DVD Review: Love American Style - Season One, Volume 1

Love American Style began as an hour-long program that was broken down into two to four vignettes, each lasting anywhere from sixteen to twenty minutes. In between the vignettes were brief and silent mini-skits, meant to provide a brief chuckle. For instance, in one sketch a man sits in front of his girlfriend. He holds out both hands in fists so she can choose one. She chooses the empty hand, he reveals the engagement ring was in the other and walks off.

This stuff isn’t exactly hilarious, but some of them are slightly amusing. One of the actors who regularly appeared in the skits was Stuart Margolin, brother of Arnold Margolin, composer, director, and executive producer of Love American Style. Stuart was a sought after character actor in the 1960s and '70s. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as Angel on the 1970s series The Rockford Files, for which he won two Emmys for Outstanding Supporting actor in a Drama Series.

Love American Style was a fairly innovative show for 1969. The stories in the first part of season one dealt with some provocative issues, including: birth control, sex toys, student militants, one night stands, and divorce. Often these stories somehow revolve around a large double bed. When you consider that just five years earlier, Rob and Laura Petrie of The Dick Van Dyke Show were still shown sleeping in two single beds, Love American Style was a big leap forward.

Even if the sketches themselves aren’t that great, the list of guest stars who appear on Love American Style: Season One, Volume 1 is a veritable who’s who of Hollywood: Regis Philbin, Flip Wilson, Jane Wyatt (Father Knows Best), Arte Johnson (Laugh-In), Larry Storch (F-Troop), Dwayne Hickman (Dobie Gillis), Sid Caesar, Richard Deacon (The Dick Van Dyke Show), Bill Bixby (The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, The Incredible Hulk), Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island), Carolyn Jones (The Addams Family), Red Buttons, and Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, just to name a few. The gem of the set has to be in episode 14, in the vignette “Love and the Former Marriage", in which a young, wide-eyed Harrison Ford wants to marry the daughter of TV dad Carl Betz (The Donna Reed Show). For Harrison Ford fans, his appearance alone makes Love American Style: Season One, Volume 1 worth a look. Ford looks like a young man still trying to get comfortable with himself onscreen.

Love American Style was the show that popularized using a string of guest stars to buttress a program's popularity on a weekly basis. Of course, by the mid 1970s, The Love Boat had it down to a science and shows like Fantasy Island and Hotel would ride the trend to great success. While few will ever claim that Love American Style was “important” television, the show did reflect a seismic change that was going on in the morality of the country as the sixties drew to a close.

The DVD Love American Style: Season One, Volume 1 is presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio and the colors are slightly washed out at times. Though the picture has a very slight graininess to it, the quality is very good for a 1969 production. The sound is presented in English Dolby Digital Mono, with no subtitles. There are no hisses or disturbing audio breaks, which make for an enjoyable viewing and listening experience. There are no special features in the set. Paramount has simply given viewers twelve episodes of Love American Style from the first season. For fans of the show and old Hollywood star watchers, Love American Style: Season One, Volume 1 will be a welcome addition to their DVD collections.