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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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“The Job-The
Complete Series“
|
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Video: |
1.78:1 Anamorphic
widescreen and 1.33:1 Full screen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
5.1. 2.0 |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
480 minutes
|
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
5/24/05 |
| Studio |
Shout! Factory
|
| Commentary:
|
Denis Leary
and Peter Tolan on 5 episodes |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
“Behind-the-Scenes” featurette
|
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
Vintage interviews
with the cast, new interviews with Peter Tolan and Denis Leary
|
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Previews |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Gag reel,
promo reel |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Denis Leary,
Lenny Clarke, Bill Nunn, Diane Farr, Adam Ferrara, Richard Gant,
John Ortiz, Julian Acosta, Keith David, Wendy Makkena, Karyn
Parsons |
| Written
By: |
Denis Leary,
Peter Tolan, Daphne Pollon, David Walpert |
| Produced
By: |
Denis Leary
& Peter Tolan |
| Directed
By: |
Adam Bernstein,
Tucker Gates, Dean Parisot, Peter Tolan |
| Music:
|
Christopher
Tyng |
| The
Review: |
With the success of Denis Leary’s
series “Rescue Me” the powers that be decided to release this
little gem from limbo on DVD. “The Job” only ran for 19 episodes
on network TV and, while it had a small core following devoted
to its off-beat humor, it wasn’t enough to prevent it from
being sent to the series graveyard of hiatus and then be cancelled.
I’m sure that eventually Leary will get around to all public
servants but he started off in series TV with the police.
Leary plays Mike McNeil a NYPD detective and the squad that
he works and hangs around with. McNeil is about as flawed
as they come; he drinks, smokes, has a short temper, cheats
on his lovely wife. Oh, and he has a crush onJan (Diane Farr)
Still, he manages to dispense justice and catch the criminal
at the end of the day. His odd ball assortment of squad friends
include “Pip” Phillips (Bill Nunn) his partner who acts as
his moral center and the bizarre Frank (Lenny Clarke) who
takes law enforcement to a new level. ---
|
| Image
and Sound: |
The first
season consisted of 6 episodes and was shot in full frame. It
appears the first season was shot in either a different format
(such as 16mm) or with a type of film with a much higher grain.
As a result, it tends to look a bit grainer with less fine detail.
Color is solid for both seasons and formats but the edge for
image quality has to be given to the anamorphic widescreen presentation
which looks like it was probably shot on with superior film
stock or in a different format (I'd guess 35mm film vs. the
16mm of the first season if they did indeed use different formats).
There’s less grain, image quality is generally better and much
sharper as well. The 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround Sound has nice
presence for both seasons and I didn’t notice much difference
between the first or second season.Season two has the option
for 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound should you wantto choose
it. Unfortunately, this ½ hour comedy series doesn’t make very
good use of the format although, again, the presence was extremely
good with solid bass and clear dialog. I’d choose the 2.0 option
only because I felt that the soundtrack sounded a bit sharper
and clearer. |
| The
Extras: |
Shout!
Factory has done a nice job with the extras on this edition
of “The Job”. We get one featurette which essentially consists
of footage of the show being shot. It doesn’t really have
any sort of structure or theme. There’s interviews with the
entire cast that runs about 11 minutes as well as a ½ hour
interview of Leary and co-creator/writer/producer Peter Tolan.
Tolan and Leary discuss the creation of the show, the reaction
from the network and changes they felt were necessary to make
after the shot the pilot episode. The audio on the interviews
isn’t all that great nor is it very good on the behind-the-scenes
footage included. We also get a gag reel and parents should
be warned that the language is, let’s say, a bit colorful.
There’s also a shrt interview with Tolan that was shot during
the series run and a public service spot that Leary shot for
his charity. ---
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| Commentary:
|
We get five
commentary tracks from Leary and Tolan. Unfortunately, most
of the time the guys make some pretty obvious observations on
the series. I was expecting more information on the shooting
of the episodes from both of them. The series would probably
have benefited more from a cast interview but since so much
time has passed since the series was aired I doubt that schedules
would have permitted for this. The best commentary track is
on the pilot because we do get some information on the creation
of various characters and approaches that various actors took
to them. --- |
| Final
Words: |
A classic
sitcom that got lost amid network turmoil, “The Job” finally
makes its DVD debut. It’s a great, funny series that didn’t
get the chance it truly deserved to find an audience. The extras
are nice but fans will be happy to just have the series finally
available in a mass market DVD. |
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