DVD Release Date: February 24, 2009 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Color / 1998-99
MSRP: $39.95
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 25
Running time: approx. 551 minutes
Audio Tracks: Dolby Digital English Stereo/Mono
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Subtitles: None; Closed Captioned
Introduction:
The sassy stars of Blush magazine are back with more hilarity in the third season of Just Shoot Me! Join Maya, Jack, Nina, Elliott, and Finch for 25 side-splitting episodes of the six-time Emmy-nominated and seven-time Golden Globe-nominated series. This witty ensemble comedy explores the often tumultuous and always hysterical dynamic between five quirky staff members of a high fashion magazine. After a several year wait, the third year of the hilarious hijinks are finally on DVD and are even more hilarious than you remember. Funny has never been so fashionable!
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
In terms of memorable episodes, my mind immediately gravitates towards the show’s season finale -- The Odd Couple. In part one, an old nemesis of Finch’s returns -- and he’s not only successful but engaged. Finch manages to arrange a date with Adrienne (Rebecca Romijn), a rather gorgeous supermodel. At some point, Finch winds up engaged to Adrienne. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times -- David Spade is often the luckiest man on the face of the earth. Episodes like this demonstrate why. In a hilarious B-plot, Jack wants to have his photo taken in front of a new painting of his -- not realizing what the painting depicts. The episode runs over two parts.
Aside from the wonderful Rebecca Romijn, this season features several other guest stars, including Ana Gasteyer, Steve Carell, French Stewart, Mark Hamill, Kelsey Grammer, Tyra Banks, Brian Dennehy, Fred Willard, Robert Goulet, and baseball player Steve Garvey,
Packaging:
Packaging is simple, yet it’s my favorite type. This set features an outer box with two slimcases contained within. The first case holds discs one and two, case two holds the third disc. The front cover is similar in style to the first DVD release, with the cast posed in front of a backdrop like would be used for...posing for a front cover. The cover art for the slimcases is one of the most creative designs I’ve seen for slimcase art -- the two cases’ covers are designed like magazine covers, with the show title at the top, and episode titles and quick plot blurbs spread out similar to what you’d find on a magazine cover. The art for the two cases differs, in effect creating two separate issues. Whoever designed that little neat bit of packaging deserves a bonus. Episode lists are on the back of each case. Disc art features several “snapshots” laid out in front of a lit background. The first disc holds 9 episodes, discs 2 and 3 hold 8 episodes. (For those of you who have difficulty with math, this places episodes 1-9 on D1, 10-17 on D2, and 18-25 on D3).
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menu is extremely simple -- two film strips appear at the top and bottom, with still photos of the cast members mixed with screen shots along the strips. The show logo appears in the center, with Play All and Episode Selection options. Episode selections takes you to a similarly designed menu, where...wait for it...you can select the episodes. There isn’t scene selection or anything fancy like that, but you probably could guess that going in. Previews are available as a selectable option on disc 3 -- nothing new under the sun there.
Video and Audio Quality:
Video is a bit soft across the board, with weird color glitches here and there. There are also strange glitches around some edges -- especially on the magazine covers. The video improves over the course of the season, but early episodes in particular are a bit wonky. The audio, while Dolby Surround, doesn’t really feel like it -- as a late ‘90s sitcom most of the audio comes across evenly balanced up front, with there being little differentiation in the left and right sides and most of the good stuff up front. Chapter stops occur at the end of each act.
Runtimes:
Disc 1:
What the Teddy Bear Saw: 21:51
Steamed: 22:11
The Mask: 22:11
Funny Girl: 21:40
Two Girls for Every Boy: 21:40
The Withholder: 22:08
Puppetmaster: 22:11
The List: 22:10
How Nina Got Her Groove Back: 22:09
Disc 2:
How the Finch Stole Christmas: 22:04
Slow Donnie: 22:13
A Spy in the House of Me: 21:59
Lies & Dolls: 22:09
Nina Sees Red (I): 22:10
Nina Sees Red (II): 21:38
Hostess to Murder: 22:11
Toy Story: 22:11
Disc 3:
Miss Pretty: 22:10
Maya’s Nude Photos: 22:11
And the Femmy Goes To: 21:23
Softball: 22:11
Shaking Private Trainer: 21:48
Nina’s Choice: 22:10
The Odd Couple (I): 23:07
The Odd Couple (II): 21:37
Special Features:
Not all that surprisingly, this set is completely void of special features save a few previews, which really don’t count from where *I* sit.
Final Comments:
This set, along with the release several months ago of Mad About You and the now re-continued Barney Miller should serve as beacons of hope for any fan of a show -- owned by Sony at least -- that appears discontinued. Sometimes it takes a while -- years even -- but eventually if there’s enough interest, a show will see the light of day on DVD again.
The show is great, and hopefully you already own this DVD set. While I wish the set had had special features, the primary attraction for any TV DVD set should always be the episode. For those of you holding out on purchase, and are unsure of whether to spend the money, I encourage you to sample reruns of the show (check local listings) to form your own opinion. Still, from where *I* sit, it’s a good buy. If you want to see a 4th season on DVD, sales figures need to show some spark of life, so if you’ve been sitting on the fence, now is a good time to buy!
