Barney Miller – The Complete Third Season (Sony DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: B
Proving
that it was in for the long haul, Barney
Miller decided to move its storytelling more strictly to the 12th
Precinct building and though they lost Barbara Barrie as Barney wife Liz, the
show moved on and stayed on top. You can
read more about it from our review of the second season:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6463/Barney+Miller
This
3-DVD set has all 22 half-hours including the two-part Quarantine and Strike
episodes, though some may not like the idea that the case has all three discs
stacked up on each other. I also enjoy
the grace with which social issues and character is dealt with in such smart
ways with such finesse, something totally lacking in any TV comedy today. Doris Roberts, Brett Somers and James
Cromwell are among the guest actors and it is a welcome addition to TV on DVD.
Unfortunately,
the 1.33 X 1 image is the weak link in this set, looking like second generation
digital copies of the shows instead of direct transfers from the original
2-inch analog NTSC tape masters. Color
is not as bad, but detail is a problem with aliasing and digititis that should
not be there and seems more so than in the previous set. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is not as good as
the last set either, with more hiss and background noise than it should have. I expected slight improvements, not a slight
backslide and there are no extras this time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
