Info:
DVD Release Date: June 27, 2006 (Warner Home Video)
Color / 1976-80
MSRP: $9.98
Number of Discs: 1
Number of Episodes: 6
Running time: 151 minutes
Running time of Special Features: N/A
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: Spanish and
French Subtitles; Closed Captioned
Special Features: None
Introduction:
Well kiss my grits! The late 70s/early 80s classic
sitcom about three waitresses and their boss Mel is
finally on DVD--kind of! The Television Favorites
collection of Alice contains 6 of the best episodes of
the sitcom, as chosen by Alice fans on the Alice
message board right here at Sitcoms Online!
Alice was the show about a widow named (appropriately)
Alice (Linda Lavin) who recently moved from New Jersey
to Phoenix with her son, Tommy (Philip McKeon... that
is Nancy's brother for those that don't know) and
became a waitress at Mel's Diner. She worked alongside
with Flo (Polly Holliday), who has had probably had
every man in the state of Texas in her trailer at one
point in time, Vera (Beth Howland), who could most
politely be described as "dingy," and of course Mel
(Vic Tayback), the demanding owner and cook at Mel's
diner.
Episodes Included:
As previously mentioned, the episodes on this set were
chosen in part by fans on the message boards at this
very site, so hopefully fans reading this review are
satisfied with the episodes Warner has selected! I am
not a fan at all of Warner's approach to DVD releases,
but it was great to see that they actually did
approach the fans that know about the show, rather
than the executives that know nothing about Warner's
shows and only care about increasing profit margins,
about which episodes to include.
The first episode on the disc is "Alice Gets a Pass,"
where Alice finds her perfect match in one of Mel's
old friends... but he can't date Alice because he has
a little secret of his own about his sexuality! Next,
we have "The Odd Couple," where somebody has stolen
Flo's trailer! With no place else to go, she ends up
at Alice's apartment. Can two single women share an
apartment without driving each other crazy? In "Close
Encounters of the Worst Kind," Alice is taking a
psychology class in college and suddenly thinks she is
an expert in psychology, which immediately causes
major conflict to erupt at Mel's Diner!
Alice is addicted to chocolate, Vera can't stop
smoking, and Flo is addicted to coffee in "Block Those
Kicks," but Mel's problem is that he is addicted to
gambling, and has just made a bet that could mean
he'll lose the diner! In "Cabin Fever," Mel is going
to take his girlfriend to a cabin that he rented in
New Mexico--not knowing that Alice, Flo, and Vera are
going to the same cabin for the weekend. And that
isn't all; a tornado is also coming to the cabin! The
disc ends with "Flo's Farewell," where Flo is offered
a job as a hostess at a restaurant in Houston. Is it
goodbye to Mel's Diner forever?
Packaging:
The disc comes in the typical clear Amaray case, just
like the other Warner TV Favorites selections. There
is a cast photo on the front of the case and some
screen captures from the show on the back of the case.
Inside the case, you'll find a "menu" that lists the
episodes on the disc, along with the writers and
directors of the episode. The disc itself has simple
artwork, with the Alice logo on the top of the disc
and a shot of Flo, Alice, and Vera on the bottom of
the disc.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The main menu has a photo of Flo, Alice, and Vera,
with the theme song (first season version) playing in
the background and options for "Play," "Episodes," and
"Languages." Play simple plays all of the episodes on
the disc, Episodes gives you a "menu" (pardon the pun)
where you can select an episode (the episode plays
immediately upon selection), and Languages allows you
to turn on subtitles, which are available in Spanish
and French.
There are chapters that are placed appropriately
within each episode (where every commercial break
should be).
Video and Audio Quality:
The video and audio quality of this set looks like it
has been well-preserved from when the show originally
aired. The episodes look a little better than the
versions that I have seen floating around in
syndication, so that is a definite positive. Still,
the picture isn't that sharp and there seem to be some
minor "video glitches" here and there throughout the
episodes. This isn't a major concern though. The audio
quality has no major concerns either and sounds pretty
clear, and is presented in mono. Closed-captioning is
available, as well as Spanish and French subtitles.
The episodes appear to be unedited. The runtimes are
as follows:
1. "Alice Gets a Pass" (25:35)
2. "The Odd Couple" (25:32)
3. "Close Encounters of the Worst Kind" (25:31)
4. "Block Those Kicks" (24:58)
5. "Cabin Fever" (24:45)
6. "Flo's Farewell" (24:42)
Special Features:
There are no special features, I'm not sure if any of
these Television Favorites discs have ever had any
either.
Final Comments:
I don't want to get into a rant here, but I'm afraid
I'm going to have to. I am so frustrated with Warner
only releasing these Television Favorites discs! They
seem do the best job on the technical aspects of the
episodes (generally good quality in audio and video,
making sure syndicated versions don't slip in, etc.),
but they simply don't understand that fans do NOT want
these Television Favorites discs.
With practically every other studio, there is always
hope that you'll get season releases, but with Warner,
the policy seems to be that they will do a Television
Favorites disc, and if that sells well enough, then
they'll do season sets, but the problem is that a lot
of fans (myself included) do not care to waste money
on a set with just a few random episodes. So what ends
up happening is that nobody buys these discs and
Warner will say that there is no interest in the
series.
When I look in my TV-on-DVD collection, even though
Warner is the studio with some of the best series, I
have very few DVD sets from Warner, and that is
because I'm simply not interested in these Television
Favorites discs. And I'm sure I'm not alone.
With my ranting aside, however, this DVD is a good DVD
and if you really want to see the show, you'll want
this DVD. The good thing about these Television
Favorites is that it is easy to find them at a very
reasonable price, so if you don't know much about the
show and you are just interested in finding out about
it, this disc may be for you too. But for the person
that is collecting various television series on DVD,
this disc may very likely be your one and only hope
for Alice on DVD--unless things change at Warner
sometime soon.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 0/5
Menu Design/Navigation: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
-- Reviewed by skees53 on 07/14/06
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