The Abbott and Costello Show
The Abbott and Costello Show
TV-G | 05 December 1952 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
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  • Reviews
    Exoticalot

    People are voting emotionally.

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    Kien Navarro

    Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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    Mathilde the Guild

    Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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    Zandra

    The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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    Jay Raskin

    In the 1950's and 1960's, I believe these were run for an hour in the morning on WPIX in New York. This means I would watch ten episodes a week and after five weeks and one day, I saw every episode. Being born in 1953, I probably saw every episode ten times by the time I was five years old. I continued to watch them whenever I was home from school - sick, on holidays and during the Summer. I probably saw every episode 30-40 times by the time I was ten.In 2012, I bought the complete set DVD. Watching most of them for the first time in fifty years, I was amazed. They are as fantastically funny as they were back then for me. The only difference is that now I can appreciate the true brilliance of Lou Costello. This is the height of vaudeville comedy, an art-form developed and practiced from the 1860's to the 1940's in the United States. It was fast and witty and filled with slapstick kicks, slaps, punches and falls.Many films of the 1930's and 1940's was filled with this kind of material as was many television variety shows of the 1950's. The Three Stooges were perhaps the purest expression of it in movies, but Danny Kaye, Bob Hope and many others also put it in their movies.We get much of it in many Abbott and Costello films too, but it is generally mixed with songs, romance and many other plot elements. In the television series, the vaudeville elements dominate. We get about 20 minutes of straight vaudeville routines in many of the shows.Lou Costello produced the series, while Bud Abbott was just a hired hand on it. So the series really showcases Costello. Yet, he generally shows off all the other performers wonderfully. There are a half dozen other brilliant comedians like Sid Fields, Joe Besser, Joan Shawlee, Joe Kirk, Gordon Jones, and Hilary Brooke who are given a chance to shine. Even the chimpanzee, Bingo, the chimp, may be the funniest animal performer ever on television.The show creates a warm and beautiful world, where eccentricity is the norm. It is a place where violence is silly, not painful. The normality of this world breaks up swiftly into the absurd almost every minute.The only sad thing about this series is that there are only 52 episodes.

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    kurtack

    For the love of . . . Cecil! This stream of Burlesque bits, connected by the flimsiest - and surreal-est - of segues is very funny.Lou does tend to ad-lib, but watch also Abbott. He's hysterical! He was really the best "straight" man. He kept Lou on track. But, he also echoed Lou's actions in the background, as a sort of punctuation.And, of course, Mr. Fields, with all his relatives.Hard to pick a favorite bit. "Loafin'"; "Gold Ore"; "Floogle Street"; "Vacation".Don't forget "Hold That Cuckoo!", the quiz show the boys went on. Lou wins 1,000 pieces of bubblegum. A few days after the show, Abbott says "Are you still chewing that gum?", slaps Lou, the gum falls on the sidewalk in front of Mr. Fields' Rooming House, where a "Mr. Rednose" (Bobby Barber), slips and falls on the gum, gets up claiming he broke his leg,and ends up suing Mr. Fields. They all go to court, where Lou drives the judge crazy. And, "I'm positive!" about that!

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    Joseph Fortunato (webmaster-1368)

    Abbott and Costello was arguably one of the best comedy teams of all time. The quality of their comedy is timeless. It's something the while family can sit down and enjoy. None of their comedy was ever off color or something anyone would feel embarrassed to watch..The Abbott and Costello Show is one of Television's best comedy classics. While the basic theme of the show was the same every week (Bud and Lou trying to avoid the landlord, because they can't afford to pay the rent), it highlighted the best of all their movies and vaudeville acts. All of shows were filmed in black and white but still enjoyable today.I just purchased the full 52 episode set. As I have the time I hope to review each episode. The following is a full list of all of the shows 52 episode titles which ran from 1952-1953: The Drug Store, The Dentists Office, Jail, The Vacation Louis Birthday Party, Alaska, The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman, The Army Story, Pots And Pans, The Charity Bazaar, The Western Story, The Haunted House, Peace And Quiet, Hungry, The Music Lover, The Politician, The Wrestling Star, Getting A Job, Bingo The Chimp, Hillary's Birthday, The Television Show, Las Vegas, Little Old Lady, The Actor's Home, Police Rookies, Safari, The Paper Hanger, Uncle Bozzos Visit, In Society, Life Insurance, Pest Exterminators, Killer Wife, Cheap Skates, South Of Dixie, From Bed To Worse, $1000 TV Prize, Amnesia, Efficiency Experts, Car Trouble, Wife Wanted, Uncle From New Jersey, Private Eye, The Tax Return, Public Enemies, Bank Hold Up, Well Oiled, The Pigeon, Honey Moon House, Fencing Master, Beauty Conteststory, Fall Guy, Barber Lou.

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    John (opsbooks)

    Having not seen the A&C show for 40 years I recently picked up the 'Best of' DVD and was suitably amazed at just how good the boys were early on. LOU'S BIRTHDAY is a masterpiece of comic timing, brilliantly directed and edited. Here is the genesis of 'Seinfeld' and 'Who loves Raymond'. GETTING A JOB consists of an extended version of the Susquehanna hat routine and is as insane as any Marx Bros scene. The pace and action is non-stop. The ensemble gathered together for the original series worked like a finely tuned race car; fast and furious! Mike the cop and Fields in his many guises are worth a laugh a minute. In UNCLE BOZZO I found myself laughing non-stop as the three of them (the boys with Lou's newly arrived uncle) did the old double bed routine. An oldie, but never done better than here. Finally in STOLEN SKATES we have Bingo the Chimp. Normally I hate chimps in movies and even did as a kid (well, except in 'Bomba' movies!) but here the director makes full use of the ape's talents. The entire street is brought into the act as every cast member magically acquires roller skates. Then it's on for young and old.Given the choice of 10 DVDs to take to a desert island, I'd have no trouble in including this one. Brilliant!

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