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Soap - The Complete First Season

Soap - The Complete First Season

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $22.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Soap - The Complete First Season
Review: Funniest lines ever on this show (and for those who love it as much as I do, will know what I'm talkng about).

Ya gotta love Jessica:

When discussing Plato being homeosexual: Mickey Mouse's dog is gay??

When Jessica learns Jody is going to be a father: Dennis is pregnant??

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the great TV Shows
Review: I just watched the first season of this fantastic show and I haven't laughed so much in a long time. I'd forgotten what a genius Susan Harris, the creator, was. Do yourself a favor and buy this DVD. 20 years old, "Soap" is still better than just about everything on TV right now.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A true clasic
Review: The ultumate clasic comedy that was copied but never bettered. Still as hilarious as the day it was first aired. even after 26 years it still has me laughing. A landmark in comedy and a comedy that has somthing for all ages.if you dont remeber it trust me you wont be disapointed. indpired writing and a cast that is second to none.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Finally, the insanity whenever I want to see it.
Review: Two months ago some friends and I were talking about this show, and how great it would be to have it on DVD. And now it's here! I spent most of this past weekend watching all 25 episodes and I can't wait to watch it again. This is truly a comedy classic. Could they get away with some of this stuff today? Not a chance! And that's a shame, because 'Soap' contains some of the funniest dialog you'll ever hear. (And, some of the most touching.) To careen from pure buffoonery to heart wrenching emotion and back to slap-stick, while keeping it solidly entrenched with the characters and situations, is pure genious. The cast is outstanding, and the guest stars terrific. (Harold Gould is memorable as Barney Gerber as is Gordon Jump as Sheriff Tinkler.) But, to me, Richard Mulligan and Katherine Helmond make this show. No one, and I mean no one, was funnier than Mulligan as Burt Campbell. An elastic face and a slap-stick mentality carried him over the top and back again. Helmond, as Jessica Tate drifted seamlessly between screwball and martyr.

Now, why only four stars? Easy. The other comments about poor color transfer and lack of features/bonus material are right on the money. I know that you can pick this 3 disc set up for $20 brand new and right off the shelf, but this show was too important to give it such short shrift. It broke ground that no one else dared to tread. And that ground still remains largely untouched in the PC world of television that exists today. Either way, buy it, rent it, borrow it, hey... even steal it. Just take the time to watch it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This series is still sharp and funny
Review: I remember watching this series in reruns when I was growing up. Much of the humor, I now realize, was way over my head. It's amazing what they did manage to get away with! I was really too young to clearly remember the pop culture of the '70s, but were things more liberal and less PC-minded than now? Granted, some of the situations are a bit dated now...I don't think that TV could get away with portraying 'a gay son' in so many stereotypical situations...or (probably) get away with The Black Manservant, etc.

Having said that, both Billy Crystal (as Jody the gay son) and Robert Guillaume (as the great Benson the man servant) bring humor and dignity to their roles, which I guess was intentional by the script material they were given. I think the intention of the creators of the show was not just to poke fun at the soap opera genre, but to put a magnifying glass on the stereotypes that abounded both on screen and in life.

I was very disappointed at the total lack of extras in this DVD set, which is why I'm giving it 4 instead of 5 stars. No commentaries...no interviews...the only 'extras' are 4 useless commercials/trailers. Given that this series had a lot of historical significance in TV culture, this oversight is a shame. The picture quality is nothing to praise - fuzzy picture, occasional color shifts - but I could live with that if only they had included some extras. (The bad picture quality problem seems to be shared by many sitcoms from the '70s and '80s, with rare exceptions like the beautifully transferred Mary Tyler Moore season 1 DVD set.)

Even without the extras though, this series is highly recommended on its merits alone.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great to have Complete Episodes, but Picture is Yellow-Green
Review: I've just watched the first three episodes and think the show remains as terrific as I remember it. The deranged Major asking Benson to "sing me a song, boy" is outrageous, and in all the praise for the regular cast, please don't overlook amazing character actor Richard Libertini as "The Godfather." It should also be remembered that even without extras, the DVD set is a great value, as it presents the complete episodes rather than the now-televised butchered syndicated versions with a few minutes shaved off, when it is televised at all.

The picture quality, though, is a problem. The entire picture has a yellowish-green hue, and yellow horizontal bars are constantly visible. In the opening episode, there is a close up of Billy Crystal grinning, and his entire forehead has a yellow-green bar across it. Very annoying.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE BEST EVER!
Review: I'll make this short and sweet. I'm a child of the 70's, and I've watched every sitcom that came out of that much maligned decade. And the decades that followed. "Soap" is quite simply, the funniest show I have ever seen. This is the only TV show that still, all these years later, can bring me to tears of laughter just remembering some scenes (like an extremely drunk Burt trying to step down off a coffee table - the funniest bit of physical comedy I've ever seen).

Great cast, many of whom went on to TV (and motion picture) stardom.

For the easily offended: skip this show. Nothing is sacred. From homosexuality to alien abductions to demonic possession to insanity, absolutely NOTHING is off-limits on this show!

I'm ecstatic that this ground-breaking series is finally available on DVD. I can't wait for the rest of the series to make it long-awaited debut.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Retro classic chock full of talented performers
Review: This is a great series. Watching these episodes really takes me back. Our Mom wouldn't let us watch SOAP, so we always had to hide in the kitchen and watch on it the clunky old B&W TV; it's even funnier in color!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fun for Adults
Review: What a nostalgic thrill to find this on DVD. This is the funny stuff where Billy Crystal got his start. And I absolutely loved Jessica the red-head. Another very adult-oriented wonder on DVD is "New Sex Now" which is not funny at all, rather very seriously great stuff for consenting couples to experiment with and enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ah...life is good.
Review: As a child of the 70's, I was allowed to watch SOAP, probably because much of the adult humour was over my head. And yes, it is pretty tame by today's standards, but so what? It's still freakin' hilarious! Check out the mind-boggling array of talent this landmark series cultivated:

Billy Crystal: OK, he ain't been funny for awhile, but he's probably the biggest star to come out of the show.

Richard Mulligan: Make that...the late, lamented Richard Mulligan. His Burt Campbell could make you laugh yourself silly one minute, and break your heart in the next. Admit it, SOAP fans...you hung onto "Empty Nest" far too long just because of him.

Kathryn Helmond: If you grew up on "Who's the Boss" you know her as Mona. But to my generation, she was the sweet and ditzy heart of this crazy ensemble.

Robert Guillome: I don't think I spelled his name right. He's Benson, of course.

Ted Wass: I never was a BLOSSOM fan (really...who was?), but in terms of success, Ted was on a hit show for awhile there.

Dinah Manoff: Hmmm...Empty Nest again?

And there are other familiar faces, of course. SOAP is a one-of-a-kind sitcom, that's for sure.

Now, let's just hope for some extra features when seasons 2-4 hit the shelves.


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