Duckman - Seasons One & Two (1994)

Oh, what else is there to live for (besides a complete run of MST)? Finally "Duckman" has made an appearance on DVD. The first DVD set contains 22 of the comedy series 70 half-hour episodes which were originally shown from 1994 to 1997. The second set is due in January 2009 and will contain season three and the final season four. I had seen reruns of "Duckman" on Comedy Central a couple of years ago where the series was buried at one or two in the morning, and I also saw some of the episodes when the series was first run on USA. I have been waiting for this day for a LONG time.

"Duckman" is not a children's show, though a lot of the humor will fly over their heads (be warned that there are a lot of sexual references throughout the show). Duckman is a private detective, who had a pig sidekick, Cornfed, who helped solved the cases that came their way. Duckman had three (two?) kids and lived with his ex-wife's twin sister Bernice, since his first wife, Beatrice, had passed away before the series first episode. Duckman's zany Sam Spade type of character plays off of Cornfed's straight Joe Friday (from the TV series "Dragnet").

If you are a serious comedy fan, the series is highly recommended. You should not miss this. This is the way it should be done, smart and funny. The writing is consistently top-notch. In the commentary they say that a script could run to 80 pages, which is long for a 20 minute program. The series even had small tender moments scattered throughout, usually having to do with Duckman talking about his first wife, Beatrice, though they tended not to last very long. They are always cut off before they have a chance to get sappy. There is no laugh track, and the jokes fly at a very fast pace. The voice acting throughout is near perfection, with a huge nod to Jason Alexander, possibly topping his great performances in "Seinfeld". It is pitch perfect. The timing is exquisite. There are no sacred cows in the series. The series still feels relevant ten years later, and has aged well. As with the "Simpsons" and "Mystery Science Theater 3000" a lot of the comedy is buried in the references. If you don't know the reference you might miss the joke. I actually looked up one reference about South Dakota and the Civil War that I wasn't quite sure about. Many of the jokes are very sly and are in the little aside remarks that Duckman and Cornfed make throughout an episode.

One of my favorite episodes that perfectly catches the flavor of "Duckman" is from the second season and included in the first DVD set, " America the Beautiful". Some little kids wander into Duckman's office looking for America (for more on this subject check out Shad OShea's record "Goodbye_Sam" if you can find it, bring a barf bag). This gives the episode a chance to riff on the different decades of American history, starting off with the black and white "Leave It To Beaver" 50s, going onto the wild and free 60s which is introduced by Cornfed playing the opening lick to "Voodoo Chile" which he learned while part of the "Legends on Ice", and then to the "Saturday Night Fever" 70s, and ends with the Reagan's 80s. Duckman finally find America in a trash dump where she has been lost and forgotten, and the episode ends with a hysterical "We Are There" sing-a-long, which is, of course, a send-up of "We Are the World". One of the last little jokes is America, now with a brighter outlook, wanting to take the kids out to ice cream, but it broke and wants to know if she can float a long term loan, which is a joke a little to close to home if you have been reading the news about Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers recently.

You can write to James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com