Customer Reviews

Maude - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK enough already Sony--we've been waiting over a year now for Season 2 of this, perhaps the best sitcom ever on television. What's the problem? I've re-watched my Season 1 discs too many times now, I want what's next....why do you do this to us? Why bother releasing a series at all if we're only going to get a Season 1 teaser?
C'MON NOW...respect the fans. Do what's right, release all of the "Maude" episodes--and get with it on Season 2.

Unfortunately we'll have to wait to hear that classic line on season 2 from my favorite golden girl of the 1970's Maude!!!! In the meantime I can hardly wait to March 20th, and hopefully local retailers will have this long awaited first season of Maude available to purchase in stores, so I can get this baby in my hands on the day of release!!! Wow!!! Now I know how all those diehard Playstation 3 fanatics felt when they camped out at local retailers before the stores opened!!!

Needless to say Maude's first season was right out of the ball park with episodes so controversial, well written, and brilliantly funny!!! This was one of those rare television shows where not only lead actress Beatrice Arthur was a comedic pro as Maude Findlay, but the entire supporting cast was pure dynamite!!!

I'm so looking forward to seeing episodes like the famous 2parter Maude's dilemma when she decides to have an abortion. This is such a classic and controversial episode that even 35 years later the heated subject matter of a woman actually deciding to have an abortion would never be done on sitcoms today!!!

March 20th can't come fast enough!!!

And then there's .... THAT UNCOMPROMISIN', ENTERPRISIN', ANYTHING BUT TRANQUILIZING', RIGHT ON MAUDE!!!!!!!

For those concerned about whether the episodes will be uncut, I emailed [...], which responded and said the total run time for the DVD will be 572 minutes, not the 460 minutes stated in the original specs. Sony has been very diligent on providing uncut shows, so we can probably expect to finally see those scenes cut out of "Maude" when it went into syndication in 1980 (most notably the epilogues).

This was my favorite sitcom when I was a kid. The early 70s was such a Golden Era in Television with classics like Maude, All In The Family, Mary Tyler Moore, M*A*S*H*, The Odd Couple, Bob Newhart. These programs were not only funny and entertaining, they were well-written and acted. They also made you think. It was such a great time to grow up. Not like most of the trendy, superficial junk that passes for entertainment on TV today.

Bea is my favorite actress of all time. Bigger than life, she could say more with just a look than most actresses today could in their entire career. There are so many classic episodes, so many wonderful performances that I look forward to seeing again. Maude and Vivian were the Lucy & Ethel of my generation. I can't wait to own every season of "Maude" on DVD. So where is Season Two already? Sony, I sure hope you release the next season soon or, to quote Maude Findlay, God will get you for that!!!

Norman Lear's seminal television series 'Maude' (1972-1978) harks back to a time when American adults were still adults, people freely and fearlessly spoke their minds, and the modern scourge of political correctness did not exist.

Lear revolutionized American television with 'All In The Family' (1971-1979), which introduced audiences to bigoted conservative Queens resident Archie Bunker in an era when most viewers where still tuning in for pleasant rural fantasies like 'Mayberry R.F.D.' and established series with magical premises like 'Bewitched' (1964-1972).

Where television comedies of the previous decade, from 'Mr. Ed' (1961-1966) to 'Hazel' (1961-1966), had emphasized genteel good manners and upper middle class respectability, All In The Family, with its coarse blue collar protagonist and his 'dingbat' wife, Edith, hit the ground running by boldly tackling themes of racism, anti-Semitism, rape, homosexuality, women's liberation, breast cancer, and impotence.

Rumored to have been based on Lear's wife Frances, Maude Findlay originally debuted on All In The Family in a passing role as Edith Bunker's cousin. Maude was the diametric opposite of Archie Bunker: upper middle class, feminist, educated, intelligent, and, above all, liberal.

Brilliantly portrayed by Beatrice Arthur, Lear wisely realized that he had television gold on his hands, and 'Maude' soared into primetime, as instant and controversial a success as All In The Family had been a year earlier. Arthur's commanding presence, impeccable comic timing, and blatant intellect cast an instant shadow across the entertainment landscape of the country, making 'Maude' one the decade's most recognizable icons.

Dressed in her slightly eccentric trademark ensemble of a kneelength open vest over a blouse, a neckerchief, and a pair of loose trousers, the tall, confrontational, never less-than-assertive Maude, with her unruly steel-gray hair, hilariously roars through each episode, bellowing, hollering, and reducing her antagonists to rubble like a prototypical Japanese monster.

Like All In The Family, 'Maude' would embrace mature themes like racism, abortion, spousal abuse, alcoholism, and mental illness (in a later season, Maude is revealed to suffer from manic-depression after becoming obsessed with the idea that screen legend Henry Fonda should become America's next president) head-on in a responsible but consistently entertaining manner. 'Maude' was a program created largely for adults and watched largely by adults; children and teenagers were unlikely to find it interesting.

As the characters in Woody Allen's later films 'Annie Hall' (1977) and 'Manhattan' (1979) would, Maude, her husband Walter (Bill Macy), and other adult cast members blithely take subscription pills to stabilize their moods, while the ritual of evening cocktails is an essential component of the Findlay's daily lives. There are very few episodes in the first season in which Maude, Walter, or physician-neighbor Arthur (Conrad Bain) don't reach for a drink as soon as tempers begin to flare.

Perhaps these habits explain the continually worn-out, beaten-down look of the cast, the repulsive clothing worn by everyone, the women's taste-free hairstyles, and the relatively tacky interior of the Findlay manse.

Or perhaps Lear was partially attempting to underscore the 'realism' of his program: the grooming, dress, and decor found in 'Maude' are leagues away from the polished standard established by earlier Fifties and Sixties television series from 'Leave It To Beaver' (1957-1963) and 'My Favorite Martian' (1963-1966) to 'That Girl' and 'Family Affair' (both 1966-1971).

This is particularly unlikely to be the case, however, since most of the show's production values are equally poor, a trend which would unfortunately sweep Seventies television and not be rectified until the late Eighties and early-to-mid Nineties with dramas like 'Thirtysomething' (1987-1991), 'Twin Peaks' (1990-1991), 'Northern Exposure' (1990-1195), and 'Picket Fences' (1992-1996).

But 'Maude' was always about intellectual substance rather than visual style, and if he couldn't reflect both qualities equally, Lear certainly made the right choice, as 'Maude,' via the complexity of the writing, characterization, and superb acting by Arthur, remains the never-bettered situation comedy of its kind.

This is one of the rare shows that continued to get better and better as it went on. Of course Bea Arthur could read the phone book and be funny, but luckily, the writing here was top-rate. and it continued to get even better.

Hooray!
I couldn't be more excited about this release if you paid me. Well, maybe if you paid me.
Bea Arthur owned this role, ain't nobody can slam a door in someone's face like she can. This show was so controversial taking on issues like abortion, menopause and other huge political and feminist issues on a weekly basis. It was very well-written, Bea Arthur wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been.
If you've never seen it, buy the whole set, you'll laugh till it hurts.
Right on Maude!

This is a marvelous show. Brilliantly written and magnificently performed. The humor runs the gamut from giggly-cute to in-your-face. The characters are a whacky mix and the topics they discuss were sometimes very shocking in the 70's. This was a show that got people talking about these things, and helped them clear the air and have a good laugh about it. More than a few stubborn people had a change of heart thanks to this show.
Wouldn't it be nice if Season Two was also available? Just think of all the great Season Two shows, languishing in the vaults, and nobody to enjoy them. Wouldn't it be nice if.....?

I don't care what anybody says: This has got to be the BEST COMEDY EVER PUT ON TELEVISION. Sarcastic, witty, oftentimes dark humor but realistic, it's a gem.

I watched Maude reruns while in college back in 1979. I was around 20 yrs. old. I laughed....with real joy....enjoying every episode. I loved all the characters, the stories, the issues, the humor, the sensitivity, the caos, the love.....all of it. I remember then how I laughed alone in my room thinking....wao, this must be really funny for me to be laughing all by myself. Through the years, I tried looking for the show's episodes in video stores with no luck. I recently found out that the first season is coming out next month. I think it is way long overdue to the thousands of Maude fan. I have not seen Maude in over 25 yrs. I can't wait to own all the episodes and watch them over and over till I drop....for sure. Beatrice Arthur's Goden Girls show can never, ever stand next to Maude in terms of TV show excellence. I am a huge fan of everyone involved with the show Maude....Thanks to all of you for your extraordinary and beautiful show!!