From the Small Screen to the Small Screen
Classic American and British sitcoms, Bob Hope specials, a conversation with Sister Wendy and a “Baywatch” movie are among the diverse TV fare currently available on home video.
The collector’s editions of the popular sitcoms “Laverne & Shirley,” starring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams, and the Emmy Award-winning police comedy “Barney Miller” are the latest offerings from the nostalgic re-tv Video Library.
The introductory volume of “L&S;” includes the 1976 premiere episode as well as three more installments. The first “Barney Miller” volume features four episodes spotlighting the adventures of the cranky Det. Fish (Abe Vigoda).
The first volume for each series is $5 and each subsequent tape is $20. To order call (800) 638-2922.
For “I Love Lucy” fans, there’s CBS Video’s “I Love Lucy: The Classics” ($10 each). Each volume contains two uncut and restored, all-time favorite “Lucy’ episodes, including “L.A. at Last,” “Lucy’s Italian Movie” and “Lucy Does a Commercial.”
Anglophiles will enjoy BBC Video’s new two-volume collection of episodes from the sparkling comedy “To the Manor Born” ($20 each). “Manor,” a current favorite on PBS stations, stars Penelope Keith as a titled woman who is at odds with her scruffy landlord and neighbor (Peter Bowles).
Also available this month from BBC are two more installments in the “Are You Being Served?” series. This rollicking comedy, currently on PBS stations, chronicles the antics of the outrageous employees of Grace Brothers Department Store.
Gunthy-Renker Direct has licensed the Bob Hope library, spanning 40 years of television specials, including his USO tours. The latest Hope specials to hit the home video market are his very last NBC show, “Bob Hope’s Laughing With the Presidents,” which aired in 1996, and “Bob Hope’s Unrehearsed Antics With the Stars,” a 1984 special featuring funny bloopers involving the likes of Danny Thomas, Sammy Davis Jr., Tom Selleck and Bing Crosby. To order the videos ($20 each) call (800) 621-5559.
Though it’s not a comedy, there are some unintentional laughs in Trimark’s “Baywatch: White Thunder at Glacier Bay,” a feature-length adventure starring David Hasselhoff and the “Baywatch” gang.
Hasselhoff and his body beautiful co-stars--Gena Lee Nolin, Donna D’Errico, Carmen Electra, Jeremy Jackson and David Chokachi--find themselves on an Alaskan cruise after Nolin, D’Errico and Electra are asked to pose for a photo layout aboard the liner for a sports magazine.
There’s a hysterically campy and cheesy chase sequence involving hang gliders, and Hasselhoff gets to croon a lullaby to a baby and shed some tears when he ties the knot with Nolin.
“Baywatch” is available in an unrated and PG-rated version. The unrated version features bonus footage deemed too hot for TV.
Universal has struck gold with its syndicated series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and “Xena: Warrior Princess.” So it only seems inevitable that Universal explore the mysterious youth of this mighty hero in the new movie “Young Hercules.” Ian Bohen stars as the buff Herc. (PG-13).
On a more serious note, WGBH Boston Home Video has just released the superb 1979 PBS version of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” (WGBH Boston Home Video, $30). Meg Foster, John Heard and Kevin Conway head the cast of the literate, four-hour adaptation that, unlike the more recent movie version, definitely deserves an “A.” To order call (800) 255-9424.
Another PBS favorite, Sister Wendy Beckett, talks about her passion for art in the engrossing “Sister Wendy in Conversation With Bill Moyers” (WGBH, $20). To order, call (800) 255-9424.
New Video has just released two landmark documentaries from the NBC series “The NBC White Papers” ($30 each). “The Kennedy Era,” anchored by the legendary Chet Huntley, was produced shortly after JFK’s assassination. “The Birth of the Cold War,” also hosted by Huntley, documents the history of the Cold War in Russia.
The latest from WinStar Home Entertainment is the PBS special “Steve Allen’s 75th Birthday” ($20), an all-star comedy and music event taped last year at USC. To order call (800) 414-1600.
The new History Channel Home Video debuts with “The Fifties” ($100), an ambitious six-part documentary based on David Halberstam’s book. To order call (800) 423-1212.
