Saturday, May 04, 2013
Digital Digest: More Eight is Enough on DVD; Private Practice - The Complete Sixth and Final Season DVD Review
Welcome to Digital Digest! This weekend, we've got a review of Private Practice - The Complete Sixth and Final Season, along with all of your other regular features. Let's get going!
DIGITAL NEWS
It took years for the classic series Eight is Enough to appear on DVD, but once it finally did come, it seems that it started to fall into a rather steady release pattern. And that pattern holds again, as Warner Archive released Eight is Enough - The Complete Third Season on Tuesday. Although it is divided into two "volumes," the DVDs are only available to be purchased together at a $49.95 MSRP. We hope to have a review of this set very soon.
It was discovered this week by TVShowsOnDVD.com that a pre-order listing recently popped up on amazon.com for Perry Mason - Season 9, Volume 2. While no release date has been given yet, this set will mark the end (the 18th release, to be precise) of the long running series on DVD. We anticipate, though, that the release shouldn't be too far off.
UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW
Tuesday (May 7) is a busier than usual day for releases. These begin with the end of two series, with Private Practice - The Complete Sixth and Final Season and 30 Rock - Season 7. The Dick Van Dyke Show continues on Blu-ray with The Dick Van Dyke Show - Season Two (Blu-ray). Finally, from eOne, we have Rookie Blue - The Complete Third Season.
BLOG FEATURE REVIEW
Blog DVD Review: Private Practice - The Complete Sixth and Final Season (ABC, $39.99)
by Pavan
From the creators of Grey's Anatomy comes the sixth and final season of ABC's emotional, sexy medical drama, Private Practice. Addison and the practice are faced with challenges, joys, and heartaches when loved ones are lost and new life begins. The team at Seaside Health and Wellness have gathered together for the final round of laughter, tears, and unexpected moments in the most no holds barred season yet. Relive all the excitement, tragedies, and triumphs in this 3-disc collection featuring all 13 episodes!
The sixth season stars Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery (Neonatal Surgery/Obstetrics & Gynecology), Paul Adelstein as Dr. Cooper Freedman (Pediatrics), KaDee Strickland as Dr. Charlotte King (Urology & Sexology, Chief of Staff at the nearby hospital), Caterina Scorsone as Amelia Shepherd (Neurosurgery), Brian Benben as Dr. Sheldon Wallace (Psychiatry), Taye Diggs as Dr. Sam Bennett (Internal Medicine/Cardiothoracic Surgery), with Amy Brenneman as Dr. Violet Turner (Psychiatry) and Benjamin Bratt as Dr. Jake Reilly (Obstetrics and Gynecology/Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.
Among the recurring stars are Griffin Gluck as Mason Warner, Matt Long as James Petersen, and Justina Machado as Stephanie. Among the special guests this year are Alfre Woodard, Alex Rocco, Mackenzie Astin, Marisol Nichols, Diane Farr, and Audra McDonald.
The sixth season is unique and different from what we expect from this series. There are a lot of different style episodes this season, but I'm not sure if fans like that or not. The season was still very well written once again. Anyway, as for season six, some memorable episodes include the season premiere, "Aftershock," where Addison's choice is revealed to be Jake, while Sam has started a new relationship with a nurse, and Violet believes that Pete has skipped out on bail until she gets a phone call from Pete's phone, from a man, telling her that Pete had a fatal heart attack while he was on his run. In "Good Grief," Addison continues to grieve over Mark's death, and doesn't know if she should talk to Jake about it or not, but eventually decides to tell him everything about her past; this prompts Sam to tell everything to his new girlfriend so that he can't start of everything new. In "You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone," Charlotte hires a new ER attending, Dr. James Peterson to replace Pete, promising him a quiet ER only to have a rainy night in LA, while Addison has to deal with a pregnant woman having her fourth child, and her husband who seems to always have the same symptoms as her only to find out the husband has an infection in his spinal cord, so Amelia and the new ER doctor race to save the man's life. In "The Next Episode," after Sam is asked to be shot in a reality show pilot for revolving around his life, he is followed around for days to see what his life is really about, as Sam's mom comes into town, and sees Addison with an awkward encounter as she knows everything, with her boss and his husband when he needs heart surgery, after giving him the bad news, Sam finds out that his mother and her boss have been having an affair for forty years.
In "I'm Fine," after Sheldon tells his ex-wife about his cancer and she decides to leave him, he begins going to chemotherapy and therapy to help him through the rough time, while he's going to chemo and going to therapy the search for the missing little girl is continuing and Sheldon believes that his patient has taken her and is fighting to get him to confess. In "Georgia on My Mind," after Charlotte is put on bed rest, she hopes to go two days without having any contractions so that she can get out of the Trendelenburg position, while Cooper continues to stay in the NICU to make sure that no one misses anything with the new born baby girl. In "Full Release," as Charlotte goes into labor with the other two babies everyone begins to pick out baby names that they think should be the babies names, until Charlotte comes out saying that only Mason and Cooper are picking them with her. In the series finale, "In Which We Say Goodbye," Naomi returns to stand by Addison's side on her wedding day, while Cooper struggles with the hardships of being a stay-at-home father, and Violet begins a new project close to her heart.
The episodes run usually close to 43 minutes, unedited of course with all the great music intact. There are about 7 chapter stops per episode. View the episode runtimes:
Disc 1:
1. "Aftershock" (42:59)
2. "Mourning Sickness" (43:01)
3. "Good Grief" (43:01)
4. "You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone" (42:59)
5. "The Next Episode" (43:00)
Disc 2:
6. "Apron Strings" (43:01)
7. "The World According to Jake" (43:00)
8. "Life Support" (43:00)
9. "I'm Fine" (43:01)
10. "Georgia on My Mind" (43:00)
Disc 3:
11. "Good Fries Are Hard to Come By" (43:00)
The sixth season stars Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery (Neonatal Surgery/Obstetrics & Gynecology), Paul Adelstein as Dr. Cooper Freedman (Pediatrics), KaDee Strickland as Dr. Charlotte King (Urology & Sexology, Chief of Staff at the nearby hospital), Caterina Scorsone as Amelia Shepherd (Neurosurgery), Brian Benben as Dr. Sheldon Wallace (Psychiatry), Taye Diggs as Dr. Sam Bennett (Internal Medicine/Cardiothoracic Surgery), with Amy Brenneman as Dr. Violet Turner (Psychiatry) and Benjamin Bratt as Dr. Jake Reilly (Obstetrics and Gynecology/Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.
Among the recurring stars are Griffin Gluck as Mason Warner, Matt Long as James Petersen, and Justina Machado as Stephanie. Among the special guests this year are Alfre Woodard, Alex Rocco, Mackenzie Astin, Marisol Nichols, Diane Farr, and Audra McDonald.
The sixth season is unique and different from what we expect from this series. There are a lot of different style episodes this season, but I'm not sure if fans like that or not. The season was still very well written once again. Anyway, as for season six, some memorable episodes include the season premiere, "Aftershock," where Addison's choice is revealed to be Jake, while Sam has started a new relationship with a nurse, and Violet believes that Pete has skipped out on bail until she gets a phone call from Pete's phone, from a man, telling her that Pete had a fatal heart attack while he was on his run. In "Good Grief," Addison continues to grieve over Mark's death, and doesn't know if she should talk to Jake about it or not, but eventually decides to tell him everything about her past; this prompts Sam to tell everything to his new girlfriend so that he can't start of everything new. In "You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone," Charlotte hires a new ER attending, Dr. James Peterson to replace Pete, promising him a quiet ER only to have a rainy night in LA, while Addison has to deal with a pregnant woman having her fourth child, and her husband who seems to always have the same symptoms as her only to find out the husband has an infection in his spinal cord, so Amelia and the new ER doctor race to save the man's life. In "The Next Episode," after Sam is asked to be shot in a reality show pilot for revolving around his life, he is followed around for days to see what his life is really about, as Sam's mom comes into town, and sees Addison with an awkward encounter as she knows everything, with her boss and his husband when he needs heart surgery, after giving him the bad news, Sam finds out that his mother and her boss have been having an affair for forty years.
In "I'm Fine," after Sheldon tells his ex-wife about his cancer and she decides to leave him, he begins going to chemotherapy and therapy to help him through the rough time, while he's going to chemo and going to therapy the search for the missing little girl is continuing and Sheldon believes that his patient has taken her and is fighting to get him to confess. In "Georgia on My Mind," after Charlotte is put on bed rest, she hopes to go two days without having any contractions so that she can get out of the Trendelenburg position, while Cooper continues to stay in the NICU to make sure that no one misses anything with the new born baby girl. In "Full Release," as Charlotte goes into labor with the other two babies everyone begins to pick out baby names that they think should be the babies names, until Charlotte comes out saying that only Mason and Cooper are picking them with her. In the series finale, "In Which We Say Goodbye," Naomi returns to stand by Addison's side on her wedding day, while Cooper struggles with the hardships of being a stay-at-home father, and Violet begins a new project close to her heart.
The episodes run usually close to 43 minutes, unedited of course with all the great music intact. There are about 7 chapter stops per episode. View the episode runtimes:
Disc 1:
1. "Aftershock" (42:59)
2. "Mourning Sickness" (43:01)
3. "Good Grief" (43:01)
4. "You Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone" (42:59)
5. "The Next Episode" (43:00)
Disc 2:
6. "Apron Strings" (43:01)
7. "The World According to Jake" (43:00)
8. "Life Support" (43:00)
9. "I'm Fine" (43:01)
10. "Georgia on My Mind" (43:00)
Disc 3:
11. "Good Fries Are Hard to Come By" (43:00)
12. "Full Release" (43:01)
13. "In Which We Say Goodbye" (43:00)
Like the last few seasons, packaging has an outer box that you can remove from the top or bottom then you'll see the keep case inside. For seasons one and two, we had a digipak, but ABC Studios changed it to a keep case starting with season three. Both the outer box and keep case have the same cover, a cast photo of them at the beach, with everyone standing but Addison and Jake. The show logo is on the top in white wording in a blue background. The back of the box and keep case has that blue background with information on the set and has head shots that feature all eight of our stars plus Mason (Griffin Gluck). There is also a section detailing the bonus features box with technical specifications also. This is very similar to the previous release. Opening the case, on the left and right panels itself we have a disc-by-disc breakdown with episode titles and bonus features and nice episodic photos. We have a little plastic holder, that we can flip like a page on a book. The holder holds disc one in the front and disc two in the back. Disc three is on the right panel itself. Each disc matches the set's color scheme, that blue background and the discs have nice character artwork. Disc one has episodes 1-5 with artwork of Sam, Addison & Jake. Disc two has episodes 6-10 and has artwork of Violet, Charlotte & Cooper. Disc three has episodes 11-13 plus bonus features and has artwork of Amelia & Sheldon.
The menu screen has clips playing in the background with the closing music from the series playing audio wise, similar to previous sets. It's a nice sunny style menu. The options on the main menu are Play All, Episode Selection, Set Up, Bonus Features (disc three), and Sneak Peeks (disc three). But before the main menu screen comes on disc one, we get some auto sneak peeks: Once Upon a Time Season 2 and the classic The Muppet Movie on Blu-ray. Sneak Peeks option is only found on disc three on the main menu and has the same previews as the ones popping up before disc one's menu. Set Up section has the option of subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese or Thai and how you can register your DVD. The Episodes option gives us the episode number, title and a screenshot. Bonus Features option is only on disc three and it has all the extras listed. All of the sub-menus have different background music once again. Consistent with its previous releases, but that is good!
The video is digitally mastered and is in widescreen and looks very good! It is just as good as the previous releases, if not better. The audio is also great and sounds very good, as it is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. This is from the just completed 2012-13 season, so it had better be good and it is. Crystal clear. The series is over and will be missed.
Moving on the bonus features. All of the extras are on the final disc again, this season that is disc three. However, we don't have much this time. Only Deleted Scenes and Bloopers. If my counting skills are correct, we have about 21 deleted scenes, up nine from the previous DVD! There are five episodes that have deleted scenes. "Mourning Sickness" (1:35, 0:45, and 1:20), "Good Grief" (0:59 and 0:38), "The Next Episode" (0:38, 1:13, 0:52, 0:52, and 0:46), "Full Release" (0:25, 1:09, 1:06 and 1:18) and "In Which We Say Goodbye" (0:56, 1:10, 0:49, 1:18, 1:20, 1:16 and 0:31). Finally, we have some "Bloopers" (3:00)...yes, always great to see bloopers! See all the goofs and play on the set! The timing is down less than a minute from the last set, but that's fine. Wish we had more extra, but this is better than nothing at all.
And the show is now over. It's a good set with less bonus material and episodes, but everything else is similar to previous sets. There was supposed to be a featurette on this set, but not sure what happened? It's certainly not on here. The packaging is good and consistent to some of the previous sets. This season was unique and different, where we had a lot of character centric episodes. Shonda Rhimes always likes to freshen things up and usually it always works. All fans should definitely buy this set. I mean if you have the previous five sets, why wouldn't you get this one? See how the show ends and continue your collection with the last piece of the puzzle!
(4/5 stars)
To purchase this DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon
Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com DVD Reviews Page
Private Practice on TV.com13. "In Which We Say Goodbye" (43:00)
Like the last few seasons, packaging has an outer box that you can remove from the top or bottom then you'll see the keep case inside. For seasons one and two, we had a digipak, but ABC Studios changed it to a keep case starting with season three. Both the outer box and keep case have the same cover, a cast photo of them at the beach, with everyone standing but Addison and Jake. The show logo is on the top in white wording in a blue background. The back of the box and keep case has that blue background with information on the set and has head shots that feature all eight of our stars plus Mason (Griffin Gluck). There is also a section detailing the bonus features box with technical specifications also. This is very similar to the previous release. Opening the case, on the left and right panels itself we have a disc-by-disc breakdown with episode titles and bonus features and nice episodic photos. We have a little plastic holder, that we can flip like a page on a book. The holder holds disc one in the front and disc two in the back. Disc three is on the right panel itself. Each disc matches the set's color scheme, that blue background and the discs have nice character artwork. Disc one has episodes 1-5 with artwork of Sam, Addison & Jake. Disc two has episodes 6-10 and has artwork of Violet, Charlotte & Cooper. Disc three has episodes 11-13 plus bonus features and has artwork of Amelia & Sheldon.
The menu screen has clips playing in the background with the closing music from the series playing audio wise, similar to previous sets. It's a nice sunny style menu. The options on the main menu are Play All, Episode Selection, Set Up, Bonus Features (disc three), and Sneak Peeks (disc three). But before the main menu screen comes on disc one, we get some auto sneak peeks: Once Upon a Time Season 2 and the classic The Muppet Movie on Blu-ray. Sneak Peeks option is only found on disc three on the main menu and has the same previews as the ones popping up before disc one's menu. Set Up section has the option of subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese or Thai and how you can register your DVD. The Episodes option gives us the episode number, title and a screenshot. Bonus Features option is only on disc three and it has all the extras listed. All of the sub-menus have different background music once again. Consistent with its previous releases, but that is good!
The video is digitally mastered and is in widescreen and looks very good! It is just as good as the previous releases, if not better. The audio is also great and sounds very good, as it is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. This is from the just completed 2012-13 season, so it had better be good and it is. Crystal clear. The series is over and will be missed.
Moving on the bonus features. All of the extras are on the final disc again, this season that is disc three. However, we don't have much this time. Only Deleted Scenes and Bloopers. If my counting skills are correct, we have about 21 deleted scenes, up nine from the previous DVD! There are five episodes that have deleted scenes. "Mourning Sickness" (1:35, 0:45, and 1:20), "Good Grief" (0:59 and 0:38), "The Next Episode" (0:38, 1:13, 0:52, 0:52, and 0:46), "Full Release" (0:25, 1:09, 1:06 and 1:18) and "In Which We Say Goodbye" (0:56, 1:10, 0:49, 1:18, 1:20, 1:16 and 0:31). Finally, we have some "Bloopers" (3:00)...yes, always great to see bloopers! See all the goofs and play on the set! The timing is down less than a minute from the last set, but that's fine. Wish we had more extra, but this is better than nothing at all.
And the show is now over. It's a good set with less bonus material and episodes, but everything else is similar to previous sets. There was supposed to be a featurette on this set, but not sure what happened? It's certainly not on here. The packaging is good and consistent to some of the previous sets. This season was unique and different, where we had a lot of character centric episodes. Shonda Rhimes always likes to freshen things up and usually it always works. All fans should definitely buy this set. I mean if you have the previous five sets, why wouldn't you get this one? See how the show ends and continue your collection with the last piece of the puzzle!
(4/5 stars)To purchase this DVD, click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
Amazon
Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com DVD Reviews Page
FOLLOW ME
Who to Follow: Tichina Arnold (Twitter), "It's nice 2 B IMPORTANT but it's more important 2 B NICE!
Live your life 2 the fullest. I do!"
Claim to Fame: Tichina Arnold is one of those people who could be described as a "queen of sitcoms." Although her earliest "regular role" was in the soap opera Ryan's Hope, she has since had major roles in sitcoms such as Martin, Everybody Hates Chris, and most recently Happily Divorced.
Why You Should Follow Her: We love sitcom stars, and even more, we love those who appear in multiple sitcoms. Tichina Arnold has, at this point in her life, established herself as an actress that we will see in sitcoms for years to come. What I like most about her, though, is that it seems that she hasn't been typecast as any particular sort of character, and has played characters that have a wide range of personalities. She maintains a very active presence on Twitter (and Instagram, while we're at it), and seems to have a very positive outlook on life and her family... although she does get a bit worked up at times about issues important to her personally.
Pick of the Tweets: "2day is last tape day of season on #HappilyDivorced @tvland Its been a gr8 run! Thnx 4all ur support. Now Pray 4a 3rd season! Lol!" (January 25, 2013)
That's all for this week. Until next time, keep it digital!
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Monday, October 13
The Neighborhood - "Welcome to the new Normals" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The Johnsons and Butlers face big changes and unexpected challenges as Tina discovers a new passion, Malcolm navigates work and family boundaries and Courtney takes a major step with Marty. Meanwhile, Dave’s tech experiment backfires and Gemma’s parenting plan goes awry.
DMV - "Pilot" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
East Hollywood Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) driving examiner Colette pines for her coworker Noa while enduring teasing from colleagues Gregg, Vic and Ceci. Also, new manager Barb rallies the crew to save their branch from government shutdown.
TV We Love - "I Love Lucy" (The CW, 8:00PM ET/PT)
A deep dive into "I Love Lucy," widely regarded as one of the greatest sitcoms of all time; exploring the groundbreaking partnership of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, whose comedic brilliance and bold business moves forever changed television.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 13)
Monday, October 13
- Kat Dennings (Shifting Gears/Dollface/2 Broke Girls/Raising Dad) - Watch Kat on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building), Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building/Mulaney/I'm a Big Girl Now/The Associates) and Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building/Wizards of Waverly Place) - Steve, Martin and Selena are guests on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Keanu Reaves (Swedish Dicks) - Keanu and Alex Winter are guests on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/George and Leo/Chicago Sons/Simon/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons) - Jason appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Laverne Cox (Clean Slate) - Andy Cohen intervews Laverne on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 9pm on Bravo.
- Patricia Arquette (High Desert) - Patricia talks about Murdaugh: Death in the Family on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Bradley Whitford (Perfect Harmony/Trophy Wife) - Bradley talks about The Diplomat on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am and on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Colin Hanks (Life in Pieces) - Colin chats with the hosts about John Candy: I Like Me on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Michael J. Fox (Family Ties/Spin City/The Michael J. Fox Show) - Michael discusses his new book Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Ayo Edebiri (Big Mouth/The Bear) - Co-host Gayle King sits down with Ayo and Julia Roberts on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Tim Meadows (DMV/Schooled/No Activity/Son of Zorn/Mr. Box Office/The Bill Engvall Show) - Tim talks about DMV on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour.
- Brian Baumgartner (The Office) - Brian talks about the We Need A Fourth podcast on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Sherri Shepherd (Mr. Iglesias/Trial & Error/Sherri/Less Than Perfect/Suddenly Susan) - Sherri talks about The Sunshine Queens on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Jaleel White (Family Matters/Grown Ups) - Jaleel joins Sherri to talk about the new season of his hit game show Flip Side on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Vanessa Lachey (Truth Be Told/Dads) - Vanessa and Nick Lachey talk about Netflix's Love is Blind on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Cristela Alonzo (Cristela) - Cristela talks about Netflix's Stay Classy on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Cafe Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie is showing Drew how to make the perfect pumpkin spice meatballs on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
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)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)
10/07 - Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete First Season
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