Saturday, January 19, 2008
Mini-DVD Review: JAG Season 5 (Jan. 29); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Early 80s Sitcoms Missing, Lopez Marathon Not Fresh-Like, Drew Not Chopped on ION
JAG - The Complete Fifth Season (CBS, $64.99) is now available! Enjoy this long running Donald Bellisario classic on DVD from CBS DVD (Formerly known as Paramount)! Well, you'll enjoy it if you buy it from discount retailers, such as SitcomsOnline.com partner Amazon.com (see link at end of review). If you actually pay full sticker for any of these JAG sets, you've paid too much. Come on, it's a great show, but there are a LOT of things I'd spend 65 dollars on before I would this set. The show itself is great, it's just not sixty-five-dollar-great. Incidentally, for a set that a lot of folks were once worried about not getting released at all, we're now half way through the show's entire run with this set!
The episodes on this set are great -- the show was still at a high point. I love the two-parter "Boomerang," as well as the episode immediately preceding it, "Cabin Pressure." Also be on the look out for some guest stars, including Trisha Yearwood, Corbin Bernsen and Montel Williams. The actual set itself...well...it's pretty much the de facto standard for TV DVDs now that the industry seems to be shunning the Digipak. The packaging is the now standard-issue outer box with inner slim cases, like the other previous sets. The cover art is again similar in style to previous sets -- this time the main primary cast are all at the top, with a dark blue background behind them, with the gavel and US flag on the bottom half. The menu is yet another static menu, but is fairly nice looking. The background is extremely similar to the dark blue/flag portion of the cover art, with a file folder and gavel at the bottom. The show logo is center-left, while the menu options are center-right. There IS once again a special feature -- a gag reel running 3:04. Video quality is VERY good -- CBS was an early adopter of HDTV programming, and as a result the show's video shines, especially compared to non-HD shows the same age. No flaws that I can find -- with perfect color balance, no noticeable compression issues. Audio is great with no defect, and sounds great. And I've always loved this show's theme, which sounds wonderful here. We're now into the HDTV era of the show with this season -- yes, the set is presented in anamorphic widescreen. Closed Captioning is available once again. Chapter Stops appear at each commercial break plus before and after the opening titles. Runtimes are in the mid-40 minute area, give or take depending on how long or short the episode ran -- which is right for the show's age. The box has the usual warning about edits, but that's standard operating procedure for CBS DVD sets. My only gripes about the set are the MSRP, boring menus, and still lack of special features other than the gag reel. Work on those, and I'll be a very happy man. Nonetheless, what's here is great, and I strongly recommend it.
-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher
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SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
JAG TV.com Page
Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, January 19, 2008
"Early 80s Sitcoms Missing; Lopez Marathon Not Fresh-Like; Drew Not Chopped on ION"
By Solomon Davis
When will one of these cable channels ever give some life to the family sitcoms from the early '80s or are these shows just gone forever in syndication? I swear between Nick at Nite, TBS, TV One, and ABC Family there are NO shows airing on those networks from that era of TV sitcoms. Family sitcoms like Silver Spoons, Diff'rent Strokes, Family Ties, Gimme a Break!, Head of the Class, and Webster seems like they would be on one of these cable channels but instead we get all the sitcoms from the '90s and the decade of the 2000's. Even the shows that are out on DVD have only a couple of seasons released and is no where near completion and I just wish shows from that era of television would get more exposure instead of shows from the from 1985 to 1989...but even those shows are not seen much, Hogan Family got pulled on ABC Family within seconds as did Perfect Strangers on ION, while shows like Cosby Show and Full House still air everywhere. It's time for these cable networks to treat the sitcoms of the early '80s like they do for the ENTIRE decade of the '90s!!
I'm happy to see that Nick at Nite is giving George Lopez a marathon tomorrow night but the only thing I can't understand is why can't it be a week long marathon like it was for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? This will be a great opportunity for the show to gain even more viewers and maybe even possibly another huge hit for the network but all they give Lopez is one night of continuous episodes. The show has done well so far on the network. You would think that since the show is still kind of new that there would be the same type of marathon but I guess that's only for shows that been on Nick at Nite for more than 3 years and not less than 3 months. Once again Nick at Nite's program plan is acceptable but how they present it to viewers is a whole another story.
I wanted to see for myself if ION had a different editing style when it came to The Drew Carey Show and let me just say I was not surprise at all to see that it's not cut like Alice at 7pm and other older sitcoms they have aired like Perfect Strangers. ION has cut the episodes of Alice in so many ways that you can't remember who said what and where they said in it. But when I watched The Drew Carey Show I noticed that there were only TWO commercial breaks from the start of the show to the end of the show...and no abrupt cut to commercials, like on Alice when someone is in a middle of a line. Also, not 5 commercials breaks like it is during the Alice on ION and I can't seem to figure out why that is the case? I mean what makes one show more special than the other? Is it because Alice is older and has more time to edit? Now since I'm not a fan of Drew Carey, I don't know how bad they edit the show but from my eyes I only saw two commercial breaks when I watched the show and since I have 20/20 vision I know for a fact I have never seen an Alice episode with only two breaks. Either that or I may need to make an appointment for an eye surgeon immediately to fix my vision.
Agree or disagree with Solomon? Discuss it here.
DISCLAIMER: Remember, Solomon is not the voice of SitcomsOnline. He is just stating his opinions and does not reflect what SitcomsOnline says or thinks. It is just his 'View' but it is always quite entertaining.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Friday, December 8
CBS announced the new entertainment special Norman Lear: A Life on Television, to air tonight - Friday, Dec. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs). Presented by Entertainment Tonight, this one-hour special features new interviews with stars of the long-running comedies Lear created, including Jimmie Walker from Good Times and Mackenzie Phillips from One Day at a Time, in addition to never-before-seen interviews from the ET vault. Also included with this new footage and interviews is an in-depth sit-down interview with Lear that ET host Kevin Frazier conducted when Lear celebrated his 100th birthday, in which he reflected on his lengthy, groundbreaking career.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 4)
Friday, December 8
- Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Watch Eddie on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- John Caponera (The Good Life) - John is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
- Robert Smigel (Let's Be Real) - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog aka Robert Smigel chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Noah Galvin (The Real O'Neals) and Molly Gordon (Ramy) - Noah and Molly talk about Theater Camp on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
- Eric Stonestreet (The Santa Clauses/Modern Family) - Eric talks about The Santa Clauses on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan sits down with Sherri to talk about his new book, When I Was Your Age, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Sebastian Maniscalco (Bookie) - Sebastian appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)
09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
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