Cynical Cinema

I’ve been paying close attention to the way TV series end now, since I got totally screwed watching six days worth of The 4400 before realizing it never actually ends.  With the Final Season of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. was released onto DVD (November 25th, from Paramount Home Entertainment), I skipped right to the final episode.  And it’s OK.  But I am not convinced that the people making this show knew it was going to end.  I think they may have been hedging their bets.  First of all, the episode was set up with Gomer on the verge of transfering to another base, which would make Sargent Carter, of course, thrilled.  But then at the end of the episode, he stays after all.  And makes the Sarge ANGRY…

The final episode features clips and flashbacks to the best moments of the series.  Remember when Pyle did the following stupid thing… and so forth.  But there are only a couple, like they had run out of ideas and just needed to do a clip show.  And if that is the case, and they had just run out of ideas, they ended this show not a moment too soon. 

The biggest problem with this show is Sargent Carter.  He is constantly blowing his top, and there is nowhere for him to go.  He can’t get an angrier, he’s already so angry.  This type of character is best when he does a slow burn.  Think Herbert Lom in the Pink Panther movies, as he gets more and more angry with Peter Sellars.  Inspector Dreyfuss begins by being just a little irritated with the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, but by the end of the movies, he is in a full-on rage, eventually going so far as to plan to murder Clouseau.  With Frank Sutton constantly in full-rage mode, we know exactly what we’re going to get, and his rage is no longer funny.

This show remains reasonably funny, most of the time, in a cheesy-60s sitcom sort of way.  Jim Nabors is decent as Gomer Pyle, and the guest stars are usually pretty good, in some cases top-notch.  But the show was never terrific, never hilarious, and it was fairly merciful when the series ended.  Whether they knew it was ending or not.

Yes, The Love Boat has returned to DVD, on August 12th, from Paramount Home Entertainment.  Season One, Volume Two comes out on that day, and boy, was it worth the wait!  It turns out there are twelve episodes on Volume Two, on four discs.  And I know what you’re thinking - why not just throw the whole thing together into one glorious Season One Package?  Well, it turns out that if Paramount had done so, it would be too much Love Boat for just one person.  As it stands, there are many reasons to pick up Season One, Volume Two.  Here they are:

Kathy Bates
Leslie Nielsen
Pearl Bailey
Shelley Long
Monty Hall
Annette Funicello
Frankie Avalon
Pat Morita

I have chosen all those whose names I thought might be sought-after by completists.  Like, if you have every single movie Pat Morita has ever done, all the Karate Kids, Bloodsport III, Karate Dog and all the others, and you find out that Pat Morita appeared on the Pacific Princess Overtures episode of The Love Boat, then you would want to complete your collection, would you not?  You see, this is why I gave Season One Volume Two one more star than I did Season One Volume One.  Because I have a particular affinity for Kathy Bates.  For further guest stars, please check out the links at the bottom.  Oh - but be warned.  Annette and Frankie appear in separate episodes.