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!

DIGITAL NEWS

Manufacture-on-demand DVD products have become more prominent in the DVD market lately, and now, another studio is stepping in to the game. This time, the "new" studio to announce manufacture-on-demand releases is Lionsgate. The studio plans to release more than 100 TV and movie titles through the program, which began this week in a partnership with Amazon CreateSpace. The only TV series announced through this so far is ABC Family's Wildfire - Season Four, but hopefully there will be more to come in the future. You can check out this article for more details.

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.


UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

Tuesday (December 20) is the last day for studios to release new products leading in to the Christmas holiday, so it is a very light day with only two releases. First, MPI has the long-anticipated The Donna Reed - Season Four: The Lost Episodes. Also, Fox has Futurama - Volume Six (DVD/Blu-ray Disc). We hope to have reviews of these sets soon.




Blog DVD Review - Growing Pains: The Movie (Warner Archive, $19.95) and Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers (Warner Archive, $19.95)

There were dozens of family sitcoms in the '80s that came and went, and some stood the test of time better than others. One of those that really did stand the test of time was the sitcom Growing Pains. While it started as a series about a family where mom Maggie Seaver (Joanna Kerns) was out working while husband Jason Seaver (Alan Thicke) was the stay-at-home dad, it evolved significantly over the years into a series about a family that attracted a large audience every week. In 2000, eight years after the series ended (and during a brief period where reunion movies were huge), ABC broadcast a made-for-TV movie based upon the series, Growing Pains: The Movie. The movie also had a sequel in 2004, Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers. Now, both of these are available as separate releases from Warner Archive.

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!"

(4/5 stars)

To purchase Growing Pains: The Movie, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Warner Archive

To purchase Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Warner Archive

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com DVD Reviews Page
Growing Pains on TV.com


CLICK OF THE WEEK

TheTVDB.com (www.thetvdb.com) - Recently, I was searching for a website that provides essential information about many TV series in a nice, clean, and easy-to-read format. In searching for this, I came across one that I had never heard of before, TheTVDB.com. As the name suggests, the website is a television database, where you can search for virtually any TV show that has ever existed and find information about those series. You won't necessarily find everything that you need on this site, but for virtually every series that you can even think of, you can find all of the information that is available from the Library of Congress, such as episode lists, airdates, production information, and (for many series) episodes synopses.

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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Sunday, March 30

The Simpsons - "The Flandshees of Innersimpson" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Bart dips his toe into the world of celebrity DJ-ing; Homer finally pushes Flanders too far.

Family Guy - "Pitch Imperfect" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Peter must gain his family's respect back after he makes a humiliating throw; Brian and Stewie become chiropractors.

The Great North - "It's Compli-skated Adventure" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Judy tells a story to help Alanis Morissette fall asleep; Beef's romantically obsessed stalker, Zelda Blop, returns to Lone Moose with a surprise.

Krapopolis - "Number Two" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Ty and Stupe are both looking to hire assistants; Hippo tries to have a romantic getaway with Daphne -- and his parents.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 24)

Friday, March 28

  • Walton Goggins (The Righteous Gemstones/The Unicorn/Vice Principals) - Watch Walton on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Mike Epps (The Upshaws/Uncle Buck/Survivor's Remorse) - Mike is a guest on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building/Wizards of Waverly Place) - Selena appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
  • Nathan Lane (Mid-Century Modern/Only Murders in the Building/Modern Family/Charlie Lawrence/Encore! Encore!/One of the Boys) and Matt Bomer (Mid-Century Modern) - Nathan and Matt talk about Mid-Century Modern on ABC's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Natasha Rothwell (How to Die Alone) - Natasha appeas on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • John Hodgman (Up Here/Married) - John is a guest on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am (delayed ET/CT due to NCAA basketball coverage) on CBS.
  • Nathan Lane (Mid-Century Modern/Only Murders in the Building/Modern Family/Charlie Lawrence/Encore! Encore!/One of the Boys) and Matt Bomer (Mid-Century Modern) - Nathan and Matt talk about Mid-Century Modern on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Seth Rogen (The Studio/Platonic/Undeclared), Kathryn Hahn (The Studio/Tiny Beautiful Things/Central Park/Happyish/Transparent/Free Agents), Ike Barinholtz (The Studio/The Afterparty/Bless the Harts/The Mindy Project/Eastbound & Down) and Chase Sui Wonders (The Studio/Bupkis) - Seth, Kathryn, Ike and Chase talk about The Studio on The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Paul Rudd (The Shrink Next Door/Living with Yourself/Wild Oats) - Paul talks about Death of a Unicorn on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
  • Keshia Knight Pulliam (Tyler Perry's House of Payne/The Cosby Show) - NBC's Today catches up with Keshia in the 9am hour.
  • Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie is joining Drew and Ross to cover the latest news on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Connie Britton (SMILF/Lost at Home/The Fighting Fitzgeralds/Spin City) - Connie is telling Drew about her upcoming movie The Life List on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Beth Behrs (The Neighborhood/2 Broke Girls) - Beth is telling Drew about the latest season of the hit show The Neighborhood on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Chelsea Handler (Are You There, Chelsea?) - Chelsea talks about Netflix's Chelsea Handler: The Feeling on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Joanna Gleason (Bette/Oh Baby/Love & War/Hello, Larry) - Joanna talks about We Had a World on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray) The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two

11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season

More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

03/29 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Netflix Gives Pilot Order to A Different World Sequel; Malcolm in the Middle Reboot Recasts Role of Dewey
03/28 - Pat Sajak's Final Spin on Wheel and Return of Jeopardy! Masters; Remembering George Foreman and Wings Hauser
03/27 - IFC Renews SisterS for Season 2; Netflix Orders Live-Action Scooby-Doo Series
03/26 - Hulu Spring 2025 Slate; The Making of The Americas Special Narrated by Tom Hanks on NBC
03/25 - Deli Boys Now Streaming All Episodes on Hulu; Heartland Season 18 on UP Faith & Family
03/24 - Peacock April Highlights Include Three's Company; Antenna TV's 50 Years on the Beat Barney Miller Anniversary Marathon
03/23 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of March 24, 2025)
03/22 - SitcomsOnline Digest: The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* Coming to DVD; American Dad! Moving Back to Fox
03/21 - Big Mouth Final Season; The Four Seasons Premieres in May on Netflix
03/20 - HBO's Brett Goldstein Comedy Special; Disney+ Adds The Simpsons 24/7 Stream
03/19 - Solar Opposites Final Season This Fall; NBC to Move Grosse Pointe Garden Society to Fridays
03/18 - Game Show Network New Shows Launch April 14; NBC Picks Up 3rd Comedy Pilot, While Bobby Moynihan Joins Tracy Morgan Pilot
03/17 - It's True! Ted Lasso Renewed for Season 4; Jane Goodall Returns for Jane Season 3
03/16 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of March 17, 2025)
03/15 - SitcomsOnline Digest: The Neighborhood Renewed for Eighth and Final Season; NBC Picks Up New Cheerleading Comedy
03/14 - NBC Comedy Pilots Wheeling & Dealing; Hulu's Got to Get Out
03/13 - Prime Video Comedy Series Overcompensating Premiere Date; Eric Stonestreet Joins Dexter: Resurrection
03/12 - Hacks Season 4 Premieres April 10; Nickelodeon Orders Wylde Pak
03/11 - The Neighborhood Renewed for Final Season; Max's The Official Big Bang Theory Podcast
03/10 - Netflix Renews Running Point for Season 2; Apple TV+ Trailer for The Studio
03/09 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of March 10, 2025)
03/08 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Tracy Morgan to Star in NBC Pilot from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock; Nobody Wants This Returning for Second Season
03/07 - Trailer for Apple TV+ Comedy Government Cheese; Remembering Saved by the Bell and TV Producer Peter Engel
03/06 - The CW Spring Premiere Dates; Henry Winkler Heads to HISTORY Channel
03/05 - Hacks Brings Out the Stars in Season 4; NBC Orders Pilot with Tracy Morgan
03/04 - Apple TV+ Side Quest Launches March 26; Krysten Ritter Joins Dexter: Resurrection
03/03 - HBO's The Rehearsal Returns April 20; Sharon Horgan Signs Deal for HBO Comedy Series
03/02 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of March 3, 2025)
03/01 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Premiere Date for Mid-Century Modern Set; Roseanne Remastered in High Definition