TV Game Shows of the 50s [DVD]

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Ever wondered what public-access cable TV would be like with a bunch of famous people involved? This DVD release of the first episode of TV Party, Glenn O'Brien's Manhattan cable series in which he and his hipster friends chatted, played music, and generally goofed off on camera for an hour every week, features more than a few well-known names, including Deborah Harry and Chris Stein from Blondie, Fred Schneider of the B-52's, King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, future Yo! MTV Raps host Fab Five Freddy, and Dictators leader Andy Shernoff, making it a star-studded event by the standards of public-access programming. But this disc makes it clear this show wasn't all that different than most other shows that pop up on the nether regions of your cable dial -- the camerawork is haphazard at best, the sound is little short of awful, no one seems to be in charge, dead air is a frequent occurrence, and this was clearly a lot more fun to shoot than to watch. Brinkfilm's DVD release of this material does as much with the material as is practically possible -- the transfer (in the original full-frame ratio of 1.33:1) is as sharp as the aging source materials allow, and the audio mastering (in Dolby Digital Stereo, though the material is strictly mono) is vivid enough to capture every flaw in perfect clarity (and there are lots of flaws). The original broadcast was in English, with no subtitles or multiple language options included for this release. As a bonus, the disc includes five excerpts from other TV Party episodes, including performances from John Lurie, Walter Steding, and David Walter McDermott and an interview with Clash guitarist Mick Jones that collapses into chaos thanks to faulty microphones and an obviously puzzled Jones. TV Party: Premiere Episode is a lot more interesting as a historical artifact than as entertainment, but Brinkfilm have done as good a job as possible with ragged source video, and folks nostalgic for New York City's downtown scene in 1978 will get a blast from the past straight-no-chaser on this disc.