Family Affair - The Complete Series DVD Review

[TJ]

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 plane accident, leaving their three children orphaned. Davis becomes a father figure to six year-old twins Buffy and Jody (Anissa Jones, Johnny Whitaker) and their big sister, Cissy (Kathy Garver).

Another popular chracter on Family Affair was Mrs. Beasley, Buffy's best friend and confidante. Although just a toy, Mrs. Beasley was a huge star in her own right. The talking Mrs. Beasley doll was first introduced in 1967. Coloring books, paper dolls, games and a Family Affair lunch box soon followed. Just like Buffy, the highly collectbile Mrs. Beasley was a source of friendship and comfort to little girls everywhere.

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.

This 24-disc set contains all 138 episodes from the five seasons.

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

Please post any questions or comments about this set.

[catlover79]

Great review, TJ!! Thanks for sharing it.

[Lee G]

MPI did a good job with Family Affair. I have the individual season sets. Episodes are uncut but there are a couple things worthy of note.

The season one episode Room With A Viewpoint is a speeded up version, making it run about a minute shorter than normal. I don't know what happened there, it's the only speeded up episode in the entire collection.

The third season episode Waltz From Vienna also runs about a minute short, but it's not speeded up. So either a minute was cut or the episode just runs a minute short. Watching the episode, I can't really tell if anything might be missing, so I'll go with the belief the episode is complete.

Half of the fifth season episodes begin with a greeting from the cast, the other half start with the opening credits. It would seem to me that all the fifth season episodes should have these intros, but no it is half with and half without.

One thing that always sticks in my mind about Family Affair are those double doors in the Davis apartment. The doorknobs are placed right in the middle of the doors instead of on the side where doorknobs usually are. Those are unique doors indeed.

[Jude The Obscure]

I only have season one, so at this point, it might be cheaper to get the entire series package, I suppose?

[Lee G]

I've never been a fan of these complete series sets, I always buy the individual seasons. Complete series sets are basically an attempt by the releasing studio to further milk the cash cow of the show. In almost each case the disc episode content is exactly the same as the single season issues, so there is usually no attempt to upgrade or fix any problems/edits with any episodes on the season sets. Sometimes complete series sets contain an extra bonus feature or two that aren't available on the season sets, but bonus features have never really been an interest for me. I just want the episodes of the show, complete, original and uncut. Another problem with complete series sets is sometimes the packaging is inferior to the single season sets. One example of this is The Flintstones. One complete series set that I was tempted to buy is The Munsters, because they used single sided discs for that set. But for now I'm sticking with the single season, double sided disc sets. In the case of Family Affair, MPI served this fine show very well, the individual seasons are very nice with complete episodes and the DVD's are highly recommended.

[Jude The Obscure]

So Lee, would you recommend I just buy seasons 2-5, instead?

[Lee G]

Originally Posted by Jude The Obscure

So Lee, would you recommend I just buy seasons 2-5, instead?

That's what I would suggest, yes. The plastic cases used for the season sets are sturdy and durable, and I like how the discs are housed inside the cases. Each season has it's own color and the sets look nice displayed on the shelf.

One thing to say about the video quality of the episodes, it's not consistent. Some episodes look sharp with strong colors, while others have a soft picture and the colors are a tad pale. It seems not much was done to improve/restore the source material of the episodes as they look their age. But the important thing is the episodes are complete and uncut. The audio level of the episodes is very good and you don't have to crank the volume high on the TV to hear what the actors are saying.

[Jude The Obscure]

okie dokie!! That and Doris Day are my next series I want to complete.
First up Bewitched Season 7 though

[Ronny G]

The complete series is currently on sale at amazon for $83.49. That's a great price! I've been waiting for it to go on sale because I never picked up the individual releases.

Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...daysonline3-20