Search - thirtysomething: The Complete Second Season on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 3/27/2024...

If you like slow 80s style drama, then this is for you! The rest of us will be bored to death!

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Wonderful DVDs, but a problem

Rosemary L. Rodgers | Indianapolis, Indiana United States | 01/22/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I just received this DVD set. The commentaries are interesting and insightful, and it's great to see the uncut episodes for the first time in over twenty years. I have only watched one of the discs, but have found what I consider to be a big production problem. On Disc 1, episode 2 "In Re: The Marriage of Weston", the scenes have been edited out of order. It's very obvious, but to be certain I compared the DVD with a copied episode from "Lifetime". Two sequences stand out. On the DVD, early on Hope and Ellyn giggle about the instructor at the art center and Hope intimates he and Nancy have slept together. However, the scene where Nancy gets the art center job and meets the instructor comes later in the DVD. Likewise, there is a scene where Nancy angrily confronts Elliot about contacting a Realtor to sell the house, and rips him for instructing Ethan not to tell her. The scene in the DVD where Elliot is showing the Realtor the house and admonishing Ethan not to tell his mother comes after this scene.

The DVDs are beautiful. I would have given the set 5 stars if not for the production problem"

Wonder and pathos

Andrew Dale | Geneva, Switzerland | 11/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had forgotten how good and original this series was. 16 years since I first watched it, it still delights, and has not aged, but matured. Some episodes would win awards as free standing dramas. The characterization is excellent, the performances outstanding, the drama real and moving, and the team work unequalled since The Big Chill. The direction and writing deserved the awards they won. Five stars."

Fantastic show, flawed DVD

Victoria Deni | 03/07/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"That thirtysomething is finally out on DVD (after almost 20 years!) is the answer to one of my most fervent prayers. Or it would be.

Because the DVD is a letdown.

As with the first season DVDs, the technical quality of the remastering wavers considerably. There are entire portions that simply were not remastered at all. It's often one camera track, while the other camera track in the same scene has been remastered. So one moment you're watching a reasonably high resolution DVD, the next moment (cut to the other camera), it's TV and VHS tapes all over again: fuzzy contours, awful colors. And then back to the high resolution. And back to VHS. That quickly. It makes you dizzy. And mad.

In the second season, it gets increasingly worse - as if Shout Factory (the DVD manufacturer) had been running out of money, or time, or just not felt like doing it any longer. The worst episode I've seen to date is "Michael writes a story" (2nd season, # 13). About half of the entire episode is simply not remastered at all. Or only the actors but not the background. Then they cut to the second camera and it's o.k. again.

Btw, the closed captions are sloppy too. That out in La-La-Land, they don't know what "Ardmore" is may be all right, but there IS a difference between saying "I'm scared" and "I'm sorry." In short: bad job, Shout Factory!"