Published on 5/17/08
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If you always dreamed of having Lassie as a pet or traveling through space with Flash Gordon, then this one’s for you; if not, then this one’s for you…to enjoy ironically. Over four discs, this new collection culls from the TV archives, packaging four typical Saturday-morning lineups from the 1950s. It’s fascinating to see how much has changed (rampant misogyny) and how much has stayed the same (On Ding Dong School, Miss Frances pauses between questions, eagerly awaiting the children’s responses—shouted at home and into the TV—like on Dora the Explorer). And there are puppets galore, including Muppet-like socks, tiny marionettes and ventriloquy big boys. Shout has done a fine job of restoring the footage without washing out its authentic grittiness—we only wish there was a little more of each of the shows to gauge how they fared over multiple episodes.
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