The Red Green Show 1998 Season
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: C+
The more
things change, the more they remain the same, and same is what The Red Green Show is all about. After Acorn Media issued several DVD boxes
over the years, the show has still not picked up beyond its cult in the U.S.,
but they have finally released The 1998 Season and this time, it is a tad more
tired than expected and not because this critic has had to sit through so many
of the previous shows.
Instead,
it is because it has become a predictable formula and it is only the long break
that has made that more obvious and that is why it feels almost
interchangeable, except that this latest chapter seems to finally show the show
losing some steam. Fans may disagree,
but non-fans like this critic after comparison examination may agree.
The
titles once again show the kind of humor it is, which is still limited and even
an acquired taste, but the show gains a new irony with the outsourcing going
on. The industrial era culture that made
this show and its humor possible is becoming more and more distant, so the show
feels like a strange time capsule.
Single discs are available to try out the show if you have not seen it,
but these larger sets are well made.
The 1.33 X 1 NTSC image on all the DVDs is once again
adequate throughout, all in color, usually on the same set over and over
again. The funny thing about the analog
look is that it always perpetuates the phoniness the show intends in ways they
may not have anticipated at the time.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is also adequate, but has the usual silly
music and no surround information in all these cases too. Extras include text biographies and
production notes, but much less than some of the other releases.
- Nicholas Sheffo
