Episode Reviewed: Live At the 25 (502)

Writer: Paul McCusker & Marshal Younger

Production Engineer: Jonathan Crowe

Original Airdate: 11/30/02

Rating (Out of 5 cones):

 

Live At the 25 Episode Summary: To celebrate the anniversary of Whit's End, Connie organizes a live Kids' Radio show, complete with interviews and classic Kids' Radio skits.   Theme: Celebration

As a special celebration of 25 years of Focus on the Family, Live At the 25 was performed and recorded in front of a live audience in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A total of two recordings were done and the radio version of the episode is a mixture of the two sessions, thus creating a better episode. The episode featured some interviews and two well-known Kids Radio broadcasts: "Young Guns Bonanza" and "Sam Maritan, Private Eye." Unfortunately, due to time constraints, "Sam Maritan, Private Eye" was cut from the radio broadcast.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode. The first time I heard the episode I didn't like it as much as I do now because, as I usually do, I tend to pick at the episode. Don't ask me why... that's just the way I am. I didn't used to do that until the split episodes messed things up one year... now I have a bad habit of picking at AIO shows. Anyway, now I do like the episode after hearing it more than once. The "Young Guns Bonanza" sketch was quite interesting to hear for a second time, although nothing can ever beat the original. Some lines were changed for some odd reason. Also since Will Ryan, the voice of Eugene Meltsner, wasn't available for the live show, Chris Anthony had to replace his parts. I was okay with that, but I would have liked the episode to maintain the authenticity of the sketch presented in "Over the Airwaves." Also Phil Loller doesn't work with Adventures in Odyssey anymore so Townsend Coleman replaced him. That's no big deal though because Townsend did a superb job standing in.

As mentioned, I was pleased with the episode. At the end of the show I was quite surprised to hear the well-known mistake made on AIO for years: Connie Kendall's age. It was very comedic to listen to Connie saying that she was 16 and everyone else grew up. Whit and Tom were hilarious in their old men voices, and well, yeah!

I was pleased overall at the great acting. A live episode must be hard to pull off and I'm surprised that they did their lines so well. However, at the beginning of the episode Connie overplayed her part as she introduced, but she meant well. It's hard to start off an episode, ALL BY YOURSELF, as she did.

I give Live At the 25 4 out of 5 cones. This episode was well-planned, and the sound design was very good for a live episode. Good job AIO, for your third live episode!

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