One of the best TV shows ever deserves better DVD treatment than this!
St. Elsewhere is viewed by critics as one of the best TV shows ever produced. The accolades are deserved. All the shows since - ER, Grey's Anatomy, Chicago Hope and others - have roots in St. Elsewhere, the show that set the standard for combining hospital drama and comedy.
As a teenager I came late to the table and was only able to view about two thirds of the original shows. However, I was able to record on VHS almost all of the shows I did see. I was excited when I heard they were going to (finally!) release the show on DVD and I could, at last, watch all the early episodes I had missed.
So here we have one of the most acclaimed shows ever and what we get is a flimsy slip case, double sided DVDs (that easily become scratched), and minimal extras. This is the treatment they give shows like Different Strokes or Emergency. St. Elsewhere, of any of the 80s shows, deserved the kind of treatment they give The Simpsons or CSI.
Imagine what they could have done if they'd packaged the entire show like they did the complete West Wing. Imagine a first aid box with the St. Elsewhere logo. Inside would have been a DVD set for each season. Single sided DVDs with images of the cast on each one. The extras would have included interviews with all the cast members, background on the St. Elsewhere theme song, a documentary on where they shot St. Elsewhere (and where exterior shots were filmed in Boston), a where are they now documentary on the cast, and lots lots more.
Intead we get this. I bought this set. And I'll buy the others when they get released. But what a rip-off. St. Elsewhere - and its fans - deserved better than this.
This is THE BEST TV drama...ever
I cannot put into words my love for this drama. The writing, acting, humor, sadness, plot twists, characters...all as wonderful as I remembered. This is a great DVD set. Love Howie Mandel's commentary and the one from David Morse. No show will ever match St. Elsewhere, and whenever I hear anyone talk about ER, my only response is...It isn't, never was, and never will be...St. Elsewhere.
So, when is Season 2 coming out???
Pleasantly Surprised!
Just got finished with the first half of St. Elsewhere and I have to say now I understand all the hoopla surrounding it. I was just a kid when this first aired and I missed all the episodes, but can remember the familiar opening soundtrack when my parents used to turn it on. Now I'm playing catch up. Having watched ER faithfully over the years, I thought I would be disappointed by such an outdated medical drama. But I was wrong. After the first episode, I was hooked. It was a refreshing change to the graphic and violent shows on the tube today. The acting is top notch not to mention fun to watch, Denzel and Howie before they became household names and story lines are revelant and just as gripping as those on ER. I especially like the Dr. Morrison character who reminds me of Dr. Green on the latter, the compassionate and steadfast doctor who puts his patients first. It's comparable to ER's portrayal of harried residents who don't get much sleep and have to choose between work and family, much like the Dr. White character who loses his marriage and nearly his soul to his work. I also got a kick out of all the technology available at the time: cluncky computer terminals, enormous EKG machines,the procedures, and all the 80s hair, music, and clothes. Much of what goes on in hospitals isn't sugarcoated here, the episode where Dr. White lies to a grieving family to obtain a needless autopsy tore at me, especially when he says to his boss, "I just raped that family," is heartrending not to mention shocking. Many episodes are laced with black humor but nothing profane or offensive. It's a quality show that deserved the praise it garnered and it's certainly a trip down memory lane to the days when NBC actually aired great shows worth watching. It's a testement to Brandon Tartikoff who greenlighted such programming..when he died it all went straight to hell...can hardly wait till the second season...
Despite critical acclaim, Hill Street Blues could not get arrested ratings-wise its first season. Far from being careful out there, the superb second season did nothing to tinker with the integrity of this groundbreaking series to make it more audience friendly. Multiple storylines, overlapping dialogue, gritty language, and a pseudo-documentary style capture the palpable chaos and tension of what one character calls "the rat-infested, poverty-stricken urban reality." From the precinct-house shooting rampage that opens the season to a hijacked hearse in the season-ending episode, Hill Street Blues deftly walks the line between police procedural and personal drama, further fleshing out its gallery of compelling and colorful characters. Belker (Bruce Weitz) is still a growling... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Lawrence Levy (II) - Jack Starrett - Mark Frost - John D. Hancock - Scott Brazil DVD Release Date: Released the 16 May 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $39.98 Your Price: $29.99YOU SAVE $9.99!
Buy it
I received my copy of the DVDs last week and love every moment as I watch every show. The color and sound were good. Though no special features on these DVDs for those who like that kind of thing. In this first season you see Mr Briggs (Steven Hill) as the Mission Leader. He did a great job as Mission Leader. Also, another interesting note is that the tape recorder wasn't the only method use to give the mission brief at the beginning.
This is a must see for any fan on the Mission Impossible TV Series.
I wonder if we shall see the other seasons anytime soon? Nothing on the radar screen. More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 05 December 2006 Usually ships in 6 to 11 days
List Price: $49.99 Your Price: $37.99YOU SAVE $12!
Buy it
Created by Steven Bochco and one of television's most influential series, Hill Street Blues was not your father's cop show. The Emmy-winning pilot episode, "Hill Street Station," immediately established the series as less a police procedural than an up-close and personal "interface with the police experience." To establish gritty, documentary-like realism, the show featured sequences, such as the pre-credit roll call, that were filmed with a hand-held camera. There was chaotic, overlapping dialogue. There were sudden, shocking bursts of violence that claimed popular characters. Story lines were not wrapped up at the end of the hour, but instead, unfolded serially throughout the season. It's no wonder that Hill Street, while championed by most critics, was initially not... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Lawrence Levy (II) - Jack Starrett - Mark Frost - John D. Hancock - Scott Brazil DVD Release Date: Released the 31 January 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $39.98 Your Price: $22.97YOU SAVE $17.01!
Buy it
Impressive in quality and quantity, the 27 episodes of Boston Legal's second season (2005-06) are a dazzling showcase for one of TV's greatest ensembles. Everything that made season 1 so entertaining is refined here, often to the point of perfection: As the resident bad boys of the prestigious Boston legal firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, senior partner Denny Crane (William Shatner) and maverick attorney Alan Shore (James Spader) continue their campaign of rampant indiscretion, combining unabashed sexism and political incorrectness with Denny's egotistical fat-cat sense of entitlement (and a touch of "Mad Cow") and Alan's passion for justice and courtroom theatrics. The departure of his girlfriend Tara (season 1's Rhona Mitra) has left Alan pensively lonely, so his... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 21 November 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $59.98 Your Price: $44.99YOU SAVE $14.99!
Buy it
