Info:
DVD Release Date: October 25, 2005 (MPI Home Video)
Color/1969-1970
MSRP: $39.98
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 26
Running Time: 64 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: 64 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English
subtitles
Special Features: Network Promos; CBS Promo Outtakes;
Blooper Reel; McLean Stevenson Screen Test; Interviews
with Larry Storch and Rose Marie; Season 3 Preview;
"The Tunnel of Love" movie trailer; Extended Opening
Credit Footage; Textless Opening Credits
Introduction:
Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be-AGAIN! MPI,
which brought you a great DVD set with The Doris Day
Show Season One, is doing it again with Season Two! It
is a four disc set that includes all 26 episodes from
the second season of one of the most underrated
sitcoms of the 1960s, and LOADED with special
features!
This season, there are several changes to the show.
Although Doris is still living on the farm, she now
has a new job in San Francisco, as "executive
assistant" (a politically correct term for secretary,
although she does more than a typical secretary) to a
magazine editor named Michael Nicholson (played by
McLean Stevenson who later went on to M*A*S*H). And
while she is in the city, she has a new co-worker
named Myrna Gibbons--played by Rose Marie, who had
just previously done The Dick Van Dyke Show. And just
like the first season, Doris still has her family back
on the farm, with Denver Pyle as her father. The new
job is just the first change made in the series, with
many others to follow in later seasons.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
There are some great episodes on this set... starting
with the season opener, "Doris Gets a Job," where
Doris applies for a job, and tries to hide the fact
that she has children from Mr. Nicholson after Myrna
gives her the idea that Mr. Nicholson doesn't like
mothers working for him. Gordon Jump makes a guest
appearance in "Doris Strikes Out." In "A Two Family
Christmas," Doris decides to invite her coworkers back
to the farm for Christmas, so that they can experience
an old-fashioned Christmas. Larry Storch plays a
boxing champ named Duke Farentino (and has a crush on
Doris) in "The Prizefighter and the Lady," and plays
the same character again in "The Duke Returns." Doris
has her electricity turned off after a computer error
in "Doris vs. the Computer." In "Hot Dogs," Doris
rescues six dogs from a hot car by breaking into the
car, only to have the pet grooming service sue her!
Charles Lane also makes a guest appearance in that
episode. Leroy B. Simpson (who disappears in the
second season) makes a brief comeback in The Gas
station, where Doris and Myrna volunteer to operate
his gas station when his wife is due to give birth.
Mabel Albertson makes an appearance in "Buck's
Portrait." In "A Woman's Intuition," Doris and Mr.
Nicholson are going to take a trip to Orlando to get
an interview, but Doris' intuition tells them not to
take the flight they intended to take... but then they
end up flying with a substandard airline, and on top
of that, their plane ends up getting hijacked and they
are taken to Cuba! Bernie Koppell and Gordon Jump both
make guest appearances.
Packaging:
The packaging is very simple--just a digipak with a
case that is in a blue color scheme, with a picture of
Doris on the cover. Episode titles descriptions (with
original airdates) are included on the digipak, which
is useful to know what you are watching (especially if
your first experience of watching the show is the DVD
sets). There are no real complaints about the outer
packaging--it is very consistent with the Season One
packaging. The artwork on the discs themselves is
actually very nice, some of the nicest I've seen I
think, with various snapshots from the episodes--all
in a blue and white tint.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menus are very basic and about the same as the
ones used in Season One. The Main Menu has options for
Play All, Episodes, Subtitles, and Bonus Features
(Disc 4 only). It is easy to draw conclusions on what
each of these menu options will do once selected.
There is music playing in the background on all of the
menus, but I can't figure out what the music is. It
definitely isn't the theme song though.
There is a problem that this set has that many MPI
sets seem to have, and that is when you use Episode
Selection to play an episode, the next episode starts
playing as soon as you are done with the episode you
want to watch. I don't understand why it doesn't just
return to the Episodes menu after you are done with an
episode. Also, there is no scene selection menu on
this set, nor are there any chapters within the
episodes.
Video and Audio Quality:
I had a few complaints about the video from the first
season DVD set, but for the second season, the video
quality seems to be much better than it should be
considering the age of the show. The video seems a
little bit dark, but honestly, that isn't a big issue.
The real issue for concern as far as video is
concerned on this set is that a few episodes seem to
have a picture that jumps around a bit--I noticed this
particularly on "Doris vs. the Computer." The audio is
good too, in Dolby Digital mono. There is that slight
problem that many DVD sets have with an audio level
that seems to be a bit low, but the problem REALLY
doesn't seem to be as serious as it is with many sets.
And for those that need it, English subtitles are
available.
Now here is where some controversy enters--the
episodes all run at 24 minutes, and if you ask me, the
episodes on this set are UNEDITED. However, there is a
small group of people that claim that the episodes on
the first season set are edited based upon this
running time alone (which I have been able to make
such conclusions before on other DVD sets, but only
because the episodes are chopped down to typical
syndicated lengths like 22 minutes), and I have a
feeling they'll make the same complaints again. I
think it is possible that these are time-compressed
episodes (which is something that I have no problem
with at ALL), but I'm not convinced that these
episodes are edited in anyway. Everything appears to
be intact, and I'm not aware of anybody showing any
evidence proving that these are edited. So here is the
bottom line: I'm saying these are UNEDITED (but maybe
time-compressed) episodes, and unless there is
somebody out there has something that has footage that
isn't on the DVDs and can prove me wrong, I'm sticking
to that.
Special Features:
MPI seems to never disappoint with special features,
and I was happy to see the special features on the
first season--but for the second season, the special
features are (believe it or not) even better! The set
is loaded with unique special features (all on Disc
4), some of them being types of special features that
I've never seen ANY DVD set include. First we have a
message from Doris Day to Steelcase (2:45)--the
company that provided the office furniture for The
Doris Day Show! The message basically has Doris
thanking them for providing the furniture, and showing
the company how their products are being used within
the show. Next we have a promo for a CBS show called
The CBS Children's Hour (0:55), with Doris Day herself
introducing the show--and reminding viewers to stay
tuned for The Doris Day Show right after the program!
The next special feature is a very unusual special
feature, one that surprised me that would even be kept
in the archives. It is a series of audio promos being
recorded by Doris Day, recording messages for promos
for the show (10:56), like "see it all happen on The
Doris Day Show--oh by the way that's me--next on the
CBS Television Network." And the little details are
all there too, such as the producers telling her to
speed up her reading of the lines and her frustration
with having to say things so fast! This is a type of
special feature that I would have never envisioned any
show having on DVD--but this one actually has it!
Next we have a series of bloopers from the show
(6:04), and while I'm generally a fan of bloopers,
this wasn't necessarily my favorite part of the set.
The bloopers seem to move so fast that you really
can't understand what they did wrong, mainly because
they immediately go to the next blooper once they
realize something went wrong and don't show the
"after" effects as many blooper reels do. Also, the
video quality on these bloopers is pretty bad in
comparison to everything else on the DVDs. But
regardless, it was nice to see the bloopers on there,
and hopefully subsequent releases will also have them,
even if they are as rough as these.
The next special feature is another great one--a
screen test for McLean Stevenson, who joined the cast
in the second season as Doris' boss! This screen test
(4:57) is very complete, even with the directors cues
and everything. And the quality of it is surprisingly
good for a screen test; I've seen screen tests of
shows that are only 20 years old that look all beat up
and everything--not this one.
Next we have a season 3 preview (4:25)--which
apparently will be released by MPI very soon!
Basically this is just a short clip from an episode of
the third season where Myrna and Doris are out trying
to find an apartment in San Francisco. And if you're
interested, the third season opening credits are there
as well.
Next we have a movie trailer (2:15) for a movie called
"The Tunnel of Love," a movie that Doris Day starred
in back in (I assume) the 1950s... doesn't really have
much to do with the show, but Doris Day fans are sure
to appreciate it.
Next we have two sets of interviews--one with Rose
Marie (11:35) and another with Larry Storch (9:36).
Both of these are great interviews to see, even though
they don't really reveal a whole lot of new
information. They both talk primarily about their
experiences with the show. Now the fact that a Larry
Storch interview is included is kind of a mystery to
me--he only had a role in two episodes in the season!
But still, it was nice to see interviews on the set.
Finally, we get to the last two special features...
the first is Main Title Outtakes (9:50). Believe it or
not, they actually have 10 minutes of footage from
recording the opening credits included here! Most of
it is just Doris driving around (as she does in the
opening credits), but there is other footage as well.
There is no audio with this, just instrumental music
in the background (I'd assume they didn't record audio
for it when they initially did it because it really
wasn't necessary). The other is Textless Main and End
Credits (1:41), which is (as the name implies), a
textless version of the opening and closing credits.
Wow--that is a LOT of special features. The only thing
missing here is commentaries! If just those could be
included, this would be THE perfect DVD set!
Final Comments:
There isn't much to say here except that this set is
almost flawless. There are those that complain that
the first season set is edited, and at 24 minutes per
episode, I assume some will say that again, but
personally I don't believe these episodes (nor do I
believe that the season one episodes) are edited. They
may be time-compressed if anything, but nothing
appears to have been edited out on any of the episodes
I've watched. As far as the show itself, I enjoyed
Season One, but I think Season Two was even better.
Hopefully season 3 (as well as 4 and 5, assuming those
are released) will be just as good and loaded with
special features like this one is. In the meantime, if
you are a fan of Doris Day, or just a fan of late
60s/early 70s sitcoms, you will want to get this DVD
set.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 4.5/5
Menu Design/Navigation: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
-- Reviewed by skees53 on 10/05/05
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