Bosom Buddies: The Second Season

Presented for the first time on DVD, Bosom Buddies – The Second Season continues the madcap adventures of Kip Wilson and Henry Desmond, two characters who partake in the long-standing comedic tradition of cross-dressing. Kip and Henry lost their apartment and the only place they had to turn was the Susan B. Anthony Hotel for Women, where their friend and co-worker Amy lived. Henry was against the idea, but Kip fell for a gorgeous blonde named Sonny who resided there, so he persuaded Henry that staying there would be great experience for a book. The plan also appealed to Amy because she had a crush on Henry. The boys became their sisters Buffy and Hildegarde respectively and the high jinks ensued from there.

The premise of the show changed slightly in the second season. In the first episode, Kip and Henry revealed themselves to the main cast at an embassy dinner. Lily the hotel manager was written out of the show and Isabelle filled her role. In the second episode Kip, Henry, and Amy left the ad agency and take over Henry’s Uncle Mort’s commercial production house.

Bosom Buddies is best known as the launching pad for Tom Hanks, but Peter Scolari was equally as funny. He went onto to costar brilliantly as Michael in Newhart. The show wasn’t groundbreaking, the plots were ridiculous, and the characters didn’t have much depth, yet it still succeeded at being very funny show. Everyone cracked wise with a lot of gags and one-liners. The show also had its tender moments. In “The Reunion” Henry has to deal with his guilt for the way he treated a deaf girl back in high school.

There was no wrap-up of the series as the final show in the set is just another episode. It did have a funny cameo with Penny Marshall, who would later direct Tom Hanks in Big and A League Of Their Own.

The one extra includes a sales presentation video that was shown to television station programmers in an attempt to sell the show in syndication. It was created some time after 1984 because a selling point was that Hanks starred in Splash and Bachelor Party.

Purists will notice that show is labeled as The Second Season. That’s because some of the shows have been edited from their original broadcast version due to cuts, mainly relating to music, as is usually the case in these instances. This is obvious in every episode because the awful “Shake Me Loose,” which was used when the show aired in syndication, has replaced the original theme of Billy Joel’s “My Life.”

For those that like their comedy silly, Bosom Buddies was one the funniest television series of the ‘80s.