I am shocked. Shocked, I tell you, to discover that Liza Minnelli and Woody Allen once played Bobbie and Clyde on a classic TV show, one of the many clips presented in this affectionate look back at one of the major sponsors that financed TV during its golden age, and from the looks of this, providing many hours of great entertainment on the radio days on up. Bob Hope is the host, joined by such legends as Milton Berle, Leslie Uggams, Donna McKechnie and Roy Clark, with Hope and Berle exchanging both playful insults and self deprecating humor, even sharing a skit in drag.
There's a touching tribute to the late Jack Benny, and I recall Hope, Berle, George Burns and others on a show where they teared up while paying tribute to him. Then there's a salute to the anthology shows that Kraft sponsored, featuring a young James Dean and Warren Beatty, reminding the audience in the '70s and for those who catch it now the power TV could have when it was well done. So this is part documentary, more variety show, but more of a thanks to a big business organization that knew by investing in quality art was doing more than just advertising and making a buck. Some retrospective shows can come off pretty self-serving, but this one avoids that and provides many great memories and a guide for what makes great TV.
There's a touching tribute to the late Jack Benny, and I recall Hope, Berle, George Burns and others on a show where they teared up while paying tribute to him. Then there's a salute to the anthology shows that Kraft sponsored, featuring a young James Dean and Warren Beatty, reminding the audience in the '70s and for those who catch it now the power TV could have when it was well done. So this is part documentary, more variety show, but more of a thanks to a big business organization that knew by investing in quality art was doing more than just advertising and making a buck. Some retrospective shows can come off pretty self-serving, but this one avoids that and provides many great memories and a guide for what makes great TV.
