Bored To Death - The Complete Second Season (2011/HBO Blu-ray Set)/Call Me Fitz – The Complete First Season (2009/E1 DVD Set)/In Treatment – Season Three (2011/HBO
DVD Set)/Modern Family – The Complete
Second Season (2010 – 2011/Fox Blu-ray Set)
Picture: B/C+/C+/B- Sound: B/C+/B-/B- Extras: C/C+/D/C Main Programs: B-/C+/B-/C
The
following new TV series include three interesting entries you may have heard of
and a new hit that is
Bored To Death - The Complete
Second Season
(2011) continues the spoofy detective comedy we first covered with the Season One Blu-ray at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10601/Bored+To+Death:+The+Complete+Fir
I was not
as big a fan as my fellow writer of the show and though I like Jason
Schwartzman and Ted Danson, I never did find Zach Galifianakis as funny if
funny much at all, though ironically he is a pretty good actor. The premise is only so sustainable and it is
already suffering from the weekly TV grind here, even though there are only
eight episodes for this season. Start
with the first set if you are interested, but only expect so much. Extras include Outtakes, Deleted Scenes,
Audio Commentaries and Inside The Episodes.
Jason
Priestly finds a new career high in Call
Me Fitz – The Complete First Season (2009) in which he is the title
character, a car salesman who still thinks it is the 1950s on some level (wants
to be a spiritual, honorary Rat Pack member) but is a would-be slick con artist
who thinks he is a great lover and even better salesman. He nearly gets a customer killed and all
kinds of other complications set in during a debut season that has more laughs
than expected, but is not always able to sustain its storyline despite some
good ideas and a fine supporting cast.
Priestly is better here than I have ever seen him and I hope the second
season picks up.
Extras include a funny Blooper Reel, two featurettes (Genesis of Fitz, Casting Of
Fitz) and Season 2 Sneak Peek.
In Treatment – Season Three (2011) continues the interesting
Gabriel Byrne series that tries something different and remains consistent and
very much like the Season Two DVD
set we covered at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10501/In+Treatment+%E2%80%93+Season
We get
more of the same, but that is not a bad thing as the show moves on smoothly
without decline, but the show might not be for everyone. However, you might want to start at the
beginning on this one too to fully enjoy what is going on here. There are no extras on this 7-DVD set.
Last and
least is the hit comedy Modern Family –
The Complete Second Season which I have never found funny at all and find
to be the most overrated hit on TV. The
single-camera approach does not work, I never believe these characters for a
minute, the storylines are dull and it is even obnoxious. This 3-Blu-ray set even lets me encounter the
show at its highest possible fidelity and that only confirms how much I do not
like it. It is not My Mother, The Car but is lightyears away from a show I find truly
funny like Big Bang Theory. This is for fans only.
Extras
include four making of featurettes, table read of the episode “Strangers On A Treadmill”, a Music Video
and Deleted Family interviews.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Bored
is the best of the four here, even better than the softer AVC @ 24 MBPS 1.78 HD
image on Family which should look
better than it does. That leaves the anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the two DVD releases about on par with each other,
softest of all but good for their formats.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Bored is the best of the four here for sound as well with rich,
consistent soundfields, while the same on Family
is more towards the center channel, a problem the Dolby Digital 5.1 on Fitz can have, but that has better
recordings overall. The Dolby Digital
5.1 on Treatment is quieter in
nature all around so it is going to be the least sonically adept as expected,
but is also well recorded.
- Nicholas Sheffo
