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Category:    Home > Reviews > Nighttime Soap Opera > Country Music > Nashville: The Complete First Season (2012 – 2013/Disney/ABC DVD Set)

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Army Wives: The Complete Seventh Season (2012 – 2013/Disney/ABC DVD Set)/The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Sixth Season (2012 – 2013 /Warner Bros. Blu-ray w/DVD)/Castle: The Complete Fifth Season (2012 – 2013/Disney/ABC DVD Set)/Doctor Who: The Ice Warriors (1967/Story No. 39) + The Visitation (1982/Story No. 120/BBC DVDs)/Nashville: The Complete First Season (2012 – 2013/Disney/ABC DVD Set)/The League: The Complete Season Four (2012 – 2013/Fox DVD Set)/The Transporter: The Complete First Season (2012/Umbrella Import Region B/50i Blu-ray Set)

 

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

 

 

PLEASE NOTE: The Transporter TV Series Blu-ray may be marked as a Region B disc and is a 1080/50i HD transfer, so you must have a Blu-ray player and HDTV (non-U.S. models for the most part) that can handle that format before ordering an it can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.

 

 

Here is a new batch of TV series arriving on home video to go with new seasons of their respective shows, including a few you might have missed or not heard of...

 

 

Army Wives: The Complete Seventh Season (2012 – 2013) has somehow made it this far despite not being the biggest drama on TV.  Our reaction to the early seasons was mixed as the links to these early season will show:

 

One

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7329/Army+Wives+%E2%80%93+The+Complete+First

 

Two

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8646/Army+Wives+%E2%80%93+The+Complete+Second

 

Three

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9626/Army+Wives+%E2%80%93+The+Complete+Third

 

 

I was especially unhappy with it and am very surprised it has lasted this long, but it found enough of a loyal audience to go on and since I last saw it a few years ago, some formidable character development finally occurred.  We get all 13 episodes over 3 DVDs and keeping the seasons short for a show this flat is probably for the best.  Either way, anyone who is interested in the show should start with the debut season, or they will be more lost than usual.

 

Extras include Bloopers and Deleted Scenes.

 

 

We just looked at the terrific The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Sixth Season (2012 – 2013) on DVD and now, we have the even better Blu-ray set that includes the DVDs we covered at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12340/Anjelah+Johnson:+The+Homecoming+Show+%28

 

 

Extras are the same, but playback on the Blu-rays are better and that allows the viewer to get even more involved with the shows, characters, situations and jokes.  See more about the technical performance below.

 

 

Castle: The Complete Fifth Season (2012 – 2013) has also made it further than expected, likely thanks to the appeal of co-stars Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion (who is probably thrilled he was not in the Lone Ranger movie after he was in the running a few years ago) as TV is latest crime-solving duo.  However, I still find their chemistry limited and the teleplays even more in the 24 episodes we get here over 5 DVDs and them becoming closer usually means the show I son the downswing (think Moonlighting), but you can see for yourself by starting with Season One which I reviewed on DVD years ago at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9056/Castle+%E2%80%93+The+Complete

 

You could wing it and join the show here in progress, but there is a lack of suspense at both ends and the show is too comic for its own good.  Comedy is not automatically wit because you have a good-looking couple together.  Compare for yourself.

 

Extras include sample trading cards and card game cards inside the DVD case, while the DVDs add Bloopers, Deleted Scenes, Audio Commentary tracks on select episodes and three behind the scenes featurettes including the show celebrating their 100th episode!

 

 

Now for two sets of episodes of Doctor Who.  First we have The Ice Warriors (1967) with Patrick Troughton introducing the title characters, who became classic villains in the series.  Though the show at this point was still aimed at families and children in particular, it was not without its amusing moments and dark moments.  Other moments do not make as much sense and some of the logic is more like a dream than a science fiction tale at times, but the Doctor and companions Jamie and Victoria land on future earth where a new ice age has arrived.

 

However, something is frozen in the ice and when it surfaces, it will bring hell and terror with it.  I was happy with the writing and casting for the most part here, making this one of the best TV entries on the entire list.  Some sets and visual effects are dated, of course, but they still have strong context to the narrative and we also get some very smart moments.  There are also scientific inaccuracies and a few bloopers they could not fix, but I enjoyed the episodes, though 2 & 3 had to be animated since the video was lost.

 

I am not a fan of that, but it was more tolerable in this case (and a necessity too, as stills of those episodes are likely lost forever thanks to the BBC's terrible archival policies) so it is what it is and being a key a=story arc, nice to have it on DVD.

 

Extras include the lost Episodes 2 & 3 with new animation to go with the surviving audio, audio commentary tracks on the non-animated shows, different audio commentary tracks on the newly animated shows (including Michael Troughton, Patrick Troughton's son on Episode 3), PDF DVD-ROM materials, subtitle text that tells you all about the show as you watch, Behind the Ice featurette on the animated shows, 4 minutes-long Photo Gallery, VHS Links from the 1998 BBC Video release, Blue Peter [the famous BBC children's show of the time] Design-A-Monster contest for the Who series and Doctor Who Stories – Frazier Hines (Part Two) 13 minutes featurette.

 

 

The Peter Davidson era of the original run of Doctor Who is not my favorite and the shows eventually seem regressive like they are harkening back to children’s-only TV, but despite that being the case more than it should on The Visitation at least has some substance (and unintentional howls) when the Doctor and his current team go to 1666 England and encounter a killer alien that looks more like a walking refrigerator, nicely decorated model.  The Great Plague is going on and many think Death itself/himself is on the prowl, but it turns out that The Terileptils are the real culprit and these aliens think they can take over earth by starting with England at this time point.

 

Running four episodes, the show has some good moments and this is one of Davidson’s best outings as The Doctor, but the show drags on as the series starts to repeat itself too much and despite some good actors, it just never worked for me.  Fans might like it, if that, but it is part of the slow post-Tom Baker decline the show eventually fell into.

 

Extras include an Isolated Music Track, audio commentary track, Grim Tales – a 45-minutes Behind The Scenes featurette, PDF DVD-ROM materials, subtitle text that tells you all about the show as you watch, Television Center Of the Universe – Part One featurette, 5 minutes of Film Trims, Doctor Forever – The Apocalypse Element featurette, 5 minutes-long Photo Gallery, Scoring The Visitation 16 minutes featurette, Writing A Final Visitation 15 minutes featurette and Directing Who – Peter Moffatt, a 26 minutes featurette on how the director became a part of the series with these episodes.

 

 

Nashville: The Complete First Season (2012 – 2013) wants to be an intriguing look at the world of glamour and Country music today, but the show has many problems, including bad writing, bad music, the fact that Country Music is a wreck right now repeating old Rock Music forms in the worst possible ways, a lack of great artists or memorable works of any kind, so this is a lame show that wants to make Connie Britton (playing a 'Queen of Country') and Hayden Panettiere bigger names, but the Southern angle is less authentic than an episode of Mama's Family, Hee Haw or The Beverly Hillbillies.

 

For those who wondered if this was some kind of remake of the classic Robert Altman epic film of the same name, the show is not anywhere nearly as realistic, intelligent, gutsy or bold, but ABC (who produces this show) co-produced the Altman film back in 1975, which is why they have rights to the title.  It is also an issue to automatically think that the now-regressive Country scene has progressive women, because the genre is lacking in them too often (no one will mistake these gals for the Dixie Chicks, for instance, politics notwithstanding), so this is essentially a Disney Channel-like show for adults...  if that.  This is gaudy in the weakest way and is just an excuse for a nighttime soap opera with bad music and

 

We get all 21 episodes of the show over 5 DVDs and the more I waited for this one to pick up, the more I kept nearly falling asleep.  Maybe diehard fans of what is left of the genre might enjoy this one, but I was very unimpressed.  We'll see if this gets a long-term audience, or will they settle for Duck Dynasty and other soap operas instead?

 

Extras include Bloopers, Deleted Scenes and three behind the scenes featurettes.

 

 

The League: The Complete Season Four (2012 – 2013) is still running well on TV and though I found it to be formulaic, it is at least consistent.  For those unfamiliar with the sports sitcom, see our coverage of the first two season at these links:

 

One

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10402/The+League+%E2%80%93+The+Complete+Seaso

 

Two

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11218/According+To+Jim:+Season+Five/Boy+Meets+Worl

 

If you are a sports fan, a big fan, you probably think this is one of the funniest shows around, but is again a short 13-episode season over two DVDs and again, that is probably the makers quitting while they are ahead as there is only so many sports jokes annually you can really come up with.  Still, the energy level is the same and the cast has energy, so I can seer the appeal in this case, making it one of the better shows on the list by default.  I also thought this was a little better than the Second Season.

 

Extras include Extended Episodes, Deleted Scenes, a Gag Reel, Witchy Woman podcast and two behind the scenes featurettes.

 

 

 

Finally we have a show that has yet to reach the U.S. market, The Transporter: The Complete First Season (2012) which does not have Jason Statham, but Chris Vance is now cast as Frank Martin and tries to make the character his own in 12 episodes over three Blu-ray discs.  The movie series is obviously played out, so when that happens, especially when the movies have become tired, we sometimes get a TV show and one as played out.   This show follows suit, unfortunately.  For starters, especially if you are unfamiliar with the trilogy that was produced (and handled by two movie studios!), see our coverage to the first three films on Blu-ray at the following links:

 

One

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4608/The+Transporter+%282002/Blu-ray%29

Two

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4769/The+Transporter+2+%28Blu-ray%29

 

Three

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8342/The+Transporter+3+%282008/Lionsgate+Blu-ray

 

The teleplays are lame, cast of actors are bored-looking and they all -play like a bad 1980s syndicated action show with more smugness than story, though this one is not very smug.  Andrea Osvart is beautiful and deserves better than this, so hopefully we'll see more of her elsewhere.  Without Statham, this will be a curiosity at best and some in the states are even surprised this show was produced.  If only the pilot delivered what the first feature failed to, then this would be a big international hit.  Now, it is just a likely footnote to a movie series that is thankfully over.

 

Extras include separate interviews with the leads and five making of/behind the scenes featurettes.

 

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Wives, Bang and Castle are much softer than they should be, even in this format and in the HD age, for which they were all shot that way, but the same presentations on Bang, League and even Nashville (to show off the city, they have to watch following styling-down clichés) are much better on DVD, though the 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Bang Blu-rays deliver the best image presentation of anything on this list as I expected.  It is a well-shot show and one of the best HD shoots of any sitcom to date.

 

The 1.33 X 1 PAL black and white analog taping on Warriors is as rough as anything on this list gets and it is the oldest entry here, but it is rough and soft mixing black and white film with PAL videotape.  Like the 1.33 X 1 PAL color analog taping on Visitation, which has more flaws and softness throughout than I expected, both have detail issues, aliasing errors and other shortcomings you expect from the older Doctor Who series.  Visitation is still on the clean(er) side (maybe too much cleaning by the BBC?) looking better than many taped shows of the period.  Still, it could be a bit sharper. 

 

So that leaves the 1080/50i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition presentation on the Transporter episodes that look fairly good for new HD shoots, are the runner-up for best picture quality of all the releases on this list, yet cannot compete with how good the three feature films looked on Blu-ray and the CGI digital visual effects are nothing to write home about.  Styled down and somewhat generic, it is meant to look good on an HDTV and be commercial, but the makers should not have settled for this and tried for a little more.  Too bad.

 

As for sound, Transporter should be the sonic champion being an actions series sporting DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on all episodes, yet they are not as dynamic as the three feature films and not as smooth or consistent as the same mixes on all episode of Big Bang Theory on Blu-ray with its own DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on all episodes.  This is not just because it is studio-bound, but because it is just clearly and cleanly recorded in a more consistent way and anything towards the front makes more sense in mixing than what wee get on the action import.

 

Wives, Castle, League, Nashville  and the DVDs of Bang all have lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes tying for second-place sonically, but they are on the weak side and too often too much in the center/front channels in ways I do not like, so the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Visitation is able to match them sonically, even with .1 LFE effects.  The sound for the old 1982 show is not bad and the default highlight of the set, though I still do not like the updated theme song, which is a step backwards like the writing itself.

 

The original Doctor Who theme is on Warriors with its the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono being the weakest sonic performer on the list.  Still, it has some fun sound effects as well and tends to be more creative than most entries on this list.

 

 

As noted above, you can order the import version of the Transporter TV series exclusively from Umbrella at:

 

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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