Search - Wiseguy: The Complete First Season on DVD

Dennis B. (Moondog7) from PEACHTREE CTY, GA
Reviewed on 1/13/2014...

What a great series. I remember when this series came on tv. Wow, the acting by Ray Sharky and Kevin Spacey are excellent. Ken Wahl and the rest of the cast came out strong. You are taken back to a time before electronics was an everyday tool in the house. The writing and script are great. Original music score is complete. You have to see the first season of Wiseguy, totally enjoyable.

Here's the good and the bad with this release...

J. Herman | Denver, CO | 08/28/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having picked up the original WISEGUY releases a few years ago from Ventura Distribution, I was naturally curious to see what Mill Creek has done with the property in the new release (The Complete First Season) that came out this week. If you don't have the previous sets, I recommend it and give it 4 out of 5 stars on the strength of the material moreso than the set itself. Here's my initial observations, positives and negatives...



-Price is MUCH more affordable (It's $9.99 on Amazon for the complete first season, whereas the previous releases were around $40 for each half of the 1st season)

-Release is indeed the entire 1st season (the previous releases split it in half, with one DVD set of Steelgrave, and another DVD set of Profitt)

-"Knights in White Satin" song has still been replaced in the Steelgrave finale (it was replaced with the same instrumental music in the original DVD as well)

-The song originally used in the first part of the Mel Profitt arc as Vinnie and Roger arrive at the yacht party was substituted with generic music on the original release, but in this DVD, that particular song HAS BEEN RESTORED!

-The prints used appear to be the same remastered prints from the original release, but they don't look as sharp (in fact, they look fuzzier) simply because there is more compression and probably a lower bit rate being used in the disc authoring (they have placed 5 episodes each on Discs 1 and 2, and 6 episodes each on Discs 3 and 4)

-The audio is Mono, compared to the 5.1 soundtracks on the original release

-No extras whatsoever (the originals had audio commentaries, interviews with much of the cast, and some bonus stand-alone episodes from other seasons)

-The discs each come in black envelopes held in place in a snapper case

-Menus are static (originals featured video), but they have a great selection of music from the opening of the "New Blood" episode, and have the episodes listed as part of Vinnie's "file"

-The series' pilot was featured in 1 complete part (as originally aired) on the original release, but is split into 2 parts in this DVD set (and it's a weird break, not at the halfway point but much later). The second part opens immediately without any credits

-Chapters have been added to the episodes (the original Steelgrave set didn't have any) but the chapter breaks are not at the commercials



While I haven't watched each episode yet to determine if there are any glitches with the audio/video, my initial observations are that it's a good set considering you get all of the excellent 22 1st season shows (counting the pilot as 2 parts) for a very low price, and they look good even upconverted on a 46-inch HDTV as I viewed them. However, if you already own the first DVD sets, I see no reason here for an upgrade, unless you want the original song featured in the 1st Mel Profitt episode which is now intact, or unless you want to have the entire first season all contained in 1 box (don't sell off your original sets, though).

"

Edited music

Tommyboy | Jacksonville, Florida United States | 08/22/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this from Best Buy on Tuesday and just watched the Steelgrave arc today(Saturday).

The music is edited! Nights in White Satin has been edited out of the climax and it totally ruins the mood of the scene. Picture quality is average; it looks like an 80's show. There are no extras included in this set. There are four discs in the set which are packaged in cheap paper sleeves. Discs 1 & 2 are the Steelgrave arc with 5 episodes each. Discs 3 & 4 are the Profitt arc with 6 episodes each."

You have questions, I have predictions.

D. Weinstein | California | 07/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here is the deal - the first year of WISEGUY was the best - though there were individual eps later in the next 2 years that were brilliant - none as cohesive as the full first season (with that very bad in between episode being the sole exception) - my guess is that this set collects all the first season eps and does not use the old music - since it's selling very cheap - that's a giveaway - another is that they are not TOUTING ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK on the box - which is another dead giveaway. You can still find copies of that ep with KNIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN on the web, ebay, etc - but what a shame not to have it here - what a shame. I suspect they will only do the first season since they never got the music rights for the music arc which was the 2nd season - so - this is a dubious but interesting project and i will be curious to see if there are any extras at all - that said - I hope i'm wrong about all of this - but somehow I don't think I am. For the record -as much as I loved STEELGRAVE ARC - i think it was the ROGER LACOCOCO MEL PROFIT arc that made this series a classic."