DVD Release Date: September 5, 2006 (Koch Entertainment)
B&W / 1952-53
MSRP: $39.98
Number of Discs: 5
Number of Episodes: 26
Running Time: 775 Minutes
Running Time of Special Features: 1 hour and 45
minutes
Languages: English
Subtitles: Not available / Not Closed Captioned
Special Features: Lou Costello's Rare Home Movies,
Interviews with Chris and Paddy Costello and DVD
premiere of The Abbott & Costello short "10,000 Kids
and a Cop" film.
Introduction:
Lou Abbott & Bud Costello star in this 1950s sitcom,
following their crazy adventures. Think of it as "I
Love Lucy" but with two wacky guys getting into many
hilarious situations. This 5-disc collectors set
contains all 26 episodes from the very first season
restored visually and uncut! Also included are Lou
Costello's home movies, from the 1940s and 1950s, many
in full color and with sound. Also, for the first time
ever, included on this set is the restored short
"10,000 Kids and a Cop" which was made in 1948. This
is a must have set for Abbott & Costello fans
everywhere!
Episodes Included / Notable Guest Stars:
The episodes included on this set are the first 26
from Season 1. They are: "The Drugstore," "The Dentist
Office," "Jail," "The Vacation," "The Birthday Party,"
"Alaska," "The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman," "The Army
Story," "Pots & Pans," "The Charity Bazar," "The
Western Story," "The Haunted House," "Peace & Quiet,"
"Hungry," "The Music Lovers," "The Politician,"
"Getting a Job," "Bingo," "Hillary's Birthday,"
"Television," "Las Vegas," "Little Old Lady," "The
Actor's Home," "Police Rookies," and "Safari".
Supporting cast members include: Sid Fields, Hillary
Brooks, Joe Besser and Gordon "Mike the Cop" Jones.
Packaging:
The main cover art is a nice shade of blue, with a cut
out picture of Abbott & Costello on the cover. It's
simple but nice. The set itself is slip-sleeve, with
five individual cases for the five discs for the set.
The cases themselves have the exact same cover art as
the main cover. The back of the cases list the episode
title and a one sentence description. The back of the
box has a nice description of the series.
The discs themselves are all blue in color and feature
different pictures of Abbott & Costello on them. Disc
1 features Episodes 1-6. Disc 2 features episodes
7-12. Disc 3 features episodes 13-18. Disc 4 features
episodes 19-24 and Disc 5 features episodes 25-26 as
well as the three bonus features for this set.
Menu Design and Navigation:
First off, let me say that the menu is awesome! It
starts off with floating pictures from the episodes
and then settles onto the main menu. The selections
are Play All, in which you can play all of the
episodes without stopping, and Episode Selection, in
which you go to another menu screen and select the
episode you want to watch and on disc 5, you can
select Bonus Material. All of the menus feature the
silent music type music playing in the background.
Video and Audio Quality:
The episodes are clearly restored. Although there are
a few glitches here and there, such as slight grain,
the quality is excellent and the audio is as well.
There are NO chapter skips available. Each episode
runs 25 to 26 minutes in length. Each episode is like
connected and they play almost as one, so it's not
possible to get exact run-times of episodes -- I
apologize for that.
DISC 1
1- The Drugstore
2- The Dentist Office
3- Jail
4- The Vacation
5- The Birthday Party
6- Alaska
DISC 2
7- The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman
8- The Army Story
9- Pots & Pans
10- The Charity Bazar
11- The Western Story
12- The Haunted House
DISC 3
13- Peace & Quiet
14- Hungry
15- The Music Lovers
16- The Politician
17- Getting a Job
18- Bingo
DISC 4
19- Hillary's Birthday
20- Television
21- Las Vegas
22- Little Old Lady
23- The Actor's Home
DISC 5
24- Police Rookies
24- Safari
Special Features:
What's interesting about the special features is that
instead of them being separated, it is one long
feature, with chapter skips between them.
* Interview with Lou Costello's Daughters - Part 1
(approx. 21 minutes)
Lou's two remaining children, Chris and Patricia
discuss Season 1 of "The Abbott & Costello Show" as
well as the special feature "10,000 Kids and A Cop"
* 10,000 Kids and a Cop - 1948 Short (approx. 19
minutes)
Basically what it says - a short feature with Abbott &
Costello along with Jimmy Stewart and William Bendix.
* Lou Costello's Home Movies - Part 1 (approx. 1 hour
and five minutes)
What a wonderful treasure. Lots of different home
videos and most in color too, ranging from the
time-frame 1941-1942 to Paddy's 10th Birthday (1946)
to A Costello Christmas & New Year's Day (1948/1949)
to A Costello Christmas (1949) to The Costellos in
Europe (1950).
* Season 2 DVD Promo (approx. 1 minute)
A brief promotion for season two DVD which will again
feature 26 episodes from the second season as well as
more of Lou Costello's home movies as well as
interviews with Chris and Paddy Costello. At the end,
there's a nice shot of the cover art for the second
season, and it's more or less the same design, but in
red and with a different photo of Abbott & Costello.
Final Comments:
This is truly a wonderful set! Koch Entertainment
really did an awesome job, presenting restored and
uncut episodes as well as three very wonderful bonus
features. Everything about the set is great and other
companies could learn a thing or two. I'm definitely
looking forward to Season 2 (coming early Oct!) being
released -- so buy Season 1! It's well worth the
money! Here is to another 100 years!
