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Studio
CBS
MSRP $31.99
Rated
Not Rated
Running
Time 451 minutes
Special
Features
- Sales Presentation
THE
PITCH
Two men
beat the difficult
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 shitcanned like many other shows.
THE
LOWDOWN
Bosom
Buddies ended their first season on the women of the
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
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
not going to be that big of a deal. But, don’t worry fearless readers. The kind
folks at
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.
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.
7.2 out of 10