The Good
Ellen DeGeneres has softened up over the years but she’s as sassy as ever here.
The Bad
No Special Features of any sort.
The Ellen Show: The Complete Series allows fans of this sitcom who only saw the thirteen episodes that aired, to see all eighteen that were created. I think I remember when this show came on the air and I recall when it was canceled, but until I was called to review it, I hadn’t ever seen it before. DeGeneres plays Ellen Richmond. A woman who loses her dot com business (that is so early 2000) and decides to stay in her hometown of Clark where she was visiting to receive an award.
The humor of his show is seeing DeGeneres in a small town, dealing with the people, trying to find employment and whatever else the creators could think of. Sadly, they don’t really deal with what a lesbian woman in this situation might actually go through. People say that the American public is stupid but I think had they been given an honest show, which looked to deal with that issue, especially within the story structure, The Ellen Show might have ultimately had a better fate than simply a one season run.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
This show also features cameos by Mary Tyler Moore, Maureen McCormick, John Ritter and an even younger Dakota Fanning.
Features
No Special Features came with this DVD.
Video
1.78:1 - Anamorphic Widescreen. To my recollection, I think that this is the first sitcom that I have reviewed that has been in this format. Truthfully, it looks awkward. While the shows themselves look great (they really seem to leap off the screen), I am so used to seeing sitcoms in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, that this one actually seemed to lose something being presented in that format. Who knows, it’s probably just me.
Audio
Dolby Digital. English Stereo - Mastered in High Definition. Close Captioned. The audio on this show is fairly standard. I was able to easily set the volume on my player and I had the luxury of leaving it there for both discs. DeGeneres has the kind of humor that plays very much as an “aside.” She is a one woman peanut gallery and because of that, sometimes the humor could play a little too slyly.
Package
The front cover presents DeGeneres, Cloris Leachman, Martin Mull and the rest of the cast members photoshopped in front of a house with a white picket fence. On the back is another picture of the cast with a cloudy, blue sky looming over them. We are given a description of the show and some technical specs. Both discs are stored in two slim cases which also feature some of this show’s guest stars (John Ritter and Maureen McCormick are on the same cover!). As usual, the back covers list out all the episodes and give descriptions of what they are about.
Final Word
Overall, I liked this show because I like the sassy nature that DeGeneres seems to have softened in her new role as a talk show host. Sadly, I think a golden opportunity was missed to expand the “fish out of water” theme that this show elicits. As I mentioned above, had they dealt more with real world issues, I honestly think that people would have taken to this show a lot more. The missed opportunity was that they could have shown how the worlds of Andy Griffith and 2001 both can coexist.
A novel idea, huh?
The Ellen Show was released .
