The
Last Ship: The Complete First Season
(2015/Warner Blu-ray Set)/The
Newsroom: The Complete Third Season
(2015/HBO Blu-ray Set)/Rizzoli
& Isles: The Complete Fifth Season
(2014 - 2015/Warner DVD Set)
Picture:
B-/B/C+ Sound: B/B/C+ Extras: C-/C+/C Episodes: C-/B-/C
Here's
a look at new TV series arriving on home video...
The
Last Ship: The Complete First Season
(2015) is Michael Bay's latest foray in TV and one of his poorest,
with its lite war porn, lite writing, lite action, lite character
development and hardly-there comedy as the Navy destroyer the USS
Nathan Jones may be gone too long (ha) as it faces a global
catastrophe as a scientist (Rhona Mitra) originally just a scientist
guest on the ship lands up teaming up with the Captain (Eric Dane) as
they face their would-be adventures together. Unfortunately, the
formula show and its formula predictability makes Voyage
To The Bottom Of The Sea
look like an MIT class on oceanic studies.
Johnathan
Mostow was also involved and cannot bring this dud to life either.
It is one of those shows that drones on and on and on and on until
you are awakened by an explosion or other loud disaster. This might
find a small audience, but it is really bad. Yawn....
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes
capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds Inside The Episode clips,
audio commentary tracks, Character Profiles, Prequel clips, 3 Behind
The Scenes featurettes and the 2014 Comic Con Panel on the show.
The
Newsroom: The Complete Third Season
(2015) sadly comes to a conclusion after being some of the most
literate, intriguing, smart, well acted, well written and well cast
TV on TV that happens to be about, TV and TV news. By this point,
the show seems to have run out of things to say in some level,
something I would not say if the final episode was not the worst one
they made. Did they run out of money?
Either
way, it may not have been as successful as The
Sopranos, Boardwalk
Empire or The
Wire, but I believe the
shows whole run (see our coverage of the first two seasons elsewhere
on this site) will be looked back on as better TV than it is getting
credit for now and a time capsule on what was really going on at this
time... especially in the ways our actual news media was failing us
and why the Internet just being there is no substitute for true,
honest, important journalism.
Jeff
Daniels really grew in this role and as we've always known (see
Demme's Something Wild)
was always more than just a comic actor, but an always underestimated
one. The one big mistake was to allow his character (SPOILER) to get
married to his female companion on the show or even to have one. The
show needed even more conflict and a tad less comedy, romance and
some different ways of presenting its political ideas. Still, it is
one of those shows about journalism worthy of the greats (The
Mary Tyler Moore Show,
Lou Grant,
plus Network
and The Insider)
on the subject and that is why everyone should take the time to see
the whole show just the same.
Extras
include Inside The Episode clips for all episodes and an audio
commentary track on the final episode by Executive Producers Aaron
Sorkin and Alan Poul.
Rizzoli
& Isles: The Complete Fifth Season
(2014 - 2015) is a more comical police procedural with two female
leads (Angie Harman and Sasha Alexander are not even listed on the
packaging this late in the show's production!!! Some would consider
that sexist and ignorant.) that is no Cagney
& Lacey, but is only
watchable because they have a little chemistry together. This one
obviously found enough of an audience and I have seen the show in
bits and pieces before.
However,
the 18 shows here must not be the epitome of why the show is popular
because these are also on the flat and boring side in a genre that is
played out, no matter how funny or serious you make it. You get
so-so jokes interrupted by murder and a little touch of gore. At
this point, the show is for fans only and I just wonder how much
longer it can go on or will it become a zombie show that goes on no
matter what like the stuff British hit MidSomer Murders.
Extras
include a paper slip with an episode guide, while the DVDs add
Unaired Scenes, a Gag Reel and stunt featurette.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Ship is
constantly a little dark, flat and boring across all episodes in a
generic way, further dragging on a very poorly made series.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer in Newsroom
by comparison looks pretty good, colorful, naturalistic, professional
and advanced by comparison. This is consistent with the previous
seasons and a pleasure to watch for the most part, but the
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Rizzoli
is the softest performer here, not as dark as Ship, but not that well
shot overall just the same.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes on Ship
and Newsroom
are very well recorded, have good soundfields and are well-mixed, but
Ships
tends to be a little louder as expected. That actually holds it
back, sometimes sounding a bit overdone at times, but Newsroom
can be laid back in its dialogue-based approach. They tie each other
as a result. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Rizzoli
tends to fall somewhere between the two in approach, but lacks the
soundfield of both.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
