| Review:
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Family Ties returns for another season on DVD. This
time around, a number of interesting events influence the
Keaton family - Elise and Steven (Meredith Baxter Birney
and Michael Gross) have a fourth child, the ambitious Alex
(Michael J. Fox) starts attending college, older daughter
Mallory (Justine Bateman) gets employed and find she actually
ends up being good at the job, and younger daughter Jennifer
(Tina Yothers) begins to develop an inevitable interest
in boys. ***
The third season set consists of twenty-four episodes,
which have been divided amongst four discs. This is the
show in its prime, easily one of the finest seasons of the
series. If you're a fan of the show on a budget and you're
debating which season you should buy, this one would be
a fine choice ***
One of the finest things Family Ties had going for
it, particularly in this vital season, was its cast. The
acting of the show was one of its best assets, hands down.
At times the series feels more dramatic than a conventional
sitcom, but this doesn't come at the expense of laughs.
Most notable amongst the cast is Michael J. Fox, who would
go onto a wildly successful acting career, encompassing
television and major motion pictures alike. ***
It's also worth pointing out that, like on numerous
other Paramount sets of the last few months, the title of
the DVD does not use the word “complete”, and contains a
disclaimer stating that some episodes have been changed
from the broadcasts, and that some music has been changed.
I'm glad they're not calling the sets complete when they
aren't (the first season was advertised as complete but
was missing some fairly large chunks of the episodes.) Still,
I don't see why they can't be more specific and state clearly
what has been edited, if anything. ---
Image And Sound:
The image and sound quality on the DVD are right on
par with earlier seasons released on DVD. Picture quality
and the audio aren't the greatest, but they get the job
done. And perhaps most importantly, they look better than
the reruns you see on TV. ---
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| Special
Features: |
Again, not much to speak of. All we get on this volume
are a gag reel and episodic promos, which seem to be pretty
standard episodes on most Paramount TV DVDs. I wish they
would have rounded up Michael J. Fox and the other members
of the cast to record some commentaries - they would have
added a lot to this release.
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