tcal37
How I would love to see it again, and yet it is never seen. I asked a well-known movie producer/director who had cas Charles Grodin in one of his films, and even had had never seen it. Carol Burnett, Charles Grodin, Jeffrey Jones (Mr. Acme of the Acme Toxic Waste Company) were outstanding. My favorite line: The matriarch, Carol Burnett, to her poor, overworked peon Juan, who has asked her for a raise (she continually cut his wages) so he could feed and clothe his family: "Juan, I have seen what your family eats and wears, and it couldn't cost THAT much." Second favorite line: When Terri Garr (who walks around all day in a teddy) "accidentally" bumps into Torch at the bunkhouse: "What are you doing here," she asks. "Just came back to change my shirt," says Torch, who carries a perfectly pressed shirt around all day but never puts it on.
richard.fuller1
But it was royally raked over the coals when it first aired.CBS showed one two hour part, then it was hour parts for a week, instead of the usual mini-series, two hour movies on three nights.Fresno wasn't allowed to dominate the night as it should have been.Yet still people saw it and loved it.Willard Scott on the Today show commented on how funny it was.Thankfully, I don't recall anything about the second airing with the laughtrack.Favorite bits for me? Those shots of Carol descending the staircase. Slowly.Nothing else, just Carol descending the staircase. Look at her dress, everyone. Isn't it stunning? Grodin did indeed make this thing. My favorite bit was at the end, after the ridiculous trial and he is in the hall yelling at Carol, probably, or Teri Garr.Photographers are swarming around him, snapping pictures, moving like vultures.Suddenly he removes his hat and starts swatting at them."Here! Photograph this, you want to take pictures so badly!" The dinner table. Everyone would storm off and leave. Carol and Mahaffey were the only two left. Mahaffey was Tiffany, Carol's adopted daughter (don't ask about this!).Carol would exclaim "I wish just once one of my real kids would remain at the dinner table one evening." Mahaffey would make the most hurt expression.Mahaffey mastered the wooden soap performances as well. Thank goodness she went on to win deserving Emmys.
humilitas
Every once in a while I remember watching this back in 1986 and have to smile. We were die-hard Dallas fans in my family (God knows why), so the tremendous evening soap-opera send-up worked very well for us. I won't ever forget the Raisin Capital of the World, DDDLT, or other giggle-producing memories (Carol Burnett's Dynasty-inspired wardrobe, e.g.). Will this ever be available on home video?? I hope so! I would love to see it again.No one who ever watched Dallas, Dynasty, Falconcrest, or other 70s-80s vintage evening soaps can find this anything but hilarious and spot-on. Its skewering of every soap/melodrama formula ever over-used will leave you howling and hoping it will go on for much longer. The week we spent watching it was one of the funniest of my television life, and made all those Friday nights soaking up South Fork seem worthwhile.It seems as though television has grown/withered to such an extent that this kind of miniseries no longer has any place in prime-time or anywhere else. It is a great pity! I am a great fan of smart entertainment, which is more often than not treated as an oxymoron by the industry these days. TV needs more of this kind of thing.
supertechtoo
I have a two VHS set of tapes of FRESNO that appear to have been distributed by "Terry Blood Distribution" out of England (licensed by MTM).Now - I found this on Ebay of all places and was quite surprised to find that they were commercial reproductions. Quality is fair to mediocre but all the comedy is there. There have been some DVD's listed but I'm sure they are either fan-produced or copies of tapes like these.Since there is a ten line minimum for comments I'll add that this version has no laugh track as has been mentioned on some of the rebroadcast versions.Personally, the comedy is more apparent when the laugh track is omitted since this was never shot as a stage performance.
AD
