"Smells like Fresno!", a Spanish conquistador comments after the pleasure of smelling real California grapes is followed up by smelling the shriveled remains soon to be called raisins. It's in this raisin in the sun in the middle of northern California that the city of Fresno is created, and Katharine Kensington's struggling raisin empire is in jeopardy of being closed down. Rival raisin magnate Tyler Cane (Dabney Coleman) wants to gain the water rights from a river between the two properties, and this leads to the murder of the river's alleged owner (Louise Latham as a clock obsessed Ma Kettle like character). A hunky shirtless stranger (Gregory Harrison) has all the women a-twitter, and is carrying a secret of his own. Katharine's ruthless son Cane (Charles Grodin) bitterly hates Coleman (not realizing that he was named after the S.O.B.) and his bitchy nymphomaniac wife (Teri Garr) has her own goals upon spotting the hunky Harrison. But he only has eyes for Katharine's "adopted" daughter Valerie Mahaffey who longs to find out the truth about her parentage. Other soapy issues include Bill Paxton's arrest for Latham's murder, handyman Luis Avalo's determination to get a raise, and chauffer Charles Keating's desire to get the Rolls Royce fixed. Tune in tomorrow, 'cause for five nights, you are in the continuing story of "Fresno"!The fear of this mini-series spoof of the 1980's prime time soap opera was that it would be nothing more than an extended Carol Burnett Show spoof. One moment pays comical tribute to a recent soapy TV mini-series. Certainly, each of the character archetypes seems obvious as the right roles for her galaxy of TV co-stars, but wisely, none of those actors were cast here. Burnett only briefly goes into her Eunice characterization, and decked out in all sorts of wacky Bob Mackie costumes, looks like (along with the outrageous Garr) the poster child for any ambitious drag queen. Big shoulder pads and hats, cat fights (the one between Mahaffey and Garr is hysterical), murder, parental revelations and secrets of all sorts move this along (particularly in the second half) quickly. This isn't as funny as it could have been, but all of the actors leave their tongues out of their cheeks as they spew outlandish dialog. The Tyler Cane moniker is obviously a tribute to Burnett's favorite soap opera, "All My Children". Whether wearing outfits with matching hats, gloves and purses or sitting down in a Scarlet O'Hara gown with expected results (something she had already done on her TV show), Burnett commands attention every time she is on. Her matriarch is not bitchy and scheming like Jane Wyman's Angela Channing, but neither is she the all-wise Miss Ellie of Barbara Bel Geddes. As she tells the long-suffering Avalos, "There are the haves and the have nots. We are the haves, and the rest of you are the have nots." But don't underestimate the have nots in their determination to get ahead. Coleman is a combination of "Dallas's" J.R. and "Falcon Crest's" David Selby, while Grodin seems to be parodying "Dynasty's" Gordon Thompson. They are both deliciously malevolent, with Garr a trashy sex kitten who has no ambition in life other than physical pleasure. Mahaffey's character is a combination of all the second string characters ("Dallas's" Lucy, "Falcon Crest's" Emma, "Dynasty's" Claudia) who were never in leading stories but created outlandish plot twists along the way. Hunky Harrison spoofs the shirtless young men (seen without his shirt in four different opening credit poses), and Paxton is the typical dumb lug with a ditzy singing wife (Teresa Ganzel) who creates a telefon for wives with husbands in prison who are all proclaiming their innocence.Between stints as the sinister Carl Hutchins on "Another World", Charles Keating took on the low key part of the chauffer, looking elegant and speaking with a beautiful British accent, unfortunately not having much to do but on occasion revealing a secret or two. Jeffrey Jones is the ruthless boss of two buffoon hit men out to kill Grodin who create more havoc by not succeeding then they would had they been successful. A few other supporting players (Jerry Van Dyke, Melanie Chartoff, Pat Corley) intermingle with the convoluted plot. This is by far not a perfect mini-series, only garnering Emmy nominations for a few of its background creative elements, but it has garnered a bit of a cult following, even though it has never been released on home video and doesn't seem to be re-run much. For the record, other than Burnett, I did think of Harvey Korman in the role of the Dabney Coleman character, Tim Conway as the Charles Grodin character, Lyle Wagner in the Gregory Harrison role, Vicki Lawrence as Terri Garr's character, and frequent guest Bernadette Peters either as Valarie Mahaffey or Teresa Ganzel's character, plus an assortment of other comics in the other parts. That would have made an interesting recurring sketch on "The Carol Burnett Show", but it would not have had the same impact as the far more seriously drawn out TV mini-series.

Why haven't they put this on DVD yet? I saw this as a 14 year old and my mom had been a Dallas fan, so to me this was the funniest thing on the planet. My sister is the only other person I personally know who has seen it.We live in Fresno now and have driven past so many areas that I remember from the miniseries. I still can't help laughing when I think about it. I really badly want to see it again. My husband thinks I am nuts. He never even heard about it when it was on back in the 80's, but it is one of my biggest TV memories.I have searched high and low on the internet and never have found an old copy of the VHS that is reported to be out there. I would rather have it on DVD anyhow. What do we have to do to get it put on DVD (and not a bad copy of an old recording). I want the real thing!

I can only second all the preceding calls that this masterpiece of modern American comedy be issued on DVD. It was shown here in Australia in the late 80s and missed by most, but I was lucky enough to see it and it remains a cherished memory. My girlfriend (now wife) and I and all our flatmates laughed our guts out at the time, but how dearly I wish now that I'd kept the videotape!I loved the whole cast, Carol really shines, must be her best comedy part ever IMO; the whole team is totally spot-on; this was my second major sighting of Bill Paxton, who's very funny indeed, and it's all done with such a straight face, a twinkle in the eye and *perfect* timing. Dabney Coleman at his hilarious, magnificent, slimy best best ... Charles Grodin (also a personal best IMO) hamming it up magnificently as the petulant Cane, Teri Garr fantastically funny as uber-bitch Talon ... Gregory Harrison perfect as the the mega-dumb Torch, who literally does not have his shirt on for one single shot in the entire show ... Valerie Mahaffey *wonderful* as the oh-so-dim Tiffany. The shot that stays in my mind is Carol's sidesplitting look of non-plussed resignation as she clambers into the back of the station wagon.The script is brilliant, funny in its own right as well as striking its targets with perfect accuracy -- anyone who has ever watched any of the daytime or primetime soapies will squeal with laughter. It stripmines the entire genre for send-ups -- the overacting, the improbable shots and set-ups, the overblown emotions, the ridiculous names, the unbelievable plots and coincidences, the flouncy 'rivalry' between the antagonists, the gordian interpersonal relationships ... the whole Armenian name shtick ... oh I could go on for ages ...It's really sad that this hasn't kicked on and attracted the kind of following that similar efforts like 'Soapdish' enjoy, because it's every bit as good.I can only conclude by appealing: CBS - PLEASE issue this wonderful show on DVD RIGHT NOW!!!!!!! I've been waiting nearly 20 years - we all wanna see it. What's up? Don't you want the money???

My favorite scene from this mini-series is when the person, in the middle of the trial suddenly bursts out their guilt in a passioned plea. Then realizes they are in the wrong courtroom. Carol Burnett, Dabney Coleman, Charles Grodin and Teri Garr are exceptional in their portrayals. This should definitely be on DVD!