The Plot:
There are two one hour anthologies offered. They are:
TV Mania (actually, TV Turkeys - The World's Worst Television Shows)
First released by Rhino in 1987, this look at some of the idiot box's biggest blunders is hosted by former Ozzie and Harriet star Skip Young. Trying his best to add some comedy to the proceedings, Mr. Young mugs and goofs off as he introduces a collection of classic boob tube stinkers. We get a peek at a pathetic variety show starring Hank McCune, and a look at the weak Western The Buckskin Kid (featuring an cast made up entirely of kids speaking in cartoonish adult voices). Suicide Theater features DeForest "Bones" Kelly as a man too poor to kill himself, while Up on Cloud 9 offers a pair of stewardesses so stupid they make every flight a nightmare at 30,000 feet. There's even a horrendously racist commercial for Beautyrest mattresses, and a PSA featuring The Meanest Man in the World (he even kicks the crutches out from under crippled kids!).

Commercial Mania
Released by Rhino in 1986, Mr. Legend hand picked this veritable vomitorium of awful advertising. In this host-less experience, we learn that the Three Stooges really can't sell Simonize, that the Marx Brothers were so desperate for money that they once did a commercial for home permanents, and that Quaker Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat are the 'cereals shot from guns'. There are pitches for the Ford Edsel, Hai Karate aftershave (which mandated that men learn martial arts as a means of beating back the babes) and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz lighting up a storm for sponsor Phillip Morris Cigarettes. Between the incessant spots for cream shampoo, all manner of 'hair treatment', and various cleansing products (including a battle between Ajax's White Tornado and Mr. Clean's chrome dome), it's clear that the Madison Avenue of the past was pretty pathetic when it came to shilling.

The DVD:
Unless you're desperate for a way to waste two plus hours of your otherwise valuable time, there is no need to invest any effort or interest in this obvious cash grab. Let's face it - the material being marketed here has been available on the Internet for years, and if you want to mimic what Mr. Johnny Legend is trying to sell you, simple saunter over to You Tube, type in a search phrase like "odd TV" and go to town. Back in the days when such unusual items were reserved for public libraries, broadcast museums, and the basements of obsessive collectors, you could con a consumer into a $2.99 three day rental. But today, the DVD savvy set won't cotton to such claptrap. They demand a certain level of watchability and kitsch - and no, nostalgia doesn't really count. So the rationale behind such a release is suspect at best, and when you take into consideration that Legend has been flooding the market as of late with lots of Something Weird Video style titles (exploring everything from the drive-in to the grindhouse to the hardcore porn theater), the money-based motivations are quite obvious. Clearly he is hoping to spark some interest among those who have nothing but fond memories for such old school assortments while fooling the first timer into thinking their getting a retro rarity. In both cases, the buyer not only better be wary, he or she better be prepared to ask for a refund once outrageous remorse sets in.

Of the two pointless productions offered, TV Mania - or as it was originally called, TV Turkeys - is clearly the better. With Skip Young as some manner of cockeyed context, this collection of glass teat flops is fun - for about five minutes. Once you realize that you'll be looking at nothing but nauseating experiments from the medium's earliest fetal formations, you begin to almost immediately lose interest. It happens right around the moment the underage cowpokes of The Buckskin Kid speak in their Mel Blanc brogue. About the most unapologetically non-PC program ever produced, we get to see racially slanderous depictions of Native Americans and lots of shots of kiddies brandishing rifles. Nothing says the old West better than a six year old waving a weapon. Smith and/or Wesson would be so proud. Things only get better when DeForest Kelly decides that offing himself is the answer to his numerous personal problems. He's so depressed, and his situation is so dire, it will make you want to drink Drain-O just to stop the vicarious pain. If there is one saving grace in this otherwise onerous offering, it's the hilariously dark Meanest Man in the World PSA. You see, Average Joe doesn't want to give to the United Fund this year. He wants to save his cash for more important things - like the prevention of homelessness. During the night, he has a horribly metaphoric dream about slapping the milk out of a baby's hands and cutting the IV tube during a transfusion! Of course, it's just an analogy, an argument that, without charity, he's condemning the less fortunate to a life as society's doormat. It's still a rather harsh hoot.

On the other hand, Commercial Mania is almost unbearable. After the 14th ad for this bizarre shampoo that "creams in body" (and looks like the run-off from a polar bear's liposuction), and the several senseless celebrity endorsements, you're ready to call up Dr. McCoy from the previous title and join him in a little personal pavement art. Since there is no narrator (imagine actually MISSING Skip Young's subpar Jerry Lewis leering) we are basically left with and hour of nothing but noxious consumer come-ons. Granted, there are a couple of classics strewn amongst the Madison Avenue manure - the "shot from guns" catchphrase for a certain breakfast food, the weird pro-NRA designs of a child's weapon series, complete with macho wall display plaques - that you may actually enjoy the journey. But the arrangement is so random, the pleasures so hit or miss (Ready Kilowatt clashing with ads for Vitalis???) that you end up with a case of subject matter seasickness. One moment you're mildly interested in how much more lather this new face soap generates, the next you're avoiding the glare of your typical advertising hard sell. Commercials have really come a long way since these belligerent browbeaters. If you want a modern example of the kind of salesmanship employed here, just click on a cable channel late at night. You're bond to see one of those incredibly dumb ads for HeadOn ("apply directly to your forehead") spots. These equally subtle shills are exactly the same - in tone and in entertainment value.

The Video:
Complete with tracking problems running along one edge, the 1.33:1 full frame image offered by the Mania Mania series is Mediocre, Mediocre. While there is no flaring or analog feedback, the colors are gaudy and the black and white is flat. These are not remastered versions of the original VCR classics - they are VHS dubs in all their aged, spotty spectacle. If you're expecting vintage footage, look elsewhere. Some of this material looks so bad you wonder why anyone would want to watch it.

The Audio:
What we have here is standard Dolby Digital Mono, nothing more or less. These are DVDs done on the cheap, remember. There is really no need for multichannel mixes or speaker challenging surround.

The Extras:
Clocking in at about 20 minutes, the added content here consists of bloopers from the set of Gunsmoke (Watch Marshall Dillon swear like a sailor!!!), an additional look at some equally surreal series blunders, and an episode of some Steve Reeves show that no one has supposedly heard of. While some of this bonus material is rather funny (you don't expect James Arness to cut up so much), it's really just part and parcel of the whole package.

Final Thoughts:
This critic is convinced that somewhere, perhaps in a backroom of his secret underground LA lair, Johnny Legend has a voodoo doll with yours truly imprinted on it. As each review of Legend House's latest DVD release comes down the pipe, the head honcho grabs his pins and prepares the effigy for a little recreational reprimanding. Sadly, the determination on this digital dross is destined to spur much of the same ritualistic reaction. Easily warranting the weakest Rent It one can imagine, no one needs to actually own Volume 1 of Mania Mania. Again, a trip across the World Wide Web can easily satisfy one's need for eclectic TV and ancient advertising. Granted, you may not be able to catch brats blowing each other to smithereens during standard Western firefights, and the less said about the minstrel show like mattress ad, the better. Indeed, some aspects of the VCRs heyday should be kept under wraps, never to darken the doors of personal perception again. In fact, a Skip It might be more in line with the amount of enjoyment you'll get out of this awkward anthology.

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