Governor:
The Complete Collection
(1995 - 1996*)/Personal
Maid's Secret
(1935/Warner Archive DVD)/A
Place To Call Home: Series Five
(2017/*both Acorn DVD Sets)/Modern
Family: The Complete Ninth Season/This
Is Us: The Complete Second Season
(both 2017 - 2018 Fox DVD Sets)
Picture:
B-/C/B-/B-/B- Sound: B/C-/B-/B-/B- Extras: D/D/C/C/C Main
Programs: C+/C+/C/B/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Personal
Maid's Secret
DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here
are four hit TV shows and one short feature film that was not a
B-movie and shows us the TV writing if today is more similar to such
early sound films than you might think.
We
star with Governor:
The Complete Collection
(1995 - 1996)
as the UK crime series lands on disc and allows a new generation to
binge and old fans to revisit. A serious and realistic miniseries,
The
Governor
stars Janet McTeer as a female governor that is in charge of an
all-male high-security prison. Written by Lynda La Plante (Prime
Suspect),
the story is as relevant then as it remains today.
The
show also stars Derek Martin, Ron Donachie, David Nicholls, Eamonn
Walker, Paul Kynman, Anthony Higgins, and Idris Elba (!!!) to name a
few. The show is two seasons and twelve episodes in length.
Presented
in standard definition in a 4:3/1.33 X 1 full screen presentation
with a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track, the show looks fine on
DVD and shows a bit of age, but its shot on film and is still the
best of the five presentations in this text. The general look of the
show is pretty natural in terms of tones and nothing too over the top
or stylistic.
No
extras.
Not
terrible, but a bit dated in terms of fashion and feel but nothing
out of the norm for a procedural crime drama. Fans will be happy to
have all of the episodes together in this new addition.
Arthur
Grenville Collins' Personal
Maid's Secret
(1935) may only run 58 minutes, but it plays as much more than what
used to be a nearly hour-long episode of a given TV anthology series
later (less commercials then) and a feature that is well rounded if
too short. The casting is solid and shows why Warner could compete
with any studio in the world. Ruth Donnelly is great as the maid who
knows that a very beautiful, pretty, well-off daughter (Anita Louise,
looking like a million dollars) of a rich couple (among the many rich
she works for) is actually her daughter!
She
still runs into her despite being hired by the wife (Margaret
Lindsay) of an up and coming husband/businessman (Warren Hull, who
has convincing chemistry with her) and only exposing her to secret
daughter Diana all the more. Like the better dramatic TV these days
(when you can find it), the writing is tight and the comedy not
over-the-top, yet authentically funny down to their 'ready for Our
Gang/The
Little Rascals'
son and other actors here. Nothing is wasted and its early sound
films like this that show how smooth making sound cinema was
becoming.
Instead
of corny or stupid, the film stays on track and knows how to end in a
smart way that is not formulaic or dumb. Considering its age, that
says something, so it is odd why more of these actors did not become
big names or how this film got lost in the shuffle, but Warner
Archive has it now on DVD.
The
movie is very good looking and well shot for its time, but
unfortunately, the 1.33 X 1 black & white image transfer often
shows the age of the materials used, so it is one that needs some
work, but even with that, you can see how top rate a Warner
production then could be. However, the wear is worse with the sound,
a lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono whose source track here has too many pops,
clicks and distortion for anyones own good. Some of the adjustments
would be simple and cheap, but like the picture, the film needs and
deserves a real restoration and being a true early sound gem from
Warner, deserves it. Be careful of volume switch and high sound
playback levels.
There
are sadly also no extras, but a trailer has to be somewhere and maybe
a featurette?
The
Australian soap A
Place To Call Home
lands on disc in its 5th
Season
and is sure to appeal to the Downtown
Abbey
crowd. Mixed with a bit more suspense than that series, A
Place To Call Home
features great looking cinematography and performances from its core
cast (lead by Marta Dusseldorp and Brett Climo) but can't escape its
over the top melodrama.
Set
in Europe as a period piece, the show centers around Sarah Adams
(Dusseldorp) who is now living in the year 1958. Set in a world full
of wealth, Sarah and the Bligh family faces one dramatic scenario
after another through the twelve episode season.
Episodes
include Own
Worst Enemy, Fallout, All That Glitters, The Edge of Reason, Do Not
Go Gently, Demons of the Dark, The Anatomy of His Passing, Cloud
Break, All That Lies Ahead, Death Comes As An End, Lie Deep,
and In Memoriam.
Presented
with an anamorphically
enhanced
widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo track, the presentation here is pretty standard and of high
quality.
Special
Feature: Exclusive Q and A with Jenni Baird (22 min)
Modern
Family
returns for its Complete
Ninth Season
that sums up the norm of today's dysfunctional family. A sitcom
without a laugh track, the show features a large family of gay and
straight, older and younger, and teenage to adolescence. The show is
pretty funny and still maintains its innocence despite its dabbling
with some semi-controversial topics.
The
show stars Ed O'Neil, Sofia Vergara, Ariel Winter, Sarah Hyland,
Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet,
Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez, and more.
The
Ninth
Season
spans three discs with 22 episodes that include Lake
Life, The Long Goodbye, Catch of the Day, Sex Lies and Kickball, It's
the Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy - Ten Years Later - Winner Winner
Turkey Dinner, Brushes with Celebrity, Tough Love, No Small Feet, He
Said, She Shed - Dear Beloved Family, In Your Head, Written in the
Stars, Spanks for the Memories, Wine Weekend, Royal Visit, Daddy
Issues, Chips and Salsa, Mother!, The Escape,
and Clash
of Swords.
The
show is presented on anamorphically
enhanced standard
definition DVD with a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a lossy 5.1
Dolby Digital mix. This watermark/commercial free presentation makes
it much easier to binge watch the show as opposed to the
interruptions with its original network broadcast. Compression
issues are evident as is the norm for the format but it looks fine
here.
The
only special feature is a gag reel.
Finally,
This
Is Us: The Complete Second Season
(2017 -
2018) lands on DVD courtesy of Fox and is sure to satisfy fans of the
series as it is a nice little set. The heavy drama fellows several
different intertwining storylines as they all center around people
who have the same birthday. Winner of a Primetime Emmy Award, the
show is fine for what it is... but you might want a box of tissues
while watching.
The
show stars Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Chrissy Metz, Justin
Hartley, and Sterling K. Brown to name a few.
Season
2 is
comprised of 18 episodes that span four standard definition DVDs
which includes A
Father's Advice; A Manny-Splendered Thing Parts 1 and 2, Deja Vu,
Still There, Brothers, The '20s, The Most Disappointed Man, Number
One, Number Two, Number Three, The Fifth Wheel, Clooney, That'll Be
The Day, Super Bowl Sunday, The Car, Vegas, Baby, Episode 17, This
Big, Amazing, Beautiful Life,
and The
Wedding.
This
Is Us
is presented on anamorphically
enhanced,
standard definition DVD with a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and a
lossy 5.1 Dolby Digital mix. This watermark/commercial free
presentation makes it much easier to binge watch the show as opposed
to the interruptions with its original network broadcast. While
compressed, the show's strong cinematography and production value
shines through even though the template tends to be more natural.
Special
Feature: 'The 'Aftershow' after each episode.
To
order the Warner Archive DVD Personal
Maid's Secret,
go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Secret)
and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/