Grey’s Anatomy – The Complete Fifth Season + Private
Practice - The Complete Second Season (ABC/Disney DVDs)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C
Along
with its behind-the-scenes scandal, Grey’s
Anatomy continues to be a hit, but the show is wearing itself too thin for
its own good, including it not-as-good spin-off, Private Practice. ABC/Disney
has issued the fifth and second seasons of each respectively on DVD, but
skipped Blu-rays on each for now, which is especially surprising for Grey’s since it is so popular. This is what we had to say about the series
before:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7651/Grey%E2%80%99s+Anatomy
The fun
of Grey’s was that it was more than
a drama and certainly more than any nighttime soap opera. Unfortunately, it has become more like the
latter (albeit on a higher level) and had flattened and dulled, despite all the
talent involved. The show is starting to
show fatigue and even go formulaic, a problem Private seems to have started out with. Private is somewhat ill-conceived and the
splitting of the first show in two has killed the energy all around, so neither
resemble the original version of Grey’s
or the reasons why it was such a big hit in the first place.
As a
result of this fatigue, I am not even going to begin to delve into the
storylines (what there is and is not of them) and only recommend you start from
the first season of Grey’s and work
your way through until you get bored.
Private is for diehard fans of the first show only. Otherwise, it is skipable.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on both sets is a little disappointing
with detail issues and inconsistent picture playback as a result. Colors are good and depth can be good, but
these should both look better on DVD and Grey’s
certainly has on Blu-ray. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 mixes on both are not bad, but the soundfields play back at a lower
volume than they should and dialogue is particularly weak (and too much to the
center speaker in both cases) than they should be.
Extras on
both include extended/deleted/unaired scenes, bloopers/outtakes and making of
featurettes, with Grey’s offering 100th Episode: Tales From the
O.R. and Heaven Sent, while Private adds Patient Confidentiality: Examining Season Two and Life Through The Lens: A Pictures Of Chris
Lowell.
- Nicholas Sheffo
