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.
