- Joined
- May 9, 2003
- Messages
- 3,103
Gossip Girl: The Complete Fourth Season is the latest full season collection of the CW teen soap opera set and shot in New York City. This year, things get started with a trip to Paris and then quickly settle into the usual routine of hookups, scandals and, well, gossip. Fans of the series will be able to use this season set to do what I’ve now witnessed twice firsthand – hold an all-day marathon, punctuated by that familiar voice intoning “xo xo, gossip girl”…
girl
the complete fourth season
Studio: Warner Bros.
Original Airing: 2010-2011
Length: 22 Episodes (927 minutes)
Genre: Teen Soap Opera
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Color/B&W: Color
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Rating: Unrated (Sexuality, Suggestive Language)
Release Date: August 23, 2011
Starring: Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley, Chace Crawford, Ed Westwick, Jessica Szohr with Kelly Rutherford and Matthew Settle, with a few appearances by Taylor Momsen
Executive Producers: Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage
Based Upon the Books by Cecily von Ziegesar
Directed by: Various
Rating: 3
Gossip Girl: The Complete Fourth Season is a 5-disc DVD set encompassing the fourth year of the CW network’s adaptation of Cecily von Ziegesar’s bestselling series of teen soap novels about the romantic ins and outs of upper class young women in New York. I’m still not a fan of the series, but I must again disclose that my roommate is completely hooked on it. (I’ve already been threatened with the 12 hour episode marathon, which means that once I post this review I will lose control of my television set and my living room for a day. The things I do for the Forum…) The series continues to be handsomely produced and recorded on HD media, with appropriately ritzy New York locations and fashions getting a great showcase, not to mention the opening trip to Paris. The series continues to be a complete soap opera, with many of the same situations repeated to the same effect throughout the season. As before most of the situations involve attractive young women and their adventures in love, lust and everywhere in between. And the young men tend to be there to be appropriately dashing and/or dastardly, with the usual mugging going on to convey that idea. This year, a few changes are in the offing, beginning with the consequences of the attack on Chuck last season and continuing with the departure of Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey. (I don’t think that really spoils anything for fans of the series, since Momsen publicly left the show and has announced her retirement from acting.
The DVD set includes all 22 episodes in anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 sound, with some deleted scenes included along the way, along with a pair of featurettes and a gag reel. Fans of the series likely already have this set and have already been poring over it in preparation for the soon to air Fifth Season.
VIDEO QUALITY 3/5
Gossip Girl: The Complete FourthSeason is presented in a 1.78:1 Anamorphic transfer that nicely displays the series’ HD photography, just as the earlier seasons did. The Paris and New York photography comes across well, and flesh tones are accurate, with Kelly Rutherford’s features continuing to be a good barometer.
AUDIO QUALITY 3/5
Gossip Girl: The Complete Fourth Season is presented in an English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that lives in the front channels and provides music in the rear channels. This is a perfectly acceptable audio presentation for a running television series.
DISC BY DISC:
As I regularly do with television series sets, I’ll account for what can be found on each disc, in order. To save time, I’ll note here that all episodes and the deleted scenes are presented in anamorphic widescreen, and while the episodes themselves have the 5.1 sound mix, the deleted scenes are presented in 2.0, and are accessed from the episode selection menu.
DISC ONE:
Episodes:
Belles de Jour – Season Premiere, with Serena and Blair summering in Paris. Deleted scenes running 0:54 are included in the menu.
Double Identity – The Parisian adventure continues.
The Undergraduates – Includes deleted scenes (2:56).
Touch of Eva
This disc also contains:
Bisoux a Paris! – (9:47, Anamorphic) – This is a quick featurette focusing on the Parisian location shoot with Serena and Blair. Let’s be honest here. Is anyone surprised that they brought an EPK crew when they sent the cast to Paris?
DISC TWO:
Episodes:
Goodbye Columbia
Easy J – Taylor Momsen returns to the show here.
War At The Roses – Includes delete scenes (1:44).
Juliet Doesn’t Live Here Anymore – Includes a deleted scene (0:41)
The Witches of Bushwick
DISC THREE:
Episodes-
Gaslit – This marks the last appearance by Taylor Momsen in the series. Includes deleted scenes (2:13)
The Townie – Includes 1 deleted scene (0:45). Blake Lively appears in a dual role, reprising her character in the Ben Affleck film of a similar title. Just kidding.
The Kids Are Not All Right
Damien Darko – Includes deleted scenes (1:08)
Panic Roommate – Includes a deleted scene (0:35)
DISC FOUR:
Episodes:
It-Girl Happened One Night – Includes deleted scenes (2:08).
While You Weren’t Sleeping – Includes a deleted scene (0:24)
Empire of the Son
The Kids Stay in the Picture – Includes a deleted scene (0:54)
This disc also includes:
Exposing Gossip Girl: The Making of Episode 418 (17:58, Anamorphic) – This featurette takes the viewer through the process of making an episode of the show, from the writers’ room through the production. Pretty much everybody involved in making the episode gets a soundbite in here somewhere.
DISC FIVE:
Episodes:
Petty in Pink – And here we have the winner of this year’s best adapted title…
The Princess and the Frog – Includes deleted scenes (2:29)
Shattered Bass
The Wrong Goodbye – Includes a deleted scene (1:22).
This disc also contains:
LOL: Gag Reel (8:32, Anamorphic) – As with the prior season sets, about eight and a half minutes of bloopers are presented here.
Subtitles are available in English, Spanish, and French. Standard chapter menus are included for quick reference.
IN THE END...
Gossip Girl: The Complete Fourth Season is a good way to catch up on the last season of the series if you missed episodes, want to prepare for the new season, or just want to do a day-long marathon and hog the television set in the living room…
Kevin Koster
August 28, 2011.
Equipment now in use in this Home Theater:
Panasonic 65” VT30 Plasma 3D HDTV – set at “THX” picture mode
Denon AVR-3311Cl Receiver
Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player
PS3 Player (used for calculation of bitrates for picture and sound)
5 Mirage Speakers (Front Left/Center/Right, Surround Back Left/Right)
2 Sony Speakers (Surround Left/Right – middle of room)
Martin Logan Dynamo 700 Subwoofer
