The Pretender coming to dvd!..... (1 Viewer)

[Keith I]

Netflix has a special rental deal with WB/New Line/HBO where the rental discs are different than the consumer ones (look for the Netflix rental thread in the Retail Feedback forum). They don't have a deal with Fox (or any other studio, that I'm aware of) so I'm guessing the discs will be the ones everyone buys and also guessing that their site is in error. I'm planning to rent this first before buying so I want to make sure they have all 22 episodes. TV Shows on DVD says they do so I trust them.
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[Joshua Lane]

Disc One, Side One
• Pilot—Commentary by Craig Van Sickle, Stephen Lon Mitchell, Fred Keller and John Gries
• Every Picture Tells a Story
• Flyer
• Curious Jarod

Disc One, Side Two
• The Paper Clock
• To Server to Protect
• Making of Featurette Part One

Disc Two, Side One
• A Virus Among Us
• Not Even a Mouse
• Mirage
• Better Part of Valor

Disc Two, Side Two
• Bomb Squad
• Prison Story
• Making of Featurette Part Two

Disc Three, Side One
• Bazooka Jarod
• Ranger Jarod
• Jaroldo
• Under the Reds

Disc Three, Side Two
• Keys
• Unhappy Landings
• Making of Featurette Part Three

Disc Four, Side One
• Jarod's Honor
• Baby Love
• TV Spots: 1963, Who Are, 3 Weeks, Ms Parker, Preview

Disc Four, Side Two
• Dragon House (part 1 and 2)—Commentary by Craig Van Sickle, Stephen Long Mitchell, Fred Keller, and Jon Gries


...my guess is that either Netflix is only listing content from one side, or they have special "rental" versions where the discs are single-sided. However, if that were the case, they would probably list eight volumes for the series, and I'm assuming they don't.

 

[Keith I]

Thanks, Joshua. Netflix has rental deals with only the studios mentioned above (unless they have new deals recently, but their recent MURDER ONE is not "altered"). I think Netflix forgot to list the episodes for the other side of the discs. DDD and sister company Digital Eyes both list only 16 episodes, and other retailers like Amazon and DVD Planet all listed 4 discs, so I was wondering.

And is this a new trend for Fox by releasing double-sided discs for TV? MURDER ONE is 6 discs with 4 hour-long episodes on each disc. By using double-sided discs, we save money.

UPDATE: The Lone Gunmen is also double-sided, so it does look like Fox is embracing this style.
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[Natalie F]

Damn, I hate double-sided discs. I've never owned any before, so I'm going to have to watch how I handle them.

I suppose for the price I'll take what they give me.

 

[Eve Brown]

Not crazy about double sided discs either.

 

[David_Blackwell]

I have been watching the season one discs. I can tell they used the same people who did the DVDs for MURDER ONE. I'm currently on disc three, side A. I'll have a review written by early next week.

I wish the Profiler crossover eps will appear on season 3 and 4 of The Pretender box sets (and I'm not even counting the second guest appearance Jarod made in the second-to-last ep of season 4 of Profiler).

 

[Keith I]

I was able to contact Netflix Customer Service and they said they'd forward my correction to the appropriate department and now their listing for this is seven discs, so it looks like Fox is now part of their rental deal.
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[Keith I]

By the way, the release date is now 3/22. TV Shows on DVD reported this on 2/1.
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[todd s]

Keith, that is what I thought. Amazon shows 3/22. But, my order is processing to ship today (3/14). And a bunch of other sites are still showing 3/15.

 

[Keith I]

Amazon, DDD, DVD Empire, and DVD Planet all show 3/22. If you are preordering for a place that has it in stock and shipped, lucky you!
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[David_Blackwell]

I should have a review up within 24 hours.

 

[David_Blackwell]

DVD Review:
http://enterline2.tripod.com/pretenderseasonone.html

 

[Keith I]

I like the design of this set. Slim is always better. For the price, I'm not complaining either! You do have to be really careful with double-sided discs.

Comparing it to Universal's The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Mysteries: Season 1 set (which are two regular keepcases in a slipcover), I'll take slim any day. I wish more companies would go the slimcase route.
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[Keith I]

It just so happens that TNT showed the first part of the crossover last night. Interestingly, the episode stands on its own. There is no "To Be Continued..." It ends nicely.

After reading TV Tome, it seems as if the storyline picks up again in the Part 2 of Profiler.

I can't remember if the other crossover episodes from Season 4 stand on their own but at least Season 3 can be released without the Profiler episode or some text-based description of the "2nd part." (Is the Season 4 set of Profiler available? If anyone has it, how is the episode?)

Now I'm aching for Season 2 on DVD. I hope sales were good to justify it. I wonder if the "Best of" set also sold well?
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[Jeff Willis]

You said it. I wonder as well. It sure would be nice if we had access to those #'s.

 

[GarySchrock]

Yeah, it appears they filmed a separate ending for it in standalone, and it seems to work ok. For that matter, it's pretty confusing if you see the standalone one, and then watch the profiler episode afterwards (I had managed to snag a copy of the profiler episode from whatever channel was doing repeates of it). While I'd like to see the complete cross-over bit on dvd, I could live with the standalone version too.

I know I've seen a few references to multiple cross-overs, since I never noticed anything funny when watching the repeats from TNT, I'm guessing they might have done the same thing for any other cross-overs. (The one I know about was, um, "Grand Master" or something like that, chess playing kid abducted as I recall).

Definitely hoping we see the rest of the series too.

 

[Keith I]

One step closer...

The Digital Bits reports on their 6/15 update that Season 2 will be released on September 13. Woohoo!

 

[Natalie F]

DVD Times is reporting that the second season will be in widescreen. I wonder if this is true?

Commentary by Andrea Parker and Michael T. Weiss sounds awesome!

 

[Keith I]

TV Shows on DVD (and sponsor Amazon.com) also say "Widescreen." Anamorphic?

TNT says "In Hi-Definition Where Available" at the beginning of each show (although I've only seen Season 3 and 4 on TNT) and that doesn't necessarily mean widescreen either, right?

Could this be like ER where it was originally broadcast in 4:3 and then reformatted for 16:9 on DVD? Reading some of the comments on DVD Times, I'm pretty sure that when shows are broadcast in 4:3 but filmed in 16:9, they crop the 16:9 image. They do not create a 16:9 image by cropping a 4:3 image. We actually see more image on DVD than on 4:3 TV. Comparing the broadcast image to its DVD image shows that (e.g., CSI).

More sites are reporting anamorphic widescreen. Studios have been known to give incorrect information, though. But I'll be happy for anamorphic widescreen anyday as long as no framing is compromised: image cropped.
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[Gord Lacey]

Fox has posted incorrect aspect ratio information before, but they always report a widescreen DVD as being 1.33:1, and that hasn't happened for awhile now.

Gord