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Category:    Home > Reviews > TV SItuation Comedy > Aliens > Adventure > Jungle > Dating > The Neighbors – The Complete First Season (2012 – 2013/Disney/ABC DVD Set)/Tarzan – The Complete Second Season (1967 – 1968/MGM/Ron Ely/Warner Archive DVD Set)/Two & A Half Men - The Complete Tenth Se

The Neighbors – The Complete First Season (2012 – 2013/Disney/ABC DVD Set)/Tarzan – The Complete Second Season (1967 – 1968/MGM/Ron Ely/Warner Archive DVD Set)/Two & A Half Men - The Complete Tenth Season (2012 – 2013/Warner DVD set)


Picture: C+/C/C Sound: C+/C/C+ Extras: C-/D/C- Episodes: C-/C+/C-




PLEASE NOTE: The Tarzan DVD set is only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below


Here's more TV on DVD coming at ya...



The Neighbors – The Complete First Season (2012 – 2013) is a supposed comedy about aliens from outer space a few decades ago and move into a suburban area that was not exactly doing that well sales wise. With that problem solved, they expect to be back home quickly, but someone forgot to bring the charger for their advanced communicator and now they are so stuck, one alien couple gives up, leaving room for a human family to move in. What? Oh no! Or oh no?


Jaime Gertz is the mom in that family and we are supposed to find this all funny, but save for very young children or families, this is a lame show that takes the most basic parts of Third Rock From The Sun, My Favorite Martian and any other sitcom it can rip off and try to make things work. They do not, starting with the predictable pilot, then moving on to boredom and an unknown cast trying to have some energy and enthusiasm, but the 22 half-hours over 3 DVDs just get progressively regressive and I can see why no one is talking about this show. And it was renewed?


Extras include a Gag Reel and Deleted Scenes that are as lame as the final episodes.



Ron Ely continued on a Edgar Rice Burroughs classic character in Tarzan – The Complete Second Season (1967 – 1968), but injuries, repetition and odd ideas (Diana Ross & the Supremes as nuns (!), plus Ethel Merman show up... in the jungle?) showed the series was wearing thin quickly, yet it is the best entry on this list and has a few good moments. Ely is more convincing in the role than most and to his credit is better remembered than many actors (including ones who should have worked in the part like Travis Fimmel and Casper Van Dien) who have recently taken on the role.


The show is now a curio and MGM did a great job marketing it (there were some nice tie-in merchandise items for it) and at least the show takes itself seriously, but MGM quit while it was ahead. Guest stars this time include George Kennedy, Woody Strode, Ted Cassidy, Robert Loggia, Clarence Williams III, Fernando Lamas, James Whitmore, Geoffrey Holder, James MacArthur and Helen Hayes.


There are sadly no extras.



By its Fifth Season, Two & A Half Men had pretty much played itself out and something had to change. Despite its high ratings, it was either going to decline or go on as a zombie show past its prime, but the big surprise is that highly paid Charlie Sheen (likely bored, but in an ugly conflict with himself and the producer of the show) stunned the industry by leaving the show! It is still sort of odd but it happened, so as a different character, internet star and one-time TV hit star Ashton Kutcher stepped in as the 'Casanova' of the series and it worked well enough that the ratings stayed high, people kept watching and the show has somehow made it all the way to a Complete Tenth Season (2012 – 2013), now on DVD.


Keeping Conchata Ferrell on board sure helped, especially when the “1/2 man” Angus T. Young (having lost a good bit of weight in 5 seasons) started attacking the show as immoral, despite all that money he raked in and got on a religious morality kick. Instead of following Sheen, his role was greatly reduced, so the show has now slightly improved if barely, making it more watchable and Jon Cryer hangs in there.


It is still not that funny, but not as obnoxious as it had been in previous seasons. Miley Cyrus even shows up as a new character and we get 23 episodes over 3 DVDs. It's still a fans-only affair, but the show still has many of them, so let's see how much longer they can keep it going.


Extras include a Gag Reel and featurette Two Manly Men Singing And Dancing.




The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Neighbors and Men should be the visual champs here, but both are soft, especially Men, leaving Neighbors the visual champ by default. The 1.33 X 1 image on Tarzan was shot on 35mm film, but between the overuse of stock footage, the worn prints on the set, the mixed color between prints (not the best MetroColor we have seen of late) and the lack of detail in many a shot, the playback disappoints.


The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mixes on Neighbors and Men tie as the sonic champs on the list, but still have lacking soundfields and mixes too much towards the front channels. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Tarzan sounds a little distorted at times, down a generation too often and in some cases, be careful of volume switching and volume levels.



To order Tarzan (among many Tarzan exclusives, including other DVD and Blu-ray exclusives), go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:


http://www.warnerarchive.com/



- Nicholas Sheffo


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