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
Related links:
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 / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Thursday, May 29
Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "A Tire Convention and the Moral High Ground" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Georgie discovers that Jim’s annual tire convention trip isn’t what he says it is. Meanwhile, Mandy has doubts about the strength of her and Georgie’s marriage.
Ghosts - "The Not-So-Silent Partner" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Sam and Jay are forced to cover when Mark demands to meet the silent investor in Jay’s restaurant who has been holding up construction.
Bob's Burgers - "Like a Candle in the Gym" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Linda forces everyone to go on a family walk; the kids stumble onto a bizarre conspiracy theory.
Grimsburg - "Blue Light District" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Roles get reversed in Flute and Summers' partnership after male sex workers start turning up dead.
Family Guy - "Cool Hand Lois" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Peter suspects Lois of betraying his trust with Quagmire at a swanky vacation resort.
The Great North - "Sunset Beeflevard Adventure" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Judy joins the cast of a dinner theater production; Wolf and Honeybee help Moon sell jerky door-to-door.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 26)
Thursday, May 29
- Ricky Gervais (After Life/The Office) - Catch Ricky on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Kaitlyn Dever (Last Man Standing) - Kaitlyn appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Bill Burr (F Is for Family/Townies) - Bill is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Glenn Howerton (Sirens/It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia/A.P. Bio/The Mindy Project/That '80s Show) - Glenn appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Thomas Lennon (The Odd Couple/Sean Saves the World/Reno 911!), Paul F. Tompkins (The Great North/BoJack Horseman/DAG) and Joe Manganiello (How I Met Your Mother) - Thomas, Paul and Joe are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- The Cast of And Just Like That... - E! News has an interview with the cast at 11pm on E!.
- Tia Mowry (Family Reunion/The Game/Sister, Sister) - Tia has a big announcement to help you plan your summer vacation on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings. Plus, she catches us up on family and her hit TV show Tia Mowry: My Next Act.
- Megan Hilty (Sean Saves the World) - Megan joins the hosts for a chat about Death Becomes Her on Broadway on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program) - Sarah chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Chloe Fineman (Big Mouth/Search Party) - Featured host Vlad Duthiers attends an acting class and partners with Chloe Fineman, actor and comedian, in an attempt to land a film role on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am and on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour.
- Justina Machado (One Day at a Time) - Justina talks about the Broadway musical Real Women Have Curve on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Paul Scheer (Black Monday/Fresh Off the Boat/The League) - Paul is telling Drew all about his new memoir and answering questions from his wife June Diane Raphael on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Jack Innanen and Malik Elassal (Adults) - Jack and Malik talk about Adults on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
05/13 - The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered)
06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/08 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
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