Honeymooners

The Color Honeymooners - Collection 1
$39.98
Anyone into the Honeymooners might like "Everybody Loves Raymond" 's Brad Garrett (the big cop) playing Jackie Gleason in a movie. The movie's called "Gleason," and it wasn't bad. Garrett even manages to hide his 6'7 height well. And the voice is almost dead-on.

When I first saw ELR, I noticed Garrett acted like Gleason was an influence, and I was right.

The Color Honeymooners Collection 2
$39.98
I have both the classic "39 series" as well as several of the color episode discs. At 49, I do recall the latter in 1st run on CBS Saturday nights in the 1960s. To me, I prefer the color episodes for several reasons: they were filmed and not transfered from kinescope; they are musicals & include quality music scores and dance scenes; they are in color. The addition of Jane Kean & Sheila MacCrea is fine, as they perform at least equal to Meadows and Randolph (in fact Randolph had a lot less dialogue in the '50s than Kean does here). Collection 1 gives you the exceptional European excursion, whereby the boys win an all-paid trip after winning a jingle contest. This edition is just as good as the girls cope with the boys' simple-minded attempts at fame and fortune. It is pure relational humor that is non-political, non-PC. The Kramdens & Nortons won't try to preach or persuade one in the way later "socially conscience" shows (read Norman Lear) did. Enjoy. -SL

Color Honeymooners Collection, Vol. 4
$39.98
The Honeymooners has been around since the early 1950s. But this is one of the few times we get to see Ralph and the gang not only in living color but singing and dancing as well in good old Miami Beach Florida. These color episodes were mostly lost Honeymooners stories from the black and white years redone, lengthened, sometimes placed in a different type of setting, and set to lots of music. In my opinion, these shows are not quite as "laugh yourself silly" as the original episodes but they are still much, much better than any sitcom I can ever find on television today. And the music is fantastic when you consider it was written quickly and weekly for television. Each episode has an average of 3-4 songs. That's a lot of songs when you combine these episodes! If you enjoy the Honeymooners, I'm sure you'll be picking this up. If you enjoy classic comedy, please pick it up. Finally, my hope for this series is that MPI will also release the Honeymooners specials done after Jackie Gleason's show was cancelled and also I would love to see the Christmas special (non Honeymooners) done during this time period where the poor soul enters storybook land. It was a wonderful special!

The Honeymooners - The Lost Episodes, Boxed Set 1
$49.98
Though not as clear or crisp as the (so called) MAIN "39 episode" Collection. It's a small price to pay for these classic, rare episodes of The Honeymooners. Although they vary in length of time and some episodes are funnier than others, watching Gleason, Carney, Meadows and Randolph work their magical chemistry together is, as always thouroghly enjoyable. I HIGHLY recommend this collection to any fan of Jackie Gleason, The Honeymooners or of classic comedies that stand the test of time. I will most anxiously be completing my own collection soon.