Pink Lady & Jeff Boxed Set

Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Camp Classic
Review: is Pink Lady as bad as everyone says? YES!!! is it as good as everyone doesn't want to admit? YES!!! This series only ran 6 episodes in 1980, but it was such a wacky idea that it actually worked.

Mie and Kei were both good performers, and while you could tell they didn't seem too comfortable performing in English, you could still see how fun they could be.

Jeff Altman wasn't as unfunny as people say, I thought they guy had a few funny sketches, the problem was, awful writing.

I was only a few months old when this series ran in 1980, but I caught episodes on Trio a few months ago, and the side of me that appreciates camp had to buy this. And what a purchase it was. I find the show amusing and cringeworthy at the same time. There were some good guest-stars but you just know they don't consider it part of their resume. Did you know a pre-Ernest Jim Varney was a "featured player" here?

Also, fans of the early video movement (pre-MTV) will enjoy this because of the vintage Blondie (Shayla and Eat To The Beat), Alice Cooper (Clones) and Cheap Trick (Dream Police) music videos on here. I know Blondie has released a Greatest Hits DVD, but I don't think either Shayla or Eat To The Beat is on there.

If you appreciate camp as well as disco music, you will love this mostly-forgotten artifact from 1980.

Rating:
Summary: Yes it's bad, but I've seen worse!!!
Review: It is pretty weird that this gets the boxed set treatmemt, but hey, I'm not complaining. This was mondo bizare TV to be sure. This is from Fred Silverman-Era NBC. Silverman took the "chuck- it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks" approach to TV programming and, here's just one of the results. (Others include BJ and the Seven Lady Truckers, SuperTrain, Brady Brides, Manimal...oh, I could go on and on, but its too painful.)
PL and Jeff attempted to plug into the same kind of hipster vibe that Saturday Night Live and Don Kirschner's Rock Concert did. It failed, but it did give us a delicious sort of camp. Everybody's so earnest in trying to make it work and watching it is the best train wreck you'll over laugh yourself silly over.

Rating:
Summary: Celebrate it for its camp contributions
Review: It is pretty weird that this gets the boxed set treatmemt, but hey, I'm not complaining. This was mondo bizare TV to be sure. This is from Fred Silverman-Era NBC. Silverman took the "chuck- it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks" approach to TV programming and, here's just one of the results. (Others include BJ and the Seven Lady Truckers, SuperTrain, Brady Brides, Manimal...oh, I could go on and on, but its too painful.)
PL and Jeff attempted to plug into the same kind of hipster vibe that Saturday Night Live and Don Kirschner's Rock Concert did. It failed, but it did give us a delicious sort of camp. Everybody's so earnest in trying to make it work and watching it is the best train wreck you'll over laugh yourself silly over.

Rating:
Summary: Celebrate it for its camp contributions
Review: It is pretty weird that this gets the boxed set treatmemt, but hey, I'm not complaining. This was mondo bizare TV to be sure. This is from Fred Silverman-Era NBC. Silverman took the "chuck- it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks" approach to TV programming and, here's just one of the results. (Others include BJ and the Seven Lady Truckers, SuperTrain, Brady Brides, Manimal...oh, I could go on and on, but its too painful.)
PL and Jeff attempted to plug into the same kind of hipster vibe that Saturday Night Live and Don Kirschner's Rock Concert did. It failed, but it did give us a delicious sort of camp. Everybody's so earnest in trying to make it work and watching it is the best train wreck you'll over laugh yourself silly over.

Rating:
Summary: Atrocious
Review: NBC, in its non-glory days, produced this, the worst piece of variety show garbage in television history. No wonder the variety show went the way of the do-do. Pink Lady may have been great in their day, but they should have kept their distance from television, let alone a network lingering at the bottom of the ratings barrel at the time. The only good thing about this show was Jeff, the only saving grace of this forgettable piece of TV history. Save your money...stay away from this piece of poisoned sukyaki.

Rating:
Summary: The worst variety show mankind has ever known
Review: NBC, in its non-glory days, produced this, the worst piece of variety show garbage in television history. No wonder the variety show went the way of the do-do. Pink Lady may have been great in their day, but they should have kept their distance from television, let alone a network lingering at the bottom of the ratings barrel at the time. The only good thing about this show was Jeff, the only saving grace of this forgettable piece of TV history. Save your money...stay away from this piece of poisoned sukyaki.

Rating:
Summary: Yes it's bad, but I've seen worse!!!
Review: There has been a virtual mountain written about Pink Lady and Jeff being the worst show ever to appear on television. I have the 3-DVD set and I'll admit there's truth to it being a horribly bad show, but at least IMHO it's nowhere near as atrocious as the Brady Bunch Variety Hour. Of course, the sketch writing is lame, the regular skits are nothing to write home about, and then there's Mie and Kei's inability to communicate in English. You can definitely see many tried-and-true variety show chestnuts here (Mie and Kei starting their opening musical number in Japanese robes, then revealing their glitzy, sexier outfits as the music goes uptempo... a-la Cher; Kei firing off one-line zingers to Jeff Altman... just like Cher did with Sonny; Jeff being tossed into the hot tub in his tuxedo... just like Greg pushing Peter into the swimming pool in BBVH, etc.). Although Mie and Kei obviously struggled with the language barrier, their talent and stage presence were genuine. It was also cool seeing early video performances from Blondie, Cheap Trick and Alice Cooper, and Teddy Pendergrass turned in a solid musical performance as well. Fans of Jim Varney may also enjoy seeing some of his early work as part of the show's regular ensemble players. One small disappointment is that although Pink Lady covered many hits of the day, they did not perform their lone American top-40 hit, "Kiss In The Dark", at any time in the series. All those flaws notwithstanding, this DVD set is a must for bad-tv aficionados everywhere!

Rating:
Summary: Oh Mie oh my!
Review: There's not much to be said about this set except that it is truly awful and worth every penny. The skits can be ignored, but the musical numbers are sheer brilliance. The disco version of '42nd Street' done by Donny Osmond and the girls is captivating. The best part of it all is the canned applause: shouts of approval and deafening clapping are heard, but, mysteriously, the audience in view is sitting quite still. It doesn't get better than that. Maybe it does when Bert Parks forgets to start lip-synching with a number from 'Mack and Mabel.' This is too good for words. Buy it and make everyone you know watch it. Learn from it. Embrace it.