Wiseguy: Vol.3-"Prey for the City" (1 Viewer)

[Jeff*H]

Greetings,
I just picked up the new "Wiseguy" set today; it's the 3rd volume of an eventual 6-volume set that will comprise the entire series. This set features the White Supremacy arc (4 parts), the Garment Trade arc (5 parts), and 4 stand-alone "bonus" episodes (2 from season two, and 2 from season three). There are Ken Wahl commentaries on the bonues episodes, but sadly, absolutely no other extras. The 2 earlier volumes both featured new interviews with various cast members, and Stephen Cannell, the creator. Sadly, nothing here. I don't know if this was a cost-cutting move or what; also, they could easily have made this set 3 discs instead of 4, as the 4 bonus episodes are spread over 2 discs.
However, I am thrilled just to have these on DVD, since I was fearing that Ventura Distribution, the company behind these releases, would never release the episodes beyond the excellent first season. Despite this new set's drop in quality, it still features an excellent booklet giving background on the episodes (something sadly lacking in other TV DVD releases these days). I just happened to have been spoiled by the earlier sets, I guess.
I sincerely hope that the company continues to release the remaining episodes, now that they are at the half-way mark!

Jeff Herman
Denver, CO

 

[R. Kay]

Great series. Not up to par with the Spacey/Sharkey arcs, but those are hard to match.

 

[george kaplan]

I don't care about extras, but I do demand OAR uncut episodes (including all original music). I didn't buy the first set because of this. Can anyone confirm that this set doesn't suffer the same fate. Given that apparently the only reason music rights weren't secured in the first one was that the producers were too cheap (or lazy depending on what you read) to do so, I am concerned when I read speculation of cost-cutting.

 

[Mark To]

I agree wholeheartedly. I won't buy the series because of the music changes. I wouldn't have cared if it was more expensive but if they are going to make changes then I will transfer my beautiful off-air SP masters.

 

[Jeff*H]

One of the stand-alone episodes on Vol. 3 is "The Reunion", an episode that I remember had a song from the 60s playing during the episode's credits near the beginning. This appears to have been replaced on the DVD with generic music.

Also, near the beginning of "Going Home", the first episode from the White Supremacy arc, Vinnie puts headphones on and listens to a song. If I remember right, it was an actual song during the original broadcast, but on the DVD it is generic instrumental rock music.

Can someone with the original recordings perhaps look up these two sequences and see what they were originally?

While I'm sad that the episodes don't feature the original music in every episode, I will buy them if the replaced music helps get these episodes issued on DVD, and helps keep the cost down. I can understand, though, why some fans would be upset that they haven't been preserved in their original broadcast form...

 

[R. Kay]

George: I know you're a serious stickler for uncut stuff, but you're really doing yourself a disservice by not getting the Sharkey arc. Beats watching Season 1 of 'Who's The Boss' Uncut!

Do what Cameron Crowe did on the Almost Famous Special Edition dvd. He put up subtitles as to when to start a Zeppelin song during a deleted scene ... just play that Moody Blues Song on your cd player!

 

[Scott-L]

If memory serves, Vinnie was listening to "Making Thunderbirds" by Bob Seger on his walkman while working on the car at the garage.

 

[Marko Berg]

n/m

 

[Marcee]

I guess that's one good thing about not watching some tv shows the first time around. Since I haven't seen many of these shows that are suffering from music changes (which the purist in me HATES), I don't know the difference! But, if this happens on a show I am familiar with or do have on tape, I am upset. I would pay a little more for the original shows as the creators intended - at least allow the creators to choose new music that fits the show but can be afforded like Dawson's Creek did.