Fresno

This mini-series has some deeper meaning for me which I will spare readers. Suffice it to say, it is Carol Burnett at her best and supported by a wonderful cast who simply bring out the best in each other. It is of course a scathing parody of such 80s fare as Dynasty, Falcom Crest, The Colbys, Dallas, Knotts Landing (get the picture?) Except for one thing. Ms Burnett and crew totally and remarkably lampoon the above shows. Laughs abound as each member genuinely looks as if they are having the time of their lives. Charles Grodin is wonderful, Dabney Coleman is at his best and Bill Paxton is as sexy as ever. As a matter of fact, this is when I first began to notice Bill. He has evolved into a wonderful actor and I wish he would do more comedy. I love this mini-series so much.

As far as we know, we are two of about ten people on planet Earth to have watched this show. This is so frustrating, because Fresno has to be one of the best shows of its kind ever produced.

Fourteen years later, my spouse and I still quip about certain memorable scenes and lines. For me, the most memorable was the breakfast table scene culminating in the "You'd think this was Roots or something" comment. For my spouse, it was Carol Burnett always telling the driver to bring around the Bentley (always in the garage under repair), and then riding, facing backward, in a broken down station wagon like nothing was wrong.

We wish other people could/would watch Fresno, so we can be sure that it was as funny as I remember (and we aren't crazy).

After so many years, I still get these spontaneous flashbacks about "Fresno" - like LSD, except this is even tripier! Think of an extended Carol Burnett skit as the most outlandish take-off, with the most insane dialogue and characters; and think of all of this as dead on target - the soap opera mini-series à la "Dallas" and "Dynasty," with a little "Santa Barbara" thrown in, and you get (I'm laughing as I type this) "Fresno".

Usually, after the premise has worn off, this kind of satire doesn't have the inventiveness or the talent to sustain a feature. But with "Fresno," the idiocy, the inanity, the hilarity is indeed sustained throughout: for the whole ride you really don't know what new goof is around the corner.

I would love to have seen Harvey Korman in the cast. Hey, can't have everything, though with "Fresno," I almost do. Something else outrageous, though un-funny, about "Fresno" is that no video has been issued for this, one of the greatest comedies in television history.

If you remember this line out of the opening segment, then you're still laughing, as I am. For those who don't, the line refers to how the town got it's name: the Spanish explorers catching a whiff of a foul odor and asking what the smell is-"Smells like...FRESNO!" From Carol Burnet riding backwards in her station wagon to Gregory Harrison barechested with a white t-shirt stuffed in the back pocket of his jeans, this is without a doubt the finest spoof ever created. I would dearly love to see this movie on VHS. It would be a favorite in my house.

I have a two VHS set of tapes of FRESNO that appear to have been distributed by "Terry Blood Distribution" out of England (licensed by MTM).

Now - I found this on Ebay of all places and was quite surprised to find that they were commercial reproductions. Quality is fair to mediocre but all the comedy is there. There have been some DVD's listed but I'm sure they are either fan-produced or copies of tapes like these.

Since there is a ten line minimum for comments I'll add that this version has no laugh track as has been mentioned on some of the rebroadcast versions.

Personally, the comedy is more apparent when the laugh track is omitted since this was never shot as a stage performance.