Product Details

• Actors: Various Actors
• Directors: Various
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: BCI / Sunset Home Visual Entertainment (SHE)
• DVD Release Date: January 11, 2005
• Run Time: 180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0006N2E0K
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #53,737 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The divorce Amy Warner (Melora Hardin) and her mother (Susan Adams) move to California. Amy is devastated and finds comfort in a new friendship with Michelle Mudd (Dana Hill) a girl with similar experiences. Amy discovers however that Michelle is having even greater difficulty dealing with her own parent's divorce. Amy begins to understand that divorce affects both the parents and children and learns to deal with the pains of a family's breakup. SCHOOLBOY FATHER - Sixteen-year-old Charles Elderberry (Rob Lowe) dallies at summer camp with sexy Daisy (Dana Plato) and discovers later to his astonishment that she has borne his child. Unlike other teenagers who might go into hiding Charles races to the hospital to see his son and is horrified to learn that Daisy is putting the child up for adoption. Having grown up without a father he insists on his rights to keep the baby and with the help of a social worker (Beatrice Colen) he is granted a trial adoption much against his mother's advice. The outcome of the story is both real and poignant as Charles reluctantly faces reality.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A teenage Rob Lowe's baby troubles, among other things..., January 15, 2005

By	cookieman108 "cookieman108®" (Inside the jar...) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

The late 70's...a tumultuous period...gas shortages, feathered hair, bell bottom jeans, and the demise of disco (if you lived in the Midwest, you may recall a little event hosted by Chicago DJ Steve Dahl called Disco Demolition, held at Chicago's Comisky Park during the period between a double header...things got a little out of hand, resulting in the White Sox having to forfeit the 2nd game, but that's neither here nor there...). Anyway, what do these things have to do with what I'm reviewing? Not a whole lot, and that's the point...kids during that time period probably could have cared less about any of those things, as they had little to do with what was going on within their own lives, but thankfully there was something directed at them, namely, tele-plays presented under the heading of After School Specials, dramatic, sometimes comedic, programs designed especially to entertain and edjumacate pre-teens about life and issues they could have very well faced, in terms they could understand in an hour-long format (approximately 45 minutes, without the commercials). Each set comes with two DVDs, each containing 2 episodes, or 4 episodes per set. The series (I believe there were something like 26 episodes) created and produced by Martin Tahse, winning him a slew of awards, was really unique in that it was programming for young people that wasn't made to tie into products or sell merchandise, but to speak to them about situations difficult to understand or comprehend, treating its' audience with the respect and intelligence not often seen, not talking down to them but talking to them, and terms they could understand.

A Special Gift (Originally aired 10/24/79), deals with a boy named Peter, played by Stephen Austin, who leads a somewhat double life, one, playing basketball for his school team, and another, following his real passion engaging in the fanciful art of ballet (hence the title `A Special Gift'...I'll tell you what, his `special gift' would have gotten me unlimited swirlies at my school). Peter's reluctant to talk about his passion, especially since he and his family live in a rural farming community, full of closed minded types, but it comes out anyway, and he's viewed by some as being effeminate (a sissy), but others, once past the initial shock begin to come around, even his father, who happens to have a secret of his own.

In The Gold Test aka Heartbreak Winner (Originally aired 2/13/80), features Melissa Sherman as Maggie, one of those annoying, intensely focused athletes who thinks of nothing other than their sport (hers is ice skating), and is determined to get to the Olympics. Only problem is she develops a serious bout of the rheumatoid arthritis, effectively quashing her dreams. While in the hospital, she meets Joey, the world's most optimistic kid (he's also in contention for world's largest afro). Joey's even more messed up that Melissa, his condition requiring many operations on his legs, but his attitude and determination end up providing a source of inspiration for Melissa, so much so she ends up dropping the prat routine seeing there's more to life than the Olympics.

What Are Friends For? (Originally aired 3/19/80) features Melora Hardin as Amy, a girl whose parents were recently divorced, with her and her mother relocating from New York to California. The adjustment is difficult, but Amy meets Michelle (Dana Hill), an outspoken girl with a penchant for lying, whose parents are also divorced. Turns out Michelle's difficulty in coping with her situation manifests itself in some rather criminal (shoplifting) and odd (dabbling in the occult) behavior. This is one of the stranger episodes, especially the scene with Michelle in Kiss makeup. Anyway, Amy learns, through Michelle's incredibly creepy behavior, that parents splitting up can affect more than just the husband and wife, and also just because dad is late with the child support checks, doesn't mean he doesn't love her.

The fourth and final episode in this collection is Schoolboy Father (Originally aired 10/15/80), stars Rob Lowe, Dana Plato, and Nancy McKeon. After Charles (Lowe) has a nekkid time liaison at summer camp with the somewhat sleazy Daisy (Plato), he finds out later he got her pregnant, she's since had the baby, and now wants to give it up for adoption (check out the snit fit his mother has when he finally gets around to telling her). Mr. Idiot decides he wants to keep the baby for himself, thinking it would be neato keen and such (he didn't have a father growing up, so he doesn't want his child to go through the same thing), and actually convinces the hospital social worker to give him a trial period. That's when reality takes a big, steaming dump on his world, as he has to deal with the late night feedings, stinky diapers, loss of a social life, working part time (a bagger at a local grocery store) and going to school. Charles ultimately learns impulsive actions can often lead to serious consequences, and that newborns need to be fed like every four hours...

The quality of the pictures on these DVDs is not the best, but it is as how it was when originally presented, and given these were teleplays made to be presented on television in the 70's, you really can't compare it to today's standards. The packaging is pretty cool, as the DVDs, enclosed in a regular DVD case, come in a box looking much like school lockers, and flip open to reveal informational content and the appearance of the inside of a locker. Printed inside is a brief synopsis and airdate for each episode, photo galleries, and the name of the original author for each story. Also, look for two more sets coming in spring of '05, episode listing below;

Set 5
A Matter of Time
First Step
Tough Girl
The Night Swimmers

Set 6
Two Loves for Jenny
Did You Hear What Happened to Andrea?
Ace Hits the Big Time
Face at the Edge of the World

Cookieman108

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take a trip back to the 80s with the After School Specials, January 21, 2008

By	Reading Public (Trinidad, West Indies) - See all my reviews

I never had the opportunity to view these growing up and cannot now remember how I stumbled upon them on Amazon but I decided to try out a couple and take a look-see. The other one I ordered was After School Specials: Class of '82-'86. I'm a bit stuck in an 80s time warp is what it is. What really got me to be honest was the way cool packaging of the DVD with the locker case that flips open to show the DVDs inside. cookieman108 pretty much covered the content spot on so I'll just tell my personal experience of the product.

Packaging - I was looking forward to the locker packaging (even more so than the content of the DVDs) so I was very disappointed to find that it did NOT come in the packaging as shown. It's a double DVD case with discs 1 and 2. That's it. No locker outer packaging, no inserts, nothing! And the colour is dull, dull, dull - sort of a cross between tan and a washed out olive green. Blah! I wished I would have known this before I'd bought it. I would have thought twice maybe. I don't know if the original packaging was as shown but the current one ISN'T. Just so you know. If you're not all that interested in the superficial things, let's move on... [Edited on 24/01/2008 - OK, so I'd bought this from an Amazon seller who marketed it as 'Like New'. Turns out that all I really DID receive was the INNER case but they refunded my full purchase price which was very good of 'em. Still can't comment on the box artwork though :( as I didn't receive it.]

Audio - The 'Settings' option allows you to listen in either Dolby Stereo or Dolby 5.1. The sound is not too bad in either setting. But nothing like "theatre experience" if you know what I mean.

Video - The film is not exactly crisp and clear like you'd get on a new DVD. There is the 'fuzz' element (sort of a grainy picture) of the 80s and the colours are a bit muted. If you want a clearer picture of what this DVD looks like, have a look at Chips or Magnum P.I. on network TV and it looks pretty much like that.

DVD Content - Disc 1 contains 'A Special Gift' originally aired 24.10.79 with a runtime of 43 mins and 17 secs - pre Billy Elliot about a boy who loves to both dance ballet and play basketball. What choice will he make?; and 'Heartbreak Winner' which was based on the book 'The Gold Test', so it's also known as 'The Gold Test' on the DVD, originally aired 13.2.80 with a runtime of 45 mins and 44 secs about a girl whose dream is to be an Olympic gold medal winner and has to make peace with the fact that she gets injured and may never make it to the Olympics. Disc 2 contains 'What are friends for?' originally aired 19.3.80 with a runtime of 45 mins and 14 sec about 2 girls who deal with their parents' divorces in different ways; and 'Schoolboy Father' originally aired 15.10.80 with a runtime of 45 mins and 30 secs about teenage sex and it's consequences (in this case pregnancy). On both discs you may view scenes from each movie (here called Chapters) but they are limited to 4 scenes from each and Bunch of Pictures which are still shots from the movies themselves. There are some cool graphics integrated into the menu with the school theme taking precedence of course. The menu is backed by a notebook page, a pencil scribbles out the information and an eraser rubs out the information when you move on to the next movie for which the pencil scribbles in the new information.

The movies - I liked each of them in their own way. I thought they were wholesome family TV with morals in each one of course. The only one I thought was a bit odd was 'What are friends for?' because Michelle (Dana Hill) kinda gave me the creeps. You may want to watch this yourself before setting the pre-teens down before it. Would recommend this as good clean pre-teen/teen family viewing or adult trips down Memory Lane.

3 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PINBALLS...a short movie, August 12, 2005

By	Beth S. Goldberg - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Eventhough the book is somewhat outdated, I find that my students still enjoy the book. I had seen the after-school-special years ago but was never able to locate it. I was thrilled to find it and I'm sure my students will like it!