The Facts Of Life – The Complete Fourth Season (1982 – 1983/Shout! Factory DVD Set)
Picture:
C+/C Sound: C+ Extras: D
Episodes: B-
By 1982, The Facts Of Life became such a hit for
NBC that not only did they make a TV movie with the same characters; they
actually filmed it instead of videotaping it as they did the actual show. If you are unfamiliar with the show, try this
link to our coverage of the previous season:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4400/The+Facts+Of+Life+%E2%80%93+The
The Complete Fourth Season was launched with the telefilm The Facts Of Life Goes To Paris and it
is very different as it drops the laugh tracks, has far less jokes, has more
serious moments, tries for more of a feel-good approach and the makers realized
they had to tone things down or the characters as they are in the series would
be a spoof of themselves in a real world, especially one as great as the city
of Paris. Mrs. Garrett goes to cooking
school while the girls deal with a stricter girl’s school and some find
romance. Kim Fields’ mother makes a
cameo as an incidental character too.
They did
this in time as Jo (Nancy McKean) and Blair (Lisa Whelchel) are about to go off
to college if matters permit. As the
show moved on, it would successfully ad new characters, but like Paper Chase or Welcome Back, Kotter (give or take their amazing abilities to
always flunk), it is always hard to hold the original cast of any kind of TV
school series together. What follows the
telefilm is the last 24 half-hour episodes of the original cast together, or
what fans might think of as the end of the vintage era. Now they’re all out on DVD.
The 1.33
X 1 image on the telefilm was shot in 35mm film and looks better than any show
from either set that was shot on professional NTSC analog videotape. However, it is not an outstanding transfer,
yet makes everyone look better than they ever would otherwise. The taped episodes on the other hand have
more aliasing errors than expected, than the last set and are
disappointing. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono also shows its age in all cases, with the episodes sounding more closely
miked as expected, yet the telefilm has a smoother sound despite the location
shoot. The only extra is a trivia game.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
