Henry Kujawa
Back in the 80's, on principle, I hated mini-series-- or at least, the way they were run in the US. Over in England, it's common for short-run series to air one hour a week. Nice and orderly, and doesn't totally disrupt your schedule. Not like here, where the habit was to run several hours a night, several nights in a row, sometimes tying up an entire week (as did SHOGUN, which I wound up despising once I got to its unbearably cynical ending). I tended to avoid them like a plague.FRESNO was an exception, because it was a comedy, and it starred 3 of my very favorite people at the time. You had Carol Burnett, whose series I loved in the 70's (barring those interminable "musicals" she'd cap off each week with); Dabney Coleman, who I've followed in MARY HARTMAN MARY HARTMAN, BUFFALO BILL, TOOTSIE, 9 TO 5, THE SLAP MAXWELL STORY, MADMAN OF THE PEOPLE and THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES movie; and Teri Garr, who I've adored since STAR TREK, McCLOUD and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.FRESNO was a MAD-magazine style parody of night-time soaps (DALLAS, DYNASTY, FALCON CREST, KNOTS LANDING, etc.), played with amazing deadpan-serious performances accompanied by insanely screwball things going on in the background, in the dialog, in the plots, and even in the some of character names. It was very much in the style of AIRPLANE!, only more subtle and subdued, and looking back I find it much funnier than POLICE SQUAD (which I re-watched only weeks ago).There's so much to like here, the increasingly-twisted, convoluted plotting and character relationships among them. One of my favorite bits is when Teri Garr's "Tallon", wanting to get back at her ever-cheating husband Charles Grodin, comes on to mysterious (and always-shirtless) Gregory Harrison, who turns her down, saying she's a "lady" (which shocks her) and he doesn't want to be used that way. As she returns to the big house, she crosses the lawn in full view of the hired workers, with HER shirt off. Later, at the breakfast table, she shows up wearing an unbuttoned shirt, and NOTHING underneath. It was quite a kick to see her in such a rare "bad" girl role.Infuriatingly, CBS murdered the show both times they ran it. The first time, instead of running 2 hours a night over 3 consecutive nights (which would have made some sense), they ran 2 hours the first night, then 1 hour apiece over the next 4. OR, they would have, except the 5th hour of the show was PRE-EMPTED by a Ronald Reagan press conference in which he defended the Iran-Contra "guns for hostages" scandal. CBS did not run the episode of FRESNO scheduled for that night, but the next day ran the story's finale ANYWAY.Then, sometime later, they re-ran the entire story, but the 2nd time around, added a LAUGH TRACK, which totally destroyed the entire presentation.Ever since the late 70's, the programmers in charge of all 3 networks have been increasingly chaotic and incompetent in how they run their shows. It continues to boggle my mind how some people get paid exorbitant amounts of money to do work THAT BADLY.
eily
I love Fresno so much. I watched all of the night time soaps, and I saw this when it aired. They used to show it on Comedy Central back when the channel was new. My favorite gag was always "the Rolls isn't running today, madam" then watching Carol riding in back of the station wagon. Also when Billy Joe always seems to be confessing to murder when the jailers walk buy. This was released on VHS in the UK, I bought a copy on eBay years ago and bought a worldwide VCR just to transfer this one show to DVD. It was released in 2 parts on VHS, first part was 2 hours and 16 minutes, the second part was 2 hours and 10 minutes (only 1 playing of the credits was omitted for the 1st tape, 2 playings of the credits for the second tape explaining the time difference) but you only see the opening and closing credits twice- once for each part- instead of 5 times for the 2 hour 1st and one hour 2nd through 5th episodes so that cut out several minutes. I watch Fresno a couple times a year, I just finished watching season one of Falcon Crest which is where a majority of the spoofing comes from, so I had to watch it again. There are too many great moments, like everyone always having a drink in their hand, even when skulking in bushes, or Kevin giving mouth-to-gills to some dead fish, to list them all, but if you watched any of the prime-time 80s soaps and like spoofs at all, you have to watch this if you get a chance.
tcal37
How I would love to see it again, and yet it is never seen. I asked a well-known movie producer/director who had cas Charles Grodin in one of his films, and even had had never seen it. Carol Burnett, Charles Grodin, Jeffrey Jones (Mr. Acme of the Acme Toxic Waste Company) were outstanding. My favorite line: The matriarch, Carol Burnett, to her poor, overworked peon Juan, who has asked her for a raise (she continually cut his wages) so he could feed and clothe his family: "Juan, I have seen what your family eats and wears, and it couldn't cost THAT much." Second favorite line: When Terri Garr (who walks around all day in a teddy) "accidentally" bumps into Torch at the bunkhouse: "What are you doing here," she asks. "Just came back to change my shirt," says Torch, who carries a perfectly pressed shirt around all day but never puts it on.
brian-olsen1
My brother and I watched this and I still recall some of the choicer scenes: the family at the table where an empty seat is placed for the long departed Patriarch Mr. Kensington, hat and vest in place. Carol Burnett as Mrs. Kensington telling hired hand Jaun that he didn't need a raise, "I've seen what your family wears and what they eat, you don't need a raise." Dabney Colman as Mr. Tyler Cain taking his niece to school in the limo. (She hates to "attrack attention"). The lady with the water rights, her clock collection and her beer drinking, hick husband in his dirty T shirt with a wedge of belly exposed. Charles Grodin as Cain Kensington pouring mama's bloody mary "breakfast". Jerry Van Dyke hosting a fund raiser for WHIP (Woman with Husbands in Prison)was a hoot. Mrs. Kensington visiting her son in prison...well it was just one belly laff after another. Non stop hilarity with an absolutely wonderful cast of characters. This NEEDS to be released on DVD!
