Saturday, April 20, 2013

Digital Digest: Dr. Kildare on DVD; Charlie's Angels - The Complete Fifth Season DVD Review; Follow Me of the Week: Nicole Eggert


Welcome to Digital Digest! This week, we've got all of your regular features, along with a review of Charlie's Angels - The Complete Fifth Season. Let's get started!


DIGITAL NEWS

Unfortunately for sitcom fans, there really isn't any new sitcom on DVD news this week... but we know that most of our readers are fans of more than just sitcoms, and there are several other classic releases that were announced this week that we're excited about! These releases start over at Warner Archive. Their latest announcement brings a long awaited medical drama to DVD, with Dr. Kildare - The Complete First Season. The series, which starred Richard Chamberlain, has been one of the most requested series on DVD, and fans are glad to see it. We'll have a review of this release soon.

Meanwhile, CBS has announced some new releases of some dramas. First, they have a new release coming for Dynasty, with Dynasty - The Seventh Season (Volume 1 and Volume 2). Each set will come at a $36.98 MSRP, and they are both going to be released on July 9.

One week later, on July 16, CBS will be finishing up one of the most memorable legal dramas of all time as they release Matlock - The Ninth and Final Season. The five disc set, which comes at a $49.99 MSRP, brings a close to the series, barring any complete series releases that may come in the future.


UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

Tuesday (April 23) is mostly a "dead" day for DVD releases, but for fans of westerns, Warner Home Video has Maverick - The Complete Second Season.


BLOG FEATURE REVIEW


Blog DVD Review: Charlie's Angels - The Complete Fifth Season (Sony, $45.99)
by Pavan

Hello, Angels for one last time! It's the final season for Charlie's Angels (the original version) and we have a new Angel: Julie Rogers (Tanya Roberts) replacing Tiffany (Shelley Hack). She joins Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) and Kris (Cheryl Ladd) to solve crimes as only they know how. You can own all 17 episodes of this final season on DVD-R from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's onDemand Choice Collection. In the explosive final season of this legendary and groundbreaking series, the Angels travel to Hawaii to take on a variety of conniving criminals by using their brains, skill and beauty.

Combining beautiful scenery, thrilling action and of course stunning beauty, the Angels deal with the brutal kidnappers, dangerous divers and even a gang of ruthless dune buggy drivers. Along with their loyal confidant, Bosley (David Doyle), the Angels use their brains, toughness, and good looks to take down wrong-doers throughout this final season! Among the most memorable episodes from the final season include the two-hour premiere, "Angels in Hiding," as with Tiffany returning to Boston, streetsmart Julie Rogers is introduced as a model who works for a talent agency linked to drugs, prostitution, and death, so the Angels join forces with Julie who proves her worth well enough to be offered a job at the Townsend Agency. In "To See An Angel Die," the Angels travel to the new Hawaii branch of Townsend Associates, but soon after their arrival, Kris is kidnapped by Tom Grainger and his two children, who claim she's responsible for Mrs. Grainger's death. In "Waikiki Angels," the Angels go undercover as lifeguards to catch a gang of dune buggy drivers who are terrorizing a local beach and who are likely to be behind the disappearance of a congressman's daughter. In "Angel on the Line," the Angels investigate a murder at the singles bar, 'The Hot Line Club', where customers contact each other anonymously by phone, while Kelly is chosen as the next target of the killer, who stalks her at home as well and with the help of the club entertainer Margo, Kelly dresses to kill...or be killed. In "Angels on a Roll," when a computer programmer dons a variety of disguises to rob multiple ATMs, Kris travels to Las Vegas and poses as an adventuress to lure him back to Los Angeles, while they are both pursued by an irrational casino owner. In the series finale, "Let Our Angels Live," after Kelly is shot in the line of duty, Kris, Bosley, and Julie reminisce about their most challenging cases in a clip-show filled hour.

Each episode on this set is around 49-50 minutes on average, which is unedited most likely. Runtimes are as follows:

Disc 1:
1. "Angels in Hiding, Part 1" (49:57)
2. "Angels in Hiding, Part 2" (49:58)
3. "To See an Angel Die" (49:00)
4. "Angels of the Deep" (48:56)
5. "Island Angels" (49:05)

Disc 2:
6. "Waikiki Angels" (49:01)
7. "Hula Angels" (49:01)
8. "Moonshinin' Angels" (50:01)
9. "He Married an Angel" (50:00)

Disc 3:
10. "Taxi Angels" (49:03)
11. "Angel on the Line" (50:06)
12. "Chorus Line Angels" (49:54)
13. "Stuntwomen Angels" (50:02)

Disc 4:
14. "Attack Angels" (48:56)
15. "Angels on a Roll" (49:00)
16. "Mr. Galaxy" (49:00)
17. "Let Our Angel Live" (48:59)

The packaging comes in a standard Amaray case. A shot of the three Angels is used as the cover art in a purple background. The show logo and The Complete Fifth Season (along with the three star names) mention are both above the photo. The back of the case has three episodic images along with a short synopsis of the series and the DVD specs are provided. The same photo of the three Angels on the cover art is featured on the spine of the case. Inside the case, there is no artwork, just plain black. It would have been great if they included some episode summaries or additional photos. The discs just have a plain white background, like all Sony Choice Collection sets do, with the series logo and disc number. Generic! The four discs are on two plastic holders, with one on each side. And finally, there is an insert for other Sony Choice Collection titles like Sheena, Rules of Engagement and Hart to Hart.

As for the menus, the main menu is simple and it works. There is no theme or music playing in the background, though. We have a black and fire background with the three Angels featured. The famous pose shot is in black and we have selections for Play All Episodes and Episode Selections. In Episode Selections, we have different main artwork on each disc. There is an orange box with the Angels pose in black with episode titles listed along with an option to Play All Episodes at once and to go back to the Main Menu. It's simple but effective. It's just missing music.

This DVD set is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media, as we mentioned. Thus, the packaging notes that this disc is expected to play back in DVD Video "Play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives. The episodes are presented in 1.33:1 full screen, as it should be. It looks good to me. For the closing logo enthusiasts, there is just one: Sony Pictures Television. The audio is an English Dolby Digital track. It sounds fine and maybe better than most series from the early '80s (1980-81 season). So there is nothing to worry about here. Unfortunately though, there are no subtitles or closed captioning on any of the episodes. Pretty standard and basic, but both audio and video are perfectly good here. Very good! And we have about seven chapter stops for each episode, so that is great, too.

Unfortunately, there are no special features included, just like the other Sony Choice Collection titles. This is usually the case with these on manufactured on demand type releases. You just get the episodes here, which are fine I guess, especially for a show that that started as a regular Sony DVD title and moved to Choice Collection. We never had any special features for the first four seasons either, well except one featurette on season one (back in 2003). No expectations.

So after 10 years, finally we have every season released on DVD. A complete series set came out last fall, but now each seasons has also been individually released. Even if it's just a MOD DVD-R release, it's still something! This set has flaws, but I think it is expected since it is a cheapened set. The audio and video are not affected. They both are very good. Packaging needs a bit improving though, but that's not a major issue. The menus are much better than past Choice Collection set series, so that's great news. Special features are never expected on MOD stuff, so if we even got something it would have been surprising. This is definitely a release for just the episodes and you get those! This is our first review of this series, so I can't really compare to previous seasons but I did watch and love all the episodes for this series and this season is still good. Don't say goodbye to the Angels without buying this set!

(4/5 stars)

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

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com DVD Reviews Page
Charlie's Angels on TV.com


FOLLOW ME 


Who to Follow: Nicole Eggert (Twitter), "HWood"
Claim to Fame:  Charles in Charge, Baywatch, and the movie Blow Away, to name just a few. She started her career as a child actress, including a recurring role on Who's the Boss? opposite Alyssa Milano. She went on to be a dream of all male teenager's dreams on the hit sitcom Charles in Charge in the late '80s. After short-lived sitcom (Home Fires) failed, she want on to major stardom on the hit series Baywatch in seasons three and four. Since the series ended, she has done many TV guest appearances, independent movies and TV movies. Recently she has had some problems with her weight even after her pregnancy due to many health problems, as she revealed to us in our interview with her last month. Now Nicole is on the ABC celebrity competition series Splash and has done extremely well (and looks great, too) and is on an inspiration level for all women out there. As the series winds down and heads towards the finale on May 7, Nicole will be among the finalists it seems. We are rooting for her to win it all! Watch her on Splash Tuesdays 8|7c on abc.
Why You Should Follow Her: Nicole Eggert is extremely nice to her fans and loves to reply or retweet something that you tweet to her. She hasn't been active on Twitter that long (she used Facebook more), but now she is in full force mode and is communicating with all fans well. Make sure you follow her and start tweeting her because she does read and reply to many tweets! It's a sitcom fan's dream come true to have Jamie Powell/Summer Quinn tweet you. She'll be there for you!
Pick of the Tweets: "I went to see a Dr Thurs after I dive I did on wed's taping of Splash. I was not in the hospital. Media has gone wild with this!!!" (April 20, 2013)

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


Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Monday, October 2

Son of a Critch - "Circus" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Mark and Fox find themselves on a maybe-date to the fair; Ritchie's family hosts some new Filipino-Canadians who make him feel insecure about his heritage.

Run the Burbs - "Phamily Games Night" (The CW, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Andrew and Camille use game nights to help Hudson; Ramesh worries Barb doesn't think he's expressive enough; Khia plans a movie night for Mannix.

Children Ruin Everything - "Screen Time" (The CW, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Astrid and James enact a weekend screen ban; with new work assignments, they soon learn leading by example is more complicated than they originally thought; without the hypnotic power of electronics, they're in for an uphill battle.

American Dad! - "Multiverse of American Dadness" (TBS, 10:00PM ET/PT)
Hayley searches for a runaway Steve so they can go to a Shaggy concert.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 2)

Monday, October 2

  • Garcelle Beauvais (The Jamie Foxx Show) - E! News has an interview with Garcelle at 11pm on E!.
  • Gina Yashere (Bob Hearts Abishola) - Gina is a guest on Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
  • Patrick Stewart (Blunt Talk) - Patrick talks about Making It So: A Memoir on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Nicole Ari Parker (And Just Like That.../Second Time Around) - Nicole tells Sherri about her starring role in the off-Broadway show The Refuge Plays on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Zosia Mamet (Girls) - Zosia is a guest on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project/The Office) - NBC's Today catches up with Mindy sometime between 7-9am and in the 10am hour.
  • Vivica A. Fox (Mr. Box Office/Getting Personal/Arsenio/Out All Night) - Vivica talks about directing First Lady of BMF on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
  • Alfonso Ribeiro (In the House/The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air/Silver Spoons) - Alfonso stops by and chats about hosting the new season of America's Funniest Videos and gives a behind-the-scenes look at his family life on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
  • The Cast of The Neighborhood - Cedric the Entertainer, Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs, Tichina Arnold, Marcel Spears, Sheaun McKinney and Hank Greenspan celebrate the series' 100th episode on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.


New on DVD/Blu-ray (June-October)

Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series Night Court (1984-1992) - The Complete Series Family Matters - The Complete Series Step by Step - The Complete Series ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition)

06/13 - Mayberry R.F.D. - The Complete Series
06/13 - Night Court (1984-1992) - The Complete Series
07/18 - South Park - Seasons 21-25 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
07/25 - The Neighborhood - Season Five
07/25 - Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin - Season One
07/25 - Superstore - The Complete Series
08/22 - Back to Life - Season 1 / Season 2
08/29 - Smiling Friends - Season 1 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD Releases / DVD Reviews Archive / SitcomsOnline Digest


Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts

10/02 - Felicity 25th Anniversary Collection on Hulu; Prime Video Orders Two Seasons of Animated Comedy
10/01 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of October 2, 2023)
09/30 - SitcomsOnline Digest: WGA Strike Officially Over; ABC Cancels Home Economics
09/29 - Lifetime Announces New Thrillers; Big Mouth Season 7 Trailer
09/28 - New Season of Wolf Like Me on Peacock; Max Original Animated Series Debuts October 19
09/27 - Moonlighting Coming to Hulu; Showtime Announces Date for The Curse
09/26 - Rick and Morty Season 7 Trailer; Fox's Krapopolis Debuts Well
09/25 - Laff Fall 2023 Schedule with Last Man Standing and Man with a Plan; Upload Returns October 20
09/24 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of September 25, 2023)
09/23 - SitcomsOnline Digest: An End on the Horizon for WGA Strike?; Hallmark Ready for Christmas
09/22 - The Santa Clauses Season 2 Launches November 8; CBS Alters Fall Schedule
09/21 - Penn & Teller: Fool Us Gets New Return Date; Netflix's Unicorn Academy Premieres November 2
09/20 - Paramount+ Announces Colin from Accounts; The Really Loud House Gets Halloween Movie
09/19 - The Simpsons Season 34 Streams October 11 on Disney+; Good Burger 2 Set for Holiday Season
09/18 - Hulu's Huluween and Disney+'s Hallowstream Line-Up; Shining Vale Returns October 13 on STARZ
09/17 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of September 18, 2023)
09/16 - SitcomsOnline Digest: ABC Cancels Wonder Years Reboot; Byron Allen Makes $10 Billion Offer to Buy ABC
09/15 - Antenna TV's Bewitched Halloween Marathon; Rewind TV's Sabrina the Teenage Witch-O-Ween Marathon
09/14 - Dancing with the Stars Season 32 Cast; BUZZR Celebrates 40 Years of Press Your Luck
09/13 - TBS Acquires Modern Family; The Frasier Awards on COZI TV
09/12 - Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen Gets CBS Late Night Run; Unsolved Mysteries: Behind the Legacy Special
09/11 - Matt Rife Gets Netflix Special; Star Trek Day and Kid Cudi Join Forces
09/10 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of September 11, 2023)
09/09 - SitcomsOnline Digest: Warner Bros. Television Suspends Deals with Top Creators; Fran Drescher Re-Elected President of SAG-AFTRA
09/08 - CBS Announces Hosts of Game Show; New Goosebumps Premieres Friday the 13th This October on Disney+ and Hulu
09/07 - MeTV Presents Svengoolie's Halloween BOOnanza!; The CW Moving Fall Comedies to Thursdays
09/06 - CBS to Air NCIS: Sydney This Fall; Fox Makes Fall Change
09/05 - TBS and TNT September Stunts Include Big Bang Theory Batman Day Marathon; Netflix UK Produced Series Updates
09/04 - TV Marathons on Labor Day 2023 Include Three's Company
09/03 - Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows; This Week in Sitcoms (Week of September 4, 2023)
09/02 - SitcomsOnline Digest: No Third Season for How I Met Your Father; Spectrum Dispute with Disney Could Spell End of Cable