TVSquad

It must have been hard to put a set together for a show like The Tonight Show. It's not the type of show you can do by season (way too many episodes), and Johnny Carson was host for 30 years (1962-92). A set like this is bound to disappoint some fans. But you know what? The set is just individual DVDs that have already been released in another form, and now they're packaging them under the Definitive DVD Collection title. That might tick off some fans who already bought the discs, but the set is well-done and has a variety of material to recommend it.

Packaging: What a neat box. Very simple in its layout (the front of the box opens up in two sections, like double doors) and the CDs are placed inside. But it's the picture on the cover that I like the best. They could have gone with a picture from Johnny's last show, or some sort of montage of pictures of classic moments from the show. But instead it's a picture of the famous multi-colored curtain, and that's elegant and well-thought out.

The set consists of four different sections (12 DVDs total): The Original Ultimate Collection, which includes all of Johnny's favorite moments from the show over the years. You get stars like Frank Sinatra, Bob Newhart, Jimmy Stewart, and Steve Martin, as well as early glimpses of Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Bill Clinton, and many more. It's interesting to note that the next-to-last goodbye episode (the last was a retrospective with just Johnny on a stool), shown in full here, featured Bette Midler and Robin Williams. I guess in 1992 they were considered big enough to close the show.

Timeless Moments From The Tonight Show has a ton more stars (way too many to list here - really, just know that everyone who was a star between 1962 and 1992 probably appeared on the show at least once) as well as all of the characters Johnny did over the years, from Carnac to Art Fern. You also get a bunch of clips of Joan Embrey and Jim Fowler and their animals (Johnny was great with animals too), and the classic "Return to Studio One" episode from 1969, a fascinating night that featured Dean Martin, Bob Hope, and George Gobel all sitting down with Johnny. Too bad so many of the other episodes from the 1960s were lost or destroyed.

Stand-Up Comedians features...well, you know. All of the great and soon-to-be greats are here: Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, Rodney Dangerfield, Drew Carey, Steven Wright, Garry Shandling, and more.

Carson Country is the only disc I wasn't thrilled with. It's a collection of the best moments from country guests that appeared on the show, including Johnny Cash, John Wayne, and The Judds. And the standup from Brett Butler is also on the Stand-Up disc.

Audio/Video: Both are fine, though you will get a wide range of video since this show lasted 30 years. Some scenes are in black and white, some are in color, some video is better than others.. You'll notice that some episodes have sound that seems to come from all around you (depending on your stereo set-up) while others are only in the middle channel. But that's to be expected in a set like this.

Extras: It's hard to judge anything on these discs as "extra" since most of the material was included on the original individual sets that are still in the box. But I'd call "Johnny Goes Home" an extra, and it's quite good. It's a documentary that shows Johnny returning to his home town in Nebraska. Another extra is a list of all of the stars that appeared on the show. You get to see who was on the show and the date they appeared.

Should you buy this set if you already have all of the individual discs? Eh, I wouldn't. There's really no reason to, unless you dig the box and want to display the discs on your shelf that way. Maybe someone will be selling the box on eBay and you can get it and put your discs inside.

I have a feeling that they'll be another release of material from the Carson years (there's so much more to see). Until then, this is a really good (though not perfect) set.