Man Vs. Wild – Season Four (2009/Discovery Channel DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C
Just
because a “reality TV” show is set in nature and the elements does not mean it
will not automatically be a dud. I am
not an avid viewer of Man Vs. Food,
but this Season Four set shows a
series that is contrived, repetitious and even desperate as host Bear Grylls
wants to be the next “crocodile hunter” et al, but he tries too hard and the
result is 12 hour-long exercises in overdoing it.
This
becomes very shrill and disappointingly so, but the peak of this cynicism
manifests itself in the Celebrity Guest episode the case brags about but does
not identify and for good reason. In
what is bound to be the nadir of this show and everyone like it, the guest is
Will Ferrell, desperately promoting his disembowelment of Land Of The Lost. Often
funnier on TV, his does not even illicit a smile here, but you will yawn.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is shot
in what looks like 1080i and has its share of motion blur and softness in this
tradedown, though the location shooting is one of the reasons for the
limits. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has
some audio drop outs, new music is the best audio and the mixes are generally
clean albeit simple. Extras include two
sets of Extended Scenes, a Preview Episode and if you want to count it, that
Celebrity show.
You can order this set exclusively at www.DiscoveryStore.com
- Nicholas
Sheffo
