The Jack Paar Collection

Rating:
Summary: The Master At Work
Review: An excellent example of how a box set should be done! All too often when a legendary figure passes on several cheap, quickly thrown-together packages flood the market in an attempt to cash in on the memory of the dearly departed. This is clearly an example of the opposite. Much painstaking and loving work has gone into this box. It sounds and looks just great.

The first disc is an excellent, revelatory documentary on Jack Paar featuring clips from his late night shows and commentary from those who followed in his footsteps as well as other famous admirers. I had seen this special when it first aired on PBS and it's great to finally own it on DVD.

The second disc features Mr. Paar's favorite monologues and interviews. It's plain to see how his style continues to be emulated across today's late night landscape. Not only is it interesting material as a comparison to today's hosts, but also as just plain old good entertainment. From Nixon to Bobby Kennedy to Cassius Clay his interviews are not only great "gets," they are fascinating. It's great to have what's essentially a "best of Jack Paar" DVD.

The third disc contains three episodes of his late night programs in their entirety. These are the kinds of shows I for one would LOVE to see late night on Nick At Night. Somebody needs to move on this! After seeing these three I want more. Trio has brought back classic David Letterman episodes (also great viewing 20 years after the fact) so why not Paar? The Cosby standup routine is especially funny.

All in all this 3-DVD box set is a great bargain for the price!

Rating:
Summary: Great Paar Collection, with One Problem
Review: As someone who grew up with Jack Paar's Friday night program, I love this three CD set. Smart TV, the interviews with famous politicians and the monologues are all first rate. All present Paar as he was, a man from whom you could expect the unexpected.
The third disc - three full length Paar programs -- was a slight
letdown. I am disappointed that the famous Garland/Goulet show
(which Paar thought was his best) was substituted for a subpar Paar/Garland program from London. All in all, a must for anyone who enjoys great TV.

Rating:
Summary: Jack Paar's Life Is Coming Up Roses In This PBS Documentary
Review: For over a decade, filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld have been documenting the lives of the all-time great entertainers. PBS viewers may be familiar with their "Unknown" documentaries on Jimmy Durante, Jonathan Winters, Peter Sellers and the Marx Brothers. Their latest DVD release features an hour-long profile of the late Jack Paar, a controversial talk-show host who appeared regularly on NBC-TV from 1957 to 1965.
Paar was a mercurial personality whose on-camera mood swings made him an easy target for the media. His compulsiveness often led to questionable acts such as walking off the set during a live show, leaving his ill-prepared announcer to interview the guests. You won't see that infamous moment in this package, but you will see his hastily-arranged filmed interview with Fidel Castro in which he praises the dictator for being a "good neighbor". Castro returned the compliment by answering Paar's questions in English.
The filmmakers had hours and hours of rare material to choose from, and this collection features two bonus discs stuffed full of unedited black-and-white footage from the vaults. Fans of Paar's pre-Carson "Tonight" shows will be disappointed by the lack of footage from this period, although there is an important clip from 1960 with presidential candidate John Kennedy (as well as a 1962 comedy sketch with Kennedy impersonator Vaughn Meader). The bulk of the footage comes from Paar's 1962-65 prime-time weekly show, possibly because the prints are in better quality.
The filmmakers have taken care to present Paar as a witty conversationalist who could coax the most intimate details out of his guests, which is exactly how he would have wanted to be remembered. Unfortunately, this documentary ignores the self-destructive urges and the adrenaline-fueled rants that made his show so compelling to watch. For this reason, I'm recommending this package strictly for TV historians and Jack Paar's surviving friends. There's the makings of a juicy documentary in this man's life, but you won't find it here.

Rating:
Summary: Where's the real good stuff?
Review: I bought this DVD hoping to recapture the 50's "Paar" experience. It didn't happen. Some short segments are very entertaining - but there aint' enough of em! Where, Oh Where, are Charlie Weaver, Genvieve, Dodie Goodman, Hans Conried, Hermione Gingold, Jack Douglas and his charming Japanese wife, Rieko? These were the "Regulars" we tuned in nightly to see interact with Jack. Jack himself would be disappointed. You 50's folks, think twice about buying this superficial compilation.

Rating:
Summary: Where's the real good stuff?
Review: I bought this DVD hoping to recapture the 50's "Paar" experience. It didn't happen. Some short segments are very entertaining - but there aint' enough of em! Where, Oh Where, are Charlie Weaver, Genvieve, Dodie Goodman, Hans Conried, Hermione Gingold, Jack Douglas and his charming Japanese wife, Rieko? These were the "Regulars" we tuned in nightly to see interact with Jack. Jack himself would be disappointed. You 50's folks, think twice about buying this superficial compilation.

Rating:
Summary: HORRIBLE SET!
Review: In addition to what the other person said about the lack of clips, the extras include an interview with an NBC page??? Plus NO attempt to include clips of WHEN Jack Paar walked out, nor any of the other classic segments. This is just a compilation of public domain material not copyrighted by NBC they threw on without thought. Why don't they just put on the NBC special that Jack himself hosted in the mid 90's? It had all his best clips PLUS his own commentary about them such as with the Beatles "Didn't you ever think Ringo was underpaid?"...

Rating:
Summary: AN ABSOLUTE VISUAL CATASTROPHY!!!!!!!
Review: In August 1998, a VHS 2 tape release titled "As I Was Saying"
was released. It was a very well done documentary about Jack
Paar, the pioneer and first to introduce the talk show format
to the American public. While the video quality was obviously
not as clear and crisp as that offered by DVD, it neverthless
was good and made for enjoyable viewing. It remains one of the
favorites in my 300 plus collection of VHS tapes. But like
almost all collectors, I am anxious to convert my collection
entirely to DVD as the titles are released in that format.

Several weeks ago, I read that "The Jack Paar Collection" was
being released on DVD, and that it contained many of the same
segments of "As I Was Saying". My order was immediately on its
way. It arrived yesterday. To say I was disappointed would be
kind. THIS 3 DISK DVD IS A TRAVISTY! No attempt, whatsoever,
has been made to restore the quality of the 35-40 year old
tapes. They are a visual CHAOS. Even the audio quality is bad.
To see and hear the GREAT Judy Garland looking the worst I have ever seen her SCREECHING out an unknown song called "Never Will
I MARRY" on a London stage is an outrage to all her fans.
There are three complete one hour shows squeezed onto one disk.
The visual quality is terrible. The shows themselves are not much better. The great actress Bette Davis is so hoarse during
her appearance, you can't understand her. And on, and on.

I just read that "As I Was Saying" has just been released on
DVD. Do yourself a favor and buy it, and leave this one in the garbage can where it belongs.

Rating:
Summary: AN ABSOLUTE VISUAL CATASTROPHY!!!!!!!
Review: In August 1998, a VHS 2 tape release titled "As I Was Saying"
was released. It was a very well done documentary about Jack
Paar, the pioneer and first to introduce the talk show format
to the American public. While the video quality was obviously
not as clear and crisp as that offered by DVD, it neverthless
was good and made for enjoyable viewing. It remains one of the
favorites in my 300 plus collection of VHS tapes. But like
almost all collectors, I am anxious to convert my collection
entirely to DVD as the titles are released in that format.

Several weeks ago, I read that "The Jack Paar Collection" was
being released on DVD, and that it contained many of the same
segments of "As I Was Saying". My order was immediately on its
way. It arrived yesterday. To say I was disappointed would be
kind. THIS 3 DISK DVD IS A TRAVISTY! No attempt, whatsoever,
has been made to restore the quality of the 35-40 year old
tapes. They are a visual CHAOS. Even the audio quality is bad.
To see and hear the GREAT Judy Garland looking the worst I have ever seen her SCREECHING out an unknown song called "Never Will
I MARRY" on a London stage is an outrage to all her fans.
There are three complete one hour shows squeezed onto one disk.
The visual quality is terrible. The shows themselves are not much better. The great actress Bette Davis is so hoarse during
her appearance, you can't understand her. And on, and on.

I just read that "As I Was Saying" has just been released on
DVD. Do yourself a favor and buy it, and leave this one in the garbage can where it belongs.

Rating:
Summary: Mostly for historians
Review: There are some good reasons to watch this. The rare footage of Castro, Muhammad Ali in his Cassius Clay days, Bill Cosby's hilarious TV debut, and rare interviews with Barry Goldwater, Richard Milhous Nixon, Rev. Billy Graham, and an incomplete segment with Bobby Kennedy make this interesting for historians.

However, for those of us under 50, we can only wonder what was the big deal about Paar himself. Granted, be brought some interesting people to his show and they say some mighty controversial things not common on televsion of the "Leave-it to beaver" era. Rev. Graham's unabashed fundamentalism in his remarks would alienate many modern viewers, Nixon coldly criticizes his rival JFK's handling of the Bay of Pigs moths after the fact, and Barry Goldwater's unabashed views on the Conservative agenda make this a good one for American history classes.

But Paar himself comes off here as a rather effete and insufferable snob. His nasal delivery is dry and annoying and his persona is filled with patronizing remaks regading anything he considers "beneath" him (note his comments on the Beatles and their fans). Plus he makes some extremely patronizing and racist comments about Africa and Africans with Arthur Godfrey right after young Bill Cosby leaves the stage! He also refers to Cassius Clay/Ali as a "nice looking boy" to which the soon to be Ali clearly winces. (Paar's reference to Rev. Billy Graham about a clearly adult janitor as a "Negro boy" will also certainly draw groans today).

Paar's comedy routines are quite topical for his times and no one could fault him for doing now-dated routines on LBJ and the Kennedys. While no one would laugh at this subject matter today, even without it being dated, Paar's delivery would be too dry and dull for modern audiences.

As a time capsule, it's interesting. If you're over 50, I would probably recommend it for nostalgic reasons. Other than that, it's interesting a historical curio for its guests that's not likely to make new fans for the late Jack Paar.