Grumpy Old Men-Series 1 and 2 (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	232:22 (Case: 234)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Alan Lewens
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Stuart Prebble Stephen Bayley Bill Bryson Jeremy Clarkson Felix Dexter Bob Geldof A.A. Gill David Gower Michael Grade Jeremy Hardy Tony Hawks Simon Hoggart Noddy Holder
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$29.95	Music	Ken McAlpine James McColl Alan Tilston

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Grumpy Old Men is a television series made for BBC2 in the UK, which features well-known (at least in the UK) celebrities, mostly from television, radio and the print media, talking about things which annoy them. The things that annoy them vary from the modern world to young people and many topics in between. They are mostly in the 40-60 year old age group. The series started in 2003, with a second series in 2004 and a third in 2006. This set contains the first two series, a total of eight episodes, spread over 2 DVDs. Each episode runs for a little under half an hour and is vaguely related to one topic.

    The assembled talent includes such names as Bob Geldof (1st series only), Rick Stein, Bill Nighy, Arthur Smith (a highlight), Rick Wakeman, Rory McGrath, Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear (2nd series only), Will Self, Bill Bryson (2nd series) and lots of others. The show is narrated in a very droll way by actor Geoffrey Palmer. The show is very amusing and spawned another series - Grumpy Old Women. There are also two Christmas specials which have previously been released on DVD locally.

    Specifically, the episodes are:

Series 1

1. Is This The World We Created? - This episode includes an introduction to why men of the age group are grumpy generally and then they specifically discuss music, clothing, piercings, sex, flares and celebrities.
2. Stuff - Cars, computers, cell phones, technology & 4WDs.
3. A Life In The Day - Newspaper Inserts, coffee, exercise, health, banks, fast food, Ikea, parking, smoking & restaurants.
4. So Who Is To Blame? - Women, liberation, children, local councils, political correctness, Thatcher, Blair, royals and television.

Series 2

1. Is It Just Me? - Rules, sex, dogs, pets, holidays, airlines, the English abroad, other nationalities, football and patriotism.
2. Nanny State - Everybody telling what to do and not do, cameras in the street, cancer, prescription drugs, smoking, prams, parenting, instructions, taking legal action.
3. Meedja - Newspapers, columnists, breakfast TV, 24 hr news, celebrities, reality TV, news, advertising, BBC, pay TV.
4. Going Large - Body issues, food then and now, TV chefs, flash restaurants, wine and health food.

    There are lots of great laughs to be had here, especially if you fit the demographic (or will soon, like me). The second series is better than the first. I think the new celebrities introduced improve the show. Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. Some sections included some background grain but this is not a major issue.

    The colour was very good.

    There were no noticeable artefacts other than little bits of aliasing.

    There are subtitles in English. They were clear and easy to read.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 256 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync. In terms of this show nothing else really matters in regards to audio quality.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

Menu

    The menu was still and silent and included the ability to select scenes and subtitles.

    Each series is available separately in Region 2 and not available in Region 1. It would seem that at least the Season One episodes run at least 10 minutes longer on the UK release. On this basis, I would recommend the Region 2 version. Very strange indeed.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall