Best TV DVD Ever (1 Viewer)

[David Von Pein]

 

[LanieParker]

Freaks and Geeks get my vote.

 

[Daryl Stovall]

My Buffy and Angel Region 2 Season Sets. (Nice Packaging)

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Toss in another vote for Freaks and Geeks, especially the Yearbook!

 

[Carlos Garcia]

Lynda, maybe you should contact the studios and tell them what parts in these dramas made you laugh. This way they can add the laughtrack at the appropriate parts!

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

not on topic or anything but the worst time for a laugh track is during an animated program. I still think that it would've been funny if one of those animated shows with a laugh track had snuck something in on screen that said drawn before a live studio audience.

 

[David Von Pein]

What cartoons ever used a laugh track? I can think of none offhand.

 

[Randy Gray]

The Flintstones is one. I believe The Jetsons is another.

Randy

 

[ScottRichard]

Even HR Pufnstuf had a laugh track!

 

[Duncan Harvey]

I'm frankly astonished that no-one has mentioned the Doctor Who dvds, especially the black and white stories - The Aztecs, Dalek Invasion Of Earth, The Seeds Of Death.

Why are they so good?

Doctor Who was originally shot on Videotape, and these tapes were generally wiped in the 1960s with only 16mm telerecordings retained (of course there are many missing). These telerecordings essentially convert a 50 fields per second recording into a 25 frames per second image.

The Doctor Who restoration team (www.restoration-team.co.uk) developed a system of scanning the best prints or negatives and then interpolating a new frame to produce effectively 50 discrete images per second. Once these were reinterlaced, you have images which are incredibly close to the original VT broadcasts. They really are astoundingly good, and to me represent a much superior achivement than merely striking a new set of prints of a vintage series that was originated on 35mm and kept in adequate storage.

Add to that a commitment to record audio commentaries with surviving cast and crew members for each story, and an extremely informative text commentary for each episode (think Star Trek movie spec editions, but Doctor Who got there first), remastered sound and all sorts of other extras and you have a superb package. Eg on Dalek Invasion of Earth, they revisited several locations 40years on to give you a "then and now" featurette.

Combine all of this with the fact that Doctor Who is a very niche product and simply does not have the resources available that many studios give their material, and you have a truly incredible line of DVDs.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

I'm personally offended by DVDs of cartoons that originally had a laughtrack, that have now been removed for the DVD. Do they think society is now smarter because we know when to laugh? Bring back tha complete laughtracks...I need my cues!

 

[Martin_C]

You guys sure do sound happy with the Dick Van Dyke Show Sets. Kudos to Image.

As I don't own any of those DVDS DVDs, I'd have to go with the RED DWARF releases. With a variety of fun and interesting bonus features it provides everything you could ask for. 90 Minutes of Documentary with all of the Cast and Crew, Raw Footage, Outtakes, Loads of Deleted Scenes, Audio Commentaries on every Episode, Easter Eggs, a brilliant 3D menu, and so much more.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

David, as others have mentioned quite a few of the HB cartoons had one, some if only briefly. Same thing with Rocky and Bullwinkle, there was a laugh track on that for a brief time also. If the cartoons had one, I want it on the DVD, but I'd also like the ability to turn it off such as with MASH.

Martin, it is true many of us love the DVD on DVD work that image did. I love it because we got the first 2 seasons in October, and will get the last box at the end of this month completing the whole series in less than a year. The packaging IMO is some of the nicest packaging for any DVD releases. Each box set has some worthwhile extras and some that were impossible to find at least stuff that fans of the show likely didn't have any kind of access to. They may be a little pricy but IMO you get what you pay for.

 

[Cees Alons]

In Europe, MASH was on TV without the laugh tracks. When I first heard it with one, I couldn't believe my ears. And, frankly, the effect is terrible. Extremely dumbifying as well (hey, is that a word?), a totally different show.

I'm glad you have the opportunity to switch it off on the DVD - for me it doesn't need to be there in the first place.


Cees

 

[Dan Rudolph]

You may like Clerks: The Animated Series

 

[PeterMano]

It's sounding like a broken record here, but once again, IMAGE's Dick Van Dyke box sets. Thin-pak cases should be de rigeur for box sets. The packaging is very classy, the quality of the transfers is very high considering the age of the series. The episodes are complete and unedited. There are some nice extras on these sets.

Are they a little pricey? Well, you're talking over 30 episodes per season spread out over 5 discs and Image isn't playing the game of waiting to see how many people buy seasons 1&2 to determine if there's going to be seasons 3,4, and 5. Kudos to Image for getting these sets out for the fans and maintaining high quality standards, beancounters be damned.

 

[RyanAn]

I love my Simpsons Season 3 set to death. My favorite in the collection.

Ryan

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I liked those CSI sets. 16x9 with killer 5.1 tracks. I also can't complain about the ER sets, and that great Band of Brothers set.

 

[Adam T]

I think Band of Brothers.

 

[Lynda-Marie]

Carlos, I think what could best sum up a letter I would write to the powers that be at studios about my laughing during "serious" parts in a drama could be summed up by the title of a book that sold fairly well when I worked in a bookstore. The book was called, "Letters From A Nut," and it was real letters this fellow had written to a variety of companies, and their actual responses; Nothing nasty or threatening, this fellow would ask some of the most incredibly bizarre questions in his letters, and someone in their customer service department would respond.

When I was about 14 or 15, I did one of the ratings surveys for the Nielsons, and I remember distinctly telling them that I found the nighttime soap, Dallas, the funniest show on TV, and to please tell their producers and cast to keep up the great work. It was also the LAST time my family was asked to contribute to the Nielsen family ratings, too.

According to my late father, I bray like a jackass when I find something amusing, so I may have frightened a neighbor or two as well. The more outrageous or melodramatic a scenario on some shows would get, the harder and louder I would laugh.

I don't know if my problem is that I have an overly developed sense of the absurd, Hollywood needs to hire talented writers and performers for its dramas, or if I just need to seek psychiatric help.