Search - Dusty's Trail, Volume 2 on DVD

Guilty Pleasure

Retro_Saiyan | Australia | 04/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Low-budget sitcom aired for one season back in the 70's. It was a sitcom set in the old west. Although the plot holes are huge, I'm happy to say the production values are good, With the costumes and props well-done considering the tiny budget. It's not "Quality TV", But it's a fun way to excape from reality, since although the writing is uneven, There are some really funny moments. It was created by the same person as "Gilligan's Island", and the shows have much in common when it comes to the characters (It even features the actor who played Gilligan in the lead role). It's silly, But watchable, and certainly among the more tasteful "stupid" comedies. There are no swear words or sex jokes, So kids can watch it. Also, there are no dated jokes, which in my mind makes it better than some TV shows the critics liked. It's really only worth 3/5, But I give this 5/5 since the sound and picture quality is very good (Although the picture is watermarked during the first few seconds), and it's obviously taken from well-preserved 16mm film prints, which looks better than Video Taped shows from the same decade.



This DVD includes 4 episodes. This series is Public Domain, Meaning that the copyrights were NOT renewed. The show ran for 26 episodes, But only 17 have surfaced; It's possible the other 9 episodes are "lost" or destroyed, and that the episodes that have been released on DVD come from prints that somehow survived. It's well known the production company ('Metromedia') destroyed much of their archive, Although I cannot confirm whether the masters were kept for this show or not. Still, It seems stange that out of the 26 episodes made, only 17 have been released by the dozens of budget DVD companies. It's also possible that the other 9 episodes still exist, But are still under copyright for some reason.



I enjoyed the 4 episodes on this DVD, which was released by Alpha Video, who have also released other classic TV shows like "Rocky King Detective" (which ran on The DuMont Network) and "I Married Joan" (A famous NBC sitcom).



"Dusty's Trail" ran in first-run sydication during the 1973-1974 season."