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STUDIO: Warner Home Video
MSRP: $44.98
RATED: Not Rated
RUNNING TIME: 437 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Featurettes
Bonus CSI Episode
The Pitch
America will watch anything. Let’s give Duckie and Charlie Sheen a kid and see what happens.
The Humans
Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, Angus T. Jones, Conchata Ferrell and Holland Taylor
The Nutshell
The Harper Family has captured America’s heart. Who would’ve thought the bland adventures of two bachelors raising a kid would ever be a hit. I mean, it’s never been done before. Oh! What’s that? They’re dipping their toe into humor that was risque for 1997. You don’t say? That Moonvest sure picks some winners.
The Lowdown
Charlie and Alan Harper’s adventures continue with young Jake into their fifth year on the air. The usual 24 episode order was cut off at the knees by the WGA strike. They got around the handicap with an unusual team-up with the creatives over at CSI. Quicker than I can yell synergy, we had the first interesting look at a Chuck Lorre production ever. If you’re wanting to see the CSI episode, it’s been included in the package’s supplementals.
The
show tends to break down into three larger chunks. Charlie is currently experiencing a career change. Some recent musical choices has the bachelor becoming quite the kiddie entertainer. Charlie also starts a serious relationship with Ming-Na and sparks begin to fly. Then, Charlie meets the lady’s kid. Get ready for the canned laughter, America. Lessons were learned and sighs given.
The rest of the fifth season is split between Alan trying to deal with his ex-wife and his mother. Then, there was the split focus on the show’s 100th episode and the CSI tie-in. The CSI tie-in was a fun look at crime writers handling a comedy and comedy writers having to write for America’s most popular crime drama. If you’re looking for any further insight, then you haven’t watched the show. It’s a 22 minute stretch of a joke that barely survived the pilot.
There’s plenty of guest stars this season and none of them shine brighter than Robert Wagner. R.J. is here to bag Alan and Charlie’s mother. Being the essence of man, the Wagner bags her and then gives the man-children a life lesson. Laughs are had and we’re led to believe that R.J. goes back to plowing the old lady when the screen fades to black. Fan-favorite repeat character Rose also returns to stalk Charlie Sheen. If you changed her name to Denise, I’d find it to be a little more grounded in reality.
The
show is pretty dumb. What I don’t get is the amount of television viewers that seems to think the material is edgy. It’s two fucking men trying to teach a young boy about having to live with a modicum of common sense. Plus, there’s TV-PG attempts at trying to crush some poon. If any of this excites you, then you’ve got a DVD to rent. Everyone else can carry on with whatever they’re doing.
I just want to know the names of the 22 million Americans that make this show a hit. What’s wrong with you?
The Package
The
show
arrives on DVD with decent A/V quality. I wish that Warner Brothers
would push the series up to a Blu-Ray release. Well, I wish WB would
just release more TV on Blu-Ray. The supplementals are decent with the
highlight being the inclusion of the CSI
crossover episode. The rest of the featurettes are looks at the show
hitting 100, the story development and how Chuck Lorre comes up with
the end title cards for each show. Exciting stuff.
R.J. gets the ladies.