NUMB3RS – The Final Season (Season Six/2009 – 2010/CBS DVD Set)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C     Episodes: C

 

 

When the Ridley Scott/Tony Scott-produced TV series NUMB3RS arrived on CBS, it became the best (and best reviewed) hour long drama the network debuted in many years and was poised to become a huge hit TV show, but between the network not promoting it like they should have and the show eventually watering itself down for more commercial appeal and becoming too much like other formula CBS action shows, the series never reached the peak it should have and after six seasons, ended on a down note.

 

The Sixth Season is also The Final Season, now on DVD from CBS, but the show has become more like a soap opera than we could have ever imagined.  The math emphasis that worked so well before (and still does on the biggest CBS hit of late, The Big Bang Theory) has faded away too much for its own good.  New cast members have joined the show, but David Krumholtz, Rob Morrow (in a great comeback for him), Judd Hirsch and Peter MacNicol have seen it to the end.  Too bad the show was allowed to drift into being a less silly version of MacGyver, but it can also be said that everyone seems bored and the energy is almost gone.

 

We get 16 hour-long shows over 4 DVDs and at least the show did not totally become a joke, yet so much was not achieved and that is sad.  I would recommend anyone who has not seen the show start with the first season, then start watching it all in order and see how long you stay with it.  Like The X-Files, it is like we were being set up for something bigger than never happened, so here is yet another rare, smart hour-long U.S. TV drama (especially one that is not the usual police or medical show) that failed in its overall arc and that is a shame.  NUMB3RS was great and maybe if it were on cable this would not have happened, but it just goes to show you how bad broadcast TV has become, destroying anything good it has going for it.

 

At least fans can celebrate how good it once was.  These final shows are not the long goodbye anyone had expected, but now, its over.

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot in High Definition video and is unfortunately plagued with softness and motion blur beyond the style the show has chosen.  It sort of looks like the show first did when it debuted, but in a slightly watered-down way.  At least it ended before that aspect got worse.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is a little better than the Dolby 2.0 Stereo version that ahs some Pro Logic surrounds and the mixes are not bad, but I wonder if DTS would have brought out more of the qualities of the remix and soundfield.

 

Extras include cast/crew commentaries on select episodes, stills section of Production Photo Gallery with co-creator Nicholas Falacci and three featurettes: Coming Full Circle: NUMB3RS The Final Season, The Women of NUMB3RS and Pixel Perfect: The Digital Cinematography of NUMB3RS.

 

 

As fans of the show, we have covered almost every season on DVD and you can visit any of that coverage at these links:

 

One

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4124/Numb3rs+%E2%80%93+The+Complet

 

Two

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4513/NUMB3RS+%E2%80%93+The+Comple

 

Three

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6008/Numb3rs+%E2%80%93+The+Third+S

 

Five

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9222/NUMB3RS+%E2%80%93+The+Fifth+S

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo