Parky's Picks product reviews

I grew up watching Michael Parkinson on television with my parents. I daydreamed of working at the Beeb and getting interviewed alongside my favourite comedians and movie stars at the time. The Beeb really knew how to make a great talkshow, and Parkinson was a classic example. He was a journalist, who knew his craft and how to ask questions in an interesting way. I recently read Parky's autobiography and was fascinated by the man and his career over the decades. I couldn't wait to watch this DVD.

This DVD doesn't have whole episodes. Instead its a long chain of partial interview snippets from personalities. Each new person is introduced by present day Parky, which is neat. I found these bits a little too short though and a bit stilted. Still the great man, but a little stiffer I guess. The archive footage was awesome though. Some of the personalities I hadn't really heard of. That didn't matter because their stories were historically interesting to me, or funny. Of the people I had heard of, these were even more exciting to me. They showed footage I had never seen (because the shows aired before my time) and footage I could easily recall as well.

In one or two parts I near peed myself laughing. In one or two places I felt like crying. It was a bit of a roller coaster, but always the amazing feeling and style of the original talkshow. One thing the BBC failed miserably at in the beginning, was deleting old shows as soon as they aired. Many great names have commented on this in books and on TV over the years. To think of the segments of film that have been lost because they couldn't imagine anyone wanting to see a repeat performance! That's why collections like this are so special and important. They are moments in time on film captured and saved.

The only thing I would have maybe changed was, the way its just one giant string of show. I would have cut it into episodes so you could play all or play part. You do have the opportunity to scene select, but it plays on if you scene select. I really liked the featurette, because it was more opportunity to see present day Parky. The short intros could have been a bit more lively. Overall though, this is a good collection and a good follow up from the first one.