all the time how I'm able to endure the chronic burning pain that is part and parcel of living with my disability. The answer is four fold: my faith, my friends and family, and hearty doses of comedic foolishness. Among my "friends" are favorite books, movies and TV shows that are like meatloaf for the soul. This week I had a joyous reunion via DVD with two of my all time favorite classic sitcoms, season one of both HAZEL and MCHALE'S NAVY.
Both score A+++ on my personal scale of viewing satisfaction and both are "must haves".
These two shows have several things in common. Their respective stars, Shirley Booth and Ernest Borgnine were Academy Award winners. The casts had terrific chemistry and phenomenal writing. But most of all they were FUNNY!
The premise of HAZEL was that when Dorothy marries promising attorney George Baxter, the maid who practically raised her came along as part of the deal. Hazel knew how to live and love large and took raising the Baxter family, including "Mr. B" as her personal responsibility. Many of the great comedy moments oc-
cur at the breakfast or dinner table and center around the verbal exchanges between Hazel and Mr. B. DeFore and Booth are perfect foils for one another. They also balance one another, something that was sorely missing in the final season of the show when Don DeFore was replaced by Ray Fulmer. Booth's strong character alnost became annoying instead of endearing without another strong personality to play off of. Whitney Blake's Dorothy was usually a bemused referee betwen Hazel and George. Bobby Buntrock was perfect as Harold. The only possible criticism is that the Baxter's seemed to do most of their parenting through Hazel.
The series ran from 1961-1966.
MCHALE'S NAVY ran from 1962-66 giving ABC a much needed hit. It is one of my favorite shows of all time. Ernest Borgnine played straight man to a crew of oddballs and misfits, The premise was simple. The fun loving but efficient crew of PT 73 spent the majority of their spare time driving their Captain, Wallace B. Binghamton crazy. He, in turn. plotted schemes to get McHale and his pirates court martialed. The show was greatly enhanced by the comic talents of Joe Flynn and Tim Conway. That comedy combination was so strong that they made the second MCHALE feature without Borgnine as McHale.
The final seasons of both shows were less than great. The writers on MCHALE had a problem. They had a hit show but had exhausted storylines involving the South Pacific. The fourth season found McHale fighting Binghamton, the Germans and the corrupt mayor of the town of Volta Fiore. The bad news was the show was running out of gas. The good news s that all four seasons will be aailable on DVD.
Sadly, the same cannot be said of HAZEL. Apparently the first season did not sell well. It is real importaant that those of us who love classic TV comedy support DVD releases. DVD has given these shows a second chance to capture new audiences by givng them omething that is all too rare today: something funny to laugh at.
The chemistry between the original cast is obvious.
