criticman2000

Measured, deliberately paced, slow-moving documentary about television in the late 50s and 60s. Very well-produced, it runs smoothly and looks really good, but production values can't save it from being basically a rehash of pleasant reminiscences by child stars. Filled with child stars from shows like "Father Knows Best", "Timmy And Lassie" and "Lost In Space", you've heard what they're going to tell you, before. Scenes of them tinkering in their gardens and workshops or playing music in the studio, isn't all that interesting. What is interesting, is seeing what they look like NOW, especially if you're only familiar with their early work. While watching this I made mental notes to buy moisturizer, and that made me sad. But if you're hankering for some formerly famous talking heads insisting that 'television just didn't mirror reality back then!!" you've found the mother-lode, with this. "On The Edge Of Black And White" is far too polite. Some of these guys have lead "colorful" lives, but you'll get none of that, here. Lisa Loring (Wednesday of "The Addams Family") has been involved with the porn industry in some capacity, for awhile; Ken Weatherwax (Pugsley, "The Addams Family") has been building movie sets for a lot of years, but he has very little to say about that or really anything. Don Grady ("My Three Sons") was an Italian American kid (nee Agrati) who was made to change his name to get roles, but there's nothing about that. And yeah, some of these actors are peeved, but those that are, are given limited screen time. This is an "affectionate" look back, and as phony as the shows these guys came from. Paul Petersen, for instance (Jeff Stone, the son on "The Donna Reed Show"), has spent most of his life fighting for residuals for child actors to be paid into escrow accounts so that an actor's parents can't squander their kids' income before they reach adulthood, but he's not even here at all. So, nice effort, but not anything I didn't already either know, or could have figured out, for myself.

They had a fine concept, good writers and a fine cast. The shows were crazy-popular, both, "Mr. Terrific" and "Captain Nice". This one was conceived FIRST, and if somebody hadn't leaked the concept to another network, it would have run at least a few seasons. Mr. Strimpell's work, in the title role (Mr. Terrific), is more than adequate, he does what he needs to do, within the confines of the script. "Captain Nice", was a carbon copy, except not as funny, and since they were on at the same time, on the same day, the public got worn out on the idea, pretty quickly. Lines became blurry as to which show was, "the funny one". Both series were very formulaic. This is the superhero version of, "Get Smart". Blaming Mr. Strimpell for the show's failure (and frankly, I believe the networks came to an agreement to pull the plugs of both series together and prematurely), is absurd. I, as everyone else here has said, was a kid when they were on, I loved them both, and they were the rage. Kids didn't count, back then, however, as the networks hadn't yet done the math on the amount of dollars children pulled in. It should also be noted, that although Buck Henry was the creator and head writer of the other show, the experience was such a negative one, that he seems to have expunged his name from the records.

"Leisurama" is the story of a little pre-fabricated house, stocked with everything a person could need (except light bulbs)to walk in and begin a happy life, which started out at the 1964 NY World's Fair, and was eventually sold at Macy's! Along the way, you'll find out about the cold war, the World's Fair, the struggles of architects to have their project taken seriously and the fates of those homeowners who invested in a Leisurama home. This is fascinating stuff-- it includes lots of vintage footage and tidbit such as the tale of a woman who went to Macy's to buy a bra and came back with a house. There's plenty to learn here, and if you already knew about this stuff, the film is still breezy, fast-paced and amusing. It's being shown currently on PBS, and I think it's terrific viewing.