Kidnapped – The Complete Series

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Episodes: C-

 

 

It is bad enough that our written dramas too often try to emulate cheap tabloid TV and the dysfunctional melodrama they bring with them, but it is more obnoxious when it is yet another tired, exploitive child-in-jeopardy situation.  If Ron Howard’s remake of Ransom with Mel “Gimme back my son!” Gibson was not lame enough, we were then given Kidnapped, a TV series with the same storyline and even more exploitation.

 

Again, the son of a rich family is kidnapped and threatened for profit and the race is on to save him.  Worse than the Howard film, the abduction exists in a sinister vacuum and we get that “ohhhh, the world is bad and evil” bit where we are made to feel bad as the show wallows in and celebrates what it supposedly detests.  Even though a cast as good as Timothy Hutton, Delroy Lindo, Dana Delany and Jeremy Sisto are included, the show is a mess and it still lasted an unlucky 13 shows.

 

The 1.78 X 1 image is fairly good in transfer quality, but shot in the same old tired dark style with degraded images and bad editing or more natural color-limited scenes with no memorable shots.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix has very little in the way of surrounds and the combination has dated quickly for a recent production.  The only extra is a featurette called Ransom Notes.  Why this ever got greenlighted can only be explained by the desire for a quick buck.  Glad it backfired.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo