SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

Blog DVD Review: Missing - The Complete First Season (ABC Studios, $39.99)

by Pavan

How far would you go to save the one you love most? Emmy Award Nominee Ashley Judd stars in Missing, ABC's thrilling series that aired this past season, bursting with international intrigue and a full season of brilliant twists and turns. After Becca Winstone's son disappears while overseas for a summer internship, she takes it upon herself to travel to Europe to track him down. It soon becomes clear that Becca is no ordinary woman, but a former CIA agent deactivated after the devastating death of her husband. If she wants to find her son alive, Becca will have to rely on old friends...and old enemies...thus reopening old wounds. Her resourcefulness, skill and determination will be put to the test – but a mother's love knows no limits. ABC's inspiring, action-packed drama grabs you from the very first minute and never lets go. This season one DVD set includes exclusive bonus features, plus interviews with star Ashley Judd and the show's creators, all on a three-disc DVD set.

The season stars Ashley Judd as Rebecca "Becca" Winstone, Sean Bean as Paul Winstone, Cliff Curtis, Adriano Giannini as as Agent Dax Miller, Nick Eversman as Michael Winstone, Tereza Voriskova as Oksana, and Adriano Giannini as Giancarlo Rossi. However, there are many recurring stars such as Aunjanue Ellis as Mary, Laura Donnelly as Violet Heath and Keith Carradine as Martin Newman. Other guest stars include Karel Roden as Victor Asimov and Nikola Navratil as Maxim Asimov. The series aired for 10 episodes this past season and didn't deliver in the ratings in the key 18-49 demo despite a decent total viewer count. Thus, ABC canceled the series in May. The series is being shopped to other networks to try to continue. I think ABC should have brought it back as a summer series. It is good fun.

Anyway, as for this set, there are many memorable episodes in this suspenseful juicy series. All ten episodes have to be seen in pretty much order as they are all connected. The series starts off with the episode "Pilot," where Becca Winstone's son Michael Winstone goes to Europe for an architecture program, but when Michael doesn't call home in over a week, Becca Winstone goes to Rome and she finds out that he was kidnapped, so as she was a former CIA Agent, she is going for a hunt. In "Ice Queen," with Becca still on the hunt to find Michael, her best friend, Mary, complicates matters with her surprise arrival in Europe, while Michael struggles to uncover answers behind his kidnapping. In "Tell Me No Lies," Becca is reunited with her CIA mentor, Martin Newman, and they join Dax Miller in trying to find the assassin who killed Paul, also Michael gets a severe warning about what happens if he tries to escape. In "Measure of a Man," Becca is forced to recall details of a traumatic former case in order to prove her innocence now, while Michael goes to new lengths to protect himself and Oksana. On the finale, "Rain on the Evil and on the Good," in a last-ditch effort to save her son, Becca faces her inner demons, while Suspect Zero tries to finish his sale.

Episodes are usually around 42 minutes and unedited, as they should be. Most series on ABC are 43 or so usually, but this one probably just ran short. Runtimes are below:

Disc 3:
The DVD comes in a case held by an outer thin box. The thin outer box is in black with a very cool shot of Becca Winstone on the bottom and has a nice shot of Paris on top with the series logo in the middle and the complete first season mention below that. The back of the thin outer box has info on the set and series, with a nice quote from Keck from TV Guide. We have a nice shot of Becca leaving an explosion along with four cool episodic photos. There is also a box showcasing the bonus features as well. When we remove the outer box, we get to the case. The case has the same artwork as the thin box, both cover and back, so everything is the exact same. Inside the case we have a nice shot of Becca on the left panel and like five episodic images on the right panel. There is also a disc-by-disc breakdown below the photos on the panels listing episode titles per disc. As for the discs themselves, disc one is on a little plastic holder that you can flip like a page in a book. Disc two is on the back of that little plastic holder, while disc three is on the right panel itself. All three discs are in the black and red design with the series logo and a character. Disc one holds episodes 1-4 with an image of Becca, disc two holds episodes 5-7 with a shot of Paul and disc three holds episodes 8-10 with a shot of Michael. There is also an insert booklet showcasing other ABC TV DVDs that are coming soon like Once Upon a Time and Revenge, and it is placed on the left panel.

The menu design is well designed! We have different pictures and we have background music from the show playing. Before the main menu, we have auto trailers. On disc one we have trailers for ABC TV DVDs coming this summer and fall, Castle Season 4, and the theatrical movie  The Avengers. Disc three has trailers for more ABC TV on DVD and the upcoming Odd Life of Timothy Green. Back to the main menu, the options are: Play All, Episode Selection, Bonus Features, Set Up and Sneak Peeks. Sneak Peeks is only on disc three and has the same trailers as the auto trailers on disc three. Set Up gives us the option for subtitles in English, French, Espanol, and Portuguese. You can also register your DVD here. Bonus Features is just on disc three and lists what is available, while Episode Selection gives us an episode number and title. All this is sort of similar to other recent ABC TV DVDs like The River.

Video and audio quality are both outstanding, similar to other recent ABC TV DVDs we have reviewed like Scandal. We have Digital Dolby 5.1 surround sound and it is perfect. For the video, we are in widescreen (1.78:1), enhanced for 16x9 televisions. It is excellent quality but that is expected for newer/current series. As I keep saying, if anything goes wrong with audio/video for current series, then there is a major problem. Each episode has 8 or 9 chapter stops, so it is easy to jump through an episode if you are looking for something in particular. Nothing out of the ordinary here but it is all perfectly done.

There are some special features on this set as well! They are all on disc three. First up, another is the featurette "Missing: In Action" (16:01). Viewers get a look at the genesis and production of this international project. It's a very good and informative featurette and has interviews with Ashley Judd, Greg Poirier (creator/executive producer), Gina Matthews (executive producer), Grant Scharbo (executive producer), Nick Eversman, Nikola Navratil, and Lukus Katakaliois (stand-by props). Then we have a second featurette, the best one on the set, and this one is called "On Location: Inside Istanbul" (32:35). On this one, we will get to see firsthand what it takes to shoot an international television production when the cast and crew show how they broke language barriers and borders on location in Turkey for 12 days to wrap-up the season. Interviewed are Grant Scharbo, Nick Eversman, Gideon Amir (unit production manager), Greg Poirier, Miro Gabor (second unit director of photography), James Strong (director), Dale Wyatt (dialogue coach), Tereza Voriskora, Lukus Katakaliois, Kenny Bates (co-producer), Frauk Ozerten (producer, Istanbul), Cliff Curtis, Keith Carradine, and Rudolph Urba (flight coordinator). And finally we even have some Deleted Scenes that run about 6 and a half minutes total! Now fans can delve further into the mystery with seven never-before-seen deleted scenes that include: Standard Delivery (from episode 110, 0:40), Red Tape (from episode 101, 1:07), No Escape (from episode 106, 0:32), No Better Adventure (from episode 106, 0:32), Close Call (from episode 109, 0:34), Lock Up (from episode 110, 1:50) and Cornered (from episode 110, 0:25).

This is a nicely done set for a series that ended. It's a quick turnaround like for other ABC TV DVDs that came out in May and June! The series just aired its series finale on May 17 and this DVD was released on June 12! Unfortunately ABC canceled it at their upfront in May, so it will not be returning. Hopefully someone can revive it. As for the DVD, it is well done and similar to previous ABC TV DVDs. We get great audio/video, menus, packaging and special features. I think the special features are adequate for something with only 10 episodes. The Istanbul featurette is superb and well produced. Really liked that one. And we got deleted scenes, too! All that was missing really were audio commentaries though, like The River DVD had. ABC Studios knows how to make good DVDs, especially for their current series. Even though this show is done, you should still "see what you've been missing" (pun intended). If you only watched the pilot or one more episode, you need to watch them all because like more series, it got better. That is why I don't understand viewers these days. They only try one or two episodes and then give up. If it was like that in the old days, then shows like Cheers and Family Ties would have been long gone. This show was just good fun. Nothing Emmy worthy, but it has plenty of action and network TV is missing that right now. What other show on network TV films internationally actually? So see what you've been missing and try Missing...it's only 10 episodes and there is a satisfying ending to this "chapter."

CLICK OF THE WEEK

Ultimate Dallas (www.ultimatedallas.com) - Last week, TNT introduced a "new" series to many fans with their debut of Dallas, but fans of vintage television know that this series is hardly new, and is in fact a continuation of something which began on CBS over three decades ago (and when it ran there, it stayed on the air for nearly a decade and a half). In fact, both series continue to feature Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy as J.R. and Bobby, the Ewing brothers. Ultimate Dallas is the definitive website for the series (and is being regularly updated as the new series progressing), dating back to the 1997.

If you need to know something about the series, this website has everything that you'll ever need to know about it. Beginning with the episode guide, you'll find complete information about every episode of the original series, every reunion movie, and even every episode of the current TNT series. You'll even find an overview of all of the cliffhangers and reviews of the original series from critics here. If you are interested in the characters, you'll find complete biographies of every character of any level of importance, a Ewing family tree, famous J.R. quotes, and details of all of the women that J.R. ever slept with (particularly, his secretaries!). There are many other features on the website which we haven't even scratched the surface of here, so we suggest heading on over to the site to check out our Click of the Week.

That's it for this week. Until next time, keep it digital!