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Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: 1/25/2010
Director: Various
Cast: Emmanuel Lewis, Alex Karnas, Susan Clark
Year: 1983
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The Sereies:
Ah, the good old days of miniature black actors! Though a show I recall watching, Webster is not one that was a huge part of my childhood. Still, being an 80s kid, I was excited at the prospect of revisiting this show even if merely for the cheesy predictability, anti-PCness and bad child acting present in so many sitcoms from the decade. After three discs worth of season one, I was surprisingly impressed by how much I actually enjoyed rewatching Webster and what an unexpectedly decent actor twelve-year-old Emmanuel Lewis really was. Sure, the script is corny and the topics are pretty much that of every other 80s sitcom, but Emmanuel Lewis, playing a younger character because of his small size, is quite believable. And what a great laugh!
Webster, which ran from 1983 for six seasons through 1989, stars Lewis as seven-year-old Webster Long, whose parents died in an accident leaving him in the custody of ex-football star George Papadapolis, played by Alex Karras, and his new socialite businesswife Katherine Calder-Young, played by Susan Clark. Also part of the cast is Henry Pollic II as Katherine's effeminate secretary turned fitness guru, Jerry Silver. Sprinkled throughout the series is a wide array of “what do I know them from?!†kid extras… Heather O'Rourke from Poltergeist, Tiffany Brissette from Small Wonder, Mayim Bialik from Blossom, etc, etc.
Recurring character, Uncle Phillip, played by Ben Vereen, adds music, dancing and tension to the series with the season ending cliffhanger in which he is going to fight Katherine and George for custody of Webster. Part one of a two part episode… will Shout Factory release season two? Will we ever find out if Webster leaves the Papadapoli and goes to live with Uncle Phillip?
Episodes included on this three disc set are:
Another Ballgame
A Question of Honor
Happy Un-birthday
Don't Jump George
Consulting Adults
George the Patient in Spite of Himself
Katherine's Swan Song
Maybe Baby
Saying Goodbye
Missing
The Green-Eyed Monster
Secrets of the Night
Second Time Around
Special Friends
Travis
Uncle Phillip
That's Entertainment
More Than a Memory
Educating Katherine
Dreamland
Teddy Bear Scare
Webster Long: Part 1
Episode highlights include Webster's song and dance television performance with Ben Vereen (playing himself… a joke is made when Katherine first meets Uncle Phillip (also played by Vereen) and says, “Has anyone ever told you you look just like Ben Vereen?), Webster going missing (oh no!... not the dreaded 80s don't-talk-to-strangers episode!), a Special Olympics episode in which Web learns to treat people fairly and best of all a bed wetting episode!
Video/Audio/Extras:
The only extra in this set is a Webster trivia game (approximately ten questions) based on the season one shows. Presented in its original fullframe format, audio and video quality are what you'd expect for a twenty-eight year old television program.
The Final Word:
This was a fun set to watch and actually isn't as dated as you might think (except for the aerobics suits that pass by every once in a while…), definitely enjoyable for anyone who remembers it fondly.
