Info:
DVD Release Date: August 30, 2005 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
Color
MSRP: $39.95
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 23
Running Time: 511 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: N/A
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English,
closed-captioned
Special Features: None
Introduction:
The Bundys are back for another season on DVD! The
Complete Fourth Season of Married... With Children is
coming soon to DVD from Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment, and you too can join Al, Peggy, Kelly,
Bud, and the Rhoades family for 23 episodes of
hilarity! The fourth season of the show is the season
where the show went into the 1990s (seems like old
times now, doesn't it?) and is probably the greatest
season of the show. The characters become fully
developed in this season, we get to see Marcy's last
days of her marriage to Steve, and we even get to see
Buck talk on the series for the very first time.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Many of my "favorite episodes" from the series are
contained in this set. It begins with "Hot Off the
Grill," a Labor Day episode where nothing just seems
to be going right for Peggy... but the episode has a
hilarious scene at the end that you MUST see. Peggy
suspects that Al is cheating on her and decides to get
revenge on the other woman in "He Ain't Much But He's
Mine," but is Al REALLY being unfaithful? We begin to
see Marcy and Steve's "wonderful" marriage break up in
"976-SHOE," when Steve gives Al a loan to start a (of
all things!) shoe hotline. Al has a secret money stash
that he intends to use to buy a car that is unless a
redheaded monster has gotten into the money, in "Oh,
What a Feeling." America's favorite Jump the Shark
superstar Ted McGinley makes a guest appearance (but
not as Jefferson!) in "It's a Bundyful Life," where Al
finds out how wonderful his family would be without
him. We get to see Buck talk for the very first time
in "Peggy Had a Little Lamb." Finally, Kelly gets a
job as a "weather bunny" at channel 83 in "Rain Girl."
Packaging:
The packaging this season is nicely done, and is very
similar to the packaging that was used for the first
three seasons. I really liked the cover art on this
set... it has Al sitting in front of the doghouse with
Buck (much nicer than the typical photos used for the
first three sets), with Peggy, Bud, and Kelly on the
side. The box has a blue color scheme this time, which
is a change from the white scheme used on the first
three sets. Inside the box is a four panel digipak,
with the far left panel holding the episode
description booklet (which, just like the previous
ones, has a decent but short description for each
episode) and the other three holding the discs.
On the outside of the digipak, there are various
pictures of the cast members and on the inside there
are many quotes, quotes that one would consider a
"Bundyism." The discs themselves look very nice too,
with Al and Peg on Disc 1, Kelly on Disc 2, and Bud on
Disc 3. The breakdown of this set is fairly even, with
episode 1-7 on Disc 1, 8-14 on Disc 2, and 15-23 on
Disc 3.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menus are very nice and clean, just as most Sony
DVD sets are. We have the same picture that is on the
cover, with main menu options of "Play All Episodes"
and "Episode Selection." Disc 1 also has "Previews."
The Episode Selection option takes you to a basic menu
where you can, well, select the episode you want to
see. There is no scene selection in this set, but
chapters ARE conveniently placed at all commercial
breaks (except for the phony ones on the edited
episodes, read on for more details on THAT).
Video and Audio Quality:
The way that this show looks and sounds on the
television is not really a problem at all. The picture
quality isn't INCREDIBLY sharp, and the audio (which
is presented in stereo, there is even the original Fox
"in stereo where available" logo at the beginning of
each episode) is almost perfect, maybe just a tad bit
low.
But beyond how great the set looks and sounds there
are other issues of major concern with this set. Just
as the third season, the original theme song is
missing, and has been replaced with the version that
was used on The Complete Third Season. That isn't a
major deal to me. After all, it doesn't really affect
the CONTENT of the show.
But there is another issue that DOES affect the
content of the show.
The set contains seven (yes, SEVEN) episodes that are
syndicated episodes! Most episodes run at 23:10, but
the following episodes run at roughly 22:30: "Dead Men
Don't Do Aerobics," "Buck Saves the Day,"
"At the Zoo," "Rock and Roll Girl," "You Gotta Know
When to Hold 'Em,
Part 1" (oddly enough Part 2 is UNEDITED), "Peggy Had
a Little Lamb," and "Rain Girl." The proof that these
episodes are edited (beyond the shorter time length)
is simple--you will notice that about 4 or 5 minutes
into these episodes, the episodes fade to black. This
is something that was added in syndication in order to
accommodate an extra commercial break, and this was
not in the original airings of the show. It is a shame
that any of the episodes on this set are edited. I'm
not sure exactly who is in charge of quality control
over at Sony, but this is the second Sony set I've
reviewed this week (That’s My Mama being the other)
that has had a substantial amount of edited episodes,
and it seems that Sony doesn't realize that fans do
not appreciate edited episodes.
Special Features:
No special features to speak of other than trailers.
They are for "The King of Queens" (0:59), Newsradio
(1:54), Rescue Me (1:16), The Partridge Family (1:04),
Seinfeld (2:19), Bewitched TV (0:56).
Honestly, I'm glad those "Easter Eggs" didn't reappear
on this set, but I'd like some interviews,
commentaries, anything like that!
Everybody from the series is still alive and not doing
much else that is in the spotlight... why not have
them participate in these sets??
Final Comments:
This is probably one of my favorite shows of all time,
and even I have to say I am very disappointed with
this set. I could easily live with a set that has a
changed theme song, I could live with a set with no
special features, I could easily live with a small
number of syndicated episodes, I could even live with
a set of all edited episodes if the show is rare
enough--but this set brings out the worst possible in
all of those areas. The classic and memorable theme
song has been replaced with a cheaper version, there
are no special features, nearly 1/3 of the episodes
are syndicated episodes, and the show airs everyday in
the United States. If you are a devoted fan to the
show, you'll want to get this set simply because there
are so many great episodes on the set (the best season
of the show in my opinion)... but otherwise, this set
may not be worth your money.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 0/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 4/5
Overall: 2/5
-- Reviewed by skees53 on 08/05/2005.
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