"The Honeymooners" remains one of the most beloved shows in television history, and deservedly so. Not only is this the greatest contribution of The Great One himself, Jackie Gleason, but it's a show that has influenced generations of television that have followed in its footsteps.
Ralph Kramden (Gleason) and Ed Norton (Art Carney) remain one of the great comedy teams of all time, which is not to underestimate the contributions of Ralph's wife, Alice (most identified with Audrey Meadows), and Ed's wife, Trixie.And cable channel TV Land is in the midst of a weeklong celebration that includes a whole slew of "Honeymooners"-related programming -- specials, long-unseen shows and restored episodes -- that amount to a feast for fans of the show.
Thank you, TV Land!
The highlights of the week include:
Inside TV Land: The Honeymooners (tonight at 8) is the first special ever produced specifically for the cable channel, and it's a good one. Produced by the team behind VH1's "Behind the Music," this hour takes a similar tone -- and is similarly fascinating.
In addition to old interviews with the late Jackie Gleason and the late Meadows, the hour features myriad clips and contemporary interviews with Carney, Joyce Randolph (the most famous Trixie), Marilyn Gleason (Jackie's widow), Jayne Meadows (Audrey's sister), various producers and writers, as well as producers and stars of "Everybody Loves Raymond," who talk about the influence of "The Honeymooners."
And there's some fascinating stuff here -- like the conjecture that the original Alice Kramden, Pert Kelton, wasn't dropped because of health problems but because of Hollywood blacklisting.
This is a great hour of TV.
The Adoption Episode (Wednesday, 8 p.m.) is a sheer delight -- an hourlong, musical episode of "The Honeymooners" that hasn't been seen on TV since Dec. 31, 1965, when it was an installment of "Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine."
Gleason, Carney and Audrey Meadows sing and dance their way through a hugely entertaining hour of original music surrounding a story of Ralph and Alice adopting a baby. It's great stuff.
(These days, we get all excited about a TV musical like "Annie" or "Cinderella." It's hard to remember when they did these as just another weekly episode.)
The Honeymooners . . . the Really Lost Debut Episodes (Thursday at 8 p.m.) is a rerun of the 1993 show rather annoyingly hosted by Paul Reiser. It features half-a-dozen early "Honeymooners" sketches from Gleason's 1950-52 stint as the host of the Dumont series "Cavalcade of Stars" -- including the very first on Oct. 5, 1951.
The Classic 39 (beginning Saturday at 4 a.m. and running for 48 straight hours) are the familiar 39 episodes of "The Honeymooners" that first ran on CBS during the 1955-56 season and have been running in syndication seemingly ever since.
But not like this. TV Land has digitally restored the programs and replaced up to three minutes per episode that were edited out for syndication.
The episodes begin airing in the channel's regular lineup weeknights at 9 p.m. beginning Monday, March 20, joining the 69 "lost episodes" (culled from sketches on Gleason's variety shows) already in the rotation.
Ed-Vice is a specially produced series of shorts that feature Carney as Ed Norton. The spots air between programs on TV Land throughout the week.