LAUGH-IN: COMPLETE SERIES: Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin were among those finding fame in this legendary flash-fast comedy kaleidoscope, riffing off the pop-art culture and politics of the watershed years of 1968 to 1973. An instant ratings-topper for NBC, it's running again as a Decades flashback (weeknights at 6 and 9). And for the first time, all 140 episodes are out, in a gift-worthy box of 38 DVDs.
Peruse the catchphrases _ "Sock it to me," "Here come da judge," "Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls." And the characters _ Tomlin's snooty phone operator, co-host Dick Martin's tipsy swinger, Arte Johnson's dirty old man, Hawn's ditsy blonde. Plus the quick-quip guests _ presidential candidate Richard Nixon, movie stars John Wayne and Raquel Welch, comics Flip Wilson and Jonathan Winters, and entertainers Sonny & Cher and Sammy Davis Jr. Not to mention such oddities as trilling ukulele player Tiny Tim tiptoeing through the tulips.
The DVDs come in a sturdy double-wide box, holding six season-set cases, with booklets detailing episode bits/guests. Extras include a new 50th anniversary interview with showrunner George Schlatter, the 1967 pilot special, bloopers and bonus cast interviews (interviews are from Rhino's 2003 pair of out-of-print three-DVD best-of sets). Another extras disc has the vintage 25th anniversary cast reunion (taped in 1993 during a TV critics' press tour Q&A), plus Emmys footage and more.
It's new from TimeLife.com: $250 for 38 DVD box (or $100 for new 12-DVD best-of set with extras).
