Damages – The Complete Third Season (2010/Sony DVD Set)/ER– The Complete Fifteenth/Final Season (2008 – 2009/Warner DVD
Set)/Reggie Perrin – Set One (2009/Acorn
Media DVD Set)
Picture: C Sound: C+ Extras: C+/C-/C- Episodes: C+/C-/C+
And now for
a look at three TV series with some substance, even if they are not at their
strongest…
I liked Damages in its First Season and you can read about it here:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6532/Damages+%E2%80%93+The+Complet
Now we
take a look at the show a few years and seasons later in the new Damages – The Complete Third Season DVD
Set and it is still a good show, but it has changed in very dramatic ways affecting
some of the main characters and shaken up its set up in odd ways as a
result. Still a smart show, the series
has stuck with its characters adding few new and despite missing the Second Season, it was easier to pick up
much of what was going on as exposition on the show is top rate.
Needless
to say Glenn Close holds her own among a really fine cast that includes Rose
Byrne, Campbell Scott, Tate Donovan, Ted Danson, Lily Tomlin and even Martin
Short in an unusual dramatic part where even he delivers. It is almost as if the writers (good as they
are) cannot handle the weight of all the talent, but this is still interesting
viewing and I would start at the beginning, but you get 13 episodes over 3 DVDs
and the show holds its own with some limits.
Long past
its prime, ER logs its last and
poorest season with ER– The Complete
Fifteenth/Final Season (2008 – 2009) now on DVD and the show was pretty
much running on fumes by now. You can
read more about the series beginning at this link and going backwards:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10668/ER+%E2%80%93+The+Complete+Fo
At this
point, NBC was holding on to the show so Warner would not take it to another
network and the final episode wrapping up everything is the only one really
worth your time and that is only if you watched the early seasons.
Finally
we have a new show starring Martin Clunes of Doc Martin. Reggie Perrin – Set One (2009) which is
a comedy that has its title character constantly dreaming of acting out his
anger and unhappiness in his mind as he constantly confronts all around him
unhappily. This set has the first two
short seasons of the series and though the show is smartly and consistently
written, I never found it very funny and the near surreal approach was much
more effective in Irvin Kershner’s Up
The Sandbox (1972), the most underrated Barbra Streisand film ever made.
The
comedy is not even so much British as it is meant to be different and even
shocking, but I was not as shocked that his character constantly wanted to
break conformity and in that respect, many British series from The Avengers to
Benny Hill have done all this better anyhow.
Maybe the show will become wackier and more risky, but on some level, it
is still playing it too safe. !2
episodes are here on 2 DVDs.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 image on all three releases are softer than
expected, with Perrin being the most
obvious of the three HD shoots (all likely 1080i) and all having more motion
blur than I would have liked. Color is
best on Perrin, but Damages sets itself back with too many
split-screen and broken-screen edits. The
Dolby Digital 5.1 on ER and Damages
have limited soundfields as they are dialogue-based at best, which is why the Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo on Perrin is more
than able to compete as it is definitely centered on dialogue.
Extras
are on all three releases, but they vary.
Damages has the most with
cast/crew audio commentaries, Deleted Scenes, episode intros, Season 3 Trailer, Sometimes You Just Get Damaged blooper reel and two Making Of featurettes: Directing Damages and Damages Season 3 – A Look Back. ER
has Outpatient Outtakes: Unrated Scenes
and Previously On ER: Retrospective
Featurette. Perrin has a behind-the-scenes photo gallery.
- Nicholas Sheffo