The David Steinberg Show (1972)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C- Episodes: C
With the
recent cable run of a new interview show with David Steinberg, Koch Vision
recently issued the 1972 David Steinberg
Show trying to capitalize on a hit that was not. The 1972 show only did so well and did not
last long, but was Steinberg’s attempt to combine a faux talk show like Johnny
Carson’s with a skit series like Saturday
Night Live or Second City, the
latter of which has some of its stars in this show like Martin Short and John
Candy.
Despite
guests like Jon Voight, Bill Macy, Ed McMahon, Adrienne Barbeau, Scatman Crothers,
Tommy Smothers, Rip Taylor, Ethel Merman and James Coco, the show was a big
miss and a curio at best. It is not
merely that it is smug about its cleverness, but that it is not that
clever. Steinberg obviously thought
after Dick Cavett and so many other attempts to duplicate or equal Carson, this
was the way to go. He was so wrong. I never laughed in all 500 minutes of this
set. You likely will not either.
The 1.33
X 1 image is soft and shows its age form whatever professional analog NTSC
masters are left. Is it the master or
the transfer? Who knows. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also flat and adequate
at best. The only extra is a 30-minutes
interview with Steinberg in which he talks about how fun the show was. At least someone had a good time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
