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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

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for mini-DVD reviews and Solomon's Weekly Rant! First up, are the mini-DVD reviews. Today we have we take a look at CBS DVD's Fifth Season of JAG. JAG was a huge hit for CBS. If you are a fan of Navy NCIS, you know that NCIS is a spin-off of JAG. See Seth Thrasher's mini-DVD review of JAG - The Complete Fifth Season:

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
(4/5 stars)

To purchase the DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon.com

Related links:
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.