Tony Orlando & Dawn – The Ultimate Collection
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Episodes: B
Tony Orlando was having hit records as early as 1961, but
the success there was nothing as compared to the big household name and hit he
became when he teamed up with Toni Wine and Ellie Greenwich in 1970 at Bell
Records. By the next year, the ladies
were succeeded by Joyce Vincent and future character actress Telma
Hopkins. However, Dawn had already
scored two monster hits with Candida and Knock Three Times and
the ball was rolling. From 1974 – 1976,
Tony Orlando & Dawn with the newer configuration found themselves in
a hit TV variety show and this new 3 DVD Ultimate Collection offers some
get episodes and highlights.
The series offers more of their hits, including the
even-then quintessential phenomenon of Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old
Tree, which served as an instrumental theme for the animated (if brief) end
of the opening song for each show. It
joined their total of 14 Top 40 hits into their switch to Elektra Records (Bell
is now known as Arista) to 1976, when the show and their act came to an
end. Other hits include Say, As
Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose?, Summer Sand, What Are You
Doing Sunday? and the huge hit He Don’t Love You, Like I Love You. That is one of the many memorable corny love
songs the Am Pop radio of the 1970s produced, but out of all of them, it is one
of the truly charming ones.
The guest stars in this set include Loretta Swit &
Rosie Grier, Nancy Walker & Jackie Gleason, Ruth Buzzi, Dom DeLuise &
Danny Thomas, Hank Aaron, Georgia Engels & Ted Knight, Phyllis Diller, Neil
Sedaka & Jim Nabors, Freddie Prinze & Adrienne Barbeau, Milton Berle,
Tony Bishop & Sid Caesar, Anne Meara & Jerry Lewis, soon to be known
actor Richard Mazur (One Day At A Time) & Alice Cooper and Prinze
returns in the final show and England Dan & John Ford Coley. There is also a Hee-Haw crossover show and
some inserts cameos of Bob Hope. George
Carlin and Edie McClurg are in the last two shows in this set from the second
season Rainbow Hour that the show transformed into for its latter
half. They were among the regulars that
whole season. That the show could
attract so much top rate talent and diverse talent at that reminds us of how
hot the trio, the show and the variety series format was at the time.
Another great thing about the show is that everyone is
obviously having a good time and the shows did everything to include the
viewers and audience, including Orlando going out into the audience and getting
surprised people into the act. Dawn was
to Orlando what Cher was to Sonny, with all the wisecracks, though they could
not top Cher, but then who does?
Prinze’s appearances remind us of what an amazing talent he was and what
we lost when he left us too early.
Buzzi and Diller are at their wacky top form, while DeLuise does his bit
almost breaking the fourth wall in a way only he can do. Everyone sings at one point or another, even
if they are not good, including some misfires in cover performances by the
hosts. At least they have fun with
bizarre covers of Shaft and Let Em In, the Paul McCartney &
Wings hit.
The 1.33 X 1 image looks good and clean from the original
2” analog reel-to-reel NTSC master videotapes, with as much detail as can be
expected. The color is also consistent
and a real pleasure to watch. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 is monophonic throughout, but as clean and clear as other great TV
programs form the time on DVD we have come across. Extras include “Jukebox” segments on each disc isolating music
performances form the show, with the only problem being lesser audio
performance than the actual shows. DVD
3 also offers four more extras in the following appearances: a 1976 Tonight
Show With Johnny Carson with Orlando showing up as Prinze fills in for
Johnny, 1981 clip from ABC’s Friends (their commercially failed answer
to Saturday Night Live here from 1981 with then-unknown cast regulars
Larry David and Michael Richards) where Dawn finds a new male partner in
frequent Saturday Night Live guest Father Guido Sarducci that includes a
really bold send-up of Spaghetti Westerns that deals with evolution, a 1975 Carol
Burnett Show where Burnett, Vicki Lawrence & Harvey Korman play Tony
Tallahassee & Dusk that is more hilarious after watching this set and Domino
Effect clip with Orlando seeing the name of the show made up by over 6,000
dominos that then fall down perfectly.
What a great bonus set!
Some of skits are also a hoot. Anne Meara appears in a few send-ups of TV commercials. The gag is that “one of these days” we would
see major feature film directors making TV commercials. That has happened since, but in this case,
they imagine Sam Peckinpah, Alfred Hitchcock and Irwin Allen with amusing results. Tony Orlando & Dawn – The Ultimate Collection
is more fun than you’d expect and a sequel set should be issued.
- Nicholas Sheffo
