Fred Willard plays the owner and bartender of a Washington D.C. bar where the political players gather in this short-lived late 1980s comedy series from Sid and Marty Krofft (creators of the children's show H.R. Pufnstuf). Ward is the only human actor (apart from brief appearances by real-life celebrity guests such as Martin Mull and Betty White), while the rest of the cast consists of puppet caricatures. Among the regulars at the watering hole are former Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter and then-current President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan, but the puppet mix includes both political and pop culture figures. Not quite a variety show but not really a sitcom, D.C. Follies plays like an American version of the British satire Splitting Image, although this is more topical spoof than political satire. The show riffs off of news events and celebrity culture with such diverse figures as Oprah Winfrey and Woody Allen, Dolly Parton and Bette Midler, Jim and Tammy Bakker, Sam Donaldson and Dan Rather, and Oliver North and Ed Koch, and the jokes tend to be rapid-fire quips and comic banter full of puns, insults, and vaudeville-like bits, more silly than satirical. In fact, the series is so deeply imbedded in the popular culture of the moment that it may be lost on modern audiences. Presenting all 44 episodes from the two seasons that the show ran (1987-89), this is an optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)
D.C. Follies: The Complete Series
Shout! Factory, 4 discs, 945 min., not rated, DVD: $34.99 February 5, 2018
D.C. Follies: The Complete Series
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