Meeting of Minds (1977–1981) User Reviews

I loved this show!

[SWestrup · 10/10 · 31 December 2006]

I've only ever seen two or three episodes of this series, but they enthralled me. I only wish it were possible to buy them on DVD.

Who else but Steve Allen would conceive of a talk show that had Genghis Khan debating with Emily Dickinson? Pure genius! Highlights from the other episodes that I've caught featured:

* The Marquis De Sade giving a most wonderful soliloquy on the sadism of God -- to the booing of the audience.

* Gandhi debating with a woman (whose name I forget) on the value of birth control (Gandhi was very much against).

* There was an entire episode entirely about Shakespeare and his various characters, but it was IMHO, one of the weakest of the episodes.

Outstanding achievement

[mdom · 9/10 · 14 February 1999]

Steve Allen has accomplished an outstanding way to make history fun and understandable, providing a framework to explore morality and serious philosophical subjects. He brings together improbable groups of historical characters of such stature as Emily Dickinson and Gengis Khan, in a lively person to person discussion at the present time. Profound but not boring, funny and touching, it makes you appreciate the beauty of opposing points of view and to discover the basic humanity of seemingly antagonistic positions. This is most certainly the best US television series EVER. At the end of each chapter you feel richer and much more tolerant, ready to appreciate and sympathize a little more your with fellow human beings. I am terribly sorry it did not continue for many years.

If I was a history teacher, this would be in my curriculum

[brucebaskin · 10/10 · 20 April 2020]

I was first turned on to "Meeting of Minds" by my high school Humanities teacher during my senior year in 1977, the year it debuted. I'd had some interest in history and historical figures for a few years but NOTHING I'd ever seen before (or have seen since) brought history to life quite like this show. It's one thing to read about the likes of Socrates, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Jefferson, Karl Marx, Teddy Roosevelt, et al., but to actually see them as characters in a talk show/interview format was simply incredible. There has never been a TV program like this one.

It's borderline tragic that this series has never been issued in a DVD format because it's a terrific learning tool and if I was a history teacher, you'd better believe I would incorporate "Meeting of Minds" into my in-class curriculum). Thank goodness several episodes are viewable on YouTube, but it really deserves to be available as a set and I don't know why PBS or Steve Allen's estate (whoever owns the rights) has never issued a boxed set. Some things deserve to be considered beyond rights fees and this series is one of them.

Steve Allen's masterpiece, and his greatest legacy

[JamesL-4 · 1 December 2000]

If all the songs Steve Allen wrote are forgotten, if nobody remembers that it was he who invented the late night talk show, and if nothing else he did makes a difference, Meeting of Minds is the one thing Steve Allen should be remembered for. It is television at its best: entertaining, yet also intellectually stimulating and educational. It doesn't sacrifice entertainment for education, or education for entertainment: it combines the two in a way that creates a whole that is infinitely greater than the sum of the parts. It must never be forgotten.

Possibly the Best TV Miniseries ever!

[jaswider · 10/10 · 3 February 2012]

I remember watching this show on PBS in the late '70s / early 80s. It is without doubt one of the most fascinating, educational, entertaining shows ever put on TV (I rank it with Carl Sagan's Cosmos).

I have volumes #1 - #4 on VHS; It was pure luck that I saw Steve Allen's office address in a magazine in the 80s. I wrote to him and his assistant responded with an order form for the tapes. Although approx. $15 / tape, I could only afford those 4 volumes (I often kick myself for not grabbing the entire series).

I certainly will vote on the website to request they be released on DVD. They should be required viewing in all high schools / colleges. What a shame that shows of this caliber are so rare.

Meeting of Mediocrities and Misrepresentations

[Athanatos · 1/10 · 14 August 2007]

A critic once noted that Steven Allen seemed to have succeeded by virtue of being mediocre at many things. If anything illustrated the extent to which Allen's reach exceeded his grasp -- and the extent to which he could be dragged below the level of mediocrity in his attempts to keep afloat the career of his wife, Jayne Meadows -- it was this show.

The pretense of this show was that some of the most influential thinkers of history would be assembled to converse one with another -- an outstanding assemblage of "talking heads" as it were. Of course, these were figures as Allen conceptualized them, and he really couldn't conceptualize a mind that rose above his own banalities. Thus, for example, Alleged Aristotle yammers trivially about the obvious difference between all X being Y and all Y being X, instead of exhibiting some of the true profundity of his thinking. And the caricature of Marx gets treated with kid gloves by the other caricatures, because Allen couldn't himself have properly understood or critiqued Marx.

Most ghastly of all, Jayne Meadows appears in every episode, ostensibly as, say, Marie Antoinette or as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but really as candied ham long past its sell-by date.

One of the most interesting TV shows ever....

[mrcaw12 · 9 April 2004]

This really was a great show. For those of you not familiar with this show, imagine if you will a round table talk show consisting of famous people from history. One show might include as guests Christopher Columbus and Emily Dickenson and Mata Hari with Steve Allen acting as host. Usually Jane Meadows (Steve's wife in real life) would guest star along with other well known and lesser known celebrities. The guests had "read up" of course on the character they were portraying so the show was an excellent opportunity to see history come to life in an interesting and dramatic fashion. Keep in mind that the guests would never break character throughout the show. The guests were indeed the famous people in history they were portraying. Highly imaginative television and available in VHS format!

great show

[SBKnaack · 8 June 2004]

if only this show was available for purchase. i was an avid viewer when i was in junior high. the "interviews" with historical figures were a real impetus for me to learn more about these people. steve allen's manner of chatting and questioning had the viewer forgetting these were actors dressed like paganini or voltaire. in the same manner that someone might see a musical artist on some TV show today and buy their cd, i was watching this show and then going to the library to check out books and records. i am a bertrand russell fan to this day. i believe schools could benefit from owning copies of these shows and incorporating them into their curriculum. totally engrossing.

Beautiful Mind

[Zebrafil · 10 February 2008]

Allen did what few have done on TV. He encouraged thought. Where is he when we need him so badly. Allen was by no means the first to create such a concept IE: You Are There had worked a similar concept some years before staring on radio. Someone will revive this concept in some form and it cannot happen soon enough. Allen was not entirely fair to all guests. It was obvious he did not like Luther, De Sade or Machiavelli and each had more to them than was presented. But this is a minor flaw and more fun for the thought and discussion it provokes. Aristotle himself observed on MOM that no one person ever should think he has the final word on truth. God bless Steve Allen. And I must add the the X plus Y factor that clearly went over the head of another reviewer was an example of Aristotles' syllogism which defined the very nature of thought, something not taught in most schools and desperately needed in American education

Meeting Minds/Steve Allen

[Toni-Turnbull · 20 April 2007]

There are volumes 1 & 2 available now for Meeting of Minds at the Steve Allen Store Front....I believe the Volume 2 has them all? I remember watching it around high school age even...initially our Dad had us watch it first with him before we we able to see the program we wanted. But it did make history more interesting to learn about...it made you curious...to go on further and find out more.....I believe even the children in school today would enjoy seeing a few...it might peak their curiosity....to learn more...children are like sponges...it might give a little twist for the better on history...I couldn't believe that I remembered watching them after all these years!

Greatest series ever on T V

[gerfine · 13 December 1998]

Too bad we can't have stuff like this now. Steve was a genius.

Just saw him in person dec 11th and he hasn't "lost" it.

This program would fail today

[toddholmes-88883 · 25 September 2021]

Simply put, the general intellect and ability to listen to other points of view are all but no-existent today. Sadly, most people wouldn't even know who these historical personages were, let alone be engaged in an imaginary discourse with them. Mass / social media has succeeded in dumbing down our society. There is no going back.