Adam-12 – Season Three (1970 – 71) Designing Women – The Complete Second Season (1987 – 88/Shout! Factory DVD Sets)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Episodes: C+

 

 

Shout! Factory continues their rollout of latter-day classic TV, though I am not the biggest fan of either Designing Women or Adam-12.  However they are formidable shows that if done today, would play better than they did in their time when compared to most of the bad TV we get now.  Unlike most time-killing, audience-hating filler on most channels, these shows had good writing and respected the intelligence of the audience.  We have previously covered both shows in their last DVD sets as follows:

 

Adam-12 – Season Two

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7553/Adam-12+%E2%80%93+Season+Two

 

Designing Women – The Complete First Season

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8579/Designing+Women+%E2%80%93+The

 

 

This time, we get more of the same, with Designing holding its own, but Adam starting to repeat itself and become more formulaic.  They still managed to have Jodie Foster, Morey Amsterdam, Jason Wingreen, Keye Luke, Charles McGraw, Shelley Berman, Ken Lynch, Jordan Rhodes and Mark Goddard.  That was fewer stars than the last season, but Designing had even less, yet had some key shows that dealt with racism (Some Black People Are Coming To Dinner) and a bold early show on AIDS (Killing All The Right People).  You can see why the shows still have fans and keep arriving on DVD.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is the same for Designing as the last set, but Adam is a little softer throughout than its previous season release and sometimes the bright daylight looks a little overcast when it should not.  Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is the same in each case, but this time unlike last time, neither set has extras.  That does not seem right, but more seasons are ahead, so we’ll see.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo