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Reviews
As the World Turns (1956)
Sad to see it go
I grew up watching the show. My grandmother, mother and two aunts watched it religiously. Of course, as a boy, I didn't care for it, but I saw many episodes anyway.
I remember November 22, 1963 very well. I was nine years old and out of school that day for some reason. I was sitting in the floor and the TV was tuned to the show when Cronkite announced that the President had been shot.
I recall when my grandmother got her first color TV for Christmas, 1971. We hooked it up and the very first scene was of the show. It was a scene that took place in a car.
I probably hadn't seen a single episode since the early eighties until the 50th anniversary show in April, 2006. I watched it for old times' sake.
Then, when Helen Wagner(Nancy) died a few months ago, I began recording it every day, hoping to see some old clips of her. They finally did a tribute show to her a couple of weeks ago.
I must say that I was disappointed with today's finale. I was hoping they would show a lot of old clips, but they didn't show a single one. It would have been nice if they'd invited all the old actors(that are still living, of course) back and let everyone pose at the end and say "goodbye" to the home audience.
I read that Helen Wagner delivered the very first line back in April, '56. I think it was "Good morning, dear" or something like that. The producers had planned for her to repeat the line on the last show, but of course, that wasn't meant to be.
It's very sad to see it go. 54 years is a very long time for a TV series. BTW, I saw a commercial that said that "Carly" is now a character on "The Young and Restless."
The Incredible World of James Bond (1965)
Great special!
I have wonderful memories associated with this show. My best friend and I(both 11 years old at the time) watched it at his parents' house on their color TV. I think it was shown on NBC and it was probably a Friday night.
I'm not sure if we'd ever heard of James Bond, but after watching, we became instant fans. Our parents bought us many James Bond toys; road race set, board games, figurines, attaché cases, etc. My friend even got all the Ian Fleming novels in hardback. When his mother was out of the house, we'd look at them and get excited over the racy parts.
We never got to see a Bond film back then. We lived in a small town with only one theater and if a Bond film ever played there, we didn't get to see it.
The first Bond film I ever saw was "Goldfinger." I seem to remember it was in '72 or '73 and it was on ABC Sunday Night at The Movies."
This Is Elvis (1981)
Great new DVD set
I recently purchased the new DVD of this film from Amazon, and it's great.
I'm so glad they included both the theatrical version and the extended version. I'd never seen the latter, and It's by far the better of the two. It includes more footage of the upstairs. You get to see Elvis' bedroom and even get a look at the bathroom, though from a distance. But the best part of all is the footage from the June, '77 tour. It's about ten minutes and has "Love Me", which isn't in the theatrical version. The video quality is perfect, much better than the original release. Seeing it makes me long for the day when EPE will release all the footage shot by CBS during the tour.
Paul McCartney Live in the New World (1993)
One of Macca's best performances
This concert was broadcast live by the Fox network from the BlockbusterPavilion in Charlotte, North Carolina on June 15, 1993.I videotaped it and recently transfered it to DVD.It's a shame that this show hasn't been officially released on DVD. Thesetlist is excellent and several of the songs were performed during the commercial breaks on the broadcast. The end credits began rolling long before the conclusion of "Hey Jude." It would be great to have a deluxe edition of the show with the full concert and maybe some extras thrown in. This concert marks Linda's last stage appearance on American soil. She would die almost five years later.This is also the final U.S. concert with Paul's band mates, Robbie Macintosh, Hamish Stuart and Blair Cunningham. They(along with Paul"Wix" Wickens, who is still with Macca) comprise my favorite post-Beatles band.
Elvis in Concert (1977)
He was still the King!
This special has been broadcast only twice, both times on CBS. The first showing was in October, 1977, and the second was in the Spring of 1978.
EPE won't license it for sale or broadcast and I can certainly respect their reasons, though I disagree with them. Elvis' appearance and actions weren't up to par and they don't want to submit Elvis to public ridicule.
But it's a shame that the true fans are deprived of this historic special, featuring the greatest entertainer of them all performing during his last concert tour.
Even though he wasn't at his best, he was still Elvis and that's more than enough. His voice and charisma were still very much intact.
There are several hours of footage in addition to the TV special that have never been seen by the public, although bootlegs have been floating around for years.
Maybe someday, EPE will release everything from the tour in a deluxe DVD box set. If/when they do, I'll be the first in line to buy it.