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STUDIO: CBS DVD / Paramount
MSRP: $31.99
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 451 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Sales Presentation
The Pitch
“Two men beat the difficult New York real estate scene by cross dressing.”
The Nutshell
Bosom Buddies is one of those shows that got canned for the oddest reason. It was winning its time slot on Friday Nights. It was a big boon for NBC, but it didn’t have that key demographic that makes the advertisers cream their jeans. So, it got shit-canned like many other shows.
The Lowdown
Bosom Buddies ended its first season on the women of the Susan B. Anthony Hotel learning that Buffy and Hildegarde are really Kip and Henry. The women they made friends with don’t seem to mind, as they join in on more misadventures. Everyone laughs and gets their one-liners to say before the canned laughter fills the scene.
The sitcom is built upon the cliché bricks that many other sitcoms have laid before this was a gleam in an exec’s eye. Bosom Buddies takes the odd pairing of Scolari and Hanks, and then offsets it with the cross-dressing. Throw in Telma Hopkins as the sassy African-American neighbor and then pair it up with a chubby sidekick. Hell, throw in Donna Dixon as the piece o’ ass with Holland Taylor playing the W.A.S.P. boss.
For the 1980s, all it was missing was a talking car and a midget. But, that was probably what they were going to save for the third season. One thing that it did get was dropping pop culture references faster than Family Guy on fast-forward. I didn’t remember that being such a recurring thing across the episodes until sitting down to watch the entirety of the second season. But, there’s a lot I forgot about this show.
The biggest thing was Tom Hanks cutting loose. The last time I saw Hanks this manic was around the release of The ‘Burbs, which I think was 1989. I miss the crazed Tom Hanks who used to go as spastic as a hyperactive ten year old. Hell, it was my first introduction to him on an episode of Family Ties. He played Uncle Ned and then got all doped up on cough syrup and scared the shit out of Alex P. Keaton. Everyone came together to get Ned to kick the habit and then Justine Bateman exploded or something.
I’m not sure; my memory of sitcoms tends to get a hazy after a few years. That’s why it comes difficult to go into any real detail about these shows. One episode shows the guys going to their High School Reunion, while the other episode has them trying to impress the girls. Complexity wasn’t the strong suit of these episodes and it plays against the series as by the third disc of the set, I’m feeling Déjà Vu. But, what can you say? They can’t all be Arrested Development.
The Package
Paramount Home Entertainment has been taking a black eye from the DVD Fan Community. But, anytime a studio releases anything other than a Digitally Remastered version of their childhood…they tend to crap their pants. The big shitstorm I’ve been hearing coming off of this release was the dropping of the My Life theme for the Stephanie Mills tune that ran in the opening credits during the USA Network reruns.
Unless you’re so anal retentive that you’re going to mail Paramount your severed ear over this, it’s not going to be that big of a deal. But, don’t worry fearless readers. The kind folks at Paramount have tacked on a rather neat little special feature to the set. A syndication series sales presentation can be found on the third disc. Narrated by Ernie Anderson, it’s an effort to cash in on Tom Hanks’ then newly discovered fame by tying the show into his success in Bachelor Party and Splash.
Swedish Miyagi (left) and Duke Fleed (right) get ready to fist another night away.
The entire endeavor is a shameless plug to throw the two seasons of the series on whatever cable outlet can cough up the right amount of cash. What throws me for a loop is finally getting to hear what Ernie Anderson sounds like. A lot of Paul Thomas Anderson fans know that his dad used to run a lot of plugs for sitcoms and shows for ABC and other networks. If you pick up this release, you can finally realize what he sounds like. But, if you’re picking up Bosom Buddies just for that, you don’t deserve the majesty of the Scolari-Hanks comedy powerhouse.