Considered one of the funniest shows to ever air on television, Car 54 Where are you? is finally available for later generations to discover. The show stars an instantly recognizable Fred Gwynne, who many will quickly associate with his Munster’s character Herman Munster, and his partner the late Joe E. Ross (The Sgt. Bilko Show). Other familiar faces are Al Lewis, another Munster’s alum who played Grandpa Munster, and his wife played by Charlotte Rae (The Facts of Life). Later guests would include Ozzie Smith and Nipsey Russell to name a couple. An instantly recognizable cast for sure but could this be the funniest show ever to be aired on television?

The collection contains all 30 episodes of season one on four discs. As I began to watch the first couple of episode I realized something. Car 54 Where Are You? is, without a doubt, one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. Now, it could be that a majority of the shows that are on television today, in the comedy genre, pretty much stink. Nothing comes to mind aside from House of Payne that I find even relatively amusing, and that show is only funny because it reminds me of several real life people that I know. This series is hilarious because its written episode by episode to be a completely fresh adventure with the do good duo who ultimately fail in the most hilarious fashion possible. The show doesn’t even stick to just making it completely about hilarity at the precinct but rather we follow the characters into their homes and out onto the streets in their off time. There is no avenue left unexplored for writer Nat Hiken (who wrote the bulk of the episodes for the show) to explore and find even more hilarity. Right off the bat in No More Pickpockets (the sets second episode) we find Ross and Gwynne going undercover at Yankee Stadium where they find themselves immersed in a sea of pickpockets only to be thwarted by a master pickpocket who shows them up. It’s just such an unexpected turn that it makes the show so much more interesting and refreshing. Picture wise the set leaves a lot to be desired. It’s a pretty clean picture here and there but your getting source material that brings to mind the 1960’s when the show was first aired. Chances are it wont be getting any better then this but for the amount of entertainment the show provided me I could care less.

One of the bigger issues with the set, and I draw my sources from reviews over at Amazon, is that the casing for the discs is a real consumer dislike. I’ve seen this type of packaging before in the Sanctuary set, where there is a lack of spindle and the discs kind of slide into these slots located at the corners of the top and bottom to lock the disc in place. Apparently people hate this set up. Scratched discs come to mind in most reviews and even when I opened my set up for review I found one of the discs dislodged and laying face down. I think once your set has gone through shipping this set up is fine. It takes a gentle hand getting them in without rubbing the underside of the disc against the bottom disc but there is space between them and if your careful you shouldn’t have an issue. Of course the masses have spoken and with that being said Package Designer Lorien Babajian will more then likely regret mentioning her involvement in this on the back of the package. it’s a judgment call on your part on weather or not you want the set. Some people have taken the discs out and put them in slim cases located near the empty display. As always final judgment is yours. Enjoy.