CASTLE: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON
DVD Review by Kevin Carr
MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars)
I’m not wild about procedurals simply because there are so many of them out there. When I do get interested in a police procedural show, there has to be some sort of catch. Where “Psych” and “The Mentalist” play off the fake psychic role, “Castle” plays off the writer-turned-detective. Sure, this was done from a different angle with “Murder She Wrote” for 187 seasons, but “Castle” has differentiated itself well.
The characters are really hitting their stride in this season. There’s less of a race to push the sexual tension between Castle and Beckett, although that’s not totally gone. The stories have become less overtly formulaic and predictable. While it does further the overall show’s plot, I’m not wild about the “shit gets real” episodes featuring the search for the people who killed Beckett’s mother. However, the show handles these episodes fairly well and throw in some surprises. On the whole, season three is when the show it taking off, and it’s got some broadcast security and plenty of comic relief from the very loveable Nathan Fillion in the title role.
The DVD set has some nice features, especially for a third season release, which is when the show starts to run out of bonus content to put on the DVD. In addition to commentaries on select episodes, there’s the standard slate of deleted scenes and bloopers. There’s also a look at the guy who creates the murder boards for the show in “Murder Board 101,” a spotlight on the Hollywood episode where they could stop pretending L.A. is New York City in “Castle Goes Hollywood” and an unappealing but bizarre music video for “Get on the Floor.” Finally, “Murder They Wrote” features a meaty roundtable discussion about the development of the mysteries with real mystery writers, show producers and Nathan Fillion.
GREY’S ANATOMY: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON
DVD Review by Kevin Carr
MOVIE: ** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars)
I’ll be honest with you... I’ve gotten really tired of “Grey’s Anatomy.” Sure, the first season was interesting and a bit fun at times, if not totally unrealistic. The series has now fallen into a rut, which continues in season seven. However, there are plenty of fans of the show out there, and they are continuing to propel this series to a rating high.
After the shocking season six finale, the doctors at Seattle Grace are picking up the pieces after a gunman terrorized the hospital. There’s more drama than ever as we face a three-way battle for parental rights, more will-they/won’t-they marriage issues and new, unnaturally hot doctors entering the hospital. “Grey’s Anatomy” has gotten comfortable this year, continuing to preach about body image while hypocritically casting someone like the skeletal Rachel Taylor as a new love interest. Season seven takes some risks, including a musical episode as well as another “Private Practice” crossover. It seems to work for the fans, but I can’t help but see this show as circling the drain with rehashed storylines and overexposed drama.
While I may not be much of a fan of the show, I am somewhat impressed that there are still some decent DVD features on these discs. There are deleted scenes (known as “Dissecting Grey’s Anatomy: Unaired Scenes”) as well as a set of outtakes known as “In Stitches.” There’s a specific spotlight on the musical episode with an extended version of that show along with a behind-the-scenes look at how it was brought to the screen. Finally, there’s another set of webisodes about the life behind the drama at Seattle Grace.
PRIVATE PRACTICE: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON
DVD Review by Kevin Carr
MOVIE: * (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ** (out of 5 stars)
While I may not be a fan of “Grey’s Anatomy,” I loathe “Private Practice.” I loathe it so much, it got me in trouble with the fans of Kate Walsh for some snarks I made on Twitter about it. But I really don’t have a problem with Walsh, or any of the other actors (except maybe Amy Brenneman). I have a problem with the construct of the series. “Private Practice” is a thinly-veiled platform on which to preach politics, religion and secular humanism. Complicated medical issues-of-the-week and social commentary are shoe-horned into the show to the point of irreparably damaging characters.
Season Four of “Private Practice” will forever be known to me as “The Rape Season” because so much of it focused on the sexual assault of the character of Charlotte King. Forgive me if I seem to brittle about this, but I’m not a fan of rape in television or movies. It’s either an exploitative means of terror (like in films such as “The Last House on the Left”) or a feeble attempt to continue drama in a storyline that has lost it (like in pretty much every soap opera that has ever aired on daytime TV). If you’re wrapped up in the uncomfortable personal drama of the characters, sure, you’ll eat this up. I’m not, though, and the storyline quickly became tiresome.
“Private Practice” suffers from the same problem that “Grey’s Anatomy” does... all the characters are assholes. Whether it’s because they’ve suffered in the past or because they believe they are the best at what they do, they’re awful people with no redeeming value. I pity showrunner Shonda Rimes because clearly she thinks the world is a zero-sum game and you have to be an asshole to get ahead. I prefer to have a more optimistic view of life, and while I’m not making millions of dollars running two hit shows for ABC, I have a better outlook on humanity... and I’m okay with that.
Scant bonus features on these discs include deleted scenes, bloopers and the wildly awkwardly-named “An Inside Look: The Violation of Charlotte King.”
BODY OF PROOF: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
MOVIE: ** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ** (out of 5 stars)
I’m not a fan of Dana Delany. I never have been... ever since she got unnecessary accolades for “China Beach” in the 80s. She had a brief stint on “Desperate Housewives,” and I remember commenting on Twitter that she was about as interesting as a fart in an elevator. Well, now this critically beloved fart in an elevator has her own show, and it seems to be doing quite well.
Let’s get past my disinterest in Delany because that’s a personal opinion of an actor and not an objective view of the show. At its core, “Body of Proof” is another police procedural with a twist. Delany plays a medical examiner whose keen insights help the Philadelphia PD solve emergent crimes. Delany’s character of Megan Hunt is a brilliant doctor, but after an accident, her nerves are shot. So she deals with the dead because there’s no possibility of hurting them. As a rigid career woman, she’s divorced and in a custody struggle with her ex. All these problems in her life spill over into her work, showing a woman who faces drama that threatens her strong-willed work.
“Body of Proof” gets off on some rocky footing in the early episodes. The juxtaposition of Megan Hunt’s brilliant career and imploded personal life is laid on too thick. Same goes for the relative incompetence of everyone from the detectives in charge of the murders to those working in the medical examiner office with her. Fortunately, by the end of the first season, this is smoothed out. I’m hoping for a little more team work in season two since the show has gotten over it’s “respect me of die” attitude of Hunt’s character. Even with her foibles, Delany is the only person of interest on the show as the detectives fall into the arrogant cop cliche too easily and the folks in the medical examiner’s office are just a little too goofy and inexperienced to keep up. Again, I’m hoping for some changes to this in season two.
The DVD includes the first nine episodes of the series in this mid-season replacement. There’s a blooper reel called “Body of Goofs,” as well as two featurettes: “Examining the Proof” about the art of making up the dead bodies and “If Looks Could Kill” which spotlights the costume designer.
