Cold Case Files – The Most Infamous Cases
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: B-
For all the bad reality TV, documentary series about real
life are at least as cheap to produce, and are far more interesting, important
and relevant like A&E’s Cold Case Files. Maybe it is easy to become desensitized about such a show by
taking for granted that it will always be there. The “true crime” genre has always been interesting and had its
share of exploitation in it, but this series has been smarter and host Bill
Kurtis is also the producer.
We are so used to bad news that we expect to hear about
murder, torture, and other kinds of celebrated ugliness (the news soap operas
that no one makes money off of except the 24-hour networks that they never want
to see end), that it is further reason to point out programs such as this that
do have merit. Kurtis picked his ten
favorites, most distinct cases from the series to date as follows:
1) One
Night On The Bayou
2) Killer
In The County
3) Frozen
In Time
4) A Map Of
Murder
5) The
Zodiac Killer
6) The
Green River Killer
7) Weepy-Voiced
Killer
8) The Lady
Killer
9) Kidnapped
10) Love Triangle
Without the commercials, you can see the formatting to
keep the viewer interested, so fans will be happy these were not reedited. Otherwise, the repetitions are minor and do
not get in the way of the stories. Of
course, you expect for their to be a resolution in every case and the only
problem with the series is it tells it viewer everything is solvable when it is
not. That is even with investigators
explaining all the hard work. The
Most Infamous Cases is a good set worth seeing if you have missed the
series.
The 1.33 X 1 image was produced on professional analog
NTSC video and rarely features older film or videotape footage, so the shows consist
of mostly of new footage. The sources
are clean and in great shape, though the detail limits are undeniable. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has some Pro
Logic surround information, enough to play it that way. Not bad.
There are no extras, but it is a solid set.
- Nicholas Sheffo
