HTF DVD Review: Greek: Chapter Three (2 Viewers)

[Neil Middlemiss]

Greek: Chapter Three

​

Studio: ABC Family
Year: 2009
US Rating: TV PG DLSV
Film Length: 440 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 – Enhanced for Widescreen TVs
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Spanish and French Language Tracks
Subtitles: English and Spanish



“Now I know I have a heart, 'cause it's broken.”

The Show: 3 out of 5

ABC Family’s Greek: Chapter Three is continuation of the popular show that celebrates the foundation of friendship and the ‘airheadedness’ of assembly at college. A veritable smorgasbord of inane and vacuous pettiness, along with crazy games, all doused with meaningful attempts at drama encompass this hour-long drama.

The show is part comedy and part relationship drama, following a core set of students attending the fictional Cyprus-Rhodes University who each belong to sororities or fraternities. The main characters are an assortment of stereotypes from the annals of life in college as explored in film and on TV, albeit with a contemporary vocabulary and sensibility. Cappie, arguably the primary character among the ensemble cast, is played by Scott Michael Foster and serves as the casual and confident leader of Kappa Tau Gamma (ΚΤΓ). The other chapters include the prissy Zeta Beta Zeta (ZBZ), which this season deals with a continuation of a plot that has members vying for the position of president, and the Omega Chi Delta (ΩΧΔ) chapter. ΩΧΔ is filled with the blazer adorned, good ‘ol boys derived stiff-jaws who often fail to play by the rules and are generally uptight. The cast is capable, with Spencer Grammer as Casey Cartwright, Clark Duke and Dale, Amber Stevens as Ashleigh, Tiffany Dupoint as the mean Frannie and Paul James and Jacob Zachar as best friends (who are each vying for acceptance in different frats) Calvin Owens and Rusty Cartwright (yep, he’s the geeky younger brother of ZBZ’s President wannabe Casey). Other cast members interact as stories require – but this group represents the main thrust of the show’s young faces.

What this show offers is the fight and fury of friendships, the fallibility of perfection’s appearance, and the camaraderie and infighting commonplace among sororities and fraternities (and any other social group).

Interestingly, most of the characters are unlikeable – a notion maintained by the cast when asked, during one of the special features, which of the show’s characters they would be friends with. Viewers will find moments to connect to and sympathies to have with even the meanest, most spoilt souls – but generally speaking, this is a group of self-centered, ego-maniacs who appear to have deferred growing up in favor of the continued antics of shirking responsibility and miring themselves in the melodrama of the moment.

That may seem like a highly unfavorable assessment of the show’s appeal; but it isn’t. Despite the majority of characters flaunting immaturity, the likeable geeks of the show prevail and give at least this reviewer something to hold on to. That and Scott Michael Fosters likeable scruff, Cappie.

This show stretches the parameters of ABC Family’s tenets – with homosexuality, drinking, sex and general debauchery in plentiful supply – and it certain lives up to the channel’s motto of ‘A New Kind Of Family’. But it showcases, pardon the pun, real chapters in many student’s lives – at least the TV version of that experience – and as such should be welcomed. It really does work hard to portray the complexities of friendship and dating in the convulsive and hormone-laden world on campus. There is no other show on television like Greek and that in-and-of-itself is something to celebrate.


The Episodes

Disc One

1. Brothers and Sisters
2. Crush Landing
3. Let’s Make A Deal
4. Gays, Ghosts and Gamma Rays

Disc Two

1. Pledge Allegiance
2. See You Next Time, Sisters
3. Formally Yours
4. The Popular Vote

Disc Three

1. Three’s A Crowd
2. Hell Week

The Video: 3.5 out of 5

GREEK: Chapter Three provides 10 episodes from season Two and is presented on DVD (on three discs) in a widescreen, 1.78:1 aspect ratio enhanced for 16X9 televisions.

Naturally the show appears much better on ABC Family HD, but is gets a reasonable presentation here. Bright, warm colors are common throughout and details are generally acceptable.



The Sound: 3.5 out of 5

The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio available on this set is free of any problems. The show uses a healthy dose of contemporary music to accompany the varying emotions on display by the characters – from rambunctious rock to lonesome guitar strumming songs – and the audio treats them all rather well. Dialogue in the center channel comes through without a hitch and the front channels, which handle the majority of all other audio, also do well. There isn’t much activity in the surrounds, however.


The Extras: 3 out of 5

20 Questions with the Cast of Greek: Just over 16 minutes of the cast answering the 20 questions. What is apparent in this special feature is how likeable the cast is, and grounded, a far cry from the characters they portray.

Bloopers: Just over three minutes of bloopers. Nothing much to enjoy hear as what we really get is the actors breaking out into laughter without much of what caused it.

Audio Commentaries: Cast and crew commentaries on select episodes are available.


Final Thoughts

This show, which ABC Family bowed on April 2007, has seen its viewership increase and popularity rise. If it were a pledge, it would be well on the way to being accepted by the house brothers or sisters. The breaking up of seasons into Chapters will likely frustrate fans of the show that now seem to have to shell out more of their hard-earned cash to catch the episodes. But the episodes presented here – the first half of Greek’s second season (with the episodes that aired through October 28, 2008) – are fun, well produced and, for many, a guilty pleasure.

​

Overall Score 3.5 out of 5

​

Neil Middlemiss
Kernersville, NC​