The Best Disc Commentary? (1 Viewer)

[Charles 22]

I’m going on 10+ year old memories, but I enjoyed the commentaries on a Police Woman DVD just for the banter between Earl Holiman and Angie Dickinson, and Mannix season 1 for the same reason with Mike Connors and Joe Campanella. At one point I believe Connors remarks that he either still had the sport coat he’s wearing or just recently gave it to someone. It’s nice to hear some genuine warmth between the actors.

That sounds interesting. I know I still have a PW season here, but I'm not sure I went over the commentary.

 

[Charles 22]

It's not a single commentary but taken as a whole, the commentary tracks on every episode of the first nineteen seasons of The Simpsons create what must be the most in-depth look at a show that has ever or will ever exist.

That's good, thanks. I wouldn't has suspected that series got good with commentary, but how many series do? Woah, now I'm wondering if my Danger Mouse set has any (even though I seen the whole thing). Imagine Homer and Danger Mouse's Walrus boss fighting it out.

 

[TallPaulInKy]

The "Masters of Cinema" Blu-Ray of Nosferatu includes two commentaries. The one of value is by David Kalat (and someone has posted it on You Tube). The other by R Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens is pretty much a waste of time.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61rCu6DeeeL.jpg

Some other good commentaries are the Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu Ray editions of the Clint Eastwood Dollars series (Fistful of Dollars; For A Few Dollars More, etc.) by Film Historian Tim Lucas.

What these have in common is the commentator mentions pretty much the full cast and gives film biographies of each so you know if the actor has a connection with the Director, etc.. Naturally a history of the film, as to how it came to be made is included.

Listen to the first 5 or 10 minutes and you will see what I'm talking about what makes a good commentary.

 

[Charles 22]

The "Masters of Cinema" Blu-Ray of Nosferatu includes two commentaries. The one of value is by David Kalat (and someone has posted it on You Tube). The other by R Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens is pretty much a waste of time.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61rCu6DeeeL.jpg

Some other good commentaries are the Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu Ray editions of the Clint Eastwood Dollars series (Fistful of Dollars; For A Few Dollars More, etc.) by Film Historian Tim Lucas.

What these have in common is the commentator mentions pretty much the full cast and gives film biographies of each so you know if the actor has a connection with the Director, etc.. Naturally a history of the film, as to how it came to be made is included.

Listen to the first 5 or 10 minutes and you will see what I'm talking about what makes a good commentary.

Just from my own POV, ancient horror definitely isn't an interest to me, but the Dollars trilogy, otherwise. I have the Dollars, but they're some sort of ragtag arrangement, which may or may not have commentary.

I'll tell you the commentary that really bores me. Say you have a great star (say Shatner), and he goes on and on about his "other" projects and almost none at all about the very product he's commenting on. I definitely don't mind that sort of drift, but I don't want it to be 90% of the commentary either. I want to get the feeling that the people involved told you everything about the product they can think of, as opposed to making it a sidenote. Thanks for the comments (and the variety).

 

[Kent K H]

I've had my issues with him over the years, but Kevin Smith & Co's commentaries for the Clerks Cartoon series were *chef's kiss*. Especially when they went into how the executives didn't get any of their jokes.

 

[Charles 22]

I've had my issues with him over the years, but Kevin Smith & Co's commentaries for the Clerks Cartoon series were *chef's kiss*. Especially when they went into how the executives didn't get any of their jokes.

I never heard of that man or those cartoons. Thanks.

 

[ScottRE]

Any Ken Johnson commentary is amazing detailed. The Incredible Hulk, V, The Bionic Woman, etc., all have fabulous commentaries, He either took and kept copious notes on everything he did or he has a steel trap memory. It's a wealth of information about the people involved, how he composed shots or wrote the stories.

Worst commentary? The I Dream of Jeannie pilot. Three legendary stars (two of them now gone) watching the episode and most often it's filled with "hey you look great here."

 

[Charles 22]

Any Ken Johnson commentary is amazing detailed. The Incredible Hulk, V, The Bionic Woman, etc., all have fabulous commentaries, He either took and kept copious notes on everything he did or he has a steel trap memory. It's a wealth of information about the people involved, how he composed shots or wrote the stories.

Worst commentary? The I Dream of Jeannie pilot. Three legendary stars (two of them now gone) watching the episode and most often it's filled with "hey you look great here."

What in the world is that Hulk vs Bionic thing? It has to be a cartoon, right? (thanks for comments)

 

[ScottRE]

What in the world is that Hulk vs Bionic thing? It has to be a cartoon, right? (thanks for comments)

Since you didn't drop an emoji, I'm gonna assume you're serious...

The Incredible Hulk tv series, developed and produced by Johnson
V the 1983 mini-series - written and directed by Johnson
The Bionic Woman TV series created and produced by Johnson

He did commentaries on key episodes of the two actual series and for the entire two part mini of V. Extremely informative stuff.

 

[Charles 22]

Since you didn't drop an emoji, I'm gonna assume you're serious...

The Incredible Hulk tv series, developed and produced by Johnson
V the 1983 mini-series - written and directed by Johnson
The Bionic Woman TV series created and produced by Johnson

He did commentaries on key episodes of the two actual series and for the entire two part mini of V. Extremely informative stuff.

You assumed correctly. This was due to a misreading on my part, and possible a shortcoming of literacy on your own. It's difficult to make this stand, considering I was writing rather loosely, but did you notice I wrote the abbreviation "vs", that means versus? IOW, I thought you wrote "Hulk vs(versus) the Bionic Woman" (a failing of literacy comprehension on my part). When I saw the V for some reason, I think I thought it was a FURTHER abbreviation of the word versus, because this is actually rather common these days for people to write it that way (v instead of vs). So pretty funny all the way around.

Would you pay big money to see a Hulk vs Bionic Woman fight? And the funny thing is they could had done that, since the two series were out about them same time, but, of course, just as a guest star basis on either series. Unfortunately, after the "V" was written, I failed to notice that tiny comma, thus making it seem an abbreviation to me. This may show of the possible hazard of writing some text in bold, as the comma is even less noticeable. I took speed reading in high school, so sometimes my eye still takes a look in general. Had you had written the commas in bold as well, that probably wouldn't had happened. Kind of weird to think of it, I can't recall anybody ever writing three titles just as you did it, nor can I ever recall anybody doing the bold commas as I suggested either - odd. I blame those who named the series "V" in the first place, and also society for abbreviating versus not just one level, but two, to where a mere letter such as V could be taken as versus.

I have seen all three series to some extent, with probably V and Bionic to their entirety. As for "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" the show was just too boring for me, even though I was still a super hero fan at the time. For crying out loud, I think I liked Shazam! better than Hulk.

 

[Johnny Angell]

The "Masters of Cinema" Blu-Ray of Nosferatu includes two commentaries. The one of value is by David Kalat (and someone has posted it on You Tube). The other by R Dixon Smith and Brad Stevens is pretty much a waste of time.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61rCu6DeeeL.jpg

Some other good commentaries are the Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu Ray editions of the Clint Eastwood Dollars series (Fistful of Dollars; For A Few Dollars More, etc.) by Film Historian Tim Lucas.

What these have in common is the commentator mentions pretty much the full cast and gives film biographies of each so you know if the actor has a connection with the Director, etc.. Naturally a history of the film, as to how it came to be made is included.

Listen to the first 5 or 10 minutes and you will see what I'm talking about what makes a good commentary.

I listened to your video you posted with David Kalat and after listening to his voice for a minute, I realized I’ve got to make some time for this. I shouldn’t judge so quick but he sounded like he knew what he was saying at a high level of expertise.

 

[ScottRE]

You assumed correctly. This was due to a misreading on my part, and possible a shortcoming of literacy on your own. It's difficult to make this stand, considering I was writing rather loosely, but did you notice I wrote the abbreviation "vs", that means versus? IOW, I thought you wrote "Hulk vs(versus) the Bionic Woman" (a failing of literacy comprehension on my part). When I saw the V for some reason, I think I thought it was a FURTHER abbreviation of the word versus, because this is actually rather common these days for people to write it that way (v instead of vs). So pretty funny all the way around.

Would you pay big money to see a Hulk vs Bionic Woman fight? And the funny thing is they could had done that, since the two series were out about them same time, but, of course, just as a guest star basis on either series. Unfortunately, after the "V" was written, I failed to notice that tiny comma, thus making it seem an abbreviation to me. This may show of the possible hazard of writing some text in bold, as the comma is even less noticeable. I took speed reading in high school, so sometimes my eye still takes a look in general. Had you had written the commas in bold as well, that probably wouldn't had happened. Kind of weird to think of it, I can't recall anybody ever writing three titles just as you did it, nor can I ever recall anybody doing the bold commas as I suggested either - odd. I blame those who named the series "V" in the first place, and also society for abbreviating versus not just one level, but two, to where a mere letter such as V could be taken as versus.

I have seen all three series to some extent, with probably V and Bionic to their entirety. As for "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry" the show was just too boring for me, even though I was still a super hero fan at the time. For crying out loud, I think I liked Shazam! better than Hulk.

I didn't bold the comma, to keep it separate. I take pains to make sure I bold only the titles and punctuation remains un-bolded unless it's part of the title. That it, when I take the extra time to bold at all. If I feel so emboldened. No big deal, an easy thing to miss.

The Incredible Hulk was on CBS. The Bionic Woman was on ABC for two seasons and then NBC, so no mash up there. I would have preferred a Six Million Dollar Man / Incredible Hulk fight. Jaime would have tried reaching his tender side and that wasn't what I was tuning in for.

I loved The Incredible Hulk series. It remains a favorite of mine. It only bored me when we got to a less-stellar episode but for the most part, it was my favorite show when it was on CBS and I was crushed when it ended. The two-part episodes were epics and even in syndication, I couldn't wait for them to come around.

 

[Charles 22]

I didn't bold the comma, to keep it separate. I take pains to make sure I bold only the titles and punctuation remains un-bolded unless it's part of the title. That it, when I take the extra time to bold at all. If I feel so emboldened. No big deal, an easy thing to miss.

The Incredible Hulk was on CBS. The Bionic Woman was on ABC for two seasons and then NBC, so no mash up there. I would have preferred a Six Million Dollar Man / Incredible Hulk fight. Jaime would have tried reaching his tender side and that wasn't what I was tuning in for.

I loved The Incredible Hulk series. It remains a favorite of mine. It only bored me when we got to a less-stellar episode but for the most part, it was my favorite show when it was on CBS and I was crushed when it ended. The two-part episodes were epics and even in syndication, I couldn't wait for them to come around.

Quite perceptive Scott, because my thoughts along the lines of what Jamie would do, ran along the same lines, that she would have to charm Hulk down to Bruce Banner, that's assuming she knew he was a human also.

I think I have seen versus abbreviated to vrs as well. I did fail to put the telltale abbreviation period on my 'vs', but I was writing loosely as well so I skipped that. Still, I think neither of us were educated in English or art classes, just what you do with punctuation regarding using bold font. I didn't take any computer courses during school, but I did take journalism a year, and we certainly never got into actually getting detailed enough where you would get into running a printing press (therefore have to deal with bold fonts).

I think it was rather cute how it worked out, that a V could be mistaken for versus, just because you put it between two superhero type names. Thanks for the contribution. The last thing I expect, except the Spanish Inquisition, is somebody talking about V.

I think in reality I wanted somebody to kill both Steve and Jamie, because I was so sick of hearing Steve's running sound, and also Jamie's stupid sonic hearing, or whatever that was supposed to be. Ohhhh, excuse me, Jamie's BIONIC hearing.

 

[ScottRE]

Still, I think neither of us were educated in English or art classes,

That's a bit of a leap since all you really know about me is what I watch on TV. I majored in Creative Writing and studied cartooning for a time when I was younger and aspired to make a living in the creative arts. Also studied acting. I bold the titles of TV series because it stands out more than italicizing, which is the accepted format for TV and movie titles. An italicized comma would have made V just as easily confused as Vs. Since this is a message board, the rules are loose.

Anyways.... the Ken Johnson commentaries are hugely recommended if you want useful information. If you want some laughs, head over to Jonathan Frakes' commentaries on his two Star Trek movies. Especially First Contact. Frigging hilarious.

 

[jcroy]

The Stargate franchise had commentaries on select episodes.

I found the earlier seasons of SG-1 had more informative commentaries about behind the scenes or technical details. Into the later seasons, the commentaries were less and less informative.

 

[Harry-N]

Mannix season 1 for the same reason with Mike Connors and Joe Campanella. At one point I believe Connors remarks that he either still had the sport coat he’s wearing or just recently gave it to someone. It’s nice to hear some genuine warmth between the actors.

I was unaware of a MANNIX commentary other than the one with William Link on the pilot - and that was so bad I had to turn it off. The Connors/Campanella thing was a little mini interview.

 

[Charles 22]

That's a bit of a leap since all you really know about me is what I watch on TV. I majored in Creative Writing and studied cartooning for a time when I was younger and aspired to make a living in the creative arts. Also studied acting. I bold the titles of TV series because it stands out more than italicizing, which is the accepted format for TV and movie titles. An italicized comma would have made V just as easily confused as Vs. Since this is a message board, the rules are loose.

Anyways.... the Ken Johnson commentaries are hugely recommended if you want useful information. If you want some laughs, head over to Jonathan Frakes' commentaries on his two Star Trek movies. Especially First Contact. Frigging hilarious.

Context sir (which you cut off). You see, unless you let the whole thought process flow, there's no point in making a rebuttal. Let's include the rest of that sentence shall we? "just what you do with punctuation regarding using bold font" - that's it. I was extremely specific to just using punctuation in bold, not life as a whole, etc. See? I mean if you're knowledgeable about it, therefore I'm wrong concerning you there, then pipe up. Either of us might be able to find such things on the net. And still you haven't clarified that at all; it's just your preference, for that time being anyway, to do it that way. You have the guy winking in the new sentence, so I don't know if you're winking starting off that sentence, or just placed the emoji slightly poorly and meant it for the prior sentence. And BTW, I barely know what you watch on tv at all, but you kidding or not, my statement is entirely accurate, and actually, if either of us would look it up on the net, to get that all so sweet precision on the matter, the plain fact is it appears despite your background, I was right all along. I also made it clear that I had dabbled into an area of my education where thatI now not your background, but I knew you didn't know what to do in that precise situation (which of course was a guess anyway).

That's a bit of a leap since all you really know about me is what I watch on TV. I majored in Creative Writing and studied cartooning for a time when I was younger and aspired to make a living in the creative arts. Also studied acting. I bold the titles of TV series because it stands out more than italicizing, which is the accepted format for TV and movie titles. An italicized comma would have made V just as easily confused as Vs. Since this is a message board, the rules are loose.

Anyways.... the Ken Johnson commentaries are hugely recommended if you want useful information. If you want some laughs, head over to Jonathan Frakes' commentaries on his two Star Trek movies. Especially First Contact. Frigging hilarious.

Actually, the prior reply I sent you, I never meant to send, and I hadn't been able to go over it real well, and that's why it ends rather strangely. I actually didn't think I sent it, and deleted it as I was going out the door (maybe hitting send instead of some delete action? I'm still a little clumsy with how this software works unfortunately, and I had to drop it in great haste). One of my favorite points on philosophy is you hardly ever trust your first reaction, especially when you have time to think more on the matter, which I did (I attempted to defer till later). I abandoned it and somehow it still got sent apparently.

So let me approach you another way. I was first going to ask you if that emoji was placed properly, and then I thought of something MAYBE clever you had done, although, as is so often the case, is the more amusing had it been an accident. You say you majored in "creative writing"? No fake? Is that what they call creative writing, to butcher a quote from me (not even the whole sentence) to make a career dive of sorts? Interesting, regardless. I do enjoy hearing some of your career trek, but I don't really enjoy my meaning being completely twisted, unless, of course, it was a "joke". To butcher my sentence and then tell me you creative wrote, would be a form of joke to some people doubtlessly, and I might had believed it had you not embellished further along that path, but I still am uncertain needless to say. So in case your own eyes butchered that sentence beyond your control, the part unquoted elaborates further from the starting, quoted portion. IOW, I can't say what I want to say in a mere thirteen words necessarily, and part of the feel to that was to grasp it in entirety.

On a slightly related subject, and I'm quite sure you know this already, but you may wish to consider it because this exchange has shown a fault in going that way. And that is refusing to put a title in quotes, and perhaps worse yet, putting it in bold (sounds like something only the net would promote - except when used in a headline of course). We see what happened because of that, although I will say that the V tv series causes most of the problem, because it's a dumb name that coincidentally is used also as an abbreviation for versus. But I will tell you, that my year in journalism taught me a few things that stay with me to this day, and one of them is to always put titles in quotes. Let's see what you wrote, with quotes properly applied looks like: "The Incredible Hulk", "V", "the Bionic Woman.....". See how much easier that is to understand? Of course, I still might had been dense enough to still see the V as versus, but I'm rather sure I would had noticed the quotes (as I said before, the text being all in bold, while the commas are quite miniscule and not bolded, just adds to the difficulty. Had the commas been in bold, that too probably would had alarmed me that it was three titles instead of ONE (It was there alright, but the glaring bold obfuscated their necessary effect). Something you might want to consider for the future anyway.

And, of course, we were writing rather loosely perhaps, but do know, that at least late-70s newspaper writing, using titles, not on a headline, in bold was definitely frowned upon, and quotes was the way to go, and as far as printed material (meaning print on a physical page) go, I think that still is the standard. Again, this is the modern age with all sorts of slop on the net, so clearly there's little if any standards there. I suspect you've seen a lot of bloggers doing the bold font for titles (especially concerning sites delving into movies and television), and maybe that's where you picked that up? Bloggers write sloppily in case you hadn't noticed. All I can tell you for sure, is the concept is very foreign to me, and apart from having every third sentence looking like a joke written like that, it don't make a lot of sense to me. Well now that I've bored you to death, thanks for your contribution. I actually enjoy my brain being toggled some.

You did mention italicizing, but offhand I cannot recall where it's use was common within the newspaper realm for sure. Oddly enough, or so it seems these days, seems it was the means of putting speech in quotes. You would quote another source with quotes, then italicize that text IIRC. I, of course, never do that, as I just find italics too much of a hassle, especially since when I do quote somebody, it's in quotes already, and everybody understands what that means.

 

[Purple Wig]

I was unaware of a MANNIX commentary other than the one with William Link on the pilot - and that was so bad I had to turn it off. The Connors/Campanella thing was a little mini interview.

That must’ve been what I was thinking about it. At least I can still remember that I used to be able to remember things.

 

[ScottRE]

Context sir (which you cut off). You see, unless you let the whole thought process flow, there's no point in making a rebuttal. Let's include the rest of that sentence shall we? "just what you do with punctuation regarding using bold font" - that's it. I was extremely specific to just using punctuation in bold, not life as a whole, etc. See? I mean if you're knowledgeable about it, therefore I'm wrong concerning you there, then pipe up. Either of us might be able to find such things on the net. And still you haven't clarified that at all; it's just your preference, for that time being anyway, to do it that way. You have the guy winking in the new sentence, so I don't know if you're winking starting off that sentence, or just placed the emoji slightly poorly and meant it for the prior sentence. And BTW, I barely know what you watch on tv at all, but you kidding or not, my statement is entirely accurate, and actually, if either of us would look it up on the net, to get that all so sweet precision on the matter, the plain fact is it appears despite your background, I was right all along. I also made it clear that I had dabbled into an area of my education where thatI now not your background, but I knew you didn't know what to do in that precise situation (which of course was a guess anyway).

Actually, the prior reply I sent you, I never meant to send, and I hadn't been able to go over it real well, and that's why it ends rather strangely. I actually didn't think I sent it, and deleted it as I was going out the door (maybe hitting send instead of some delete action? I'm still a little clumsy with how this software works unfortunately, and I had to drop it in great haste). One of my favorite points on philosophy is you hardly ever trust your first reaction, especially when you have time to think more on the matter, which I did (I attempted to defer till later). I abandoned it and somehow it still got sent apparently.

So let me approach you another way. I was first going to ask you if that emoji was placed properly, and then I thought of something MAYBE clever you had done, although, as is so often the case, is the more amusing had it been an accident. You say you majored in "creative writing"? No fake? Is that what they call creative writing, to butcher a quote from me (not even the whole sentence) to make a career dive of sorts? Interesting, regardless. I do enjoy hearing some of your career trek, but I don't really enjoy my meaning being completely twisted, unless, of course, it was a "joke". To butcher my sentence and then tell me you creative wrote, would be a form of joke to some people doubtlessly, and I might had believed it had you not embellished further along that path, but I still am uncertain needless to say. So in case your own eyes butchered that sentence beyond your control, the part unquoted elaborates further from the starting, quoted portion. IOW, I can't say what I want to say in a mere thirteen words necessarily, and part of the feel to that was to grasp it in entirety.

On a slightly related subject, and I'm quite sure you know this already, but you may wish to consider it because this exchange has shown a fault in going that way. And that is refusing to put a title in quotes, and perhaps worse yet, putting it in bold (sounds like something only the net would promote - except when used in a headline of course). We see what happened because of that, although I will say that the V tv series causes most of the problem, because it's a dumb name that coincidentally is used also as an abbreviation for versus. But I will tell you, that my year in journalism taught me a few things that stay with me to this day, and one of them is to always put titles in quotes. Let's see what you wrote, with quotes properly applied looks like: "The Incredible Hulk", "V", "the Bionic Woman.....". See how much easier that is to understand? Of course, I still might had been dense enough to still see the V as versus, but I'm rather sure I would had noticed the quotes (as I said before, the text being all in bold, while the commas are quite miniscule and not bolded, just adds to the difficulty. Had the commas been in bold, that too probably would had alarmed me that it was three titles instead of ONE (It was there alright, but the glaring bold obfuscated their necessary effect). Something you might want to consider for the future anyway.

And, of course, we were writing rather loosely perhaps, but do know, that at least late-70s newspaper writing, using titles, not on a headline, in bold was definitely frowned upon, and quotes was the way to go, and as far as printed material (meaning print on a physical page) go, I think that still is the standard. Again, this is the modern age with all sorts of slop on the net, so clearly there's little if any standards there. I suspect you've seen a lot of bloggers doing the bold font for titles (especially concerning sites delving into movies and television), and maybe that's where you picked that up? Bloggers write sloppily in case you hadn't noticed. All I can tell you for sure, is the concept is very foreign to me, and apart from having every third sentence looking like a joke written like that, it don't make a lot of sense to me. Well now that I've bored you to death, thanks for your contribution. I actually enjoy my brain being toggled some.

You did mention italicizing, but offhand I cannot recall where it's use was common within the newspaper realm for sure. Oddly enough, or so it seems these days, seems it was the means of putting speech in quotes. You would quote another source with quotes, then italicize that text IIRC. I, of course, never do that, as I just find italics too much of a hassle, especially since when I do quote somebody, it's in quotes already, and everybody understands what that means.

This is all going a little far off the beaten path for me. I will just say that threw in the winking emoji so you wouldn't think I was being harsh with my response. The simplest answer the usually the correct one with me. As for the origins of why I bold...meh, I don't really think it warrants much pondering. It makes the titles of the shows stand out.

 

[Charles 22]

This is all going a little far off the beaten path for me. I will just say that threw in the winking emoji so you wouldn't think I was being harsh with my response. The simplest answer the usually the correct one with me. As for the origins of why I bold...meh, I don't really think it warrants much pondering. It makes the titles of the shows stand out.

Thanks Scott, nice to see your moderate reply. I'm actually considering deleting all that I put in today regarding that, because I do think it pollutes "my own thread" quite a bit, especially since it's sort of gone off into nowhere. Sometimes I just get my brain active on something and I just don't turn it off. You might say it's trying to explore exploration in it's tracks, and while that's fine and good, the problem is it can get way too askew for something of a minor point. It's just sometimes I think somebody else is actually interested in going such places, and far more times than not, they simply aren't.

Incidentally, you may find this of interest, which I wouldn't had used had we kept going on, because I consider it cheating, but it is pretty interesting nonetheless, I was interested in it due to use of italics. With as much damn rules as there are for when to use quotes, when to underline, when to use italics, etc, etc, etc, though I enjoyed English classes, I can see on that one page, more clearly, why so many people hated it. BTW have you ever tried MBTI? Okay, here's the link: http://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/italics.htm