This DVD is just awful. The picture is blurry and the voices do not match the lip movement....the volume is low. It's not good.

as seems to be par for the tonight show releases, as well as others,this dvd is edited so we can see what they deem as the best stuff from a whole episode. i get tired of people deciding for me what i don't need to see. this dvd is billed as a lost episode. the implication is you will see the whole show start to finish...we get about 35 minutes. if i want clips i'll go to a barbershop.

This is an absolute must-have! Sure, it would be great to have the entire show, but considering how the idiots at NBC lost so much from that era, we're lucky to have this. AFRTS did much editing for various reasons, so that may account for some of the missing segments. And considering the limitations of the kinescope process, some of the technical faults can be forgiven.

George Gobel steals the show, and that's not easy with Bob Hope and Dean Martin on the sofa...

More and more TV shows previously thought to be "lost" are turning up in underground vaults around the country, so maybe there's still a little hope that we'll get more of Johnny from the 60's, but for the moment, this is a good start.

Other reviewers have made some minor complaints about the DVD production, the pseudo-sixties look, bad sound, bad editing, etc., but I'm sure the producers of the DVD did the best they could with what they had.

Sure, it would be great to have the full show transferred from the original videotape instead of film, but due to the network geniuses who made decisions back then, this is what's left of this show.

That being said, if you accept the fact that it is an imperfect version of this classic show, you will have a great time watching it. Not only is this the most complete Johnny Carson Tonight Show available to the public (hopefully that will change), but it really does leave today's talk shows in the dust. They were there to entertain, not just plug their latest projects. The legendary Bob Hope, Dean Martin, George Gobel segment is there in its entirety and is as funny as I had always heard it was.

I highly recommend this DVD. Keep an open mind and overlook its technical faults, and just sit back and enjoy what TV used to be.

In 1974 Johnny claimed this episode as his favorite show, the trouble was that the tapes of pre 1972 shows had been erased by NBC. Because of that, this was never included in his anniversary specials. Then a color kino-scope 16mm print was discovered at the Armed Forces Radio & Television Service archives. This was great news!

The AFTRS kept all of their shows on half hour reels, so this show would have been on three reels. The trouble here is that the middle reel is still missing. 20 some minutes in you go to a commercial break while talking to Judy Carne, and then come back to Bob Hope sitting next to Johnny. Later Bob makes a quick reference to a "comedy sketch" which we never saw. Hopefully someday the missing reel will be found.

Another problem is the sound quality, it is so muffled at times that dialogue is hard to hear. Audio Engineers should have been able to clear this up some. I would suggest not listening to this from the small TV speakers.

Otherwise this is a MUST HAVE for any Johnny Carson - Tonight Show fan!
It IS the BEST show of the series, and it is even mentioned in the TV Guide Johnny Carson Tribute issue of 2/13/05.