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DIGITAL NEWS

It has been a bit bittersweet lately as we've been seeing a lot of older TV shows completing their run on DVD, and this week, we've found two more that are in the works (thanks to studios who respond to their fans on Facebook), albeit with no firm release date just yet. First, Shout! Factory has brought us seasons 2-4 of Hazel, leaving only the fifth and final season to be released. The pace between seasons 2-4 was rather steady, but it has been a year since we saw season 4. A glimmer of hope was given on Facebook a few weeks ago when a fan asked about the fifth season, and was given the following response:

"It's coming, no release date set."

Of course, we'd love to see a release date set, but just this statement offers solid hope that we are going to actually see it in light of some other recent postings from Shout! Factory that have left some fans upset, including their decision to cancel (with no plans to back out on that) a few other releases of series like V.R. Troopers, as well as a response that no further seasons of Fantasy Island are planned at this time (though to be clear, there is no intention to imply that it will never be continued). We'll definitely keep an eye on this, and hope that we find out more at a later date.

Meanwhile, heading back over to another Facebook page, the folks at Warner Archive have given fans of The Courtship of Eddie's Father news that actually does seem more solid. Of course, Warner Archive has released the first two seasons of the series, leaving only the third and final season to be released, and when a fan asked about this series, the following response was given:

Remastering is about to begin shortly on S3. It will appear next year.

Clearly, this is a much more promising statement, as the studio has indicated that it is in fact being worked on, and that it will in fact appear next year. We're confident in Warner Archive's statement here, and we'll let you know more when a release gets a bit closer.

UPCOMING WEEK PREVIEW

Tuesday (September 17) has no sitcom releases, but it does have CSI: Crime Scene Investigator - The Thirteenth Season as well as Nashville - The Complete First Season.

BLOG FEATURE REVIEW



Blog DVD Review: Nashville - The Complete First Season (ABC, $45.99)
by Pavan

It's sexy, sassy and smart say many critics, and we are in agreement with that! Behind the music of Nashville lies a web of betrayal, heartbreak, and rivalry second to none. Experience the tantalizing first season of ABC's Nashville and surrender to a seductive mix of music, intrigue, and passion that's "Pure Gold." Rayna James (Connie Britton), is the Queen of Country, but there's a new "royal" on the rise. Meet Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), a hot, young diva poised to knock Rayna off her throne - both on the charts and in the heart of Rayna's lead guitarist and former lover, Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten). Meanwhile, another sultry love triangle heats up when Deacon's niece Scarlett (Clare Bowen), a budding singer/songwriter, is torn between her boyfriend Avery and her writing partner Gunnar. Adding more fuel to the fire is Rayna's rich, scheming father, whose political ambitions for Rayna's husband hid sinister ulterior motives. Relive all 21 riveting episodes of Nashville - The Complete First Season with this spectacular 5-disc set - including exclusive, never-before-seen bonus features. It's the ultimate guilty pleasure you'll enjoy over and over again!
The series will return to its Wednesday at 10PM timeslot on ABC this coming season following ABC's Wednesday comedies once again. The series stars Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes, Hayden Panettiere as Juliette Barnes, Clare Bowen as Scarlett O'Connor, Eric Close as Teddy Conrad, Charles Esten as Deacon Claybourne, Jonathan Jackson as Avery Barkley, Sam Palladio as Gunnar Scott, Robert Wisdom as Coleman Carlisle, and Powers Boothe as Lamar Wyatt. Among the recurring stars are Chris Carmack as Will Lexington, Judith Hoag as Tandy Hampton, Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Margaret "Peggy" Kenter, Sylvia Jefferies as Jolene Barnes, Michiel Huisman as Liam McGuinni, J. D. Souther as Watty White, Jay Hernandez as Dante Rivas, Wyclef Jean as Dominic King, Susan Misner as Stacy, Chloe Bennet as Hailey, Tilky Montgomery Jones as Sean Butler, Todd Truley as Marshall Evans, Ed Amatrudo as Glenn Goodman, Lennon Stella as Maddie Conrad and Maisy Stella as Daphne Conrad.

This first season was so good and juicy. If you aren't even a country music fan, you'll like this. I'm not, and I still was sucked in by the great storylines and acting. It's the most critically acclaimed new drama from 2012-13. Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere can even sing well, who knew? As far as memorable episodes, we have the very first episode "Pilot," where we meet Rayna Jaymes, a famous country singer, whose tour is not selling as quickly as she had expected and in order to save money, her record company wants her to be an opening act for up-and-coming singer Juliette Barnes. In "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)," as Teddy's campaign continues, Rayna is faced with an investigation that reveals family secrets, while Juliette feels betrayed when she sees Deacon perform with Rayna and Scarlett must decide between her dream and her relationship with Avery. In "Move It On Over," Rayna thinks about moving on when Deacon sets boundaries in their relationship. In "Where He Leads Me," Teddy's secrecy about embezzling millions of dollars in the past, and the surfacing of suggestive photographs, leads Rayna to believe he is having an affair, while Scarlett gets an invitation to be a band's lead singer and the song she wrote with Gunnar gets an option contract, prompting a passionate kiss between the two and Gunnar to dump his girlfriend Hailey and profess his love to Scarlett.

In "Be Careful of Stones That You Throw," when Rayna suggests bringing her girls on tour, she learns Lamar is willing to blackmail her, while Juliette and Sean's elopement surprises everyone and Deacon reconnects with an ex as Avery follows a music producer's advice. In "I've Been Down That Road Before," Deacon plays his first show with Juliette, as Juliette wants to make her music more mature and after Rayna asks Deacon why he joined Juliette's band, he kisses her, while Gunnar moves in with Scarlett and Teddy shows up at Rayna's hotel room and says something that will change their relationship forever. In the powerful episode, "I Saw The Light," Juliette is jealous of Rayna when she sees her billboard in New York so she seeks out a sponsorship of her own, while on tour with her mom, Maddie decides that she wants to become a singer much to Rayna's disliking and Rayna meets Deacon's new girlfriend. In "A Picture from Life's Other Side," Dante threatens to release a sex tape of him and Juliette if she doesn't give him ten million dollars, but Juliette decides not to give in and let him sell it, while Maddie finds out that Teddy might not be her real father. In the amazing season finale "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," backstage at the CMA Awards, Deacon confronts Rayna and asks her if he is Maddie's biological father after Maddie tells him that he might be her father, as Juliette wins Female Vocalist of the Year and pays her final respects to her mother, while a marriage proposal happens to someone else.

The episodes run usually 42-43 minutes...unedited of course with all the great music intact even! See the runtimes below:

Disc 1
1. "Pilot" 42:21
2. "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" 43:05
3. "Someday You'll Call My Name" 43:05
4. "We Live in Two Different Worlds" 42:48
5. "Move It on Over" 42:22

Disc 2
6. "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)" 42:55
7. "Lovesick Blues" 43:05
8. "Where He Leads Me" 43:05
9. "Be Careful of Stones That You Throw" 42:31
10. "I'm Sorry for You My Friend" 43:03

Disc 3
11. "You Win Again" 42:38
12. "I've Been Down That Road Before" 42:51
13. "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight" 43:05
14. "Dear Brother" 42:35

Disc 4
15. "When You're Tired of Breaking Other Hearts" 43:04
16. "I Saw the Light" 43:04
17. "My Heart Would Know" 43:01
18. "Take These Chains from My Heart" 42:52

Disc 5
19. "Why Don’t You Love Me" 43:02
20. "A Picture from Life's Other Side" 43:04
21. "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" 42:44

Packaging has a thin outer box that you can remove from the top or bottom to get to the case inside, similar to other recent ABC Studios series sets. Both the thin outer box and case have the same artwork for both the front and back. The cover has a nice shot of Rayna and Juliette, with Rayna sitting on a throne and Juliette lying on the floor with her guitar. The color scheme is gold and grey. The show logo is present in grey lettering towards the top. The credits for Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere are below the logo. The back has information on the set, three episodic photos from episodes and also a nice cast photo with nine main stars. There is also a grey box detailing the bonus features and there are technical specifications below the episodic images.
Opening the case, on the left side we see an insert which includes an ad for the upcoming new fall ABC TV series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The other side has an ad for the Music of Nashville CD's! Back to the case, on both the left and right panels we have many episodic photos and a disc-by-disc breakdown of episode titles below that. The discs are on plastic holders, that you can flip a page in a book. The first plastic holder holds disc one on the front side and disc two on the back side. The second plastic holds disc three on the front side and disc four on the back side. Disc five is on the right panel itself. Disc artwork is very nice and is shaped as a record and has a shot of Nashville character(s). Disc one has episodes 1-5 with artwork of Rayna. Disc two has episodes 6-10 and has artwork of Juliette. Disc three has episodes 11-14 and has artwork of Rayna & Juliette with Deacon. Disc four has episodes 15-18 and has artwork of Scarlett, Gunnar and Avery. And disc five has episodes 19-21 plus the bulk of the bonus features and has artwork of Teddy, Lamar, and Coleman. It is nicely designed.

The menu screen has clips playing in the background while background music from the series plays. The options on the main menu are Play All, Episode Selection, Set Up, Bonus Features, and Sneak Peeks. But before the main menu screen comes on disc one, we get some auto sneak peeks: ABC TV on DVD, Castle Season 5, Revenge Season 2, and Once Upon a Time Season 2. Sneak Peeks option is only found on disc five on the main menu and has an ABC Image promo and a trailer for Mary Poppins. Set Up section has the option of subtitles in English, French or Spanish and how you can register your DVD. The Episodes option gives us the episode title only, but it is nicely designed. Bonus Features option has all the extras listed and this is discs one and five only. All of the sub-menus have different background music from the show. All original music...so good!

The video is digitally mastered and is in widescreen and looks very good, as it should! The audio is great and sounds very good, as it is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Both the audio and video are almost perfection. This is from 2012-2013, so it had better be good. There is nothing to complain at all here...it is perfect! There are about 7 chapter stops per episode. We get to hear the closing theme as well! Not much to report here, but that is a good thing since this part of the DVDs are always perfect for newer series. I wish we had a Blu-ray version of this show and that would be beyond perfection! Imagine watching the songs performed by Rayna and Juliette in HD!

Moving on the bonus features. For disc one, we have the featurette "Nashville Goes to Nashville" (6:06). We meet the city that's the vibrant home and heart of the country music industry, and the home to this series as well! Interviewed are Connie Britton, Charles Esten, Callie Khouri (creator), Hayden Panettiere, R.J. Cutler (director), Clare Bowen, Jeff Knipp (production designer), Jonathan Jackson, Sam Palladio, Robert Wisdom, and Steve Buchanan (executive producer). On to disc five, where the bulk of the extras are, we have more featurettes! First up is, "Stellas Go On 'Tour'" (8:40). We tag along for a tour of the set with the exuberant and talented young Stella sisters -- who really are sisters in real life! Lennon Stella and Maisy Stella show us the set and on the way they see Judith Hoag and Charles Esten! The final featurette is a series of "On The Record: B-Side." We discover some of the remarkable talent behind the show's music and learn the story of two of its heartfelt ballads. The first one "Consider Me" (5:02) has interviews with Ashley Monroe (songwriter), Brendan Benson (songwriter), Callie Khouri, and Buddy Miller (music producer). The second one is "If I Didn't" (5:44). Interviewed are R.J. Cutler, Callie Khouri, Clare Bowen, Sam Palladio and Buddy Miller.

Then we have seven deleted scenes from seven different episodes. I wish we had more, but we'll take it. Some other ABC series have way, way, more, so it is sad to see only seven here. Here are the episodes and runtimes: #101 (0:37), #102 (1:00), #105 (1:01), #106 (1:16), #107 (0:42), #111 (1:06) and #112 (1:07). Finally, we have some "Bloopers" (2:08)...yes all the hilarious flubs and outtakes! See all the goofs and play on the set, it is short but sweet

This is a great show and a great set. The series is off to a great start and we hope we have many more seasons to come. I recommend this series and set, as it is an ABC Studios DVD, so it is good and filled with special features. It isn't as many as some other ABC sets, but quality wise, it's good. This DVD is awesome as we get of course all 21 great episodes to watch at our own leisure. The DVD is coming out on Sept. 17, just in time for the second season premiere on Sept. 25 on ABC. ABC will re-air the season finale this Wednesday (Sept. 18), if you need to get a refresh. And if you've never watched an episode, get this set ASAP and get addicted! Everyone needs to be watching this show because it's more than a drama set in Nashville. Don't let the title fool you. It's just a backdrop of the show. The season finale ended in great cliffhanger and we will see the conclusion on the season premiere. The electrifying chemistry between the main cast shows and you all need to buy the set by clicking below to see it for yourself! One of the many songs is titled "Wrong Song," but it's not wrong for you to order the DVD by clicking below!

(4/5 stars)

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

Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com DVD Reviews Page
Nashville on TV.com


FOLLOW ME

Who to Follow: Seth Green (Twitter), "Hello Twitter. I promise not to say anything too stupid."
Claim to Fame: Seth Green, unlike a lot of celebrities, wasn't born into a well-known family. He was born in Philadelphia to a mother who was an artist and a father who was a math teacher. He had a few movie roles and TV roles in the '80s (including guest roles on The Facts of Life and Mr. Belvedere), but came to fame in the early '90s in the commercial for the regional fast food restaurant Rally's (check it out on YouTube). Since then, he has appeared in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Family Guy, Robot Chicken (which he also created), and now he adds to his current duties a starring role in the upcoming Fox series Dads.
Why You Should Follow Him: I've always been intrigued by Seth Green, going back to the Rally's commercials (which I remember very well, as Rally's was a rather large thing where I live back then). But I never really got to find out more about Green until Family Guy premiered 15 years ago, and I've discovered rather quickly that he is a rather offbeat and humorous guy who seems to be just being himself in everything that he does. Of course, this naturally makes him the type of person that you want to follow on Twitter.
Pick of the Tweets: "On @TheTalk_CBS with my teenage BFF @THEsaragilbert talking about all the trouble we got into as kids. Spoiler alert…" (April 1, 2013)

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