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Pioneers of Television is a fascinating four-part PBS documentary exploring in detail four of the most popular TV genres - Late Night, Sitcoms, Variety Shows, and Game Shows.

I don't know if there's ever been a major documentary that looked specifically at variety and game shows (other than the quiz show scandals), there certainly haven't been many. That's why this four-hour retrospective is so enveloping.

It's a brilliant presentation - interviews with TV superstars are interspersed with a dazzling array of priceless clips. For the Sitcom episode Mary Tyler Moore, Dick Van Dyke, Joyce Randolph, Andy Griffith, Jim Nabors, Barbara Eden and others detail the origins of the situation comedy and how the format blosomed as television caught on with the public. This territory has been covered elsewhere but the emphasis here is, as it should be, on the earliest shows and the legendary stars of the 1950s and 1960s.

For the Late Night hour Jay Leno, Dick Cavett, Betty White, Regis Philbin, Ed McMahon, Steve Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Andy Williams reminisce about the shaky beginnings of the nighttime talk shows and what it was like to work with iconics like Johnny Carson and Jack Paar.

For the Variety Shows hour Betty White, Tim Conway, Florence Henderson, Red Skelton, Phyllis Diller, Tom Smothers, George Schlatter, Arsenio Hall, Andy Williams, and others are interviewed. There are a number of very funny moments from the golden age of TV variety (the Jackie Gleason and Andy Williams shows in particular) although I was disappointed that Alan Blye, Bob Einstein and Chris Beard (Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour) were ignored.

The Game Show episode is particularly thrilling, recounting the devastating late-1950's scandals, the genre's resurrection from the dead, and even taking us backstage with Bob Barker on The Price Is Right. Clips from Truth or Consequences, Password, Hollywood Squares, Let's Make A Deal, You Bet Your Life, Dotto and many more are augmented with Bob Barker, Merv Griffin, Tom Kennedy, Betty White, Monty Hall, Bob Eubanks, Chuck Woolery, Wink Martindale, Jack Narz, and Bob Stewart talking about what goes into making a hit game show.

All four Pioneers of Television episodes come on one DVD. Also included is a refreshing but too short collection of bonus interview footage with more amazing stories about TV productions of old.

At times a bit somber, as is the style of these PBS documentaries, this thoughtfully produced series is pure pleasure. If you're at all interested in the early days of the medium Pioneers of Television can't be missed, a near perfect primer on the so-called boob tube's tumultuous history.

Pioneers of Television
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Number of discs: 1
Studio: PBS Paramount
DVD Release Date: January 29, 2008
Run Time: 220 minutes

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ALSO FROM PBS HOME VIDEO:

Oswald's Ghost

Dan Rather, Norman Mailer, Tom Hayden, Mark Lane, Gary Hart

Director: Robert Stone

Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: All Regions
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1

Studio: PBS Paramount
DVD Release Date: January 15, 2008
Run Time: 90 minutes

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