Did you know this is coming out on DVD? Do you even know what it is? The Great American Dream Machine was a PBS series that ran for two years starting in 1971. It was irreverent, controversial and often very funny.
Basically, it was a mess of freeform short films and sketches, some quite wonderful. Albert Brooks' "Famous School for Comedians" alone is probably worth the price of this whole set and I vividly recall a cooking lesson where Marshall Efron went through the ingredients of a popular brand of frozen lemon meringue pie and noted that it didn't contain a speck of lemon.
Among the others seen on the series were Charles Grodin, Penny Marshall, Henry Winkler, Andy Rooney, writer Studs Terkel, Martin Mull, David Steinberg, Carly Simon, Tiny Tim and a new kid named Chevy Chase who was still a few years from appearing on Saturday Night Live. Rooney contributed opinion segments which he later began doing each week on 60 Minutes.
I really liked this show back then. I'm hoping it's still as good as I remember and we'll find out when the DVD set comes out. Amazon currently says it'll be out September 29 and they're charging $49.98 for it. I just got a press release from the video company that says it's being delayed until October 27 and it's $39.98, which means it should be even cheaper on Amazon and with their price guarantee, you should get the lowest possible price. Here's the link when you're ready.