Hey Vern, It's Ernest: The Complete Series

I'm so glad this has finally been released on DVD, and in a rather attractive set, I might add. It's been a long time since I've seen these. It brings me back to my childhood when I was 12. I grew up on Ernest P. Worrell. I still remember his Sprite and Mello Yello commercials since his others were local. I became hooked instantly. I was drawn in by his smile. All I knew was that I wanted to see more. "Hey, Vern! It's Ernest." is just an awesome series. Varney gets to show off a number of characters to 'Auntie Nelda' whom I am familiar with to 'Sgt. Glory' which I had never gotten to see until this point since he was used for local ads. This show is compared to 'You can't do that on television' which I liked, to 'Pee Wee's Playhouse' which I've never seen. "Hey, Vern! It's Ernest" is better by far. There's a moral message to every funny episode, some tongue-in-cheek humor for the adults, who seem to love this just as much as the kiddies, the same crazy sound effects from 'Lonnie Don', a inept magician named Existo, a clown family, and 'Willie the homemade robot'. "Earl the Barber" are among my favorite skits in which Ernest wants to look like a 'Wall Street Tycoon' but Earl always confuses that with something that rhymes with Tycoon. For instance: A baby baboon or a clock set on noon. The Dr. Otto character(played by Varney) refers to himself as the 'naive, semi-mad scientist' and his laugh is priceless and is so much fun to watch, especially that creepy hand moving around on his head. It's a joy to see 'Chuck'(Gail Sartain),'Bobby'(Bill Byrge) and 'Earl the Barber and Ernest's tongue'(Dan Butler) in this series as well as others. In the midst of the filth that has saturated Hollywood, the Ernest genre stayed honest and clean and still managed to be just as hilarious. I find myself always going back to the Ernest shows and seeing a true genius at work. He was never vulgar or dirty. Ernest was a lovable, humble, down to earth character. If you're an Ernest fan, this set if for you. I am happy to see a new generation appreciating the humor and sweet nature of Ernest as we adults did in our childhood days. Comics are fleeting. They may be funny for only a little while before we tire of them, but Jim 'Ernest' Varney is here to stay. I admit that after hearing of his passing in 2000, it took a while for me to start watching him again because it was just too hard to watch his shows so soon. He was and still is my favorite actor/comedian of all of time. He was a legend and a kind hearted, good man. You are sorely missed and your fans still love you, Jim. 1949-2000.

My kids love "Earnet Goes to Camp" which by far is the characters best movie. This collection of the complete "Hey Vern, It's Ernest" series is a great presentation of a wonderful and hard to find Saturday morning kid's show. If it wasn't for this release this show might forever be lost. I don't know if it's even available in any other form. My kids love this show and just watching them laugh their heads off makes it a valuable purchase. The show is a series of comedy sketches based around a central theme of each episode...its clean, simple and funny. All the standard, and some new, Ernest characters are there…Auntie Nelda, Dr. Otto, Sergeant Glory, Baby Ernest, and others. Jim Varney won an Emmy in 1989 for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and its a shame this series only went one season. Gailard Sartain's "Lonnie Don's School of Hollywood Sound Effects" and Ernest's Haircuts are my favorite bits on the show. If you need a fun show for kids, like unique humor and crazy performance art or just want to rewatch a show from your childhood this is the item to buy, know what I mean?

Ernest fans will love this series. "Ain't that right, Bobby!"

I really do love Ernest. Although I didn't watch him when I was little. My mom said I wasn't allowed to watch him for some reason. I tried to explain to her that it's for kids, but the cover of one of his movies looked scary to her or something. But some time last year, I started collecting his movies, and OH BOY, they are great! Commercials, movies and all. He is so hilarious. So when I saw that he had a television show, I pre ordered it right away. I can't believe how great this program is. It is so cheesy, over the top, crazy and just incredibly childish. The closest thing you can get to a cartoon. I recommend this for kids, because it is built for them. I recommend this to teens, for nostalgia qualities. I recommend this to adults, because it is made by these adults that act like children, so they can find it funny as well. As for episodes, they are oriented around repetition of characters and short sketches. Each new character grows on you, and the old characters everyone knows already makes it much more comforting.

If there was one thing I could say about this release, it would be this: It's about damn time! (Sorry about the French accent there). I didn't catch this show in it's entirety while it aired on TV (I caught at least two episodes that I can remember), but I've also just recently watched some at youtube, and it's really pretty good. As we can see, this series only lasted for one season with thirteen episodes, but it was very funny and, as mentioned above, imaginative. It's also mentioned above that Hey Vern, It's Ernest was compaired to Nick's You Can't Do That On Television and Pee Wee's Playhouse (in my opinion, it is a combination of the two). Someone also once called it a "Monty Python for kids". Yep, that pretty much sums it up. The skits were great, the Worrell style humor is intact and the the themes that they worked with each week made for some good story lines in each episode. Bottom line: this show is really good, esspecially for one that was in direct competition with Pee Wee. And for the very reasonable above price, this DVD set will make a great addition to your Ernest collection, knowutimean?

Great show! Brilliant acting funny as hell! Definitely recommend buying this treasure! Don't make classics like this anymore😢

Great.

My gosh,I couldn't believe it when I saw this series was available.Besides Pee Wees Playhouse,this was my favourite Saturday morning show of the late 80s.Both were along the same lines in presentation,and what the Playhouse was for Pee Wee Herman,this was a huge showcase for the multi talented Jim Varney.Did you know this one nabbed a couple of Emmy Awards?Yes,one for Outstanding Performer(Varney) and the second for the graphics and design for the show.A show endearingly geared for kids,but again like Pee Wee,one adults could also watch and"get".A wonderfully funny show with alot of talented folks in front AND behind the cameras.Coke Sams and John Cherry produced this series and would also tag along on Varneys adventures into the film world. Who can forget Varney's wonderful characters:his own,Auntie Nelda(my fave),Dr. Otto, Sergeant Glory, Baby Ernest and Astor Clement.WAIT a MINUTE!!Stop the presses!!! What happened to Astor Clement? Varney's beloved character of Astor Clement is a no-show in these shows.Why???? From what I can tell it seems that this is the only thing missing from the shows,so the reasoning seems even the more perplexing.There is however a glimmer of hope I can offer to those,like myself,who adored this character.On the "Essential Ernest Collection" his entire Astor Clement clips are on there.After watching them there,I had wondered at the time why they had only chosen to highlight all his Astor Clements from the shows.I only thought that someone picked them for their humour and to give a tantalizing taste for the series(which it did).It's a strange and disappointing circumstance indeed,but there you have it. Next we have Galaird Sartain who played Chuck, Lonnie Don(School of sound effects)& Matt Finish(photographer at large).Next is Bill Byrge(who has finally retired)who played Bobby to Galaird's Chuck(prominent in Varney's subsequent movies),Bruce Arntson who played Existo the Magician, Mike the Clown,Bill(of the singing duet of Bill and Coo),Daniel Butler who played Willie the Homemade Robot, Earl the Barber and Ernest's Tongue,Jackie Welch who played Mrs. Simon Simmons, Coo(to singer Bill) and various other singers and many,many other talented folks.I have to mention one of my favourite characters,dust bunny.He would more often than not appear beside Ernest,chat and sneeze and disappear.This would in turn start Ernest sneezing,bunny would reappear and sneeze and leave again,Ernest would sneeze again,and,well you get the point.Some of the humour could be subtle but most was just plain over the top fun for all;and it worked beautifully.Varney and company made it all look so easy,fun and goofy but if you look a little deeper(and I cannot stress this pooint enough) you can appreciate the talented people who worked so hard to create this show. I guess it's no secret I loved this show but Mills Entertainment here has let us all down not only by leaving out the Astor Clement spots,but it has done a less than stellar job on the transfer.The picture is acceptable(but not great)on an analog set but if you try and run this DVD set on an LCD or Plasma screen the graininess is quite evident.I have tried it on all three so I know.Also during the ep "Hey Vern its the Holidays" Ernest's face briefly goes from full colour to green for a second or two.Probably the film master but this should have been taken care of before release(can you say "quality control"?).Furthermore,if one wants to get REALLY,REALLY picky,and I'm just the chump for the job,the very ending credits are not the same.The next to last ORIGINAL ending credit had a sea shell and the words Emshell productions beside it.They are there but the very last credit was DIC productions,pronounced "Deek" by a little girls voice.The last ending credit NOW is not DIC but Cookie Jar productions who presumably now own the rights to the show.OK Cookie Jar where in the heck is Astor Clement!!???.......argggh! As a P.S. to all this mess,yes this is a two disc set but the packaging is the ODDEST I have ever come across.It is an over size snap case that houses the two DVDs,but inside the DVDs themselves are put into just two ordinary paper and plastic sleeves,which in turn are supposed to be held in place by a square area on one side the size of the DVDs with a couple of claws at one end to "secure" them.The top and bottom of this square area has gaps which the other side of the case fills with two half moon shaped protrusions;again to keep the DVDs "secure".Well,it took me THREE orders to finally get a set which was A)secured in place and not floating around and B)DVDs that because they had been floating loose,were all scuffed and scratched.The packaging is certainly different....and cheap! All in all a disappointment.A show I dearly loved,finally comes to DVD but what do we get....a less than stellar transfer,the ending credits gone,questionable packaging to say the least,all of these forgivable sins if they hadn't,on top of THAT,inexplicably taken out ALL Varney's Astor Clement spots!!!.It's not what I would say the best way to honour a talented group of people,let alone its star Jim Varney.Shame on Mills Entertainment.