Life – Season One (Universal DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C
Trying to
balance comedy and the detective or police narrative is not easy and while many
have succeeded in the past (Hart To Hart)
and recently (Monk) there are others
that fail miserably. One of the most
convoluted and unfunny attempts is the surprisingly contrived Life, a show
about a detective who is sent to prison a criminal, only to have him get a big
buck settlement and return to the force is uninspired to say the least. To say the makers do not know how to get this
to work is an understatement.
Instead,
we get a smug, tired show that is a wreck.
Leads Damian Lewis and Sarah Shani have next to no chemistry and 11
dreadful hour-long shows run on and on like they will never end. This is shockingly bad and that includes the
way it is shot.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 is poor, soft and the attempts to look urban
and stylized in little interview snippets is pathetic, as someone got the idea
that a little digital degrading and color gutting equaled an urban, documentary
look. They are miles away from anything
authentic here. The Dolby Digital 5.1
mix has poor soundfields throughout and the bad dialogue is not always
consistent in its recording quality. Extras
include four featurettes, deleted scenes, audio commentary on select shows that
is odd and an unfunny blooper reel.
When it
comes to quality TV, Life equals
death. Skip it!
- Nicholas Sheffo
