The Starter Wife – Season One (Universal DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C
Though I
was not the biggest fan of Will &
Grace, there is no doubt Debra Messing is a good comic actress and can be
very likable. Now she’s back in a new TV
comedy series called The Starter Wife
that picks up where a mini-series left off (recapped in the first episode)
where she could not hold a storybook life together twice, so now she has to
deal with rebuilding her life in Hollywood again.
The mostly
unknown cast is not bad, but helping this mixed series is Judy Davis as her
mother. However, it plays like a good,
funny idea stretched out to the point that it eventually loses all credibility. The 10 episodes here are consistent enough,
but consistently flat and what started out as promising goes more and more down
hill. In the end, it is a shame they ran
out of gas. We’ll see if the next season
can be one of a comeback for the writing.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is not bad for what is likely an HD
production with decent color and limited motion blur. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix feels more like stereo
that has been stretched out a bit.
Extras include cast/crew commentary on the fantasy sequences, but that
is all.
- Nicholas Sheffo
