Crossing Jordan – Season One (Universal DVD)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: B     Episodes: B-

 

 

It took almost seven years, but Crossing Jordan has finally crossed over to DVD.  The series that originally premiered in 2001 on NBC and was just recently (surprisingly) cancelled at the end of 2007 centers on Jordan Cavanaugh (Jill Hennessy) as a Boston crime solving, medical examiner.  The series is a mesh of medical examiners and police detectives who Jordan works with to solve the at times hard to solve and unusual crimes.  The series is very reminiscent of other series like CSI, but has much less of a graphic nature.  To this reviewer the series feels more like a combination of CSI and BONES (both reviewed elsewhere on this site) with its good use of crime and medical mysteries, but solid integration of character drama.

 

Crossing Jordan centers on forensic pathologist Jordan Cavanaugh and her quirky band of misfit coroners as they go beyond the autopsy table and try to solve some of the cities toughest homicides.  The first season truly establishes the ground work for the hit series, as it gives insight into the team’s lives; especially Jordan who still obsesses over the murder of her own mother.  Jordan in Season One is often seen using a ‘role playing’ method to solve her homicide cases, using her father (Ken Howard) to reenact the crime as she imagines how it was played out.

 

The series is fun and full of attitude as it uses a pop soundtrack (sadly much of which was changed for this DVD release) to emphasize many of the crime and action sequences.  Jordan’s rough take on authority is seen as she constantly battles with her boss Dr. Macy (the excellent Miguel Ferrer) and detective Woody Hoyt.  The series is memorable and is great from beginning to end.  If the music was not changed from the original airing, the DVD release would be even more perfect after years of waiting.  This is one of those shows that only gets better as the series progresses.

 

The technical features on this 5-Disc 23 episode set are no mystery, but reveal themselves as being solid and well presented.  The picture is presented in a 1.78 X 1 Anamorphic Widescreen that has good color, clean images, and only some light/dark issues.  The main issue at times is the crispness of the image, which is not exactly perfect and has some fragmentation along the edges.  The sound is presented in a 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo that mostly all comes from the front, only occasionally using the rest of the surround in the much larger action sequences.

 

The extras are plentiful and maybe worth the wait for many fans, but this reviewer found them to be heavy on dialogue that, though in insightful, was also very drab and monotonous.  Extras include the following:

 

• Deleted Scenes
• A Conversation with Series Creator Tim Kring, Producer/Director Allan Arkush and Producer Dennis Hammer
• Jill Hennessey and Allan Arkush Talk about Jordan
• Steve Valentine, Ravi Kapoor and Kathryn Hahn talk with Allan Arkush
• Allan Arkush and Tim Kring Talk with Miguel Ferrer
• Audio Commentaries with Creator Tim Kring, Allan Arkush, and composers Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin

 

 

For those out there who are looking for a new worthwhile crime drama to watch, look no further than Crossing Jordan: Season One.  The show stands on its own as a unique crime/medical/drama with plenty of action, spunk, and mystery.

 

 

-   Michael P. Dougherty II