Noah’s Arc – The Complete Second Season
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C
Nothing
makes me laugh more than when you see overly serious, well dressed black men
say there is no such thing as a gay black man.
They are proving nothing but ignorance, aided by the lack of visibility
of such men. If it was not for DVD, I
(and many others) would be clueless that some mostly gay male mainstream cable
TV series are in production. After
looking at the silly and goofy Dante’s
Cove, Noah’s Arc – The Complete
Second Season arrives from the more mainstream and familiar Logo
Network. The box claims uncensored shows
with more footage than shown on cable, but they are still not as graphic and
exhibitionist as Dante’s Cove
is. Though it does not exist in a
supernatural world, Noah’s Arc
sports a black male cast and holds nothing back about it.
Though
better than Dante’s Cove by default
by not being so condescending, Noah’s
Arc even brings up the fact that AIDS exists. However, after establishing that “reality”
via one of the characters, it is ignored too much like it is the 1970s and the
show becomes as formulaic as its supernatural parallel at the other gay
network. The acting is a bit better, but
the show tries so hard to be “gay hip” that it is amazing that none of the
actors in bedroom scenes didn’t break a hip.
A
half-hour format, it is shamelessly soapy and if it were any sillier, this
would fell like the Men On skit from
In Living Color as a spinoff with
the real McCoy much more active. Though
this ran only eight such shows for the season, it has been spaced on three DVDs
when it could have fit on two. If you
must, start with the first season or forget it.
Could this have started with any promise?
The
letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is color consistent, but has some detail and depth
limits that anamorphic enhancement would have helped. Why it is only letterboxed is odd, but that
is the way they have it here. The box
misidentifies the frame as Full Screen.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has good moments of bass, but is an
otherwise dialogue-based and not always the most well-recorded at that. Extras include bloopers, a few audio
commentaries on select shows, cast interviews, two behind the scenes
featurettes, deleted scenes and webisodes made to enhance the show.
- Nicholas Sheffo
