On The Road With Charles Kuralt - Set 2 (Acorn Media DVD Set)
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: B
Episodes: A+
Set 2 of On the Road With Charles
Kuralt offers more stories of small-town America that will bring a smile to
anyone's face. Like in Set 1, these are positive stories about
the sort of quirky people you're likely to meet at the local pool hall, church,
or other nondescript venue.
This second three disc boxed set features Charles Kuralt at his finest, his
masterful interviewing style bringing out the best in his subjects, played out
over eighteen heart-warming episodes. Some
favorites on this box include Kuralt's interview with 103 year-old Lula Watson
and a tear-jerking piece on a group of deceased WWII British mariners and their
relationship to a North Carolina
coastal town. Viewers who enjoyed
Acorn's first release in this series will certainly want the second one, as its
stories and characters remain every bit as compelling as any in the show's long
history.
Picture and sound clarity are both still a bit lacking when compared to
contemporary productions, but after watching both boxed sets, the viewer might
be tempted to think that the slightly grainy images and tinny sound befit On
the Road, serving almost as a device that will help to transport the
viewer back to the somewhat simpler time when the shows were first aired. Extras include a biography of Kuralt, updates
on some of the stories covered by the show, and a special feature entitled
"About On the Road."
Above all it is Kuralt's uniquely lyrical, warbling voice that makes On the Road. If journalism can be art, then Kuralt becomes
a master painter, and with each story he uses his interview subjects to fill
the television "canvas" with a brilliant riot of color and sounds. It requires some kind of magic to, for
example, make old rodeo cowboys seem young again (as Kuralt does in episode
16), and the viewer can sense while watching that the interview subjects in On
the Road derive great pleasure telling their stories under
the not-so-glaring lights of the show's cameras. Perhaps they also felt the same pangs of
regret as most viewers when Mr. Kuralt's RV trundled off down the road and
around the bend to find some new adventure. Yet still the episodes remain, and
both the show and Charles Kuralt's places in television history are certain.
- Scott Pyle
