Customer Reviews

Sledge Hammer! - Season Two

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Other companies that release TV shows on DVD need to take a look at these Sledge Hammer season sets to see how it should be done. Plenty of extras (including outstanding commentary tracks, and interviews with the actors and creator) and most importanly UNCUT EPISODES. If you liked the show, there is no reason not to pick this up. If you didn't like it, give it another shot, you may like it now. I had not seen many of the season 2 episodes and was worried that they might not be as good as the first season. Fortunately I was wrong. I think season 2 may even top season 1. I would like to thank Alan Spencer and everyone else that made the Sledge DVD releases happen.

I have to admit, I own many TV on DVD releases, easily over 50 and I have to say that Anchor Bay's release of Sledge Hammer Season Two is one of the best releases that has ever come across my desk. The packaging is awesome, as each disc has a color cover and is enclosed in a plastic shell. If you own the Three's Company Season Two Set, the interior is similar. The color and detail inside of the set jumps out at owner of the set. The attention to detail is appreciated. The inside of the first flap lists the episodes included on each disc. The interior back flap includes text which reads, "Sledge Hammer's Top Ten Pickup Lines." Another added bonus, the DVD set includes a folder that is titled "Confidential Report-Case Closed." This mini file folder includes a booklet with information about the show.

On to the show, Sledge Hammer aired on ABC for two seasons on ABC in the mid 80's, 1986 to 1987 to be exact. The show was hilarious and it is truly remarkable that such a cult classic that only ran for two seasons made it to DVD. Fans truly should be grateful to the shows creator Alan Spencer and Anchor Bay for bringing this show to DVD. The show was a spoof of cop shows, but the writing was so good, that the laughs weren't always laugh out loud laughs, but if you paid attention and got the joke, you were bound to chuckle. The lead character, Sledge Hammer, yes that was his name on the show was portrayed by actor David Rasche. He was really fun on the show during it's run and fans of him and the show were suprised that he didn't flip a huge film career after the show ended it's run. Although he didn't become a big time star, he has continued to work in Hollywood quite steadily over the years. His most notable recent role was in the 2003 Ashton Kutcher hit Just Married.

How could I, a woman named Dorrie, not love a show with a female lead who was named Dori. Anne-Marie Martin was great in her role as Dori. Her and Sledge were co-workers. Sledge had a thing for her, he even burst into her room when she was in the room with a hot detective in the episode Ice Breaker. Just who was that hot British detective in the episode Ice Breaker, it was no other than Adam Ant. By the time Adam filmed this episode he had long since stopped wearing make-up. This was one of Adam's few American television acting appearances. Sledge Hammer was also popular due to it's shows guests. Richard Moll (Nightcourt), Davy Jones (The Monkees), and Bernie Kopell (Loveboat) are just a few of the season two guests.

The detailing with the dvd compilation and the packaging are very impressive. The special features are plentiful!

The second season of this show picks up where the first left off.... or doesn't, exactly. But that is all part of the joke as more genres of film and TV get sent up in a second season of a show that survived tough competition, a nuclear blast, and even an assault by heavily armed Amish farmers.

In our second season, there are plenty of sendups both of 1980s era stuff an dother classic material. Hitchcock gets it in "Vertical," and there is a loving tribute to Bela Lugosi in the Halloween episode "Last of the Red Hot Vampires." Fans of the first season will like the chance to see Harrison Page take charge in "They Call Me Mr. Trunk" and everything from 1940s Bogart detective movies to Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan to Paul Verhoeven's ultraviolent "RoboCop" right on to the 1980s pop culture (and dark future) touchstone "Max Headroom" get sent up in this second season. Also, "Dressed to Call" spoofs the phone call horror film genre seen most recently with "Scream."

On a more serious note, the show continued the powerful dramatic arc which made it unique among other comedies of the time, most nobatly in the final episode of the season, and, as it turned out, the series.

The 1940s detective episode is a personal favorite of mine, and lovers of good spoof comedy and film in general will find interesting takes on the material. "Hammer" fans who liked the first set should get a kick out of these as well.

Fnally, I will love the chance to complete the set. There are very few shows I have been able to watch once, then remember so much for years, as this one - and most of those shows are dramas. It wil be fun to see these again. Another nice touch is that some comedy and film buffs who didn't catch the show's first run will be able to catch some of these. Kudos to ABC for giving the show the shot (I had to have some firearms reference in here!) for a second season, as the DVDs will show, it was a well-deserved one which the "Sledge" writers and players played very, very well.

Season Two of Sledge Hammer! lives up to the high quality of the first season. Part satire, part drama and all quality, there are plenty of laughs to be found in these episodes. The ingenious solution to season one's cliffhanger ending is merely the first salvo in a season-long comedy fest. My personal favorite is "Last of the Red Hot Vampires," which features a nice tribute to Bela Lugosi. The hysterical audio commentaries from creator Alan Spencer also continue in this set and they alone are funnier than anything on the networks these days. The humor and quality of Sledge are even more relevant in today's society and clearly leave us all hoping for a Sledge Hammer! movie.

Sledge Hammer! was a great TV comedy that has never been surpassed. Season One of Sledge Hammer! was such an excellent DVD and so loaded with quality extras that it would be extremely difficult for Season Two to surpass it. And yet producer Alan Spencer has done it with an absolutely delightful Season Two!

Season One introduced viewers to Inspector Sledge Hammer (David Rasche), a parody of Dirty Harry, his glamorous sidekick Dori Doreau (Anne-Marie Martin) and their perpetually frazzled boss, Captain Trunk (Harrison Page). Brilliant, witty scripts and the great comic acting skills of this exceptional group of actors resulted in an outstanding Season One. All the 22 episodes of Season One were great, but two in particular - Haven't Gun, Will Travel (a superb performance by David Rasche wherein Sledge lost his beloved 44 magnum) and Desperately Seeking Dori (where Anne-Marie Martin will have you rolling on the floor laughing as she brilliantly mimics Sledge) - made that Season truly exceptional.

Season Two not only maintained the brilliant comedy, but it had much more heart as the characters were fleshed out as real people you cared about. This second season had three outstanding episodes - It Happened WHAT Night? (Sledge and Dori were caught in bed), Icebreaker (where Dori's heart was broken), and best of all Here's To You, Mrs. Hammer (the finale where Sledge grew up). The second season finale had more emotional impact than the 1st Season's finale that ended in a nuclear explosion.

Not only do the episodes on Season Two outgun Season One, but the extras are much better (which is saying quite a lot). This DVD box set has just set a new Gold Standard for DVD extras. The documentary Gun Crazy was hilarious with it's behind the scenes insights on such great episodes as Hammeroid and Desperately Seeking Dori. All of the audio commentaries are amusing and informative, but be sure to listen to the best of them - the Icebreaker audio commentary where producer Alan Spencer clowns around with Anne-Marie Martin in an "I can't believe I just heard that" performance that will leave you yearning for a Round Two.

This set is packed with lots of great extras - TV spots (especially the Christmas greeting), scripts, a "Sledge Hammer Casefile" - which are delightful and well worth your time going through.

This is truly a precious gem of a TV series. Perhaps the truest test of a great TV series is the ability of a viewer to watch an episode again and again and still get more out of it, and both Seasons of Sledge Hammer! more than pass that test. Trust me, amigos, when I urge you to buy Sledge Hammer!

I have this set (early!) and can confirm that it not only lives up to the first season but exceeds it, both for the gleeful insanity of its spoofs, and for the character development unusual in a comedy show (apparently the studio wanted more emphasis on the relationships, and the writers and actors obliged). The episodes look as good as they have any right to, having been shot on 16mm as an economy measure but now digitally enhanced. (Slightly more successfully than the 'colorization' process parodied in one episode here!) There are more laughs in the three commentaries by creator Alan Spencer - helped out on one by the wonderfully talented lead actress Anne-Marie Martin - than in a whole season of most top-rated comedy shows. The other extras are well worth having, and along with the smart booklet show how much care has gone into crafting this set.
If you remember it from the 80's, buy it. If you remember the 80's, buy it. If you can remember anything, remember to buy this. Even yogurt-eatin' liberals like the President will love it.

The most wild and funny show ever to hit the air. Never before and never since has a show packed so many jokes into a half hour sit-com! It will leave you craving more!

I have been a massive fan of Sledgehammer since I first saw it as a teen. This show is one of the funniest things that has ever been shown on TV. These DVD sets (season 1 and 2) are awesome. Really well put together with loads of extras for every sledge fan.
Congratulations to all at Anchor Bay and to Alan Spencer (shows creator) you have made my dreams come true with these box sets. Awesome stuff. Enough endorsement. Buy it now, you won't be disappointed.

I'm a huge fan of Bilko, Get Smart, MASH, Fawlty Towers. Saying that I easily put Sledge Hammer! in the Top 5 funniest TV series, British included. The dumping of the laugh track was essential and Anchor Bay did this right on all counts. Buy both seasons, even if you never saw it when it aired in 1986-87.

The DVD collection of the Sledge Hammer series from the mid 80's is of great quality. The show was a blast at the time, and I think it still is, 20 years later. If you like Cop humor, want a good laugh, and want to remind yourself of 80's fashion, buy this set.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing"