DVD Release Date: September 5, 2006 (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
Color/2005-06
MSRP: $29.99
Number of Discs: 2
Number of Episodes: 8
Running Time: 390 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 31 minutes
+ 86 minutes worth of audio commentaries
Video: Widescreen 1.78:1; Audio: English Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles: No subtitles; Closed Captioned.
Special Features: “A Conversation with Madam
President,” Deleted Scenes, White House Humor:
Bloopers & Outtakes and 2 Audio Commentaries
Introduction:
Continuing where we left off in June, part 2 of
COMMANDER IN CHIEF: THE INAUGURAL EDITION is now
available on DVD! Part 2 features the thrilling last 8
episodes of this enthralling best new drama on a
2-disc DVD and this time with bonus features! Academy
Award winner Geena Davis stars as Mackenzie Allen, the
first woman President of the United States. While
breaking new ground as the first female leader of the
free world, "Mac" faces tremendous challengers, both
personal and political, unknown to any previous
Commander In Chief. Her family adjusts to their new
life as the "first family," and Mac has an ongoing
conflict with foes led by the Speaker of the House
(Donald Sutherland). Amidst constant struggles and
fiery political battles, Mac perseveres with integrity
and poise. You can find that and more on this DVD set
from Buena Vista Home Entertainment on September 5!
Commander in Chief stars Geena Davis as President
Allen, Donald Sutherland as Nathan Templeton, Harry
Lennix as Jim Gardner, Kyle Secor as Rod Calloway,
Ever Carradine as Kelly, Matt Lanter as Horace,
Caitlin Wachs as Rebecca, Jasmine Anthony as Amy,
Anthony Azizi as Vince, with Natasha Henstridge as
Jayne Murray and Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Dickie.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
With just eight episodes on this set, you really need
to watch then all in order to get a full grasp of
every detail. The show produced 18 episode, the first
10 episodes were on the part one DVD in June! Episodes
11-18 aired over three different nights and times
actually on ABC. After coming back in January and
over a month off in between new episodes, the ratings
began to slip just a bit, so ABC pulled the Tuesday at
9 timeslot after episode 12 on January 24. The show
didn’t return until April 13 where it aired for three
weeks on Thursdays at 10. That didn’t go so well, so
ABC shelved it until the official 05-06 season was
over and “burned” the last three episodes off in early
summer on Wednesdays at 10. It was too bad this
happened because from Sept-Nov, this show was doing #1
in the ratings for a new show and winning its Tuesdays
at 9 timeslot. I’m not going to give away plot lines
for the last 8 episodes, but I’ll tell you which
episodes are my personal best for this set: “No Nukes
is Good Nukes,” “The Elephant in the Room,” “Happy
Birthday Madam President” and “Unfinished Business.”
All the episodes with runtimes will be detailed in the
videos section.
Guest starring on these eight episodes are Adam Arkin
as Attorney General Brantley, Peter Coyle as Warren
Keaton, Samantha Eggar as Sara Templeton, and Polly
Bergen as Kate Allen.
Packaging:
The packaging is simple and light and similar to the
part one DVD. You get a snap case (or is it a thin
amaray case?). The cover has headshots of the first
family and another of just Mac, with the White House
on the left. The color scheme is blue and black (it
was red and black for part one). The back has three
snapshots from the show; on the top has information on
the show and set. And there is also a box listing
bonus features and spec info.
The case has a button type of opening, just like part
one. There are two buttons that you pull so you can
get inside the case. It is a nice touch and good move
by Buena Vista, since this is just a two disc set.
When we open the case, on the left side we see an
insert with details of the episodes on this set and
the back of that has an ad for Desperate Housewives
Season 2 DVD. Also an insert on how you can save money
on other Buena Vista sets. The discs are on the right
side. They are not overlapped. They are in like a book
type form. Looking at disc one, then you turn the page
and you get to disc two. The discs themselves are
plain looking, with a red background and the show logo
in grey coloring. Episodes 11-15 are on disc three and
episodes 16-18 on disc four. They are just continuing
the disc labeling from part one, where we had discs
one & two, so that is why discs three & four are
listed for this set.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menu screen is decent and the same as part one,
but a little let down compared to Desperate
Housewives, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. There is no
animation just a basic menu, but it works I guess.
Background music is playing in the background and it
does loop, but the music is quite long. Three photos
are on the menu: Rod, Mac and Nathan (just like part
one). The options are: Play All, Episode Selection, &
Set Up. Set Up menu has where you can turn on the
captions for the hearing impaired along with how to
register your DVD. Episode Selection menu has an oval
screenshot from the episode along with the
number/title of the episode, and then you can select
which one you want to view. Each submenu for both
discs has a different track from the show’s great
music! Chapter stops are available (9 stops or so) for
each episode and the show is in widescreen and it
looks so good! The last disc has auto trailer to start
the disc that runs over 9 minutes. We also have Bonus
Features and Sneak Peek options. Bonus Features of
course lists all the extras and Sneak Peeks has other
Buena Vista shows like previews for DVDs of Scrubs S4,
Desperate Housewives S2, Grey’s Anatomy S2 and Grey’s
Anatomy on ABC.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video and audio are both excellent (and on par
with part one), as it should be since this series is
new. The video is in widescreen like I mentioned.
Audio is perfect in Dolby Digital Surround Sound. I
have no complaints whatsoever. There are 9 chapter
stops for each episode. Chapter stops are always
needed for each TV DVDs, or any DVDS for that matter.
And the episodes are unedited of course. The following
are the episodes on this set and their runtimes:
Disc 3:
11. “No Nukes is Good Nukes” (43:11)
12. “Wind Beneath My Wing” (41:25)
13. “State of the Unions” (42:39)
14. “The Price You Pay” (41:14)
15. “Tied That Bind” (43:13)
Disc 4:
16. “The Elephant in the Room” (42:24)
17. “Happy Birthday, Madam President” (43:04)
18. “Unfinished Business” (43:02)
Special Features:
Unlike part one, this set has extras and some quality
extras, too, but not in the style of other ABC dramas
like Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. We
get a nice interview featurette with Geena Davis,
called “A Conversation with Madam President.” It runs
5:53 and Geena talks a bit about the show and stuff.
She mentioned she never wanted to do a one-hour TV
show because of the long hours, but this show was very
special. The featurette could have been a bit longer,
but oh well. Then we get 21:38 worth of deleted
scenes! Let’s get to them. First Woman President
(0:43) has Mac and Amy talking. Jim’s Loss (1:27) has
Jim and Rod talking about losing President Bridges.
Missing Agents (1:44) has Mac in a room with her
staff. Big Jump (0:24) has Kelly after her first
press conference; she used to be a speech writer, so
this is a big change for her. Lock and Key (1:29) has
Mac watching on the news that she has chosen a Vice
President, yet she hasn’t. Keeping Busy (1:21) has
Rod finding out how to be the First Gentleman.
Snooping Templeton (0:44) has Nathan Templeton
snooping around and sees General Keaton in the oval
office. Misguided Q&A (1:33) has Rod & Keaton talking
then Mac walks in. First Move (0:37) has Mac talking
to Jim I believe before (or is it after?) the ball.
Candy Corn (0:50) has Mac eating Amy’s candy corn. An
Incident (0:57) has Mac talking to Horace about an
incident at school. The Bottom Line (0:45) has Mac
being briefed and we see Amy in her Halloween costume.
Agenda (0:16) has Mac & Rod talking about Nathan.
Family Matters (2:43) has Kate (Mac’s mom) & Amy
talking, and then Kate talks to Rod & Mac. Strong Men
(1:05) has Mac & Nathan talking on Air Force One.
Dinner Bet (1:01) has Dickey & Jane talking. Spiked
Drink (1:01) has Rod, Jim, Kelly & Dickey talking
about who spiked Rod’s drink. Chinese Finger Trap
(0:47) has Rod, Jim, Kelly & Dickey talking. A Present
for Templeton (0:42) has Sara Templeton giving her
husband Nathan a gift. And finally Why President’s Are
(1:08) has Mac talking to a staff member.
Then we have White house Humor: Bloopers & Outtakes.
This hilarious reel runs 3:17 and mainly features
Geena Davis. She is hilarious! Finally, we have two
audio commentaries--one for “Pilot” from Rod Lurie
(Creator) and the other for “The Elephant in the Room”
by writer/producer Dee Johnson. I don’t understand
why the audio commentary for “Pilot” was not on part
one. They could have put that on part one and added
another commentary or something else in its place for
this set. It is like have the pilot on both sets
because you have the option to turn the commentary on
or off. Strange I think.
Final Comments:
Like I said for part one, this and Invasion were the
best new dramas last fall. It is such a shame both
will gone by this fall. Commander in Chief will return
at some point though as a TV movie so things can wrap
up. I hope ABC keeps their promise on that. I haven’t
heard any time table on when it could air. The set is
decently done and the episodes look great in
widescreen. The extras are pretty good, but could have
been better. The show is very good I think and I think
it should have gotten a season two order, but it would
have been hard to find a timeslot after the disaster
on Wednesdays and Thursdays. This is a great series,
and you should pick this set up. If you picked up
part one, then for sure do pick this set up! I guess
Buena Vista wanted to make more money out of this
series since it is only going to be a one season
wonder and maybe that is why they decided to break it
down in two sets. Donald Sutherland and Geena Davis
are great and should have won Emmys for their roles!
