Don Most

Directed by former Happy Days cast member Don Most, the comedy Moola stars William Mapother and Daniel Baldwin as best friends who are working together at a business that is failing. When a new venture offers them the promise of success, the duo face a series of challenges that tests their loyalty and friendship. Moola screened at the 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of the two-part "Workforce," Chakotay (Robert Beltram) tries to disable the Quarran energy shield, which is holding the Voyager crew in mind-controlled subjugation. Though Chakotay manages to rescue B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson, who also directed the episode), he has trouble convincing her that she has had any life outside her servitude on Quarra. Meanwhile, the brainwashed Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) is prepared to carry off an assassination -- and her target is Chakotay! The supporting cast includes former Happy Days regular Don Most and John Aniston, father of Friends co-star Jennifer Aniston. "Workforce, Part II" originally aired on February 28, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

25 year ago, a fatal stabbing occurred during a broadcast of the popular TV comedy-variety series "The Barry Barnes Show." Now Barnes (Donald O'Connor) and his cast and crew have gathered together at the murder scene to stage a reunion special. Soon thereafter, a mysterious woman dressed in black shows up to accuse Barnes of committing the murder. When a second tragedy strikes, it is up to Jessica (Angela Lansbury) to find out just what the heck is going on now, and what really went on back in 1965. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Columbia Pictures spent as estimated $8 million dollars on this laughless sex comedy that crashes and burns before ever leaving the ground. Two bumbling boneheads who are kicked out of flying school decide to remain airborne by becoming stewardesses. Bathroom humor, sight gags, and the prerequisite nudity are the lowlights of this forgettable film. The only interest is the appearance of former Playboy bunny Yuliis Ruval. This dog makes Porky's seem like Shakespeare. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The cliches about actors fighting an uphill battle in Tinseltown are all found in this film, its own actors an example of its message. Donny Most stars as Leo, an aspiring thespian with less than an ingratiating manner and Linda Purl is Loree, an actress who just might get her foot in the door because her mother -- an Oscar winner -- has already opened it for her. Loree's ups and Leo's downs do nothing to help their romantic relationship, as careers and professional goals have an impact on their feelings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This program is part of a series that chronicles the stories of some of the great heroes of the Old Testament of the Bible. The colorful stories have made an indelible mark on Western consciousness, as they illustrate great spiritual truths in the plain narratives about ordinary people. This episode tells the story of Daniel who had a gift for interpreting dreams. This asset aids him in his audience with King Nebachadnezzar, who wants very much to understand a dream that has been troubling him. The ensuing drama is one of the most beloved stories in the Christian repertoire, exemplifying the importance of faith in an all-powerful God. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

Cloris Leachman stars as Melba, a woman with whom violence is a way of life, in Jonathan Demme's high-pitched "B"-movie Crazy Mama. The film spans three decades in the violent life of Melba, beginning in Jerusalem, Arkansas in 1932, when law enforcers kill her father (Clint Kimbrough), turning her mother Sheba (Ann Sothern) into a bitter widow. Mother and daughter take off to Long Beach, California, and the time jumps to 1958, when the two are thrown out of their beauty salon for non-payment of back rent. Melba now has an attractive (and pregnant) teenage daughter Cheryl (Linda Purl). The three generations take to the road, stealing cars and creating general mayhem across the United States, robbing a motorcycle racetrack box office and a bank. But in 1959, Melba and Cheryl are picked up again, running a Miami Beach snack bar, their lives wasted in free-living terror. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Garry Marshall's Happy Days was a series that helped redefine the television map -- it heralded the unprecedented period of ABC's dominance of the television landscape after decades in the shadow of CBS and NBC. It also represented the beginning of a distinctly new generation of sitcoms to come (indirectly) out of the orbit of producer Sheldon Leonard. Creator Garry Marshall had cut his teeth as a television writer on The Dick Van Dyke Show, made by Leonard's production company, and the latter was a series whose setting and atmosphere was descended from the '50s television that Happy Days sought to emulate. The difference was that Marshall had the advantage of two decades' perspective from the 1950s in recreating an idealized version of the society that spawned that entertainment. Happy Days lost focus after the first four seasons and ran out of ideas before the '70s were done, and then spent years coasting on the personalities of its stars, but the early seasons had a refreshing charm, especially when the producers were still trying to figure out who and what each character would be. The first season represented on this three-disc set consisted of 16 episodes, the series having debuted in January of 1974 as a mid-season replacement. They're fascinating to watch, not only because this is the first uncut airing of those shows since they left the network, but also because the players, especially Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham, are so fresh in their roles and the 1950s setting is put together very smoothly. What makes Happy Days different from the sitcoms from the period it represents, apart from a sense of irony, are the nuances: the presence of Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" (replacing the intended "Happy Day" theme song by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox during the first two seasons), in lieu of a pop instrumental by some composer of the period; the presence of Henry Winkler's Arthur Fonzarelli (aka Fonzie), even in the early episodes when he was a supporting character; and the references to period politics.

It's eerie looking at the first episode, to see how impressive Henry Winkler is; sans leather jacket (the network insisted he wear a windbreaker), and with no dialogue until the last of four scenes in which he appears, he still dominates those scenes with his presence -- and already, there's a hint of the preternatural powers that he would later manifest with girls, in a scene where he unhooks a handy brassier with one finger. Anson Williams also is interesting to watch as a somewhat different Potsie Webber -- less a comic nerd than a rather overeager Lothario, he's a much more interesting character, if not as likable, a kind of slightly gawky Eddie Haskell to Howard's Wally Cleaver. The plots themselves draw from lines similar to those in very late-era Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best episodes, with the obvious influence of the Dick Van Dyke Show: Richie and Potsie buy a car together; their friend Ralph Malph (Donny Most, not yet an equal co-star) gets his car into a drag-race; Richie finds himself committed to a date with a girl (Diana Canova) half-a-head taller than he is; Richie and Potsie sneak into a strip-joint, where Richie spots his own father (Tom Bosley) in the audience.... By episode seven, "Fonzie Drops In," they're working Winkler and Howard for their talent and doing well with it, and by the next episode, Winkler is providing the punch line to the show. Finally, in "Give the Band a Hand," Winkler is wearing his leather jacket (and Williams, Howard, and Most are singing as members of a band). And in "Knock Around the Block" you actually see the Fonzie character's darker, more threatening side for the first time. By end of the first season, the producers even had the courage to do a show about civil rights,"The Best Man" (and this was in 1974, when integration was still a hot-button issue in a lot of white neighborhoods, and a lot of elections).

The full-screen (1.33:1) film-to-video transfers are generally excellent, in terms of both color and detail; one or two shots might be a little soft in certain close-ups, but generally this is a better presentation than the uncut episodes have ever received, especially as the episodes, each running slightly over 25 minutes, were all cut (sometimes very obviously and awkwardly) by as much as two minutes as soon as they went into syndication. The audio is mastered at a decent volume level, and one can easily hear the details in a lot of the pop and rock songs (especially the Les Paul and Mary Ford material) that wasn't evident on the original telecasts. The three single-sided discs each contain five or six episodes, accessible individually in a simple menu or with a "play all" command. Each episode is broken into five chapters, covering the "Rock Around the Clock" opening credits (making it easy to skip), the opening of the show, the start of the second half, the coda at the end, and the end credits. There are no extra features of any kind, which is sort of a pity, because the series had a pretty complicated pre-history. The pilot, starring Howard, Williams, and Marion Ross, with Harold Gould in the role of the father, and set in an urban area (as opposed to suburban) had actually been shot in 1971. At the time, Howard was hoping to avoid the military draft and was advised that one way to do this would be to star in a TV series (the law provided an exemption for anyone whose being drafted would lead to the unemployment of 35 or more workers), but it didn't sell and was folded into Love, American Style as "Love and the Happy Days," broadcast in February of 1972. In the meantime, the nostalgia boom took hold on television, and Howard starred in George Lucas' American Graffiti (1973), a film set at the end of the 1950s, which was a hit, so much so that it got ABC newly interested in the series. The makers of the disc could at least have thrown in "Love and the Happy Days" (which is owned by Paramount) as a very obvious bonus. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide