My review was written in June 1984 after watching the show on CBS Fox video cassette.
The fifth edition of Playboy Mag's live action cassette/disk for home video fans is a passable entertainment, still unable to lick the series' lack of import or special event status that would attract a wider audience. Hefner & Co. Nee a coup, such as a controversial interviewee exclusively on tape (not duplicating the print mag version) to attract attention.
Besides the driving force of a pretty woman au naturel, in this case a mini bio of 30th anni playmate Penny Baker, program features an okay portrait of staff photographer Richard Fegley and a promising (though brief) segment featuring Allen Funt and his "Candid Candid Camera", basically an extension of his popular tv practical jokes format to include nudity and unexpurgated language (a la Funt's 1970 feature film "What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?"). Amidst the usual quick joke sketches and limericks (kept to a minimum as program fille this time), there is a puff interview with the editors (from National Lampoon and "Saturday Night Live" backgrounds) of Playboy -The Parody, a satire mag published last year.
Low points include an extraneous, circa 1979 performance at the Playboy Mansion by the Village People, featuring (uncredited) the late Dorothy Stratten dancing around onstage in her shorty nightgown, plus a pointless interview by Larry Grobel of actress Morgan Fairchild.
The fifth edition of Playboy Mag's live action cassette/disk for home video fans is a passable entertainment, still unable to lick the series' lack of import or special event status that would attract a wider audience. Hefner & Co. Nee a coup, such as a controversial interviewee exclusively on tape (not duplicating the print mag version) to attract attention.
Besides the driving force of a pretty woman au naturel, in this case a mini bio of 30th anni playmate Penny Baker, program features an okay portrait of staff photographer Richard Fegley and a promising (though brief) segment featuring Allen Funt and his "Candid Candid Camera", basically an extension of his popular tv practical jokes format to include nudity and unexpurgated language (a la Funt's 1970 feature film "What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?"). Amidst the usual quick joke sketches and limericks (kept to a minimum as program fille this time), there is a puff interview with the editors (from National Lampoon and "Saturday Night Live" backgrounds) of Playboy -The Parody, a satire mag published last year.
Low points include an extraneous, circa 1979 performance at the Playboy Mansion by the Village People, featuring (uncredited) the late Dorothy Stratten dancing around onstage in her shorty nightgown, plus a pointless interview by Larry Grobel of actress Morgan Fairchild.