.
.
Ok, so maybe JUST SHOOT ME! wasn't the greatest thing since sliced
bread, but I found the show to be pretty freaking funny, and many times,
downright hilarious. Personally, I don’t think the show had any
aspirations beyond making people laugh, and on that level, it succeeded
tremendously- I know I got plenty of hours of laughter from spending time
with the more than just slightly dysfunctional characters of JUST SHOOT
ME!.
.
.
Set inside the world of a fictional women’s magazine called Blush,
JUST SHOOT ME! tells the story of a serious journalist named Maya
Gallo (Laura San Giacomo), who burns one too many bridges and finds
herself forced to go to work for her father Jack (George Segal), whose
magazine exemplifies the kind fluff journalism that she hates. The other
inmates working for Blush include Wendie Malick, who is
usually fairly hilarious as the over-the-hill and slightly boozy former
model Nina Van Horn, Enrico Colantoni as oversexed fashion photographer
Elliot DiMauro, and the always pitch perfect David Spade as Jack Gallo’s
sleazy, self promoting assistant Dennis Quimby Finch.
JUST
SHOOT ME!: SEASONS ONE AND TWO ($40) comes to DVD in a four-disc set
that features the following thirty-one episodes that were aired during the
show’s freshman and sophomore years: Season 1:Back Issues,
The Devil And Maya Gallo, Secretary's Day, Nina's
Birthday, In Your Dreams, Lemon Wacky Hello,
Season 2:The Experiment, The Assistant,
Old Boyfriends, La Cage, King Lear Jet,
My Dinner With Woody, Twice Burned, Sweet
Charity, Jesus, It's Christmas, Elliott
The Geek, Sewer!, In The Company Of Maya,
Pass The Salt, The Walk, Nina In The
Cantina, College Or Collagen, Nina's Bikini,
The Kiss, Bravefinch, Jack's Old Partner,
Amblushed, The Emperor, Rescue Me,
Eve Of Destruction, War And Sleaze.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment has made all 31 episodes of JUST SHOOT ME!:
SEASONS ONE AND TWO available on DVD in the proper 4:3 full screen
aspect ratios of their original television broadcasts. For the most part
the episodes look good (better than broadcast), but the image quality is
never outstanding, even for a television show. There is some softness here
and there, but most of the time things appear relatively sharp and have
respectable definition. Colors are not overly vibrant, but they seem just
fine and the flesh tones look natural. Blacks are accurate, as are the
whites. JUST SHOOT ME! is lit and shot like a television sitcom, so
the contrast is unremarkable and the picture appears just a little flat.
The film elements from which the episodes are taken appear pretty clean
and appreciable grain is never a problem. With a few exceptions, digital
compression artifacts maintain a low profile.
.
All the episodes that comprise JUST SHOOT ME!: SEASONS ONE AND TWO
come with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo surround soundtracks. Plain and simple,
these are television caliber sound mixes (at the sitcom level), with
absolutely no flourishes. The sound design guarantees that one is able to
hear all the jokes from dead center and that music generally fills the
outlying channels. Fidelity is decent enough for a show that is pretty
much a dialogue driven affair. Voices sound reasonably natural and one
never needs to strain themselves to hear a funny punch line. No other
spoken language tracks or subtitles are provided, but the episodes are
closed-captioned.
The
basic interactive menus allow one access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as some extras that have been spread through
the set. Commentaries are provided for the following episodes: Back
Issues, Lemon Wacky Hello, King Lear Jet
and My Dinner With Woody by creators Steven Levitan and
Danny Zucker, executive producers Eileen Conn and Andrew Gordon, and
co-producer Marsh McCall. These are actually rather good commentaries,
that provide solid production detail and amusing anecdotes- fans will
certainly get a kick out of listening. Always In Fashion: A
Conversation With Steven Levitan And The Cast Of Just Shoot Me! is
a solid twenty six minute program that allows the creative team and the
cast to talk about working on a show that they seem to love. The
Blush Covers offers a look at the magazine covers featured in
episodes across the first and second seasons.
I’ve
always liked JUST SHOOT ME! and am happy the episodes are starting
to make their way to DVD. The presentations on DVD are solid, but
unremarkable, even for a TV show. If you are a fan, you shouldn’t have
any reservations about adding JUST SHOOT ME!: SEASONS ONE AND TWO
to your collection.
.
.
JUST
SHOOT ME!: SEASONS ONE AND TWO ($40) comes to DVD in a four-disc set
that features the following thirty-one episodes that were aired during the
show’s freshman and sophomore years: Season 1: Back Issues,
The Devil And Maya Gallo, Secretary's Day, Nina's
Birthday, In Your Dreams, Lemon Wacky Hello,
Season 2: The Experiment, The Assistant,
Old Boyfriends, La Cage, King Lear Jet,
My Dinner With Woody, Twice Burned, Sweet
Charity, Jesus, It's Christmas, Elliott
The Geek, Sewer!, In The Company Of Maya,
Pass The Salt, The Walk, Nina In The
Cantina, College Or Collagen, Nina's Bikini,
The Kiss, Bravefinch, Jack's Old Partner,
Amblushed, The Emperor, Rescue Me,
Eve Of Destruction, War And Sleaze.
Columbia
TriStar Home Entertainment has made all 31 episodes of JUST SHOOT ME!:
SEASONS ONE AND TWO available on DVD in the proper 4:3 full screen
aspect ratios of their original television broadcasts. For the most part
the episodes look good (better than broadcast), but the image quality is
never outstanding, even for a television show. There is some softness here
and there, but most of the time things appear relatively sharp and have
respectable definition. Colors are not overly vibrant, but they seem just
fine and the flesh tones look natural. Blacks are accurate, as are the
whites. JUST SHOOT ME! is lit and shot like a television sitcom, so
the contrast is unremarkable and the picture appears just a little flat.
The film elements from which the episodes are taken appear pretty clean
and appreciable grain is never a problem. With a few exceptions, digital
compression artifacts maintain a low profile.
.
The
basic interactive menus allow one access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as some extras that have been spread through
the set. Commentaries are provided for the following episodes: Back
Issues, Lemon Wacky Hello, King Lear Jet
and My Dinner With Woody by creators Steven Levitan and
Danny Zucker, executive producers Eileen Conn and Andrew Gordon, and
co-producer Marsh McCall. These are actually rather good commentaries,
that provide solid production detail and amusing anecdotes- fans will
certainly get a kick out of listening. Always In Fashion: A
Conversation With Steven Levitan And The Cast Of Just Shoot Me! is
a solid twenty six minute program that allows the creative team and the
cast to talk about working on a show that they seem to love. The
Blush Covers offers a look at the magazine covers featured in
episodes across the first and second seasons.
I’ve
always liked JUST SHOOT ME! and am happy the episodes are starting
to make their way to DVD. The presentations on DVD are solid, but
unremarkable, even for a TV show. If you are a fan, you shouldn’t have
any reservations about adding JUST SHOOT ME!: SEASONS ONE AND TWO
to your collection.