Behind the Rankings: Amazon Prime adds "Laugh-In"

This is a new feature in which I will, when events warrant, discuss in a little more detail an item in the weekly SVOD power rankings. By "events warrant," I mean I might have a bit more to yak about than I want to cram into the regular post.

Amazon Prime quietly added the complete Rowan and Martin's  Laugh-In a few weeks ago, and, boy, is it funny to associate the word "quiet" with that series. Anything with JoAnne Worley is not gonna be a shrinking violet. I'm glad I learned about it, and if you hadn't known, well, you can bet your sweet bippy (Sorry) that it's true.

I don't know how many Prime memberships this addition is going to sell, but it sure might make some of us who already have it happy. Laugh-In is an ideal show for streaming. With all due respect to the massive DVD box set Time-Life released last year--and I can't help but point out that you could buy two years of Prime and have money left over for a few Mannix seasons for the $250 the complete series costs--this isn't the kind of show I need to own.

I love the idea of seeing the episodes, but I don't know about the RE-watchability.  It's not serialized (thank goodness), it is loaded with fast-paced but essentially unconnected bits, and it's easy to dip in and out of the series. With the episodes accessible on a platform like Prime, it's easy to look for guest stars that interest you, that being the main thing that distinguishes installments within a given season.

(Well. it would be easy if Prime Video had a better interface, but...)

Even if you aren't a fan of the series, it's a great time capsule of fashions, attitudes, and whatnot. The series is "of its time" and "dated," but I find that aspect fascinating, It's amusing to see what was considered cutting edge back then, or at least what was sold as cutting edge. The politics seem very tame compared to today's standards or to what we've been hearing about The Smothers Brothers (which also seems a lot tamer today) for years.

I watched a lot of Laugh-In on Decades several months ago, and while I enjoyed checking it out, an hour of the show is probably a bit much for many people. That's another reason to celebrate its presence here. I don't need to bust out a DVD and watch 3 or 4 of these in a row, but it's nice having them streaming when I do want to check one out.

Kudos to Amazon for making this possible. It's another reminder to keep checking these services because they surprise us from time to time.