Customer Reviews

The Best of Carson, Volume 1

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Buyer Beware! I am not reviewing the level of the content, as it is pure Johnny Carson as this best. You can't go wrong with Carson... unless you already own the same material in a different package. This item would deserve five stars if not for the way it is being marketed.

The front proudly boasts "Includes Never Before Seen Footage." So I ordered this being a huge Carson fan. How disappointed was I to find out that INSIDE it quietly tells you that the material is "Previously Available Only To Carson Club Members." Meaning if you own the Classic Carson Club 12 DVD series that was released in the 90s, or the mega box set sold here called "Heeere's Johnny! The Special Collector's Edition (The Ultimate Carson Collection / Timeless Moments from the Tonight Show / Animal Hijinks)" that also contained them... Then this material is NOT NEW. It is merely 4 hours of the highlights of that 12 volume series of DVDs. So save your money if you own the Classic Carson Club DVDs. You already have all this stuff! If you don't I highly recommend it, I just wish I knew first before I opened it. I called and Amazon said I can get a full refund despite having opened the DVDs, so back they go. I just wish this was more accurately advertised as what it really is!

So if you don't have this material in another form... 5 stars.
If you do.... 1 star.

As the other reviewer mentioned - don't buy this set if you already own the full Carson Club DVD set - but if you don't this is a wonderful look back into the King of Latenight. The 3 discs span 30 years of Johnny - and include many great guests, Johnny's characters, and monologues. The "Lost Episode" featuring a suprise visit by Bob Hope, Dean Martin, and George Gobel is particularly great. If you want to own the perfect Carson library - buy The Ultimate Collection first, this collection second, and I would add both Carson Comic's DVDs and Carson Country to get a great overview of the best talk show in history.

Johnny was the best, and any material from his show will always be greatly appreciated. The material on these DVD's may have been duplicated on the 12-disc set (which I have not completely watched), but not on the Ultimate Johnny Carson Collection (which I have watched repeatedly).

HOWEVER, my biggest gripe is how distressingly short these discs are. They claim a run-time of four hours, but that apparently includes the 30 minute "best of" featurette and the "Return to Studio One" show; the actual clips run just over two hours, spread out over 3 discs. When I sit down to watch a DVD and it's over in 45 minutes (or less!), I feel ripped off.

I love Johnny and look forward to seeing more of him on DVD. I just hope the production company doesn't continue packaging little material in multiple sets to raise the prices. Instead, future sets should use the Ultimate Collection as their model; that was a FANTASTIC set.

I faithfully watched the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson over the 30 years that he was on TV and I was very disappointed in the material on this DVD set. This certainly is not the "best of Carson". I thought most of it was boring. Many of the guests were unknown and uninteresting. Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon did so many funny skits with Aunt Blabby and Carnac over the years, but the two on this set had to be the worst. I can't believe that with 30 years of material, this was the best they could come up with.

Johnny Carson was the King of Late night and this collection and the fuller box set takes you back when Late night on Carson meant everything to a career. this set has Gobel, Dean Martin and George Burns stopping on through. Carson just had that humor and connection with his guests and audience which is timeless. His Genius of timing and connecting is second to none even still. Classic Carson.

If you are a fan of Johnny, this is a must...the bits with Dean Martin and George Gobel are priceless. There will never be new comedy to match these old days of television no matter how hard they try. Johnny Carson was the best too!!!

Hilarious! If you are a Johnny Carson fan, this is a must have. And if you have never before seen him, this is a classic example of what late night comedy once was.

We really enjoyed watching these old Carson clips. We actually bought this one for the in-laws for Christmas and we snuck a peek before we gave it to them. (oops!) My wife bought another of the Carson collection for me for Christmas and it was really hard to keep it a secret after we enjoyed this one so much. She made me wait, but I was really surprised!

Great purchase. Would buy again. No wear better than advertised.We had a great time and enjoyed the dvd.Well worth the money and more.

Goes back to the earliest days with Ed McMahon as Carson's sidekick, and provides a series of short snips out of numerous shows. Mishaps with animals brought onto the show, 'oddball' ordinary citizens, famous names - it's all prime-time material.