Really Surprised!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

People who read my reviews know that I generally despise 1970s television. From stupid sitcoms to paint-by-the-numbers cop/PI shows, the 1970s represented a vast wasteland to me. Once in a great while, something really different and good would come along, and "Fernwood 2Night" was one of those rare "somethings".The premise was a typical talk show but the location was the fictional town of Fernwood, Ohio. Insufferably self-righteous Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) and his impossibly clueless sidekick Jerry Hubbard (Fred Willard) interviewed many small-town characters over the summer of 1977. "Happy" Kyne (the deadpan Frank DeVol) and the Mirthmakers provided the show's often strange music. The humor was dry and sharp, Mull and Willard were perfect for their roles, and the writing was very, very good. Like most good shows, the viewer had to pay attention in order to really appreciate the offbeat humor, and doing so paid off handsomely. I looked forward to every 30-minute episode at 10:30 each night and I had to pay close attention, since VCRs were not yet in general use.In 1978 the show was moved to California, renamed "America 2Night" and featured numerous celebrity guest stars, which to me really diminished its appeal. What's astonishing is that Mull is now 70 and Willard is 80...but to me their finest hours were way back in 1977. Catch an old episode if you are feeling nostalgic or if you really need a laugh.PS--If you're looking for this show, please be advised to seek out the original 1977 shows. The early 1990s Nick at Nite rerun episodes were cut by about 20% to cram in more commercials. Despicable but true.

I absolutely rolled on the floor with laughter at this show. Martin Mull and Fred Willard were the perfect choices to play the hosts of "Fernwood Tonight". During those days, Johnny Carson was so popular and it was hilarious to see the hosts of "Fernwood Tonight" act as if their show was just as popular on a small town scale. I would love to see this series come out on DVD. It's a shame that this type of humorous show is no longer....there is too much nudity,sex and violence on TV these days. I miss just laughing at something silly! It would be so much fun to reminisce and watch this show. After all these years, I've never forgotten it. So many other shows seemed to be released on DVD right away, PLEASE release "Fernwood Tonight" to DVD!

This was one of the funniest shows ever on TV in my opinion. I wish TV Land or Comedy Central would show reruns of this show. I found DVD sets on Ebay and Ioffer but they are copies made from taping them on a VCR when they were on in the 70's. I also hope that someone will make both Fernwood and America Tonight available in a DVD collection. This show was truly a classic. My son who was 2 years old when this series hit, watches it with me from DVD copies that I purchased and he thinks this is one on the funniest shows ever. PLEASE BRING THIS SERIES BACK! I wish someone would get Martin Mull and Fred Willard back for a reunion. While we'd all miss Happy Kline, it would be an awesome show.

I can tell you this for a fact. Lear wanted to do an improv show and went to Alan Thicke who said "You can't do that". Lear fired him. Thicke went into an office wrote the first week of what we know as Fernwood 2Nite. Thicke went to Lear and said "this is the only way I know how to do a show, they can improv around it". Lear hired him back. What he called "Kirkland Lake 2Nite".I always thought of Mr. Thicke as a dull, regular performer. Knowing that he conceived and wrote this piece of brilliance puts him (in my mind) in the same league as Monty Python, KITH, Gary Shandling. Imagine the guy who played the Dad on Growing pains, actually has such a twisted and hilarious sense of humour.Truly Thicke is an unsung genius.