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thirtysomething: The Complete Second Season (TV)
R1 - America - Shout! Factory Review written by and copyright: Ethan C. Stevenson (15th January 2010). |
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The Show
 I’m too young to have actively watched “thirtysomething” for a majority of it’s run. I do remember it, slightly, in a faded, passing sort of way and I seem to remember commercials for it and my parents talking about it, but I actually never watched it, at least for more than a few minutes (and never by choice) all those years ago. The show, inspired by a handful of 80's yuppie flicks including “The Big Chill” (1983) spoke more to my parents than it did to me, that’s for sure. Now, some twenty-three years later, the above is probably even more true. I’m not in advertising, nor am I in my thirties. I don’t have any kids or own my own home. I don’t even have a real career, nor am I suffocating under the pressures that go hand-in-hand with one (although, I must say, school and a job is stressful enough, thanks). As I certainly don’t need to explain, this current decade is also drastically different than the one that this show took place in, almost a quarter-century ago, and so the fashions, pop culture references and many of the issues that revolve around the characters don’t hold up, or remain exactly relevant, in many cases today (at least, not to me; my parents, and those who were starting families in the decade of yuppie-dom, will surely relate and reminisce). So, in short, as I began my journey into a show (in fact the show’s second season) about all sorts of things that I have little to no firsthand experience with, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. Especially considering that my faded, half-memory of said show recalled nothing but bad things, including the absolutely absurd detail that the title was intentionally not capitalized. As I come to a close with this 17th episode season however, I have to admit, the show isn’t half bad. “thirtysomething” is perhaps somewhat dated, sure, but mostly in only superficial and expected ways. The stuff that really matters – the writing, which is exemplary, and the acting, which is solid – makes up for whatever ridiculous hair style, tacky fashion accessory, or clumsily large piece of technology, like those awesome cell phones that are the size of a loaf of bread, that the show’s characters may embarrassingly display on screen. I'll also admit, the show does have a sort of universal truthiness (thanks Stephen Colbert for inventing that perfect word!) about it, as most of the drama remains pertinent and timeless. The problems that the group of thirtysomethings face day in, day out stands in direct opposition to the dated bits of the 1980's that infects the rest of the show. I can see why the program won a whopping thirteen Emmy’s (and was nominated for many more) in it’s four year run and retains a cultish following. The award winning stature and fact that it has a faithful (and sizable) audience to this day makes “thirtysomething” the perfect choice for a deluxe release from offbeat distributor Shout! Factory. The company released the show’s first season to decent fanfare this past August and fans have genuinely been pleased with the prospect of finally owning all four seasons of what critics have refered to as one of the best shows of the 80's. Unlike most catalogue TV fare, which often simply gets dumped with little polish or care, “thirtysomething: The Complete Second Season”, like its slightly older sibling (season one), sports all new supplemental material, including audio commentaries with the show’s writers, creators and actors, and numerous retrospective featurettes featuring the same. Better yet, “thirtysomething” gets special treatment for it’s DVD (and digital download) debut; like “Seinfeld” (1990-1998) and “Northern Exposure” (1990-1995) before it, the series has received a loving remaster, in high definition, from the original 35mm film elements. Although the results are not exactly picture-perfect (see my comments below in the video portion of the review as to the quality), I still find it praiseworthy and impressive, particularly when one considers that most television from the 80's and early 90's rarely ever gets this kind of attention. But what of the show itself, does it live up to the type of handling that it has received, which is usually reserved for only the most commendable of the elite? In my opinion, not quite… then again, I do admit that “thirtysomething” is certainly solid, decent television, even if I do find some massive faults with it. One of my main issues with the show is, although “thirtysomething” is supposedly a huge ensemble piece, with no less than seven lead characters (the credits actually read: “starring in alphabetical order”), it really isn’t. The show’s about a group of friends, in their mid 30's, living in Philadelphia, but it makes a terrible misstep, largely focusing on the Steadman’s, a couple of yuppie’s who just had their first child and recently bought a classic Craftsman style house in which they’ll start their perfect life together. Michael (Ken Olin), and his wife, Hope (Mel Harris) are the viewers center, which I don’t blame the writers for creating – ensemble shows usually have one or two characters that the audience is supposed to relate to and use as a vehicle to enter said programs fictional world. But, unfortunately, where I do fault the writers is that the characters that we experience most of the show through aren’t that interesting, or at least not as interesting as a few of the other characters. The next most developed, and frankly more interesting, duo is the other couple in the group, the Weston’s. Elliot (Timothy Busfield) and Nancy (Patricia Wettig) are the opposite of the picturesque Steadman’s – unhappy, with two kids, barely able to stay afloat with the looming financial troubles caused by Elliot’s (and business partner Michael’s) failing advertising agency. Plus the two engage in horribly realistic screaming matches and are constantly on the verge of killing each other in their terrible unhappiness. Season two sees the finality of their collapsing marriage, as they separate, Elliot moves out, and the couple heads down the road to divorce. When it originally aired, the series was praised for its depiction of a single, divorced parent household. As one of the first shows to break past the established two-parents sitcom style family, “thirtysomething was ground breaking. In hindsight, this is one of the shows strongest aspects – next to the superficial, dated, less realistic Steadman’s, who reek of the 1980's and earlier, the Weston’s have a flawed charm to them that is less manufactured and therefore, strangely, more likeable. Despite appearing as part of a cast of seven players, the remaining three characters – Michael’s cousin Melissa (Melanie Mayron), Melissa’s ex, and Michael’s old college roommate, Gary (Peter Horton), and Hope’s childhood friend Ellyn (Polly Draper) – are totally and completely underdeveloped. The series pioneered the large cast, multi-character arc, “just a group of friends talking” style but it does so, poorly. Unlike, say, “Lost” (2004-2010) or even “Seinfeld”, “thirtysomething” really struggles to keep numerous stories running with all of the principle characters in one episode. The writers can balance an A-plot and a B-plot, but rarely is the A-plot about Michael and the B-plot about Ellyn. The more likely case is that the A-plot will be about Michael and the B-plot, about Hope. A perfect example of this is the second episode, “In RE: the Marriage of Weston” which is about Elliot and Nancy, their divorce, and each finding a new love interest. Sure its deep, realistic, and truly a good episode all around, from the acting to the dialogue, but it’s the poster child for the problem of balancing the large cast. It focuses on Nancy and Elliot, but all of the other FIVE people are basically just window dressing, appearing quickly in a scene for seemingly no other reason than to be there, but not for context or an actual purpose. Hope and Ellyn walk in with Nancy, say about four words, and then disappear when Nancy starts an argument with Elliot about what the kids ate for dinner. This continues throughout the season, and, because the show tends to focus on the married members of the group, Ellyn, Gary and Melissa get a disproportionate amount of screen time compared to Michael, Hope, Nancy and Elliot. Hell, sometimes it feels like Miles Drentell (David Clennon), Michael and Elliot’s new boss at DAA, the ad agency the they eventually get bought up by, gets more development and back-story in this season. Perhaps I’d feel differently if I saw season one – maybe there the three lesser characters were given adequate, thoughtful, development and the writers decided that they would forgo looking into the three couple-less people anymore because they simply weren’t as compelling as the others? Or maybe Gary was so underdeveloped in the first half of the season because Peter Horton was busy directing a selection of episodes for the show? Side-note: he does seem to get a bit more substance in the second half, when he meets a woman, another newcomer to the show, named Susannah (Patricia Kalember), but still, my complaint of underdeveloped characters still stands. Another thing I find odd, although not altogether bothersome, is the strange disconnect between the shows serious drama – plotlines that include a miscarriage, the prospect of Elliot and Michael closing down their failing business (and the stress that it puts on their friendship), a bitter divorce, and an “accidental” pregnancy – and screwball antics, awkward asides (Michael and Elliot envisioning blasting their assistant with ray guns, WTF?), and weird, experimental, even sometimes sitcom-y plots. From time to time it seems like the writers of “thirtysomething” were a bunch of bi-polar savants. They were great at writing realism – including absolutely perfect dialogue – but just couldn’t help themselves from screwing off, often trivializing, even devaluing the show in the long run. It’s not terribly bad; but I have to say that, even though “thirtysomething” can be really, really good dramatic television, it can also be pretty bad, and weird too. In the end, I understand the show has a big, loyal fan base and I don’t deny that it’s an important piece of television history. I even liked a fair amount of the episodes in season two; but, if I were forced to describe the series in one word, it wouldn’t be ‘superb’, ‘terrific’ or ‘excellent’ – indeed it is those things sometimes – but, no, the one word I would be forced to use to describe “thirtysomething” would be ‘uneven.’ “thirtysomething: The Complete Second Season” contains all seventeen episodes from the series’ sophomore outing, in their original broadcast form (average runtime approximately 45 minutes apiece). As is the case with the previous season, although a few instances of re-recorded dialogue can be found in selected episodes, the majority of the audio, and most importantly all of the music choices, remain unchanged, appearing as they were originally heard. Episodes from this season include: - “We’ll Meet Again” - “In RE: the Marriage of Weston” - “The Mike Van Dyke Show” - “Trust Me” - “No Promises” - “Politics” - “Success” - “First Day/Last Day” - “About Last Night” - “Elliot’s Dad” - “Payment Due” - “Deliverance” - “Michael Writes a Story” - “New Job” - “Be A Good Girl” - “Courting Nancy” - “Best of Enemies”
Video
Frankly, after the terrible video quality of Shout! Factory’s set of “The Paper Chase: The Second Year” (which I reviewed a few weeks back), as I sat down to start viewing the series on DVD, I was expecting similarly disappointing results in “thirtysomething”. Having not seen the distributor’s first season set of the show, which they released earlier last year, I didn’t know what to expect and thus assumed that I’d be met with dirty, decade old Beta quality images (such as it was with “The Paper Chase”). To be fair the blurb on the rear of the artwork does claim that the episodes were “restored from their original film elements”, and that is indeed true. But, before I actually watched these transfers, I took said claim with a grain of salt, chocking up the proclamation as typical marketing fodder. After all, I’ve seen plenty of films that state “newly restored” and “all new 35mm transfer” as pluses on their covers, only to deliver lackluster, if not outright terrible results, and so what does it matter if a sticker on the box says “digitally remastered” these days? Happily though, even if the show doesn’t look like a brand new series, with a slick transfer minted yesterday from a crisp, digital HDTV source; I’m more than pleased with the results of these DVD's. Having now seen the discs, I don’t discount that the show has been truly restored, and mastered in high-definition (indeed, iTunes is even offering cropped 16x9 720p versions for download, and looking on the internet it seems the series was originally slated for a simultaneous Blu-ray release that never materialized). Admittedly, “thirtysomething” has not been restored to the same quality as a James Bond classic, which has been tweaked and cleaned by the guys at Lowry Digital, or given the care of a Spielberg film, but Shout! Factory has released a product that is much better looking than the cruddy tape-to-DVD mess it could have been. Each one of the seventeen episodes retains fine film grain, shows next to no print damage and showcases decent detail (for standard definition anyway). Colors are admittedly a bit faded and drab, scenes dip in and out of an errant softness from time to time, and the palate is rather dark and dreary, but I don’t fault the discs themselves, as these issues likely originate from the source and, at least partly, are intentional. The show has a bland esthetic of typical of a late 80's TV program, but it does somewhat standout from most others because it was, unlike so many of it’s contemporaries, actually shot on 35mm film. Shout! Factory retains the 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio of the original broadcasts, which results in pillar-boxes on the sides of the image when viewed on a widescreen TV. Noise and artifacts rarely show up (at least on a level that becomes problematic). Grain is fairly well digitized, considering the limitations of the standard definition format, leading me to believe that DNR has been used sparingly, if at all. I did notice a touch of unfortunate edge-enhancement in certain scenes throughout the season, but overall the effect isn’t too bothersome or consistent enough to cry foul. Overall, I don’t think this will impress a whole lot of newcomers, as there aren’t many instances of knockout visuals, but no doubt the DVD's provide a faithful presentation of the original source, at least to the point that the low-resolution format will allow. And true fans of the series could, no doubt, not care less about whether or not it looks (and sounds) even half-way decent; mostly, they’ll just be happy to finally have the second season of the show on home video.
Audio
“thirtysomething” slips onto DVD with a rather plain English Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono mix (192 kbps). No other language options are offered. Likewise, the 5-disc set features no subtitles of any kind. The mix itself is decent but definitely shows age. Dynamics are poor; flat and mostly lifeless, which isn’t all that unexpected considering this is a single channel affair, with no dedicated bass, recorded for television over 20-years-ago. Although the elements are in good shape, with no noticeable hissing, popping or wear, the uninteresting source is not really worth discussing. Fortunately, dialogue is clear and unhindered but, otherwise, this mix is nothing special.
Extras
Quite surprisingly, Shout! Factory has compiled a rather decent set of extras for their release of “thirtysomething’s” second season. Supplements include newly recorded audio commentaries on selected episodes, a quartet of newly produced featurettes and a couple of bonus trailers. What’s really satisfying about the extras is that Shout! Factory was able to get many of the show’s stars, writers and producers involved in this new DVD set; something that is a rare feat considering the program passed it’s 20th anniversary a few years ago. DISC ONE: Certainly the highlight of this set comes in the form of the newly recorded optional audio commentary tracks. Shout! Factory has recorded a slew of commentaries for the series, spread across the 5-discs in this set, with participation from many of series’ stars, directors and writers. Writer Joseph Dougherty offers the most insight by default as he appears on three of the six tracks. Quality varies wildly from track to track, even within the same track actually. At times, the commentary is insightful and packed with information. Other times, listeners will be met with long gaps of uncomfortable silence. Honestly, it’s amazing that the participants are able to remember as much as they do taking into account the time that has elapsed from when they originally wrote and produced the series to now. Disc one contains two commentaries: - “We’ll Meet Again” with director Scott Winant and writer Richard Kramer. - “The Mike Van Dyke Show” with co-creator Marshall Herskovitz and director Scott Winant. Finally, a few pre-menu bonus trailers for other Shout! Factory DVD releases round off the first disc. Previews include: - “thirtysomething: The Complete First Season” on DVD. 1 minute. - “My So-Called Life: The Complete Series” on DVD. 1 minute 34 seconds. - “Designing Women” on DVD. 1 minute 30 seconds. DISC TWO: Certainly the highlight of this set comes in the form of the newly recorded optional audio commentary tracks. Shout! Factory has recorded a slew of commentaries for the series, spread across the 5-discs in this set, with participation from many of series’ stars, directors and writers. Writer Joseph Dougherty offers the most insight by default as he appears on three of the six tracks. Quality varies wildly from track to track, even within the same track actually. At times, the commentary is insightful and packed with information. Other times, listeners will be met with long gaps of uncomfortable silence. Honestly, it’s amazing that the participants are able to remember as much as they do taking into account the time that has elapsed from when they originally wrote and produced the series to now. Disc two contains one commentary track: - “First Day/Last Day” with star/episode director Peter Horton and writer Joseph Dougherty. DISC THREE: This disc contains no supplemental material. DISC FOUR: Certainly the highlight of this set comes in the form of the newly recorded optional audio commentary tracks. Shout! Factory has recorded a slew of commentaries for the series, spread across the 5-discs in this set, with participation from many of series’ stars, directors and writers. Writer Joseph Dougherty offers the most insight by default as he appears on three of the six tracks. Quality varies wildly from track to track, even within the same track actually. At times, the commentary is insightful and packed with information. Other times, listeners will be met with long gaps of uncomfortable silence. Honestly, it’s amazing that the participants are able to remember as much as they do taking into account the time that has elapsed from when they originally wrote and produced the series to now. Disc Four contains two commentary tracks: - “Michael Writes A Story” with writer Joseph Dougherty. - “Be A Good Girl” with director Richard Kramer and star Melanie Mayron. DISC FIVE: Certainly the highlight of this set comes in the form of the newly recorded optional audio commentary tracks. Shout! Factory has recorded a slew of commentaries for the series, spread across the 5-discs in this set, with participation from many of series’ stars, directors and writers. Writer Joseph Dougherty offers the most insight by default as he appears on three of the six tracks. Quality varies wildly from track to track, even within the same track actually. At times, the commentary is insightful and packed with information. Other times, listeners will be met with long gaps of uncomfortable silence. Honestly, it’s amazing that the participants are able to remember as much as they do taking into account the time that has elapsed from when they originally wrote and produced the series to now. Disc Five contains one commentary: - “Best of Enemies” with writer Joseph Dougherty. Kicking off the collection of retrospective featurettes in this package is “Mad Ad Man: Miles Drentell.” Clocking in at 15 minutes 53 seconds, the second seasons most unlikable character gets his own featurette, which has comments from actor David Clennon (who played Drentell), series creators Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, writer Joseph Dougherty, among others. Topics covered here include the characters creation, the casting of Clennon and the development of the character as the series went along. This feature is 16x9 enhanced with some of the new interview segments expanding to the full width of the 1.78:1 frame; clips from the series and other interviews are pillar-boxed inside the middle of the window. Next, we get a look at David Clennon’s own personal collection of VHS dailies (which he has subsequently transferred to DVD) as he explains the transformation of his character from a streetwise south Philly guy to a more refined and maniacal persona. The featurette, titled “The Metamorphosis of Miles”, runs 13 minutes 20 seconds. The original dailies are compared against the reshoots and Clennon offers commentary on the differences, noting what he was doing (and why he was doing so) in each version. This is another special feature that is 16x9 enhanced with some of the new interview segments expanding to the full width of the 1.78:1 frame; clips from the dailies retain their original full frame ratio. Strangely, this featurette is not advertised anywhere on the packaging. “Inside the Outsider: Susannah Hart” is another character centric featurette. Much like Miles Drentell, also new for this season, Ms. Hart would later become an integral player in the series as she and Gary (Peter Horton) would eventually marry and have a child. Here, actress Patricia Kalember, actor and director Peter Horton, among others talk about the character and how she evolved throughout, not only season two, but also the rest of the series. 13 minutes 34 seconds. 16x9 enhanced with some of the new interview segments expanding to the full width of the 1.78:1 frame; clips from the series and other interviews are pillar-boxed inside the middle of the window. Finally, the self-explanatory “W.G. Snuffy Walden on the Music of ‘thirtysomething’” rounds off the extras in this set. This last featurette is a 16-minute interview with the composer, who talks about the shows main title theme, as well as bits of score and the overall tone that he and the producers were trying to put though our television speakers with music selections. Like the rest of the video-based bonus material, this is 16x9 enhanced with some of the new interview segments expanding to the full width of the 1.78:1 frame; clips from the series are pillar-boxed inside the middle of the window.
Packaging
“thirtysomething: The Complete Second Season” debuts on DVD in a 5-Disc set from cult distributor Shout! Factory. The series is packaged in an attractive case with an outer slip-box which contains three smaller slim-line cases housing dual layer DVDs; the set is combined as discs 1& 2, 3 & 4, with platter 5 all by it’s lonesome in the last slim-line. A 16-page booklet is included, detailing brief episode summaries, series credits, disc contents and DVD production notes.
Overall
In my opinion, the show decent, even great at times, but definitely not without fault. The video quality is solid, if a little underwhelming due to the fact that I’ve grown accustomed to Blu-ray and that, no matter how you cut it, “thirtysomething” is a dry looking drama from twenty years ago. Audio is a bit weak, but not outright terrible, and I don’t imagine that much of an improvement could be made due to the monaural origins. Extras, particularly the audio commentaries, are more than welcome and add some real weight to the overall package (who would have thought – over three hours of supplements on a two-decade old TV show?). All things considered, “thirtysomething: The Complete Second Season” is recommended, especially for fans.
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