AFTER ALMOST 30 YEARS, A DREAM COME TRUE: THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW FINALLY COMES TO HOME VIDEO. Basically, for my entire conscious life, the goofy 60's sitcom THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW played every single weekday on Channel 29 after school. The show only lasted 2 seasons from 1967 to 1969 so watching endlessly repeated reruns meant that I probably knew every episode by heart. UNTIL. One dark day about one year before I got my first VCR (in 1982 -- top loader, anyone?) THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW stopped airing on Channel 29 -- and has never been seen on my television screen since! One of my most fondly remembered TV favourites and I haven't seen it for almost 29 years! Until now, that is, when last week the complete show was released on DVD. As is the case with many fondly remembered childhood favourites, I was a little concerned that the show would not be nearly as funny or enjoyable as it was when I was a kid. These things sometimes are a disappointment after a lot of time has passed. I was afraid the show now, to my adult eyes, would be merely dumb. But I had to get the DVD to find out. After all, it was one of my constant childhood companions back on my clapped-out B&W TV set in my bedroom each day after school (along with The Three Stooges, natch). That's right, even though the show was shot in vibrant (more like 60's garish) colour, I had basically only known the show in black and white. Well, I've only dipped into about 5 episodes on the DVD so far and I am happy (and somewhat surprised and relieved) to report that the show is just as much fun as I remembered it.

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THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW aired on NBC starting September 10, 1967 and ending on April 13, 1969. The truly wonderful stars of the show were Eve Arden (everyone's favourite wise-cracking best friend of every leading lady in the 40's and 50's who then went on to star in TV's OUR MISS BROOKS) and Kaye Ballard (Broadway stage star who also made an LP which I'm quite fond of: BOO-HOO HA-HA -- or is it HA-HA BOO-HOO??? It's hard to tell from the album cover) consisting of half sad songs and half funny songs). The two leading ladies were aided by their TV husbands Herbert Rudley and Roger C. Carmel (famed for playing Mudd on TV's STAR TREK). Carmel didn't choose to return for the second season so THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW's Richard Deacon replaced him. Arden and Rudley are the Hubbards who live next door to Ballard and Carmel as the Buells. They've lived next to each other for 15 years and, while they're cordial, really can't stand each other (even though they're loathe to admit it they're actually best friends). As things would have it, the Hubbard's daughter Suzie (Deborah Walley: later to menace BENJI) falls in love with the Buell's son Jerry (Jerry Fogel) and they elope. The Hubbards and the Buells, oil and water, are now related. The entire premise of the series to the very end is the many ways Eve and Kaye can meddle in their married children's lives. The emphasis, of course, is on outrageous situations and slapstick; this shouldn't come as a surprise since the shows are mostly written by I LOVE LUCY scripters Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis and the show itself is a Desilu Production produced and often directed by Desi Arnaz himself. If you've ever seen Lucille Ball's 60's sitcoms THE LUCY SHOW and HERE'S LUCY you know what to expect.

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Desi himself guest-starred 4 times during the two seasons as bullfighter Raphael Del Gado. Arnaz's character was introduced early in the first season in a typically zany fashion: Eve and Kaye (it's always been very strange to me how all the main characters' first names are exactly the same as the actors playing them -- EXCEPT Deborah Walley's Suzie!!!), in the midst of some typical meddling, attempt to return a duplicate silver punch bowl the kids received as a wedding present while they're away on their honeymoon. Herb and Roger have forbidden the mothers-in-law from pestering the kids by constantly calling them on their home phones. Of course, Eve and Kaye decide they didn't promise not to use the payphones in the department store. Eve calls the kids and spends their last coins on a long conversation and, when they hang up, they realize everyone's gone home and they've been locked inside the store. Kaye finds one last dime tied into the corner of her hankie (Eve makes fun of this fact) and they attempt to call their husbands for help. Unfortunately, while Eve is dialing Kaye is jabbering away and Eve ends up calling the wrong number: that of matador Raphael Del Gado in Barcelona, Spain. Since it's their last dime, they implore Del Gado (whom they've woken from a sound sleep) to call their husbands in Los Angeles and tell them their wives are locked inside Young & Robbins department store. Much patented silliness derived from Arnaz's thick accent and the language barrier ensue; again, if you've ever seen I LOVE LUCY you know the kind of thing I mean. Of course, this is only one comedy incident among several which are crammed into the 22-24 minute programme. In fact, it's mind-boggling just how MUCH they manage to cram into each episode; one never feels cheated of crazy antics.

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Probably the single most incredible thing about THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW, after all these years, is the fact that I had mostly forgotten almost every single plot -- UNTIL I see the episode again. Not only do I find myself recalling the plot and most of the lines of dialogue but also find myself remembered the exact tone of voice of the line readings by the actors; much in the same way one remembers song lyrics along with the specific melody. Now and then I stumble across a particular line and line reading which I've internalized and used in my daily conversations never realizing that they originated back in these MOTHERS-IN-LAW episodes. I am still awaiting a pair of episodes which I have remembered through the years: one features a rather famous guest appearance by the one-hit-wonder 60's rock group The Seeds who perform their hit "Pushin' Too Hard" (and if you don't remember it you WILL the moment you hear it) and another Desi Arnaz guest-starring episode in which he comes to visit the girls and requests they make his favourite meal: suckling pig. Unfortunately, the pig that is delivered to their house is still alive and, owing to the fact that Eve or Kaye name the animal "Bright Eyes", they cannot bring themselves to kill it. Can't wait to see these (and ALL the episodes, for that matter).

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I must say it's quite a nice thing to have something from one's childhood re-emerge after nearly 3 decades that is just as worthwhile as one remembers it. THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW is one of those happy occurrences. If you've never seen the show, and you are apt to enjoy these types of wacky, silly 60's sitcoms, you're in for a treat. And if you only dimly remember it from your own mispent youth, I can't urge you strongly enough to run right out and find yourself a copy. Dry, sarcastic Eve Arden paired with bombastic Italianate Kaye Ballard are a comedy duo to be cherished.