167 of 174 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Strike Two . . ., November 30, 2003
This review is from: The Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Vol. 2 (DVD)
The second collection of episodes of Laugh-In, appears to be packaged in the same manner as Volume 1, which means that once more, the consumer is not receiving maximum value for their dollar
A one-hour show, minus the commercials, has 45 to 50 minutes of programming. A DVD easily holds over 200 minutes of material. So in most recently released boxed sets for hour-long programs, you will routinely find DVD's containing four episodes.
The three DVD Laugh-In set contains just six complete programs, along with some interview footage. That's two episodes per disc (approximately 100 minutes), plus the bonus material. Although the Laugh In discs contain much less than the maximum amount of material, the price of the set is relatively high.
Rhino Video is certainly aware that the trend is to issue TV programs in boxed sets. Other studios issue their sets with all kinds of bonus materials. Rhino did a good job with The Monkees, choosing to issue the DVD sets by seasons, and including lots of extras. But in the case of Laugh-In, they continue to offer mediocre sets that short change fans. What are their real plans for this series? Do they intend to issue all of the episodes? Taking the "best of" approach, seems to indicate that they do not believe that interest in the series is great enough to justify issuing the program in complete season packages. Perhaps so, but there can be no denying that the "best of" sets could easily have much more content.
If you like Laugh-In enough to pay the premium per episode cost, by all means please enjoy. However, realize that purchasing this set only encourages Rhino to continue this minimalist type of packaging. If they ever do issue the program by complete seasons, you may regret the decision to buy. If you are not getting a fair value, take a stand and keep saying "NO" to inferior product like this. If you must have this, try the used market.
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76 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Why not release the show by season?, March 1, 2005
This review is from: The Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Vol. 2 (DVD)
Seasons 1 and 2 are easily the best, with Lily Tomlin easily being the best reason to watch season 3...
With a dual-layer disc, 4 episodes can be put onto one disc, with a handful of extras, and look very respectable (in the eyes of anyone who believed it when the mainstream media shoved DVD down our throats as having better quality.)
But 6 episodes on 3 single-layer discs, plus interviews, invariably leads to lower image quality. While other shows are worse, this packaging and contents only make me believe that we fans of this series are being fleeced; taken for a ride.
And the only series that had received even worse treatment was the original Star Trek series (at $20 per two-episode disc, Paramount really was taking big chances with its fan-base... The original Trek made back its money and more before Berman took over with the Next Generation and 3 dreary spinoffs... but that's another topic!) Of course, Paramount finally did the right thing and release the original Trek per-season, for only a moderately-inflated price. It's time Laugh-In fans get better treated as well.
Great show. But fans don't deserve this draconian treatment and fleecing.
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54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The show is 5 stars, but the dvd..., July 27, 2005
This review is from: The Best of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Vol. 2 (DVD)
Is only 3. Because it's just a few episodes. I will not buy Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In unless they box the entire series.
I want to see it all again!
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