Saturday, December 17, 2011
Digital Digest: Growing Pains: The Movie and Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers DVD Review
Welcome back to one of the last editions of Digital Digest for 2011! Don't worry, we still have two more for this year, and we'll be back every Saturday next year, so we aren't going anywhere! In these last few weeks of the year, news and releases are really starting to drop off, but we do have some news for you, as well as a review of the separate releases Growing Pains: The Movie and Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers from Warner Archive. Let's get going!
MPI is pushing forward with another release of Here's Lucy, as was speculated a few weeks ago. Now, the release date of February 28 for Here's Lucy - Season Five. The set comes at a $29.98 MSRP and can be ordered now.
In Growing Pains: The Movie, we begin as Jason Seaver begins to catch fans up with what has happened in the past eight years while he is writing his latest book. At the same time, he is also preparing a big surprise for his 30th wedding anniversary, by reuniting the entire Seaver family, which doesn't seem to happen as often as the family has grown up. But in the midst of all of this, Maggie gets a very nasty surprise as she is fired as a staffer for the Congressman in the Seaver's district in Long Island. Unsure of where to head in life now, one of Mike and Kate's kids (they are now married, by the way) makes a suggestion that she run for Congress against the man who just fired her. The entire family works together for nearly a year to put together a campaign and see that she becomes Congresswoman Maggie Malone (using her maiden name, as she often did in the series). The runtime of this movie is 1:27:00.
Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers picks up four years after the original reunion movie, and is set in 2004. In this movie, everybody has gotten older, but in particular, Jason and Maggie have aged and are ready to retire. Part of the problem is trying to decide exactly what to do with their retirement, as Jason and Maggie have completely opposite ideas as to what they want. The situation only gets further complicated with the fact that they plan to sell their home, something that Mike and Carol are completely against. On top of all of that, all of the kids seem to be having problems that they can only turn to their parents to solve. The runtime of this movie is 1:29:00.
Both DVDs come in very standard packaging, but the artwork on the packaging is very professional, and even matches up with the artwork used on the season sets that Warner has released in the past. On the cover of each case, we have the title and a cast snapshot, along with a brief description of the movie and another cast snapshot on the back. Inside, all you will find is the disc, which has artwork similar to the cover artwork.
Both DVDs have incredibly bland and generic menus. The menus have nothing at all to do with the movies, and all we have is a picture of the Warner Bros. Studios water tower and an option of Play. There is nothing else, at all. As for chapters, they are placed every ten minutes throughout each DVD, which means that they do not necessarily correspond with the scene changes.
While neither of the movies were remastered for these DVDs, it really wasn't necessary to begin with. Both of them looked fine when they originally aired, and still look great now. It seems, though, that these were both done JUST BEFORE the beginning of the high-definition era, so they are in full-screen as opposed to widescreen. I'm pretty sure that is how they both originally aired on ABC. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. And, while these were originally closed-captioned on ABC, they are not on these DVDs, which is unfortunate. The process for closed-captioning something for broadcast is different than it is for doing it for a DVD release, but those broadcast closed-captions would have in fact been available, and it is a shame that they couldn't find a way to use those.
There aren't any special features on the DVDs at all. What would have been nice to see would have been some behind-the-scenes footage about the production of the movies. I recall seeing plenty of this material on entertainment tabloid series such as Entertainment Tonight and Extra while they were producing the movies in Vancouver.
It is great to see both of these movies on DVD, particularly considering that I didn't think either one would ever make it to DVD. Aside from the fact that the DVDs were obviously very rushed and not a whole lot of effort was placed into them, both of these DVDs are perfectly adequate for fans. It would have been nicer if they had put both movies into one single set instead of creating two separate DVDs, though. While these reunion movies are not nearly as great as the original series was, it is still great to see them on DVD. Hopefully, these releases will spark more interest in the original series and we'll see more seasons of that released... in other words, hopefully, the "best is ready to begin!"
To purchase Growing Pains: The Movie, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
To purchase Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Warner Archive
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SitcomsOnline.com DVD Reviews Page
The website isn't necessarily an all-inclusive website, and definitely needs more additions to the database, but that is part of the reason why we have included this as the Click of the Week. The website is not created and run by one person or a small few, but this is a website much like Wikipedia where fans can update the database to make the website better and more detailed. The basic information that is provided on the site is very good, but the open interface allows it to infinitely expand to a greater website. As an example of what the website could be with more complete information, check out the page for The Office. It certainly isn't an all-inclusive page like individual websites dedicated to a series would have, but it provides a lot of the good "essentials" in a simple, elegant, and not over-bloated fashion. Hopefully, this site will become even more complete as time goes on, and become an excellent resource for TV fans needing to find basic information quickly.
That's all for this week. Until next time, keep it digital!
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Sunday, May 28
The Conners - "Possums, Pregnancy and Patriarchy" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Harris makes a big announcement. Meanwhile, Ben is overwhelmed with family responsibilities.
The Conners - "Hiding In and Moving Out" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Harris takes her anger out on Darlene. Elsewhere, Dan and Louise spend an entire day in bed together.
The Conners - "The Contra Hearings and the Midnight Gambler" (ABC, 10:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Mark fights for a spot in the Lanford High chamber orchestra. Elsewhere, Jackie puts a lottery machine in the Lunch Box.
The Conners - "Road Trip and Guilt Trip" (ABC, 10:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dan and Jackie take a road trip to a hardware wholesaler in Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Darlene heads out of town and leaves behind a plethora of to-do notes for Becky and Ben.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 22)
Friday, May 26
- Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/George and Leo/Chicago Sons/Simon/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons) - Watch Jason on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Ali Wong (Big Mouth/American Housewife/Are You There, Chelsea?) - Ali is a guest on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) - Chris appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Tom Hanks (Bosom Buddies) - Tom is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Sebastian Maniscalco (How to Be a Bookie) - Sebastian talks about his new film About My Father on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Issa Rae (Insecure) - Issa is a guest on The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.
- Bill Bellamy (Mr. Box Office/Men, Women & Dogs/Cousin Skeeter) - Bill appears on The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.
- Ming-Na Wen (The Single Guy) and BD Wong (All-American Girl) - Ming-Na and BD talk about Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
- Hailee Steinfeld (Dickinson) - Hailee and actor Shameik Moore sit down together to talk about their new film, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, in theaters on June 2 on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Leslie Odom Jr. (Love in the Time of Corona/Big Dady) and Nicolette Robinson (Love in the Time of Corona/Perfect Couples) - Leslie and Nicolette chat with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Daniel Wu (American Born Chinese) - Daniel talks about American Born Chinese on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Kimberly Williams-Paisley (According to Jim) - Kimberly is a guest on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (January-June)
01/03 - Andy Richter Controls the Universe - The Complete Series (2023 Release)
01/27 - Master of None - Season Three / The Complete Series
02/21 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Nine / The Complete Season Ten
02/28 - Growing Pains - The Complete Series
03/28 - Rick and Morty - Season 8 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/04 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Fifth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
04/18 - Blondie - The Complete 1957 Television Series (Blu-ray)
04/25 - Cheers - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
05/23 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Eleven / The Complete Season Twelve
05/23 - Go On - The Complete Series
05/23 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (Universal)
05/29 - Gimme a Break! - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/29 - Kate & Allie - The Complete Series (VEI)
05/30 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
06/13 - Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series
06/13 - Night Court (1984-1992) - The Complete Series
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