Dane Cook – The Lost Pilots
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+/C Extras: B- Episodes: C+/C
I have
not been a fan of Dane Cook and never understood why he was being hyped so much
when some of the projects have left something to be desired. Employee
Of The Month and Waiting… did
not show him at his best and those were not great vehicles to begin with. Trying to find traction in feature films,
Sony has issued two pilots of his TV sitcom Cooked. Dane Cook – The Lost Pilots has a first unused shoot where he plays
a character left so homeless that he moves in with his brother’s family. This puts him at odds with sister-in-law
Justine Bateman and had all kinds of potential.
It was
shelved and a second approach offers broader comedy as he tries to trade an antique
electric chair for a monkey dressed in Samurai gear with knife skills! Unfortunately, it lost some of the
intelligence of the first effort and finds itself off track quickly. Cook is good in both, though each tries to
confine him to sitcom formula and that just does not work. When they are not overdosing on so-called
“reality TV” and other junk, the networks like to get established stars or
stand-ups like Cook in their next sitcom.
That too is wearing thin.
However,
this is a rare opportunity to see how a show is worked out. Being a success or not is besides the point
and this one not taking off likely will make this all the more interesting to
viewers, especially those who like him.
He was even a co-producer and if this is successful, we may see more TV
form the vaults that never made it to begin with; more interesting than
increasingly more of the shows that finally make it.
The 1.33
X 1 image on both shows is not bad, but from the bonus footage in the extras,
these apparently are really 1.78 X 1 HD shoots.
Why put them out like this? With
the room on the DVD, why not both versions?
Maybe they are being held hostage for Blu-ray in that form, but
apparently, they were shot with both aspect ratios in mind. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound on both is
sufficiently stereo for both. Besides
the usual previews for other Sony product, sections of deleted scenes and gags,
antics & ad-libs are more entertaining than the actual shows and offers
some of Cook’s best work to date. Even
if you don’t like the shows, it is surprising how hard it is to stop watching
Cook in these numerous takes. The talent
and energy are impressive. If only he
could find the right vehicle, as the right project could show him to be one of
the top comic talents of his generation.
We’ll see.
- Nicholas Sheffo
