Primetime Panic Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Primetime Panic Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf November 1, 2021

Fun City Editions heads back in time, returning to the 1980s and its focus on network television entertainment. For “Primetime Panic,” 1981’s “Freedom,” 1982’s “Dreams Don’t Die,” and 1983’s “Death Ride to Osaka” make their Blu-ray debut, each enjoying fresh 4K scans from their 35mm original negatives.

Click here for a review of Dreams Don't Die

Click here for a review of Death Ride to Osaka

Click here for a review of Freedom

Primetime Panic Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

See above for reviews.

Primetime Panic Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

See above for reviews.

Primetime Panic Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Booklet (14 pages) contains essays from Justin LaLibery and Cristina Cacioppo, and production credits.

Dreams Don't Die

• Commentary features graffiti historian Dino Proserpio and Fun City Edition's Jonathan Hertzberg.

Death Ride to Osaka

• Commentary features film curator Lars Nilsen.

• Interview (46:04, HD) is a video conference talk with director Jonathan Kaplan. Emerging from the bombing of "Over the Edge," Kaplan was hunting for any sort of gig, finding an offer from television producer Leonard Hill. Presented with a chance to shoot some of the film in Japan and work with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kaplan was up for the challenge, though he details a developing fiasco with a production manager who was sent oversees to secure locations. Mako also rescued the helmer, stepping forward to deal with Japanese culture and language demands. The interviewee shares great fondness for Leigh, detailing her creative process and desire to sing in the feature, also touching on her emotional state during this post-"Twilight Zone: The Movie" time in her life. Crew troubles are explored and career woes are remembered, with Kaplan sparking to the exposure and scheduling of T.V. entertainment, eventually claiming work on "E.R."

• "Finding My Own Way" (15:31, HD) is a video essay created by Chris O'Neill.

Freedom

• Commentary features television historian Amanda Reyes.

• "Barbara and Carrie Remembered" (27:08, HD) is a video conference interview with Andrea Adams, the daughter of "Freedom" subject Carrie Morrow and granddaughter of writer Barbara Turner. Adams looks at the film as a family document, capturing the carnival life and relationship specifics with alarming accuracy. The interviewee shares her memories of Turner, who was actively involved in the production of "Freedom" (and later, 1995's "Georgia"), and reinforces the realism of carny life in the picture, which features numerous autobiographical details. Relationships are examined, including Bill Mapel, who was also credited as a technical advisor, and Adams shares her understanding of the carny community, with her mother becoming part of the gang, which became something of a family.

Primetime Panic Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Primetime Panic" presents three very different offerings of televised drama, ranging from more exploitative interests to a traditional tale concerning a feuding mother and daughter. In the middle is "Dreams Don't Die," the best of the set, but all the offerings deliver quality work. A/V is impressive for largely forgotten titles, and supplements do what they can with help from adoring historians.