Following a very successful first season in syndication, Mister Ed moved on to greener pastures in the fall of 1961 when CBS picked up the show for national broadcast and added it to their Sunday night lineup. Here are all 26 episodes from the second season of the classic TV sitcom.
Architect Wilbur Post (Alan Young, The Time Machine) and his wife Carol (Connie Hines) are once again up to their ears in trouble, and hilarity, with all of the mischief brought on by their meddlesome talking horse. This season features a star-studded array of celebrities who appear on the show, including George Burns (the shows original producer), Zsa Zsa Gabor and Clint Eastwood.
In its second season, Mister Ed trotted out some impressive star power for three fan-favorite episodes that make this four-disc set a must-own–”Clint Eastwood Meets Mister Ed,” “George Burns Meets Mister Ed,” and “Zsa Zsa,” as in Gabor. The Clint episode is best as the star of Rawhide is hounded (horsed?) by Ed on a party phone line because, Ed complains, Clint’s horse is stealing his fillies. Burns, who produced the series’ pilot episode, doesn’t actually meet Mister Ed, but he does play straight man to Wilbur (Alan Young), who wants to audition Ed for Burns’s Las Vegas show. The glamorous Gabor, whom Ed helps get over her fear of horses, is an endearingly game comedian. Beyond the stunt casting, this second season has much to recommend it. Early in the series’ six-season run, the writers could still make hay out of the show’s fantastic premise of a newly married architect whose best friend just happens to be a talking horse. Wilbur and Ed (voiced by character actor Alan Lane) are a great comedy team with a genuine, and oddly touching friendship. “I’d rather have you than 25,000 carrots,” Ed tells Wilbur at one point. Some of the episodes are saddled with ridiculous plots (Ed joins the beatnik set in “Ed the Beachcomber,” Wilbur harbors a magician’s elephant in “Ed and the Elephant,” and a neglected Ed volunteers to be the first horse in space in “The Horsetronaut”), but many keep it as real as a show about a talking horse can get. In “Horse Wash,” Ed overhears a con man planning to scam Wilbur’s father-in-law and alerts Wilbur. In “Ed the Hunter,” he uses well-timed bumps and tail flicks to foil attempts by Wilbur and neighbor Roger (Larry Keating) to hunt ducks. This boxed set corrals two special features–vintage Studebaker car commercials and an Internet radio interview with Young and Connie Hines, who portrayed Wilbur’s unwitting wife Carol. Mister Ed holds up exceedingly well. Those who have never had the pleasure are in for a treat. As Roger remarks when Wilbur reels from another Ed-instigated predicament, “Never a dull moment with this boy.” –Donald Liebenson
Buy “Mister Ed: The Complete Second Season” For Only $24.99
March 5, 2010
#1
Does anyone know if Season 2 will have all uncut episodes unlike Season 1?
If the episodes are edited down to 22 minutes….there is no point to
buying this. YOu can buy a bootleg set from NIK AT NITE for 1/4th
the price if they are still using syndicated cut prints as they
did for 1/3rd of Season 1. ( iwas also forced to give this
a rating in order to post my question).
March 5, 2010
#2
The review by DICK YORK IS THE BETTER DICK “ZACHARY SMITH” ask the question
“Does anyone know if season 2 will have all uncut episodes unlike Season 1?
(which) are edited down to 22 minutes. . .”
My question: Are they 22 minutes becuase of the deletion of commercials or is there deleted footage from the story line? What does syndicated versions mean? He also says you can buy a “Bootleg” set from NIK AT NITE what web site is that? I check the official Nick at Nite web site and no sets are fo sale there. And isn’t a bootleg copy illlegal? Could be they are public domain shows – HELP
March 5, 2010
#3
You never get tired of Mr Ed…I loved them when I was a Kid and even now when im almost 50!
Its a must for anyone that loves the old shows.
March 5, 2010
#4
I bought Season Two because I’m a long time fan of Mister Ed. I will say that I was disappointed when there were so many shortened episodes in Season 1. It looks like that has been corrected in this release, thank goodness. For Season 2, they put in some old Studebaker commercials that Alan and Connie did, but the quality is really awful. I’ve seen the same Studebaker commercials that some collectors have, which look great. You can even see some on You Tube that look so much better than these do. Why didn’t they do some research to get stuff that looked great? Especially when it can be found pretty easily? The audio interview is pretty good from Shokus. Alan and Connie were asked different questions than what most of us have heard a million times. But so much of the interview has nothing to do with Alan. Why wasn’t it cut out? It’s pretty annoying.
I always expect great things from Shout, but unfortunately a lot of this is sloppy. Years ago, it may have been enough to just get the episodes out in some form. These days, if we’re going to pop for $30 or more for shows we’ve already got on VHS or took off of Nick at Nite,there better be a good reason.
There isn’t much here for bonus features, so there’s no excuse for not getting it right.
March 5, 2010
#5
All the episodes on the Season 2 set are complete and uncut (a few on season 1 were cut) so that alone is enough reason to recommend this set. Thanks for listening to consumers, Shout Factory!