Customer Reviews

Johnny Carson - The Tonight Show: Return to Studio One, 3/6/69

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Instead of packaged "Tonight Show" highlights, we finally get an early program from the Johnny Carson vaults. This was the classic 1969 show in which comedian George Gobel had the daunting task of following unannounced guests Bob Hope and Dean Martin. "George not only followed them, he topped them," Carson recalled. The original 90-minute tape (now lost) was among the few "Tonight Show" broadcasts transferred to film in an edited version for the Armed Forces Network. The DVD runs 40 minutes, but it's a memorable document of vintage Carson. Hopefully, the Carson estate will release more programs from the 1960s and '70s - when late-night talk shows were spontaneous affairs rather than endless plug-fests.

This classic "lost" episode of the Johnny Carson show from March 6th 1969 is really an edited version of the show. It is an interesting time capsule of the Johnny Carson show but is only 38 minutes long and the DVD has no extras.Instead of a proper DVD case,it comes in a little booklet style foldout container which is thinner than normal DVD cases.This copy came from a film print that was made of the show for the US Armed Forces Television Network.The picture is slightly grainy but is OK.Dean Martin talks about preparing to go off and act in a new film about to be made called "Airport" with Burt Lancaster. He gets some laughs with George Gobel and a quick-witted Bob Hope. A young Judy Carne of "Laugh In" fame also guests as well as a young Robert Wagner coming on at the last minute. Johnny Carson became part of Americana with his name known world-wide. When he made his last show in 1992,it made the news on entertainment programs around the world. I learnt of him as a child in Australia in the 1960's when his name would pop up in different things like American comic books,entertainment news or on different TV shows like "Get Smart". He had become part of popular culture. His name was even on a Beach Boys song in 1976 on "The Beach Boys Love You" album.This program is interesting and funny but with the short running time is for true Carson fans only. The nostalgia of it all is nice.

For fans of The Tonight Show - and 1960's culture in general - this is a must! Unlike today's highly scripted talk shows that are all about promotion, Carson's show was often just about entertainment and the unexpected, and this episode is a great example. Johnny is suprised to have Bob Hope walk out, followed by Dean Martin, when he is expecting George Gobel. Martin, living up to his "funny drunk guy" reputation, takes over the show, and the entire episode feels like you dropped into a party at Johnny's house that Hope, Martin, Gobel, Robert Wagner, and several other guests happen to be attending. Everyone looks great (notice Johnny's hip outfit).

Other reviewers have made some minor complaints about the DVD production, the pseudo-sixties look, bad sound, bad editing, etc., but I'm sure the producers of the DVD did the best they could with what they had.

Sure, it would be great to have the full show transferred from the original videotape instead of film, but due to the network geniuses who made decisions back then, this is what's left of this show.

That being said, if you accept the fact that it is an imperfect version of this classic show, you will have a great time watching it. Not only is this the most complete Johnny Carson Tonight Show available to the public (hopefully that will change), but it really does leave today's talk shows in the dust. They were there to entertain, not just plug their latest projects. The legendary Bob Hope, Dean Martin, George Gobel segment is there in its entirety and is as funny as I had always heard it was.

I highly recommend this DVD. Keep an open mind and overlook its technical faults, and just sit back and enjoy what TV used to be.

In 1974 Johnny claimed this episode as his favorite show, the trouble was that the tapes of pre 1972 shows had been erased by NBC. Because of that, this was never included in his anniversary specials. Then a color kino-scope 16mm print was discovered at the Armed Forces Radio & Television Service archives. This was great news!

The AFTRS kept all of their shows on half hour reels, so this show would have been on three reels. The trouble here is that the middle reel is still missing. 20 some minutes in you go to a commercial break while talking to Judy Carne, and then come back to Bob Hope sitting next to Johnny. Later Bob makes a quick reference to a "comedy sketch" which we never saw. Hopefully someday the missing reel will be found.

Another problem is the sound quality, it is so muffled at times that dialogue is hard to hear. Audio Engineers should have been able to clear this up some. I would suggest not listening to this from the small TV speakers.

Otherwise this is a MUST HAVE for any Johnny Carson - Tonight Show fan!
It IS the BEST show of the series, and it is even mentioned in the TV Guide Johnny Carson Tribute issue of 2/13/05.

This is an absolute must-have! Sure, it would be great to have the entire show, but considering how the idiots at NBC lost so much from that era, we're lucky to have this. AFRTS did much editing for various reasons, so that may account for some of the missing segments. And considering the limitations of the kinescope process, some of the technical faults can be forgiven.

George Gobel steals the show, and that's not easy with Bob Hope and Dean Martin on the sofa...

More and more TV shows previously thought to be "lost" are turning up in underground vaults around the country, so maybe there's still a little hope that we'll get more of Johnny from the 60's, but for the moment, this is a good start.

This DVD is just awful. The picture is blurry and the voices do not match the lip movement....the volume is low. It's not good.

as seems to be par for the tonight show releases, as well as others,this dvd is edited so we can see what they deem as the best stuff from a whole episode. i get tired of people deciding for me what i don't need to see. this dvd is billed as a lost episode. the implication is you will see the whole show start to finish...we get about 35 minutes. if i want clips i'll go to a barbershop.

This is a great DVD, a wierd look at how different television was 35 years ago. You'd never see people smoking and drinking, with the guests half soused! In all, this is lots of laffs, most of which are still great today. All in all, the material is quite fun to watch.

The producer of the disc has a clear-cut case of "Because I can," that is, "I can edit the program and add stuff to make it mine, so I did." The opening was cut and clips of Carson entering the stage from different time periods were used. Ok. The most jarring thing is the psuedo-60s overlays with the guest's names after Carson announces them. What's the matter, can't we hear?

Oh well. The material is as good as it can be for a video to film to DVD transfer. Get the disc for the laughs, not becuase there was good editing judgement used in putting it together. Maybe one day we'll get a bigger release of Carson's shows, with no stupid editors attached.

Even though these segments are from film elements...this DVD is well constructed and entertaining! What a GREAT time in TELEVISION! This is when HOLLYWOOD was full of GREAT stars....real stars with Talent! Johnny was the BEST! Leno doesn't even compare to what this show like. At least this DVD will be proof of what a REAL 'TONIGHT SHOW' was like!