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The lighter side of Frost! One of the trio of Frost programmes that dominated ITV weekends in the late 1960s and early '70s, Frost on Saturday concentrated mainly on topical interviews with entertainers and public figures. Made at a time when David Frost was working in the US and then jetting back to the UK to do three shows over the weekend, Frost on Saturday concentrates his energy into a forty minute mix of humorous interviews, debates and musical interludes with the likes of John and Yoko, The Rolling Stones (playing 'Sympathy for the Devil' in a barnstorming performance), Edna Everage (back when she was a mere Mrs. and not a Dame!), George Best (who plays football with Frost in the studio), Frankie Howerd, Dusty Springfield, Sir John Betjeman and more. A number of editions of Frost on Saturday no longer exist - this set includes the seven surviving shows, including a special programme from November 1969 to celebrate the history of broadcasting on the first official night of colour transmissions on ITV.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
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If you pay the full price for this it's too much because as a DVD collection, it's not that great. No extras. Just 7 programmes from 1968-9.
As a talk show it drags in many places. Frost didn't know how to move things along. There's a segment, for example, with George Best, that goes on and on, with just him kicking a ball around the studio with Frost. It goes on for about 20 very long, boring minutes.
There's a lot of audience participation and it's very interesting to see how the 'general public' looked back then.
It's also quite cool to see the colour episodes from 1969, of which there are three. One of them was broadcast on the first night of colour on ITV. That episode is a particularly draggy 'nostalgia' one, acres of reminiscing about the early, 1930s era of TV. Lots of older folks droning on about their memories. I was exhausted by the end.
There's a lot of emphasis on the cover of this DVD, on the pop aspect of this collection, because sixties pop sells. But, in fact, the singers just perform their songs and disappear again. Dusty sings some awful forgotten song. There's a rendition of Jesus Christ Superstar, by Murray Head, which is quite fun. I liked Blossom Dearie's song very much, she staggered around like a Thunderbirds puppet and the audience looked like they really didn't know what to make of it at all. Half of them looked as though they'd been pulled out of their retirement homes for the evening.
Fans of John Lennon might enjoy the long interview with him and Yoko in his 'I've just met Yoko, isn't she wonderful?' period. Yoko seems to be almost completely hidden by her hair and I barely understood a word she said. I think you get the picture. They invite members of the audience to bang nails into a board and talk about it being art.
I think, as this collection, full priced, goes for £20, I was expecting more than 7 programmes without extras. Quantity might have made up for the lack of quality for this often draggy collection of chit-chat & interviews, with the odd pop song thrown in.
As a talk show it drags in many places. Frost didn't know how to move things along. There's a segment, for example, with George Best, that goes on and on, with just him kicking a ball around the studio with Frost. It goes on for about 20 very long, boring minutes.
There's a lot of audience participation and it's very interesting to see how the 'general public' looked back then.
It's also quite cool to see the colour episodes from 1969, of which there are three. One of them was broadcast on the first night of colour on ITV. That episode is a particularly draggy 'nostalgia' one, acres of reminiscing about the early, 1930s era of TV. Lots of older folks droning on about their memories. I was exhausted by the end.
There's a lot of emphasis on the cover of this DVD, on the pop aspect of this collection, because sixties pop sells. But, in fact, the singers just perform their songs and disappear again. Dusty sings some awful forgotten song. There's a rendition of Jesus Christ Superstar, by Murray Head, which is quite fun. I liked Blossom Dearie's song very much, she staggered around like a Thunderbirds puppet and the audience looked like they really didn't know what to make of it at all. Half of them looked as though they'd been pulled out of their retirement homes for the evening.
Fans of John Lennon might enjoy the long interview with him and Yoko in his 'I've just met Yoko, isn't she wonderful?' period. Yoko seems to be almost completely hidden by her hair and I barely understood a word she said. I think you get the picture. They invite members of the audience to bang nails into a board and talk about it being art.
I think, as this collection, full priced, goes for £20, I was expecting more than 7 programmes without extras. Quantity might have made up for the lack of quality for this often draggy collection of chit-chat & interviews, with the odd pop song thrown in.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful
This disc contains some fascinating glimpses into the entertainment world of the time. John and Yoko at their most eagerly idealistic, comedians Bob Hope and Frankie Howerd in fine form, The Rolling Stones in GREAT form, and other performers ranging all the way from Dusty Springfield to Tessie O'Shea! Personally, I found Frost's interviewing technique extremely hit-and-miss, flitting from the fawning to the awkwardly clueless, so I didn't end up with any surer sense of his abilities, but the actual interviewees are so engaging I found this well worth the money.
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I don't normally like doing negative reviews as most people don't like to read them and, to be honest, I don't blame them. However, I take exception with this product as I ignored the other, less than glowing reviews and bought it on the basis of its cover and because Frost's stuff from the 60's is usually amazing.
Big Mistake.
This DVD is poorly produced and shows minimal signs of editing (e.g. one of the American guests gets up and loudly complains about the lack of Air conditioning). There are no extras and the two DVD's consist of 7 drawn-out interviews, without the benefit of other guests and with few decent songs or distractions to break up half-an-hour of inane questioning.
Of course, you might still be persuaded by the guest-list, which includes John Lennon, Yoko Ono, George Best, Frankie Howerd, Bob Hope, Edna Everage and John Betjeman. From what I saw and hear of these though, it didn't strike me that Frost got the best out of his interviewees and the interview with John & Yoko was truly one of the most boring bits of TV I've ever seen (John Lennon seemed stoned and Yoko Ono was nervously showing off her 'art' - consisting of a broken Teapot & a 3 minute film of a man's face stretched out to an hour).
The problem is that most episodes of Frost on Saturday were binned in the same 1970's archiving disaster that wiped out most of Doctor Who. What we are left with is a load of episodes lazily thrown onto a DVD when really they should have been edited into a short best-of.
Anyways, if you're expecting 'That Was the Week That Was', or any of Frost's excellent 1960's comedy, then this is the wrong place &, indeed, you will not find these released at time of writing.
That said, if you're looking for good interviews starring David Frost, then there is always the original Frost Nixon interviews. If you are after his comedy though, then the only place I've found it so far is on two tracks of this: Best of British Comedy (incidentally these are the best two tracks on the album IMHO).
If anyone knows of anywhere else that decent Frost material can be found, please feel free to leave a comment or write a List, as it'd be interesting to know. Do not buy this, though, as it really disappoints.
Big Mistake.
This DVD is poorly produced and shows minimal signs of editing (e.g. one of the American guests gets up and loudly complains about the lack of Air conditioning). There are no extras and the two DVD's consist of 7 drawn-out interviews, without the benefit of other guests and with few decent songs or distractions to break up half-an-hour of inane questioning.
Of course, you might still be persuaded by the guest-list, which includes John Lennon, Yoko Ono, George Best, Frankie Howerd, Bob Hope, Edna Everage and John Betjeman. From what I saw and hear of these though, it didn't strike me that Frost got the best out of his interviewees and the interview with John & Yoko was truly one of the most boring bits of TV I've ever seen (John Lennon seemed stoned and Yoko Ono was nervously showing off her 'art' - consisting of a broken Teapot & a 3 minute film of a man's face stretched out to an hour).
The problem is that most episodes of Frost on Saturday were binned in the same 1970's archiving disaster that wiped out most of Doctor Who. What we are left with is a load of episodes lazily thrown onto a DVD when really they should have been edited into a short best-of.
Anyways, if you're expecting 'That Was the Week That Was', or any of Frost's excellent 1960's comedy, then this is the wrong place &, indeed, you will not find these released at time of writing.
That said, if you're looking for good interviews starring David Frost, then there is always the original Frost Nixon interviews. If you are after his comedy though, then the only place I've found it so far is on two tracks of this: Best of British Comedy (incidentally these are the best two tracks on the album IMHO).
If anyone knows of anywhere else that decent Frost material can be found, please feel free to leave a comment or write a List, as it'd be interesting to know. Do not buy this, though, as it really disappoints.
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