Murphy Brown-Season 1 (1988) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Drama |
Main Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Candice Bergen (Actor) - "Respect" Audio Commentary Featurette-Murphy Brown: An FYI Exclusive |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1988 | ||
Running Time | 512:00 (Case: 535) | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (4) |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By |
Peter Baldwin Peter Bonerz Ned E. Davis Barnet Kellman |
Studio
Distributor |
Warner Home Video |
Starring |
Candice Bergen Grant Shaud Faith Ford Joe Regalbuto Robert Pastorelli Charles Kimbrough Pat Corley Lily Tomlin John Hostetter Ritch Brinkley Garry Marshall Christopher Rich Scott Bakula |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | $49.95 | Music |
Andrew M. Chukerman Steve Dorff |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame |
English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English Arabic Dutch French Greek Hebrew Hungarian Polish Portuguese English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Murphy Brown was a bit of an 80s icon. Tough female reporter getting by in a man's world by being equally if not more tough. I caught a bit of this when it was originally on, which wasn't hard given it ran for nine seasons, but I was never a huge fan, and I would not stay home to watch it. I picked this off the review list to see if my opinion of it had changed at all. The result was – well, not really.
Like all live-action situational comedies, Murphy Brown is limited in its locations and interpersonal reactions. Eventually the characters' responses become predictable, then clichéd, then stale...providing, of course that you give them enough of a chance to get there. There are some exceptions to the rule – the writing in Frasier, Seinfeld, Moonlighting and Married...With Children made those shows stand out from the glut of sitcoms, and in the cases of Seinfeld and Married...With Children, eventually becoming cultural identity points of reference. Murphy Brown never quite got there, at least not in this country, despite its extended run.
Candice Bergen does a good job in her role, but nothing like she does in Boston Legal. It must be gratifying for an actor to be rolling out performances better than ever nearly ten years after your most famous role finished. But although I like this show fine enough, and it definitely has its moments, it's just not that much of a winner for me overall – in short, it doesn't make me laugh until my chest wants to implode.
This set contains all 22 episodes of the first season. You can find a full list of episodes and episode summaries at TV.com. All episodes are approximately 23 to 26 minutes long.
Video is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. Colour is a little washed out, but the picture is quite sharp. There is some minor aliasing and a little dirt, but otherwise this is transfer is quite good. I spotted no dual layer pauses.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
Audio is available in the original English and also French mixed in 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo. Dialogue is fine and clear. There are no surrounds or subwoofer use.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
All menus are presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. They are static and silent.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Content wise, the releases across the regions appear to be the same. There is a definite difference in terms of PAL/NTSC image and region coding, but I don't have a Region 1 release for direct comparison. There is some commentary going around regarding faults with the R1 picture. However, these issues are not present in the R1 release. I'm going to give this to the R4 release for better picture resolution.
Murphy Brown is an amusing but dated stalwart of TV sitcoms from the late 1980s and early 1990s. While it never made a real impact on me, it was definitely a popular show.
Video and audio are pretty good without being outstanding, but by the sounds of it better than the video for R1.
Though bare on extras, these ones are worthwhile.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony DVPNS92, using HDMI output |
Display | Sony VPL-HS60 WXGA 3LCD Cineza Projector (10,000:1 contrast ratio) with 100" Longhom Pro-Series Micro-Textured White Matte PVC 1.78:1 16:9 Fixed Mount Screen with Black Velour Trim. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Sony TA-DA9000ES |
Speakers | Jensen QX70 Centre Front, Jensen QX45 Left Front & Right Front, Jensen QX20 Left Rear & Right Rear, Jensen QX-90 Dual 10" 250 Watt Subwoofer |