For those of you who are always complaining about TV Land's increasingly worse schedule and are worried that other TV stations don't show enough of the black and white series from the 50s and 60s, plus some of the colour shows that don't get shown enough on TV, I have seen a web page that does both brilliantly. You might have heard or seen it before. It's called TV4U.com .

http://www.tv4u.com/comedy.asp


They take most of those Public Domain DVDs that are out everywhere and show them on their site for free. The video quality and number of episodes per series isn't that great but everything else about it is excellent. They have 28 different channels covering everything from Western series to rock and roll, and new stuff is added every week (I'm guessing on Wednesdays). If you're interested you can return here and I can keep you posted on what has been added as soon as I've seen it. For now, here's some of what you can expect on the Comedy channel.


Abbott & Costello
Andy Griffith
Blondie (Early 50s sitcom based on the popular comic strip)
Burns and Allen
Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
Dustys Trail (Late 1960s, starring Bob Denver)
Gomer Pyle USMC (added last week)
Green Acres (added last week)
I Married Joan
Life With Elizabeth
Love That Bob
Make Room For Daddy
Mister Peepers
Mothers-In-Law (added today, with Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard)
Mr. Ed (includes original pilot with different cast and theme)
Petticoat Junction
Private Secretary
Rango (short-lived series with Tim Conway)
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Jack Benny Show
The Lucy Show
The Milton Berle Show
The Red Skelton Show
The Three Stooges
Topper
Trouble With Father


You won't find stuff like this anywhere else, folks! Trust me.

Not much new stuff added this week with regards to sitcoms so I looked around the different channels to see what else caught my fancy and it looks like I may have hit a gusher in the Game Shows category. TV4U has added some of the best game shows from the 50s and 60s for you to enjoy and most of them are a must see for those who love to study TV history. The lineup includes one episode each (for now, anyway) of the following classics:


$64,000 Question
Beat The Clock
Break The Bank
Concentration
Do You Trust Your Wife? (with Edgar Bergen; Johnny Carson would host the show many years later)
I've Got A Secret
People Are Funny
Queen For A Day
The Price Is Right (original version starring Bill Cullen)
Truth Or Consequences (with Bob Barker)
Twenty One (the main target in the infamous 1959 quiz show scandals)
You Bet Your Life

Incidentally, if you go to the Twenty-One page you can see for yourself the legendary Herbert Stempel vs Charles Van Doren showdown. You can check it out as well as the other classics at the following page:

http://www.tv4u.com/gameshow.asp

I'll have another update next week. Enjoy!

For those of you who are always complaining about TV Land's increasingly worse schedule and are worried that other TV stations don't show enough of the black and white series from the 50s and 60s, plus some of the colour shows that don't get shown enough on TV, I have seen a web page that does both brilliantly. You might have heard or seen it before. It's called TV4U.com .

http://www.tv4u.com/comedy.asp


They take most of those Public Domain DVDs that are out everywhere and show them on their site for free. The video quality and number of episodes per series isn't that great but everything else about it is excellent. They have 28 different channels covering everything from Western series to rock and roll, and new stuff is added every week (I'm guessing on Wednesdays). If you're interested you can return here and I can keep you posted on what has been added as soon as I've seen it. For now, here's some of what you can expect on the Comedy channel.


Abbott & Costello
Andy Griffith
Blondie (Early 50s sitcom based on the popular comic strip)
Burns and Allen
Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis
Dustys Trail (Late 1960s, starring Bob Denver)
Gomer Pyle USMC (added last week)
Green Acres (added last week)
I Married Joan
Life With Elizabeth
Love That Bob
Make Room For Daddy
Mister Peepers
Mothers-In-Law (added today, with Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard)
Mr. Ed (includes original pilot with different cast and theme)
Petticoat Junction
Private Secretary
Rango (short-lived series with Tim Conway)
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Jack Benny Show
The Lucy Show
The Milton Berle Show
The Red Skelton Show
The Three Stooges
Topper
Trouble With Father


You won't find stuff like this anywhere else, folks! Trust me.

wow! Dusty's Trail!?!
that's rare...
BTW Sal... your signature is very touching and I couldn't agree more.:(

I know; I discovered that site the other night. THAT'S GREAT!!!! Most of those shows, I haven't seen in YEARS!!!
They're edited (the half hour ones are only 23 minutes) and the quality isn't up to DVD standards, but who cares; when you can see those old and mostly rare shows!
I watched an episode of THE MOTHERS IN LAW; a show that I hadn't seen in 30 YEARS!!!

wow! Dusty's Trail!?!
that's rare...
BTW Sal... your signature is very touching and I couldn't agree more.:(


Thank you Ginger for the kind words. I appreciate it. Since you're a big "Gilligan's Island" fan like I am, there's a couple of series on the TV4U site that you might like. One is "I Married Joan" which features Jim Backus before he became Mr. Howell as a judge married to a screwball wife played by Joan Davis, who was usually compared to Lucille Ball and often came out second best. That's why this show doesn't get seen very much, but if you like 1950s sitcoms, it's a good show to watch.

On the Drama side, there's a series that first aired around 1952 called "Biff Baker USA". It stars a younger (and slimmer) Alan "The Skipper" Hale as a Sherlock Holmes/James Bond-type detective who travels around the world to solve mysteries.

Of course, there's lots of other good stuff to watch on there. Have fun searching for your favourites!

thanx, Sal. I was born way after these great shows. i'll give them a look-see. and I agree with your siggy. May Gillian R.I.P. :(