Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Amigos de Garcia & Fox
Television
Blu-ray: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: All
Runtime: 520 min
Chapters: 27
Size: BD-50
Case: English DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1
Release date: September 15th, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: AVC @ 18 Mbps
Audio:
English DTS HD-Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles:
English, French, Spanish, none
Extras:
• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Earl's Fan Mail
• 2 the Max
The Film:
The Movie: 7
Starting with the fourth and final season of
this broad, yet wry little comedy – a sort
of Li’l Abner meets Raising Arizona – Fox
does the Blu-ray thing for a show that has
already made its presence known on DVD. The
Blu-ray has the advantage of a better
picture and sound, but the extra features
are the same.
I haven’t been following Earl’s kharmic
adventures from the beginning, but I gather
from the evidence of these discs and reviews
of past series that this season, even though
the final one, is as good a place as any to
get into the show. All you need to know is
the set-up, thus this clip from Brian
Lowry’s 2005 review in Variety:
A quickly paced montage augmented by star
Jason Lee's aw-shucks voiceover presents
Earl as a thieving, lying, hard-drinking
bottom-dweller with a brother (Ethan Suplee)
who's at least as big a blight on humanity
and an ex-wife (Jaime Pressly) who tricked
him into marrying her during a drunken
stupor. In one of those life-changing
moments that Earl takes as a sign from a
higher power, he scratches a winning lottery
ticket only to abruptly (and pretty
hilariously, with "I'm a Loser" playing in
the background) misplace it, which briefly
lands him in the hospital. Watching TV in
bed, NBC's own latenight guru, Carson Daly,
introduces Earl to the meaning of karma,
inspiring his self-appointed mission to do
right by all those he wronged in the past as
his "road map to a better life." - BL
Excerpt of review from Variety located HERE
Image:
9/9
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were ripped directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level
of excellence compared to other Blu-ray
video discs on a ten-point scale. The second
number places this image along the full
range of DVD and Blu-ray discs.
It often comes as quite a shock to me that
television comedies are produced with
sufficient care that a
Blu-ray
image brings
it to life that network broadcast only hints
at, even when shown in hi-def. I exaggerate,
but still it does give me pause. It
shouldn’t, though. Your average comedy isn’t
put through the processing wringer so all it
needs to be is lit and shot with a
professional eye – and we should all be the
beneficiaries.
So what’s not to like here: Despite lowish
bit rates (in the upper teens) color, flesh
tones, contrast, black levels – all have a
dynamic presentation. Some high values get
some edging effects and a little ringing,
possibly related to occasional
oversharpening and contrast and color
boosting, but nothing that detracts,
especially given the earnest nature of the
material.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
7/8
So what do we have here: a situation comedy,
which means dialogue, music, ambiance and
some effects. Dialogue is placed properly
and is clear enough if you're hankerin' for
the manner of speakin’. Ambient sounds are
often faithfully caught, though the
surrounds aren’t as eagerly involved. Music
is lively, if sometimes a little low-key (I
liked it, so I wanted to hear it.)
Operations:
7
I like that the Deleted Scenes are retained
on the disc were the relevant episode sits.
Nothing else remarkable to report.
Extras:
2
Not a whole lot going on here, and what
there is has already shown up on the DVD. I
didn’t really expect anything new. This is
not Lost, after all. Deleted scenes – all
very short and in SD - appear for the
episodes on the specific disc – very
sensible. “Earl’s Fan Mail” is the one solid
extra in the set, amounting to about a half
hour of questions from fans read by the
production crew and responded to by cast and
crew. For some reason, I thought of Dave
Letterman's Top Ten segments.
Bottom line:
7
My Name is Earl is a curious series. It
doesn't make complete jerks out of its
characters, which is refreshing in today's
comedy climate. On the other hand, some of
the characterizations get a tiresome - or
maybe that's just the effect of watching
several episodes back to back. The image is
super, the extra features are not.
Recommended on Bu-ray if you are
unacquainted with the series and, of course,
for the fan who must have the best
rendering.
Leonard Norwitz
October 6th, 2009