Family Affair - Season One DVD Review

[TJ]

Family Affair was a popular situation comedy and a regular top 20 hit show produced by Don Fedderson Productions for CBS-TV during its five-year run from 1966-71.

Brian Keith stars as bachelor Bill Davis, a highly-paid engineering consultant who lives in a posh Manhattan apartment with his proper English manservant, Mr. Giles French (Sebastian Cabot). Davis' carefree existence is turned upside down when his brother and sister-in-law die suddenly in a tragic car accident, leaving their three children orphaned. Davis becomes an instant father figure to six year-old twins, Buffy and Jody (Anissa Jones, Johnnie Whitaker) and their big sister, Cissy (Kathy Garver). Despite their reservations, Davis and French grow attached to the children. Through humorous trial and error, coupled with big doses of love and patience, the five become a real family.

Family Affair Season 1 contains 30 episodes on 5 discs and includes never-before-seen bonus features.

Read our review here:
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/familya...dvdreview.html

Post any questions or comments about this set.

[Mister Ed]

Oh, great. Here we go again with those huge keepcases.

[BuddyHinton]

My review:

It may be classic to some but in the overall scheme it's no Lucy or Honeymooners or Brady's. I Netflixed it and I have to say it's a good show but the kids are a bit young. Reading lines somewhat distractedly, you get the feeling the show is propped up by lisps and cuteness. I must say THEY ARE the cutest kids ever but it really isn't enough. Uncle Bill is fine. French is fine. The set up is interesting. But there just isn't any thing here to elevate it to the next level.

As far as nostaglia, it is errie to see the opening to this and to remember it as a child because I doubt I have seen it since I was 5 or 6. The credits are a bit of a mystery and it's hard to understand what they were going for. I think I would have preffered a tradional opening, showing the cast as opposed to flickering diamonds or whatever that was all about. The film print remastering could have used more work, many artifacts, and the sound is "ok", but this is all just typical MPI laziness. Better than the Hillbillies film remastering "debacle", but then the show is newer so that's to be expected. MPI is starting to feel like a bootlegger to me.

I will pass on this as a purchase but it was a fun watch.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...in the series now (and on DVD, no doubt) is the "reissue" version, because the original titles had an announcer mentioning each credit as it appeared on screen {"FAMILY AFFAIR"!..."Starring BRIAN KEITH"...."And SEBASTIAN CABOT"}, as was the custom on Don Fedderson's other series, "MY THREE SONS". The idea of using a "jewelry framework" in the titles (and Frank DeVol's "affluent" theme music) was supposed to suggest a hint of sophistication and elegance- after all, Bill Davis was a somewhat wealthy bachelor of means, with faithful valet at his side- yet, he found himself taking care of children he wasn't quite ready to handle. That's the situation, and viewers responded to that. There were lessons learned in every episode [as those in the show that preceeded it on Monday nights, "THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW"], and warmth and "fuzzy moments" and some serious emotions as well. "FAMILY AFFAIR" was supposed to be a "gentle" comedy; that's why most people have trouble relating to it today, because situation comedies have gotten more "noisier" and "coarse" in the thirty years since the series first appeared.

I enjoy "FAMILY AFFAIR"- it may be "dated", but the situations are just as timeless as they were then. Brian Keith was a "bear" of an actor, and had the right reactions and grimaces in just about every scene he was in. Sebastian Cabot had the "exasperation" and "bluster" necessary to behave like a "proper gentleman" and be funny about it. The kids were adorable; a bit unbelievable at times, but they carried every episode.

Apparently, "original prints" of the series were used for mastering; the "sponsor's product" in the lower left corner of the screen during the closing credits (a cigarette company, I believe) HAD to be eliminated, so you can tell where that corner was "masked". When "FAMILY AFFAIR" was originally seen on CBS, the primary sponsor [there were two "alternate sponsors" during the network run] had the right to flash their product during those closing credits....and I believe there was an "MCA-TV" logo in the copyright notice at the end (they originally had the right to distribute the series worldwide until CBS bought the rights to the show before it ended) that had to be eliminated, and so a "1967" or "1968" notice [in Roman numerals, of course] was substituted instead...I've seen this substitution on TV LAND.

[talltideman@aol.com]

I just received this from Amazon, and there is no listing of any episodes or anything. Is the paper work missing in my set or what. Just package and DVD's.

[TeeVeeCloset]

Originally Posted by talltideman@aol.com

I just received this from Amazon, and there is no listing of any episodes or anything. Is the paper work missing in my set or what. Just package and DVD's.

Yes there is a one page insert included, one side has the exact cover art photo and the back has the disc and episode titles only. Also included is a 2005 (yes 2005) MPI release booklet. The extra thick case is an odd one and could easily break becasue it holds 5 discs...it reminded me of a bootleg as another poster suggested. I still give kudo's to MPI for releasing lost and forgotten gems like Family Affair.

[Jenya]

Originally Posted by talltideman@aol.com

I just received this from Amazon, and there is no listing of any episodes or anything. Is the paper work missing in my set or what. Just package and DVD's.

Same thing with me. I have no lists of the episodes in my DVD set.

By the way. Season 2 is expected to be released on November 21.

[Jude The Obscure]

How did Universal get the rights to this show back?

[Lee G]

On the season one DVD, one episode runs about a minute shorter than normal. It's the episode titled "Room With A Viewpoint". At first I thought something was cut from the episode, but now I think it's just time compressed because it sounds like it runs a little fast. There's a season three episode that's also about a minute shorter than normal, it's the one titled "A Waltz From Vienna". I have to check that episode, it's probably time compressed also. Of the whole series, why 136 episodes on the DVD's are at normal speed and 2 are time compressed is a mystery to me. And yes, I remember the episodes originally had an announcer in the opening credits.

I viewed the episode "A Waltz From Vienna", it seems to run at the normal speed but I didn't detect anything in the episode where something might be cut. The episode is about a minute shorter than the others from season three, perhaps they cut something or I suppose it's possible the episode just ended up being a tad shorter than the others.

Another thing I noticed- The episodes in the first two seasons begin with a scene prior to the opening credits. Sometimes the scene is unique from the rest of the episode and it starts the story off. In other episodes the scene in the beginning is repeated again later in the episode. Another unusual inconsistency. But the DVD's are great, nice job with these by MPI.