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DVD Pick of the Week: May 8, 2007
Cagney & Lacey - Season 1 courtesy MGM (Video and DVD)
It's Wednesday, so you know what that means.... It's "Pick of the Week" time!
May 8 brings us a couple of Season 1 sets, a couple of complete series sets, with the only volume release being Voltron.
I'm drawn toward choosing from two releases this week — Cagney & Lacey Season 1 and The 4400 Season 3. I decided to go with Cagney because it's a long-awaited series, though The 4400 has more bonus material, a better transfer and better audio. But it's a newer show, so that's to be expected.
I've been forever linked to Cagney & Lacey for obvious reasons (hint: it has something to do with my last name). Some people have a hard time spelling "Lacey" so I would just say, "Like Cagney & Lacey" and they would realize it's "Lacey" and not "Lacy." Cagney & Lacey, for those who aren't aware, started as a TV movie, then received a short first season before airing a complete second season. Sharon Gless joined the series in Season 2, so MGM decided it was best to release these episodes first. Instead of confusing everyone by releasing a set titled "Season 2" without a Season 1 set out, they decided to confuse everyone by calling Season 2 "Season 1." Confused? I hope not. The four-disc set (which is on double-sided DVD, 14 discs) contains all 22 episodes, and a featurette called "Breaking the Laws of TV" is broken up on both sides of disc 4. The featurette, which runs for a total of 37:28, offers new interviews with the cast and crew of the series.
The 4400 is a four-disc set containing all 12 episodes from the third season. Episodes are presented in Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1), with a very nice Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. There are four featurettes — "The Architecture of Series Storytelling" (21:07), "Powers Grid" (4:39), "TVFX" (12:50) and "Character Tree" (a look at the various characters and how they're connected, with video material) — a gag reel (8:21), the original version of a script ("Being Tom Baldwin") and six commentary tracks featuring the cast and crew. There's a load of material on the set, and it's a great series.
Hmm... now that I've read what I wrote, Cagney & Lacey doesn't really sound like a good DVD set. The double-sided discs are annoying, and the bonus material is a bit sparse. I think I've talked myself into changing my "Pick of the Week" to The 4400. I'm not saying the show is better than Cagney & Lacey, but the DVD set is.
What will you buy on May 8? You can view the entire list of releases at TVShowsOnDVD.com.
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May 2, 2007 8:41 PM
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I'm suprised, Gord, that with all the highs and lows and ups and downs the studios (and I mean "studios" as in more than one because this orginally MGM title has been tossed from studio to studio like a beach ball, thanks to corporate buyouts) have put the fans and the series own creator through, Cagney & Lacey isn't your pick, just purely for the fact that it has made it to dvd. Regardless, I'll picking up this AND The 4400: Season 2, along with The Waltons: Season 5, Everybody Loves Raymond: Season 8 and Voltron: Vol. 3 this week.
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May 2, 2007 11:48 PM
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Speaking of The 4400, I've been curious about it for a while now. Is it worth renting?
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May 3, 2007 12:33 AM
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JDNicholi,
Truth is if MGM had remained at Sony we would have seen the TV movie, season 1, and season 2 released in one set, and on single-sided discs. They were already working on the set when MGM got bumped over to Fox. I was going to pick C&L for May 8, then I started writing the post and ended up deciding that The 4400 was a better DVD set, so I went with that.
SurrealElle,
I enjoy watching The 4400, and I'd recommend you check it out. The first season was a mini-series, so you can rent a single disc and see if it's something you'd enjoy.
Gord
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May 3, 2007 1:58 AM
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Boy do I agree about those double-sided discs, though mostly for esthetic reasons. I don't know how many people are like me, but I like to keep my discs in one of those (oh, who am I kidding? ...FOUR of those) binders that holds hundreds of discs, so I can flip through and enjoy the disc art from the season sets. That way, I can also keep the cases on top shelves, where I'll rarely touch them, but they are displayed nicely for family, friends and other patrons of my personal museum!  Those double-sided discs are unattractive and inconvenient for me. When one season of Mary Tyler Moore came out with a combination of single- and double-sided discs, my head nearly ethploded!
Having said that, what I'm looking forward to this week is The (double-sided) Waltons. The show was too hokey for me when I was a kid, but I've grown to love it in my adulthood. True fans can even forgive the time inconsistencies in the series (John Boy was in high school during the depression, yet he was still a young man on the verge of marriage some 30 years later around the time of the Kennedy assassination!), because the stories were so rich and compelling.
I'll also pick up the Raymond set, but it'll probably be years before I watch it, considering how omnipresent the show is in syndication. Can't resist the quality packaging, though. Looks great on the shelf! I'm a sucker for some good packaging!
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May 3, 2007 6:51 AM
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i am definitely buying "the waltons season 5" and "cagney & lacey".
to me a series is not "complete" without all the movies, pilots, etc...so i hope they eventually release all of the beginnings of "cagney & lacey" that they are skipping over (i orginally watched it all when it first aired) & i truly desperately hope that they end up releasing all 9 seasons of "the waltons" & the "waltons movies" that aired after the series went off the air.
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May 3, 2007 9:29 AM
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I expect MGM will release the TV movie and season 1 later on, they just wanted to capitalize on having the two stars do a big PR push for the first DVD release. They'll probably call it Cagney & Lacey: The Early Years, or something along those lines.
Gord
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May 3, 2007 11:41 AM
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|sf>I'm going against the grain here by saying that "Jason of Star Command: The Complete Series" is far and away the release from Tuesday that I'm most interested in.
Even though the show is slightly corny, I believe that enhances its appeal in an MST3K manner. This is an obscure show I never expected to see as a DVD release, much less the huge laundry list of special features that BCI is including within the three DVD set. Furthermore, BCI usually does an amazing job on these sets, so I'm sure this one should live up to their high standards.
The other ones we'll pick up at this household are "Voltron set 3" and "The Waltons season 5."
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May 6, 2007 5:59 PM
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this week i am going to pick up voltron collection 3 . even though i don't own any of the other sets yet. i think this is the only realse this week that is worth buying.
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May 10, 2007 10:08 AM
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