Product: Mike Douglas 1 [VHS]
Rating: 5.0
"The Mike Douglas Show" From 1977 -- Some Great Stuff Here, Including Three "Star Wars" Cast Members!
This VHS video features one complete episode of "The Mike Douglas Show". Originating from Philadelphia starting in mid-1965, "The Mike Douglas Show" was an entertaining 90-minute daytime talk show, with lots of famous guests appearing throughout the many years the show was on the air in syndication. The series first premiered in 1961 and was on the air in many U.S. cities until 1982.This video gives us the excellent Mike Douglas program that was originally recorded on July 20, 1977 (and broadcast one week later, on July 27, 1977); and it's really quite remarkable how many guests Mike is able to cram into just one show. Of course, the longer 90-minute time-slot no doubt helped in this regard.On this show, Mike welcomes three relative newcomers to the Hollywood acting scene -- three actors who were starring at that time in a blockbuster movie called "Star Wars". Mike first brings out young 20-year-old Carrie Fisher, and then later introduces two of the film's other stars -- Harrison Ford (age 35) and Mark Hamill (who was just 25 at the time).Unlike the very short interview segments we now see on the morning shows and on some of the nighttime talk shows, the interviews on "The Mike Douglas Show" were given more time to breathe. These candid interviews with the trio from "Star Wars" are quite interesting to see and hear, especially considering the fact that this program was done in 1977, right at the same time that "Star Wars" was in theaters. At the time of this show's filming, it was still to be another three years before the first "Star Wars" sequel ("The Empire Strikes Back") would be released. This program is indeed, as stated on the video's box, a true "Time Capsule" back to 1977.In my opinion, these interview segments with the "Star Wars" cast members would have been an ideal bonus feature to add to the "Star Wars Trilogy" 4-Disc DVD set, released in September 2004. I'm sure a lot of Star Wars fanatics would enjoy these casual interviews, wherein we can see these actors as they looked at the time of the movie's original release.Other guests on this Mike Douglas Show include Richard Thomas (from "The Waltons" TV series, who was Mike's "co-host" for that week), singer Billy Paul, Cincinnati Reds' baseball greats Pete Rose and Tom Seaver, and more.The segments with Pete Rose and recently-acquired Reds' pitcher Tom Seaver are also very revealing. Pete and Tom discuss free agency, the National League pennant race, and Seaver's controversial trade from the New York Mets. Seaver had been a life-long Met up until just one month prior to this TV program, when he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds on June 15, 1977, in a trade that did not have most Mets' fans jumping for joy.Whenever I see an old episode of "The Mike Douglas Show", it reminds me of a similarly-styled daytime talk show from the 1960s and 1970s -- "Bob Braun's 50-50 Club", which aired from Cincinnati, Ohio, for many years. The original host of that program was Ruth Lyons, who is a true legend in the Cincinnati area. Local television programming in Cincinnati from the 1950s to the early 1980s was quite innovative, in fact, and featured quite a few unique and colorful characters .... Ruth Lyons, Bob Braun, Ruby Wright, Uncle Al, Bob Shreve, Skipper Ryle, "The Cool Ghoul", Cliff Lash and his orchestra, among still others.Another Cincinnati-based daytime program from that era that I can easily recall was "The Paul Dixon Show" (which was quite hilarious at times). Anyone who lived near Cincinnati in the 1960s can also probably recall tuning in to the sometimes crazy antics of Mr. Dixon on weekday mornings! (Remember the "Chicken Wedding"? LOL!)It's a shame that many of these "local" TV programs will probably never see a viewing audience again, either via re-runs or a home-video release. Many of these shows are lost forever I fear. Some of these local programs (like the "50-50 Club") would occasionally feature some very good guest interviews with famous celebrities. Among the well-known stars that would drop by to visit the Live set of the "50-50 Club" included Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Ronald Reagan, Liberace, Red Skelton, Roy Rogers, Rod Serling, Jesse Jackson, and the Cincinnati-born Doris Day. In addition, just about every Cincinnati Reds' baseball player of the era probably put in an appearance or two as well. Not half bad for a local daytime TV show.This "Mike Douglas: Volume 1" videotape, produced by Rhino Home Video, runs (in color) for approximately 70 minutes and exhibits fairly good video and audio quality.If you can recall tuning in to "The Mike Douglas Show" when it originally aired many years ago, then I think you'll appreciate this videotape, which will immediately transport you back to July 1977, when talk shows featured better-quality (and longer) interviews and were also a bit more on the "quiet" side, lacking the constant and annoying "hoots & hollers" of a Jay Leno type of studio audience.