Eat Pennsylvania (Special Interest/WQED)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Documentary: C+

 

 

Dave Hallewell and Dave Rhodes sort of co-host Eat Pennsylvania, a dining place special where the duo visit as many exceptional mom-&-pop eateries across the Keystone State as possible in a sort of counter-companion to the WQED/Rick Sebak-hosted Pennsylvania Diners (reviewed elsewhere on this site).

 

Though the food places are interesting and some have not been covered in other specials, even from an entity like The Food Network, the problem is that the duo supposedly has all this personality and something to say, yet remain silent for almost the entire hour.  That means this could have been made by anyone anonymously and that they are obviously there talking to cooks and patrons asking simple questions holds back the show throughout.

 

Why not say something?  Surely they did not think anyone thought they would be duplicating Mr. Sebak’s work.  Why not let loose?  Other such programs have consistent narrators?  What’s the trouble?  We don’t know, but the eateries are interesting enough to still give this a look, even if it sometimes feels like an incomplete rough draft edit.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is softer and has more digititis than it should, showing that the technology used to remaster the professional analog NTSC footage had difficulties with the format, but color is consistent and the video is clean otherwise.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo at best and all the interviewees can be heard.  There is no narration per se, so the audio has a tad more background noise throughout.  Extras include bloopers and more footage of the Penn State Tailgating coverage.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo