Tales of the City (1994)

"The City" in question is San Francisco, and the tales are novelist Armistead Maupin's, his romantic, affectionate, and spirited homage to the glory days of his hometown. Maupin's idea of SF's glory days isn't the drug-filled Summer of Love (1967), but rather the drug-filled lust-in of the late '70s. Replacing acid with coke and ludes, psychedelia for disco, this six-hour miniseries (which caused controversy for its open drug use, nudity, and direct depiction of homosexuality upon its initial airing on PBS) follows the romantic struggles and identity crises of a colorful cast of characters. The action--as addictive as the drugs the characters ingest--is seen mostly from the innocent point of view of Mary Ann, the city's newest culture-shocked resident--so its presentation is rather decadent and hedonistic. Because the story originally ran as a daily serial in the San Francisco Chronicle before being compiled into a novel, its serialized structure suffers from typical soap-opera mawkishness and the need to shock with ridiculous revelations. Thankfully, this degeneration mostly occurs during the final two hours, allowing you to just enjoy the personalities and hilarious and often-touching interactions of the richly drawn characters before they're manipulated by plot devices. The performances are all outstanding, especially Chloe Webb's spacey ex-hippie Mona, Marcus D'Amico's romantically doomed Michael, and Olympia Dukakis's Anna Madrigal, the enigmatic mother hen/landlady of many of the film's central characters. --Dave McCoy Amazon.com

The DVD is (mostly) NOT edited

Let me say right here and now that this DVD edition (contrary to what some people have posted on here) is, for the most part, UNedited. The language (with one exception I noticed on episode 2), and nudity, are intact -- it is not edited, replaced or otherwise "cleaned up." People who claim the whole DVD is edited have been partaking too much of what Mrs. Madrigal grows in her garden.

Acorn Media has done an excellent job with this -- the picture and sound quality are excellent.

Avoid the lackluster follow-up sequels -- the original "Tales of the City" remains one of the finest miniseries ever filmed, and this DVD edition doesn't disappoint. April 1, 2008

Cleaned-up Dialogue is Offensive Idea

San Francisco is my hometown. Armstead Maupin's "Tales of the City" is about my hometown and the "real" people who live there. I've been a big fan of Maupin's work from the start and own the original VHS tapes of "Tales". I was about to order the DVD set until I read a couple of reviews that alerted me the dialogue had been "cleaned up." I wouldn't have the DVD set under any circumstances!!! March 17, 2008

Tails of the City Review

I was very pleased with both the price and quick turn-around and would definitely recommend this seller. January 20, 2008

Great Series Made of Great Book

Anyone who enjoyed reading Maupins books will be happy with this collection of CDs. This classic (how quickly did this series become a classic!) TV production rendered both the story and (by far more important) the mood of the crazy San Francisco of 1970s. One third of a century later, we may laugh at the cars, dresses, shirts and all that made up the visual part of the 70s but we must not miss what the film is really about - love and tolerance. January 19, 2008

Best bit of television I've ever seen

First off I want to say that I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and this miniseries perfectly captures the Bay Area of the 70s. The story and characters present a perfect snapshot of that time. Besides loving the story and characters, watching this miniseries makes me nostalgic for my teenage years. It is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. November 29, 2007

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