The Big C: The Complete Second Season (2012/Sony DVD Set)/Roseanne: The Complete Season Three + Four (1990 – 1992)/That ‘70s Show: The Complete Season Three + Four (2000 – 2002)/3^rd Rock From The Sun: The Complete Season Three + Four (1998 – 2000/Mill Creek DVD sets)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C (B-: Big C)     Extras: C/C/C/C/C-/C/C-     Episodes: C+/B-/B-/C/C-/B-/B-

 

 

Now for a look at TV comedy in follow-up seasons to four different shows, most of which are reissue sets.

 

 

The Big C: The Complete Second Season (2012) follows an interesting if mixed debut season of the noteworthy show with Laura Linney.  You can read more about the show in our coverage of the First Season at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10985/The+Big+C+%E2%80%93+The+Com

 

The storyline picks up with the last seasons twist ending and other in-suspense storylines, complete with some subtle comedy and ambitious writing that is at least smart.  I thought the show could get either better or worse, but the storyline holds steady instead, so that means it could dip or climb next season.  This is unusual for any show and demonstrates that the weekly TV grind has not hurt this show yet.

 

At its worse, some of the comedy is obvious and situations predictable, but the acting and smarter moments keep the show going and Linney can carry the show with ease.  Hugh Dancy, Alan Alda, Gabourey Sidibe and Oliver Platt are among the formidable supporting cast and if you are interested in the show, start with the first season, then quickly move into this one.  Extras include deleted scenes and outtakes over all three discs.

 

Now for the reissues of three Carsey-Werner hits by Mill Creek.

 

Roseanne: The Complete Season Three + Four (1990 – 1992) are reissues of the now out of print DVD sets we covered at the following links:

 

Three

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3522/Roseanne+-+The+Complete+Third+Se

 

Four

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3883/Roseanne+-+The+Complete+Fourth+S

 

The same three featurettes from the Third DVD set and same video commentaries and interview pieces from the Fourth DVD set are retained here, so the same extras remain.

 

That ‘70s Show: The Complete Season Three + Four (2000 – 2002) are reissues of now out of print DVD sets including Season Four that we covered at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3686/That+70s+Show+-+Season+Four

 

I was not as big a fan of the show, though looking at Season One on Blu-ray (be looking for our fellow writers coverage soon) made watching and seeing the show work better for me.  It looks like the show started half-decently if sloppily, then declined quickly coasting on its hit status and stars in the making.  Extras for Season Three include Episode Promos, featurette on the season itself, six episodes with audio commentary and 12 episodes with cast intros, while extras on Season Four are a little different than the previously reviewed set and include three featurettes (interviews with Laura Prepon and separately with Mila Kunis, plus Season Four in 4 Minutes) and three commentaries among the 27 episodes here, but episode promo spots from the older set are not here for some reason.

 

 

That leaves us finally with 3^rd Rock From The Sun: The Complete Season Three + Four (1998 – 2000) which are also reissues of now out of print DVD sets including Season Four that we covered at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3770/3rd+Rock+From+The+Sun+-+Season

 

The best of the older shows here, this show has actually improved with time and held up better than I could have expected at the time.  I don’t know if Blu-rays will ever happen, but this is one of the few sitcoms of its era that anyone will remember decades from now, in part thanks to the chemistry of its fine cast.

 

Extras for the Season Three set include Season 3 Highlights, 4 audio commentaries on select episodes, Cast Interview, French Stewart Interview, Wild About Harry featurette, The Superest Two-Part Episode featurette and Bloopers, while the Season Four set retains the older Season 4 Highlights, Jane Curtin Interview and Bloopers from the old set, but lacks the 16-page booklet that set offered.

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Big C is softer again than I would have liked, but it is consistent for what it is, yet I wonder if a Blu-ray would look better.  It is also no better than the 1.33 X 1 image on the rest of the Mill Creek sets squeeze more shows on each DVD, but that does not help, though the older sets were not always that much sharper.  Needless to say Show cannot compete with its superior Blu-ray presentation in any DVD version. 

 

The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Big C is still pretty good and has enough of a soundfield in each show to justify more than 2.0 Stereo, but the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the rest of the DVD sets sound a generation down and not as good as they could be, though you can hear them just well enough.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo