Re: New Carson Collection?!?
I received "The Best of Carson" volume 1 yesterday and was pertrubed to see the following note on the back of the box:"Features Material Previously Available Only To Carson Club Members!"
A quick scan of the contents inside reveals that ALL of this material (save for the "bonuses") was previously released on those Carson Club DVD's...the ones you would get once or twice a month.
Combine that with the "bonus material"--also previously released on DVD--and well, let's just say that if, like me, you're a big enough Carson fan to have bought alllllll those previous releases, this new boxed set is basically worthless.
It's my fault for "buying blind" I guess...although the phrase "includes never before seen footage" would seem to indicate.....uhm....footage that has never been seen before.
If you weren't a Carson Club member, there's some good stuff here....and even though it's butchered from a complete 90-minute episode, the "Return to Studio One" stuff is fascinating. The "Memories" thing is a rehash of rehash of rehash.
Putting aside my own personal feelings of being screwed here...it really irritates me that Carson's heirs and R2 Entertainment are willing to engage in this kind of deception. Putting aside the arguments over "clips" versus "full episodes", to me it seems nearly criminal to have 30 years of classic "Tonight Show" archive and keep going back to the same stuff over and over again.
If they don't feel like doing the type of research and editing that Johnny Carson himself did to ferret out the very best stuff for that first set of videos back in 1993, then just release anniversary specials...or "Carson's Comedy Classics" for heaven's sake!





