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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Just Shoot Me!-Season 1 and 2 (1997)

Just Shoot Me!-Season 1 and 2 (1997) (NTSC)

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Released 15-Jun-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio
Audio Commentary-Creator And Writing Producers - 4 Episodes
Featurette-Always In Fashion: A Conversation With Steven Levitan & Cast
Gallery-The Blush Covers
Trailer-Dawson's Creek, 13 Going On 30
Rating ?
Year Of Production 1997
Running Time 620:00
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered
Multi Disc Set (4)
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4 Directed By Darryl Bates
Peter Bonerz
Dana DeVally
Matthew Diamond
Studio
Distributor

Sony Pictures Home Entertain
Starring Laura San Giacomo
George Segal
Wendie Malick
Enrico Colantoni
David Spade
Rena Sofer
Case ?
RPI ? Music John Adair
Steve Hampton
Korban Kraus


Video (NTSC) Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Just Shoot Me was never a ratings smash, but it did solidly enough to last 7 seasons which means it must have been doing something right. It had a decent following here in Australia on Network Ten. Filmed in front of a studio audience with taped laughter, it was a formulaic sitcom with no large stars and yet still managed to be a charming and solid show over most of its television run.

    Set in a New York fashion magazine office, Just Shoot Me light-heartedly examined workplace, friendship, dating, aging, family and other related themes all the while poking fun at the fashion industry (there are a lot of model jokes) and the main characters.

    The show centres around Maya Gallo (played well by Laura San Giacomo) who is a career journalist. She speaks her mind once too often and loses her job. Not being able to quickly find another job she goes to her father Jack (played by George Segal) who is the owner and editor in chief of Blush Magazine. Essentially the premise of the show is inserting a relatively normal and somewhat conservative person into the fashion world. Many of the early episodes focus on Maya's difficulty fitting into the morally void and shallow world that is the fashion industry. Of course there are a few peripheral characters that add to Maya's woes.

    Jack's sufferable personal assistant, Dennis Finch, is played by David Spade. Spade is one of those actors that people either love or hate, but the role of Finch is perfect for him. The whiny, loserish and extremely shallow PA is always chasing models that he'll never get. He does, however, generally get the best lines. The magazine's photographer Elliot is played by the instantly likable Enrico Colantoni (you may know him as Keith Mars from the highly recommended teen drama Veronica Mars.) Definitely the lothario of the show, he has slept with every model on the planet and is the source of sexual tension for Maya. Finally, the show would not be complete without fashion editor and former 70's supermodel Nina van Horn (who is played marvellously by Wendie Malick.) Along with Spade, she tends to get some of the sharpest lines.

    All in all it is a fantastic and extremely talented ensemble cast.

    This 4 disc set has the entire first and second seasons contained on it.

    Overall, this is a fun show that deserves a look. Recommended.

    * I haven't included episode summaries for this show. I would recommend www.tv.com for their excellent episode summaries for this show. Each episode is around 21-22 minutes long.

    Disc One

   Season One

      101 - Back Issues

      102 - The Devil and Maya Gallo

      103 - Lemon Wacky Hello

      104 - Nina’s Birthday

      105 - Secretary’s Day

      106 - In Your Dreams

    Disc Two

   Season Two

       201 - Sweet Charity

       202 - The Experiment

       203 - The Assistant

       204 - Old Boyfriends

       205 - La Cage

       206 - King Lear Jet

       207 - My Dinner with Woody

       208 - Twice Burned

   Disc Three

       209 - Jesus, It’s Christmas

       210 - Elliot The Geek

       211 - Sewer

       212 - Pass The Salt

       213 - In The Company of Maya

       214 - The Walk

       215 - College of Collagen

       216 - Nina in the Cantina

    Disc Four

       217 - Amblush

       218 - Nina’s Bikini

       219 - The Kiss

       220 - Jack’s Old Partner

       221 - Bravefinch

       222 - Eve of Destruction

       223 - The Emperor

       224 - War and Sleaze

       225 - Rescue Me

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Transfer Quality

Video

    This set has the original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is full frame.

    Unfortunately this is an NTSC transfer, but the news is not all bad because for a TV show shot on video it actually looks pretty good. Whilst not as sharp as more recent shows or shows shot on film, it was a surprisingly decent transfer. I have seen episodes of Friends from this era that look far worse than Just Shoot Me does.

    Colours looked good. Skin tones can be a little reddish in some scenes.

    Shadow detail was a little lacking but it's a studio shot sitcom so this is not a big deal.

    There was a little bit of grain, but thankfully no edge enhancement or artefact issues.

    The episodes include chapters, which is always nice.

    Some episodes definitely look better than others but overall it's pretty good for an NTSC transfer.

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

Audio

    The audio track is English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s.)

    Being a sitcom, the audio is exactly as you would expect it to be. Solid, but nothing outstanding.

    The dialogue comes through clearly. Just Shoot Me is a dialogue driven show so that's a good thing.

    There were no drop-out problems.

    There was not much music in these episodes other than the main score but overall it sounded good.

    The surround and bass channels were not used. The only stereo components of the mix were the audience laughter track (which gets annoying) and the music.

     There are also English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) tracks on selected episodes.

     There are no subtitles.

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

Extras

Main Menu Audio 

Audio Commentary-Creator And Writing Producers - 4 Episodes 

    There are commentaries on Back Issues, Lemon Wacky Hello, King Lear Jet and My Dinner with Woody. The commentators are creator Steve Levitan, producer Marsh McCall, co-executive producer Eileen Conn, producer Danny Zuker, and co-executive producer Andy Gordon. It's obvious that this group had a blast making this show because their commentaries are quite entertaining. Funnily enough, three of the commentaries are on my favourite episodes from the first two seasons.

Featurette-Always In Fashion: A Conversation With Steven Levitan & Cast (26:41)

    This retrospective is really enjoyable to watch. It's refreshing to see a cast where there is a  lot of respect for each other and amusing anecdotes from production as well as having all the key players participate. Originally, Spade wasn't in the show and there was some footage showing the original pilot. Levitan then went back to the drawing board and somehow got Spade involved. Interestingly, the show was passed for a fall season start in favour of Suddenly Susan and was only picked up as a mid-season replacement with 6 episodes.

Gallery-The Blush Covers 

    Ability to click through the different covers from various episodes (the one with Carmen Elektra was my fav.)

Trailers-Dawson's Creek, 13 Going On 30

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     R1 is identical except for different trailers. Buy on price.

Summary

    The show will never be a classic, but it is a lot of fun.

    The video is NTSC, but I've seen a lot worse.

    The audio is decent.

    Special features are enjoyable.

    Good value, worth checking out.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ben Smith (boku no bio)
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDMarantz DV4300, using Component output
DisplaySony VPL HS10 projector on 100 inch 16x9 screen + Palsonic 76WSHD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderSony STR-DE685. Calibrated with THX Optimizer.
AmplificationPioneer
SpeakersDB Dynamics VEGA series floor standers + centre, DB bipole rears, 10" 100W DB Dynamics sub

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