The Johnny Carson Box Set is no doubt a DVD collection of one the most famous talk shows that has every aired on TV. The Tonight Show is now in its 54th season, with no sign of ever going off the air. The format and hosts have changed over the years, but at least for me, the show has always represented a consistent quality that is becoming increasingly harder to find on television. Johnny Carson presided over that empire for 30 years. There is definitely some mixed opinions over this DVD collection. Find out what Carson fans are saying…

I’ve never been a regular or dedicated viewer, mostly because work or other schedules prompted an early bedtime. When I did have an opportunity to watch, I have always been impressed by the show. Throughout its history The Tonight Show has led the way in both its pure entertainment value and also the quality of the show’s writing and guests. The Tonight Show is the third longest-running TV program in U.S. television history.

The Johnny Carson Box Set is getting mixed reviews

The Johnny Carson Box Set Includes:

Timeless Moments: Capturing Johnny at his best, these 6 DVDs include classic Carson characters, The Mighty Carson Art Players, guest stars, favorite comedians and more. It was previously only available to Carson Club members.

The Original Ultimate Collection: Johnny´s favorite moments from 30 years of The Tonight Show in a 3 DVD collection.

Stand-Up Comedians: Featuring the funniest comedians ever to appear on The Tonight Show. Laugh along with Johnny and enjoy 20 classic stand-up routines.

Carson Country: Great music, hilarious tall tales and homespun humor on this one-of-a-kind collection of country legends.

Highlights of the Set

Likely the best collection of the Carson-era show available, Heeere’s Johnny: The Definitive DVD Collection from The Tonight Show  delivers a ton of material spread over 12 discs. In reality, we’re looking at several past releases gathered together into one set, but the whole package comes nicely packaged together in a fold-out box that proudly displays The Tonight Show set’s colored curtains on its cover.

This collection is essentially split into a few separate releases within the overall 12-disc set, it’s best to take a close individual look at each of the sets that are included.

The intro menu to both discs is funky, fun and colorful, setting the stage nicely for the presentation to follow; there are 10 performances included on each disc. The audio presentation is clear for all the performances, but remains solidly grounded in the center channel, with minor support from the front speakers. If you are a stand-up comedy fan of any sort, this part of the set is a real gem you’ll be sure to enjoy. There are no extras of any kind on this set.

1. Stand-Up Comedians is an absolute treat! This two-disc set gathers the network television debuts and performances of some of the most legendary comedians in TV history. The appearances range from the mid-’70s into the ’80s, and the picture quality varies widely between more grainy to clearer picture quality throughout the set.

2. Carson Country includes 18 chapters, all very loosely tied together by a country theme. I’m really not sure why this was billed as a “down home country line-up,” because to be honest, it seems like a totally random assortment of clips with little rhyme or reason behind it.

3. The Original Ultimate Collection

This is a three-disc set, broken up into
“The Best of the ’60s and ’70s,” and “The Best of the ’70s and ’80s” on Volume 1
“The Best of the ’80s and ’90s” and “Johnny Goes Home” on Volume 2
“The Final Episode” on Volume 3

4. Timeless Moments rounds out the set nicely and makes up the remaining six discs of the set.

One interesting feature on this set is that viewers can see a list of the notable “Celebrities,” “Comedians,” “Civilians,” and “Animals” that appeared during those decades, and the dates of their appearances. As you can imagine, with the wide variety of episode dates on this set, footage ranges from black and white to color and in various levels of quality from poor to average.

This set is a compilation of performances and interviews from throughout the show’s history; from the looks of things, the majority of the material is from the ’80s and ’90s.

Johnny Carson on DVD

Consumer Comments – Positive Points

• For the money this is definitely a good buy, if you are a die hard Carson fan.

• For some of the memories and the heart breaking last two shows – I gave it 5 stars just for the emotional aspects, the nostalgic reasons, to be able to once again catch a few glimpses of the finest talk and entertainment show this nation’s ever had. I owe Johnny that.

• This collection does a great job of spanning much of Johnny’s years of being the Tonight Show host.

Consumer Comments – Negative Points

• This whole set really seems to be a re-release of several pre-existing titles, simply pulled together into a brand new box. Reading some of the negative reactions to the set online, you can understand why long-time fans would be choked to see yet another “definitive” collection of their beloved show. It seems some of the included material may have been available more exclusively to “Carson Club” members in the past, but is now open to a broader retail audience. To make fans have to buy multiple boxed sets and endure some overlap to have a complete collection of material from The Tonight Show really is inexcusable.

• What’s really missing are the banter between Johnny and his many personal close friends and fellow performers, the interviews, Johnny just being Johnny letting others have their time in the spot light but always adding his quips and charming laughter, his suave cosmopolitan presence anchoring the whole thing.

• The video quality varies widely from extremely grainy and washed out, to fairly stronger visual quality in more recent material. The audio is relatively consistent.

• I just wish it was better organized, had more clips of Johnny himself, and wish the video and audio had gone through some sort of restoration process.

• This collection has no specific order. There is no way to easily work your way from oldest to newest, or in any other manner. This collection is actually made up of several other collections. One of the included collections is made entirely of stand-up comedian guests that appeared on The Tonight Show. I bought this to watch Johnny, not to see a young Jerry Seinfeld, or the early (and yet still irritating) years of Rosanne Baar.

• The DVDs did not have the full shows. I remember that so many shows were great not because of any single performer but because of the entirety of the whole program, from monologue to conclusion.

The Johnny Carson Box Set in Review. Although by no means a true definitive collection, and in some ways a re-hash of existing releases.This set makes a pretty solid effort at gathering some classic moments and archival footage into a worthwhile 12-disc collection. If you are a fan of The Tonight Show and don’t already own any of the various smaller sets that have been released over the years, this is a must-have set that can be found for about $70—a pretty exceptional value. However, if you already own an assortment of previous releases of The Tonight Show on DVD, make sure you take a close look at your existing sets before buying this new release to avoid an irritating and potentially expensive double-dip. By the way, if you’re interested in checking out some oldies but goodies here’s another Time Life music review .

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