Saturday, May 18, 2013
Digital Digest: Family Ties, The Office, and More in August; Route 66 - The Complete Fourth Season DVD Review
DIGITAL NEWS
Somewhat related to The Office is the current series of former cast member Mindy Kaling, and her current series The Mindy Project is also coming to DVD on (you guessed it) August 13. The Mindy Project - Season One will come at a $29.99 MSRP.
UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW
BLOG FEATURE REVIEW
Blog DVD Review: Route 66 - The Complete Fourth Season (Shout!, $29.93)
The season begins with "Two Strangers and an Old Enemy," where a former World War II air ace and his plane are suddenly missing. Tom Bosley and Joan Crawford guest star in "Same Picture, Different Frame," where Linc has to protect a summer camp counselor. William Shatner and Audra Lindley guest star in "Build Your Houses with Their Backs to the Sea." In "And Make Thunder His Tribute," Linc and Tod get involved in a farming family dispute in Minnesota. Tod and Linc's car break down in "I Wouldn't Start From Here," but they find help from a farmer who has no modern conveniences. A very young Stefanie Powers plays a reporter in "A Cage in Search of a Bird."
Jean Stapleton guest stars in "93 Per Cent in Smiling," where a neighbor's baby son turns up missing. In "Child of a Night," Tod and Linc attempt to fulfill a dying man's wish: to deliver $38,000 to the child of a woman he met 25 years ago. Linc violently attacks a man for seemingly no reason in "Like This, It Means Father... Like This - Bitter... Like This - Tiger...," but as it turns out, there is a reason, and it has to do with Vietnam. Linc has to fill in for the role of a boxer in "Cries of Persons Close to One." In "Who in His Right Mind Needs a Nice Girl," a shy librarian is attracted to a drifter, but he has a huge secret that would probably make her regret being with him. A teenager accidentally kills his only friend in "Follow the White Dove with the Broken Wing," and things are about to get bad for Tod and Linc as well. The route comes to an end for both Tod and Linc in the two part series finale, "Where There's a Will, There's a Way."
Disc 1:
1. "Two Strangers and an Old Enemy" (50:11)
2. "Sam Picture, Different Frame" (50:09)
3. "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!" (50:18)
4. "Where are the Sounds of Celli Brahms?" (49:44)
5. "Build Your Houses With Their Backs to the Sea" (50:15)
Disc 2:
6. "And Make His Tribute" (50:15)
Like most recent Shout! Factory releases, this set comes in a standard Viva case. There is a portrait of Tod and Linc, as well as the Corvette, on the cover, and a listing of episodes on the back of the case. Inside the case, you'll find the five discs, with a black and white photo of the inside of the Corvette as the background artwork underneath the discs.
The menus on the set are nothing too special, but they do the job. Basically, the menu just lists the episodes on the disc and a play all option, with the highway in the background photo. The theme song also plays on the menu screen. Chapters are placed throughout each episode.
The video and audio quality for these sets has been very much hit or miss along the way, but I think it is pretty safe to say that it has been "hit" for this season. Some of the very early season 1 episodes had some weird cropping issues done by the previous studio that released the series, not Shout! Factory. Since the other studio never released this season, it was really in Shout! Factory's hands to prepare this season for DVD, and they did an excellent job on quality. The episodes are not closed-captioned.
There are no special features on the standalone release of the fourth season, although you can find some in the complete series release of the series.
I really enjoyed this season of the series... in fact, I wouldn't even say that the series went "downhill" in this season as shows often do. I thought that it was pretty interesting how this season seemed to begin signaling changes that were coming ahead in American culture and society. In particular, this was probably one of the first series, especially in this season, to actually acknowledge that something was going on in Vietnam, particularly indicated by the episode where a Vietnam veteran (Linc) attacks one of his fellow soldiers whom he felt was responsible for the death of two other soldiers. It really makes me wonder how the series would have handled the wave of protests and dissidence that really didn't even start until about a year after the series ended.
I'll just be perfectly honest in my assessment of this set. First, I should acknowledge that even though I am reviewing the fourth season, the set that I actually own is Route 66 - The Complete Series, which includes a nearly identical fourth season set (same packaging, episodes, and disc authoring... the only difference is that the complete series version of the fourth season includes a bonus disc). If you already own the Route 66 DVD sets that were released by Infinity, then I don't see any problem with buying the Shout! Factory set to complete your collection. But if you own none of the previous releases of the series, skip this standalone season four release and head straight to the complete series release. You'll have a much nicer collection, and it really isn't a very expensive set. In either case, you'll find that Shout! Factory did a pretty good job (aside from complaints about some of the season 1 episodes), and you can enjoy the journey across the country from beginning to end.
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That's all for this week. Until next time, keep it digital!
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Friday, June 9
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 5)
Friday, June 9
- Marc Maron (GLOW/Maron) - Watch Marc on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Martin Short (Mulaney/The Martin Short Show) - Martin is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Demi Lovato (Sonny with a Chance) - Demi is a musical guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Sandra Bullock (Working Girl) - Sandra appears on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
- Zach Braff (Scrubs/Alex, Inc.) - Zach is a guest on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris guest co-hosts a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Jay Ellis (Insecure/The Game) - Jay discusses the motivation behind their new true-crime podcast Freeway Phantom on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
- Tig Notaro (One Mississippi) - Tig is telling Drew about working with Reese Witherspoon on their new film and the latest season of The Morning Show on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Alfonso Ribeiro (In the House/The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air/Silver Spoons) - Alfonso will be on a repeat of The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings.
- Daniel Wu (American Born Chinese) - Daniel talks about his role on the Disney+ series American Born Chinese on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) and Jason Alexander (Listen Up!/Bob Patterson/Seinfeld/Everything's Relative/ E/R) - Eric and Jason talk about The Cottage on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Reba McEntire (Reba/Malibu Country) - Reba will be on NBC's Today in the 9am hour.
- Geena Davis (The Geena Davis Show/Sara/Buffalo Bill) - NBC's Today catches up with Geena in the 9am hour.
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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