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

While the storylines presented in Love American Style - Season One, Volume Two aren't exactly cutting edge stuff today--a young wife trying to revive her stagnant sex life was fairly revolutionary back in 1970. It is probably fair to assume that a show like Love American Style helped to usher in sitcoms like All In The Family, Maude and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. While all of these later series took a comedic, but much more serious look at the social issues such as love, marriage and sex, it is often a lighter show with less dramatic overtones that can change the rules for others to follow.

I know that probably sounds like a bold statement but I think there is truth in it. The Brady Bunch, which premiered on September 26, 1969, is widely credited as the first post kinescope television series to show a human couple sharing a double bed. The Munsters shared a bed back in 1966, but they weren't exactly human. When Love American Style premiered just three days later producers made it clear from the start that the series revolved around a big, brass bed.

Legendary producer/director Garry Marshall would probably disagree with my theory. He has often said that Love American Style was simply a place where most sitcoms went to die. Apparently, if a producer couldn't sell a pilot to a network, he would give the show to Aaron Spelling who would rework it for an episode of Love American Style. If that is the case, Aaron Spelling was a bloody genius.

As with Love American Style - Season One, Volume One, Volume 2 is brimming with famous faces including: Vivian Vance, George Gobel, Sue Lyon, Edd Byrnes, Dorothy Lamour, Penny Marshall, Joan Van Ark, Imogene Coca, Dick Sargent, Ray Walston, Pat Harrington, Wally Cox, Jerry Van Dyke, Tony Randall, Paul Lynde, Paul Denver, Adam West, Burt Reynolds, Jackie Coogan, Steve Allen and Tom Bosley.

Though I'm not a huge fan of Paramount's tendency to divide some of its older series seasons into two DVD sets, fans of Love American Style will definitely want to add Volume 2 to their collections to complete the season. Love American Style remains a hilarious look at love and romance almost forty years after it premiered.

The DVD is in their original 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio. While the colors are not as bright as some might like, the transfer is acceptable for a forty year old show. The audio is your standard Engish Dolby Digital Mono track. There is little hiss at higher volumes in the episodes. The dialogue is easy to understand. The audio won't blow out your home theater speakers, but since this is standard sitcom stuff, I wouldn't expect it to. Closed captioning is available on all of the episodes. There are no special features available. One note: per most Paramount television series releases on the back of the packaging it says, "Some episode may be edited from their original network versions." I didn't notice any significant changes.