thirtysomething: The Complete Second Season

Wonderful DVDs, but a problem
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...

Fantastic show, flawed DVD
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...

Wonder and pathos
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.

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