St. Elsewhere - Season One
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B+ Episodes: B-
Drama +
Hospitals + TV = Successful Series.
Since there has been television to watch, it seems that Hospital dramas
have been successful. St. Elsewhere: Season One has just been
released on a 4-Disc, 22 Episode Set for viewers to enjoy. St.
Elsewhere is set in a crumbling, city, teaching hospital in Boston where
patients of all walks of life come to be treated, but mostly patients are those
who have been turned away from everywhere else.
The series stars William Daniels (Boy
Meets World), Howie Mandel (Deal or
No Deal), Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Training Day), and about 100 more stars. The series definitely maintained a sense of
realism as well as long and detailed continuity that not many shows can
match. With each interlocking storyline
the audience is drawn into this medical drama that has a dash of dark comedy to
give the series that extra spark.
One of
the more interesting parts of the series is the constant pop culture
reference. Since St. Elsewhere was drama, however, the pop culture references were
never obvious and mentioned in passing.
A blatant example of the series ‘in-jokes’ is how over the PA system at
the hospital there are sporadic mentions of Doctors’ names who appear or who
have appeared in other hospital series.
As the 6 seasons of St. Elsewhere
went on these types of references just got more detailed and abundant,
something viewers could even make a game out of.
The
technical features on this DVD set are quite good for a 1980’s series. The series ran from 1982-1988 a time where it
seems studios were not taking such good care of there television film masters,
so this is surprisingly good. The
picture is presented in a nice 1.33 X 1 Full Screen that remains clean
throughout with seldom color balance issues and only the occasional blurriness. Seems the MTM Catalog is getting some care
taken care of it.
The sound
is presented in a crisp Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that is nicely balance but does
exhibit some high low errors, making the actors sound distant at times. The extras seem to be getting better on these
80s box sets, St. Elsewhere offering
fans a good audio commentary on the Cora and Arnie episode, as well as four
well done featurettes. The commentary is
well done and nice to see some detailed insight. The exclusive featurettes include St
Elsewhere: The Place to Be, Cora and Arnie: An Outstanding Episode, Tim Robbins: The Punk Gets Responsible
(he played a terrorist in one episode), and finally Dr. Jack Morrison: The Spirit of Care and Empathy. All features are nicely presented and
interesting to view.
The cast
had chemistry. The stars had
talent. The series is now on DVD for all
to own!
- Michael P Dougherty II
