Third Watch – The Complete First Season (Warner DVD Video)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: C+
Third Watch was a highly praised NBC series
that followed the daily duties of some of New York City’s finest and hardest
workers; police officers, fire fighters, and paramedics. The show’s praises mainly centered on the
realism and factual nature of the series and was said to do the hard working
men and women of New York justice. At
the same time, however, others voiced objections to the shows use of crude
language and violence. What ever the
initial reaction to the series was, in some way, shape, or form it was
recognized as having some kind of impact.
Special praises came later in the series with how the writers, actors,
and crew handled the happenings of September 11th and received an
array of recognitions and award nominations.
The series ran from 1999-2005, lasting a total of 6 seasons and NBC was
almost unanimously bashed across the board for canceling the ‘hit’ series.
Whereas there
seems to be an extensive fan base for this all encompassing crime drama, this
reviewer does not personally see the appeal. Fans have waited an extremely long
amount of time for this series to be released and this reviewer having never
seen the series was also gripped with anticipation as well. Sadly after viewing the entire First Season of Third Watch, this reviewer feels the series should be renamed ‘Last
Watch.’ The crime drama has always been
a super saturated market on television and without a certain degree of
creativity and ingenuity, any crime series is sure to sink faster than a pair
of cement shoes.
Third Watch is supposedly infused with drama,
fast talk, suspense, action, and much more, but all that this reviewer saw in
the First Season was a series that
tried way too hard. The acting found in Third Watch is drab and seemed too
forced throughout; by no means does this reviewer doubt the acting abilities of
any of the cast, but rather feels that what the cast had to work with was
lacking. The scripts are mostly
meaningless dribble that attempt to force the audience to sympathize with the
officers of New York City, but the fact of the matter is that the emotion is
just not there. The audience is bombarded
by one horrible event, after another (either in the workers’ personal or
professional lives) and is surely meant to give that same sense of anxiety and
pressure that a real police officer, fire fighter, or paramedic would feel; but
in the end falls short of conveying any realistic emotion.
The
series takes pages from other hit dramas like E.R. and Law and Order
(take your pick which one), but uses the elements in all the wrong ways. The show constantly felt slow and overall
this reviewer never felt even the slightest connection to the characters, until
maybe the final episodes.
There are
partners getting shot, newcomers trying to find their spot in the world,
criminals galore, and an unending display of chaos that is supposedly New
York. Whereas there is no doubt that New
York’s finest deal with similar events that occur on this show and certainly
worse; this reviewer feels that Third
Watch is a poor excuse for realistic crime drama. It was not exciting and the emotion was
extremely forced. The show supposedly
gained a larger following in Seasons 2
through 4, but those were not the
seasons presented here. Let us hope Seasons 2 through 4 truly do get better.
Though
the series was not very impressive in its First
Season the technical features remain adequate. The picture is presented in a crisp 1.33 X 1
Full Screen with an image that is not bad, but to a degree has detail and video
black limits, but the materials used are basically clean and clear
otherwise. The sound is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that is
neither impressive nor horrible, but too a degree lacks the necessary ‘pop’ an
action crime drama should possess. The
extras that are included are minimal and bland only offering long waiting fans
a boring ‘The Nights of Camelot
Retrospective Featurette,’ unaired scenes, and an unfunny gag reel.
This
reviewer wishes he could say that the First
Season of Third Watch was an exhilarating experience, but at most the
series is a nice way to pass the time (especially when there is nothing else
new on television). Season One was boring; maybe Season
Two will get this reviewer’s heart beating again.
- Michael P Dougherty II
