The Flying Nun – The Complete Second Season
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
How could
a show as silly as The Flying Nun
work on any level or be a hit? For one
thing, it had Sally Field, who was a major young TV actress at the time. Gidget
had been a big hit and her appeal was as strong as Patti Duke. The title at the time almost seemed
counterculture, though never referred to any nun using drugs. The 1960s had several interesting takes on
nuns, whether they were singing (The Sound
Of Music), taking on the streets (Change
Of Habit) or rethinking their world in many a melodrama. This show was included in that.
TV was
already so sexless at the time that having a nun as lead was not a stretch, but
this 1968-69 Complete Second Season
was typical of those last pre-All In The
Family years of the sitcom, existing in its own surreal world that was
almost psychedelic by default. The
long-standing joke about this show was always to ask what made Sister Bertrille
(Field) fly!
All 26 episodes
on 3 DVDs are here, including guest stars like Harold Gould, Sid Haig, Bernie
Kopell, Paul Lynde, Cliff Osmond, Naomi Stevens, Diana Hale, C. Lindsay
Workman, Elinor Donahue, Lillian Adams, Richard Andres, Ivor Francis, Jay
Novello, Victor Buono, Gavin MacLeod, Alan Hale Jr., Ruta Lee, Dick Gautier,
Bob Hastings, Dwayne Hickman, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Rich Little, Jamie Farr and
Pamelyn Ferdin. That is a very strong
guest cast for any show and because the show may not be as fashionable as
counterparts I Dream Of Jeannie
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) and Bewitched
because of the strange nature of how the treatment and representation of
religion has changed in the media, are not as seen.
If
anything, the show taught tolerance, religious and otherwise. Sure, the show has dated and is amusing in
its naïve charm, but it remains a minor classic of TV sitcoms that has the rare
distinction of having a future multiple Academy Award winner as its lead. It may now be seen in a reactionary way as
Right-of-center, but there was a Religious Left once and this show is much more
a product of that state of mind than anything else beyond its intent to
entertain. In that, it often succeeds.
The 1.33
X 1 image varies throughout, with the poorest shots being the process work of Fields
flying looking as bad as those many shots of Roger Moore in The Saint (reviewed elsewhere on this
site) driving around in his Volvo. The
“Perfect Pathé” color is not as consistent as it was on Sony’s first season set
of Here Come The
Brides, reviewed elsewhere on this site, but it is not bad. As a matter of fact, it is far better than
the faded prints that were showing up towards the end of its regular syndicated
run. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is aged,
but not bad and there are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
