If you’re in your 30s or thereabouts, you probably remember watching Mr. Ed on Nick At Nite or some other form of syndication. The series finally premiered in 1961, after a tumultuous start. It was only due to the auto manufacturer Studebaker that the series got its first real break (they sponsored it), but after the contract with Studebaker failed, CBS picked the show right up as it had quickly become popular. You may not know that the concept of a talking horse wasn’t started with Mr. Ed as lead actor Alan Young describes in one of the bonus features. Instead, Mr. Ed was first conceived in short stories by Walter R Brooks some fifteen to twenty years before Mr. Ed hit the silver screen.
The thing about the Mr. Ed show that few comedic shows from its era (or any era really) is that it’s still funny, and watchable today, fifty-plus years later. The humor is light-hearted and holds up very well. This isn’t the kind of show that you’re going to crack up with, but chuckles and smirks abound while you watch the charming plots and skilled timing of the actors on display. I’m not going to say this is the funniest show ever — it’s not — but it’s good natured, clean, and family friendly humor which I still value. I’m not sure there is a better compliment you can give to comedic material than to say it’s still funny and holds your attention fifty years later.
Watching older shows like this is kind of a neat, unscientific study of culture and history. Life certainly has changed a lot since then, but in many ways, it’s the same. I think this is a key reason why elements of the show can seem old or unfamiliar, yet it’s still relatable. That said, one of the more stark contrasts that hit me was the gender roles. The men were the ones that went out and worked and didn’t like their money to be spent, while the wives stayed home, took care of the house, tried to make sure their husbands were relaxed and well taken care of, etc. It’s sort of an antiquated dichotomy anymore, now that in most cases both husband and wife are working and sharing chores and the man doesn’t necessarily make the most money, and so forth. I’m not trying to rip the past or praise the present, just noting that that was one interesting, major, difference in the way the characters in the show lived and how I do.
Moot differences aside, Mr. Ed as a series maintains a commendable consistency throughout its six seasons. The first three seasons were made much better by the Addison family, Roger and Kay, played by the late Larry Keating and late Edna Skinner. Keating’s timing, mannerisms, and his voice were a perfect compliment to Alan Young’s more, and I don’t mean this in a negative way, ‘childish’ and playful persona that was required of his character. Both men were stellar actors, and Keating’s presence, along with the confident performance of Edna Skinner, were a great boost to the series’ first three seasons. Keating died of leukemia in 1963, at which point the Kirkwood’s, played by Leon Ames and Florence MacMichael came aboard. They too did a fine job, but, personally, and this may just be my sentimental side kicking in, I always remembered Mr. Ed’s neighbors being the Addisons. But no matter what season you’re watching, the show is pretty consistent throughout and I can’t say I have a list of favorite episodes or a bunch that I didn’t like. I haven’t watched every episode yet — that will take you just under 60 hours — but it’s a great late night show to wind down to after a typically hectic day.
Alright, so enough about the show itself, if you’re interested in this DVD set you probably already have seen enough of the show to know whether you like it. Let’s get to brass tacks; this is a single box set with six individual standard size DVD cases, one case per season. There are twenty-two discs, four discs each for seasons one through five and two discs for the sixth and final season. The design of the artwork (box and discs) and menus is somewhat consistent, but not entirely. The first four seasons have a brown/reddish color scheme for their art, and their disc labels look that way too, except season three oddly, which adopts green/blue scheme that represents grass and sky. Box art for the season five and six cases use this green/blue scheme; season five uses the brown disc labels, while season six uses the green/blue scheme, so go figure. It’s not a big deal either way, but there might have been different designers working on these as they came out. Inside box art displays episode names and original air dates, which is nice.
As far as disc menus, the first three seasons are consistent and very nice — you get the theme song playing, an appropriately animated menu system with visuals that are inspired from the show, and you also get a number next to the episode name that notes what episode # it is in the series run. With season four, that changes; the menu is different, and the episode numbers are marked just for that season, which along with the artwork differences I just mentioned, does break up the continuity of the set, but again that’s not a huge deal. Oh — there are no trailers or any other ‘junk’ on these discs, just the series itself to which I thank Shout! for. I would have appreciated subtitles, though.
Also of note is that the first season content here is slightly different from the original first season DVD release. In this complete series set, you get the original episodes, not the syndicated cuts that came with the season one DVD release. However, the booklet that came with the first season DVD is not included here. This is also the first time season six has come to DVD and I believe it’s unknown if Shout! will release it separately which is a shame for the people that bought the other individual seasons already. I suspect Shout! is making this season six exclusivity a limited time event, but I’m not sure.
There are several extra features throughout the set; these are:
-Audio Commentary on the pilot episode with Alan Young and Connie Hines (located on Season 1, Disc 1)
-“A Horse Tale” – Alan Young is interviewed and Connie is also in the interview towards the end. This feature ran about thirty minutes or so (lost my note on the runtime and don’t have the box set with me) and is well worth watching. You can find this on Season 1, Disc 4.
-Studebaker Commercial – One of the Studebaker promos with Alan Young. Video quality is bad, but sufficient; runs 34s, located on S1D4.
-Studebaker Commercials – Another seven of these totaling about 5 minutes. Very bad video quality, but watchable. Located on S2D4.
-Audio Interview with Alan Young and Connie Hines from Feb 2008 on Stu’s Show on Shokus Internet Radio – Really great audio interview with these two stars that runs about 100 minutes. While it’s playing, four episodes from the series play in the background (with no audio), so it’s like one long audio commentary track. Located on S2D1.
-Audio Interview with Alan Young – I’m not sure when this was recorded, but it’s another episode of Stu’s Show in which he interviews only Alan Young. This runs about 100 minutes and is played overtop of several episodes that play just like the one on S2D1. This interview is on S3D1.
-Mr Ed US Bonds Promo is found on S4D4 and runs about eighteen minutes. The presentation quality is rough, but it plays like an episode which ends with Alan Young appealing viewers to support this cause.
Let’s get to the summary…
