DVD Review Car 54 Where Are You? The Complete Second Season DVD set (1 Viewer)

Car 54 Where Are You? is the early 1960s sitcom featuring mismatched officers Toody and Muldoon of the fictitious 53^rd Precinct in New York City. Gunther Toody (Joe E. Ross) is short, stocky, and simple, and partner in Car 54 to officer Muldoon. Francis Muldoon (Fred Gwynn) is tall, slender, and sophisticated, at least compared to his partner. Al Lewis appeared in a recurring role as officer Leo Schnauser prior to reteaming with Gwynne in The Munsters, and Charlotte Rae played Schnauser’s wife Sylvia. The series was actually filmed entirely on location at what was then the Biograph Studios in the Bronx, New York.

CAR 54 WHERE ARE YOU?

The Complete Second Season Set

Studio: Shanachie Entertainment

Year: 1962-1963

Rated: Unrated

Film Length: 12 hours, 40 minutes

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0

Release Date: April 24, 2012

The Series

Car 54 Where Are You? was created by Nat Hiken(Sgt. Bilko), who also wrote and directed many of the episodes. The series premiered on the NBC Network at 8:30 p.m. on September 17, 1961, and aired for 2 seasons until its last new episode aired on April 14, 1963. Car 54 aired at the same time during both seasons in the same time slot as The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS. Although Car 54 received respectable Nielsen ratings during its first season, the ratings slipped far enough during the second season that NBC cancelled the series. Guest stars during this season included Sugar Ray Robinson, Larry Storch, Shari Lewis, and Mitch Miller.

Shanachie Entertainment has heard the complaints regarding the seemingly random order of episodes on the first season set and corrected it for this second season set. This DVD set includes all 30 episodes from season 2 on 4 discs. The season 2 episodes are presented in order of original airdate. The sole special feature is included on disc 4. The sponsor bumpers and logos in the closing credits have been retained on the episodes which helps the nostalgia factor.

Video

The series is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The second season of 30 episodes has been remastered for this collection from the only complete set of 35mm prints known to be in existence. The image quality is very sharp with excellent gray scale for the most part. There is some haloing visible around figures and objects but this is very minimal. There are occasional scratches or blemishes perceptible but much less than what we usually see on shows from this vintage. There are some minor authoring errors on a few episodes in discs 3 and 4 in which solid blacks are compromised with some gray and white electronic noise. This may be imperceptible on a small screen but are more distracting on a large screen.

Audio

The English Dolby Digital tracks are good with dialogue always appropriately audible over sound effects. Audio quality is variable with more audible hiss on certain episodes and less on others.

Special Features

This set includes the following special feature:

Joe E. Ross Stand Up Comedy Comeback Audition (11:23): Ross toned down his raunchy burlesque comedy routines following the cancellation of Car 54 with this audition of cleaner material.

Conclusion

I have always enjoyed Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis in their regular roles on The Munsters, and it is fun to see these actors share screen time as different characters in another series. Video and audio quality on this first season set are excellent when you take into account the quality of other series from the early 1960s. The video quality is slightly inferior to what we enjoyed on the first season set but still excellent for a series from this era. Car 54 Where Are You? season 2 on DVD comes recommended to any fans of the Golden Age of television who want to complete their collection of both seasons of this series.

The packaging I would note is unchanged from S1. While I finally figured out the proper way for detaching the discs, I will not store them in the cases since you have to remove two in order to get at the one underneath. I put the backup copies I make in the case, and then keep the originals in separate plastic sleeves.
That said it is great this classic sitcom, one of my few remaining B/W Grail titles, is now complete on DVD! One can practically create a classic early 90s Nick at Nite lineup from what's now available on DVD.

I agree with Jack on that kind of packaging. Invariably, in the post discs in that type of packaging can and do come off and do get scratched. Also in the lugs do get broken in a cardboard bool type cover then there is nothing to replace that cover. I like the one in each side of an insert and a normal under the plastic sleeve slick. I can then use one of the replacement covers I keep on hand and they are very cheap to buy here currently from my warehouse supplier. It is not a fair situation that I would have to ask an on-line store to replace the damage case or discs(often very marked in these situations). They usually have to replace the whole package at their expense.

moviepas said:

It is not a fair situation that I would have to ask an on-line store to replace the damage case or discs(often very marked in these situations). They usually have to replace the whole package at their expense.

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Retailers don't have to pay for replacements. They send the defective product back to the studio.