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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.
The Henry Rollins Show-Season 1 (2006)

The Henry Rollins Show-Season 1 (2006)

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Released 9-Jul-2007

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category TV Series None
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2006
Running Time 600:00
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered
Multi Disc Set (3)
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Rhett Bachner
Kevin Morra
Paul J. Morra
Studio
Distributor

MRA Entertainment
Starring Henry Rollins
Janine Garofolo
Heidi May
Kevin Smith
Ozzy Osbourne
Ben Folds
Jeff Bridges
Aimee Mann
Daniel Johnston
Ben Harper
Eddie Izzard
Penelope Spheeris
John C. Reilly
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI ? Music Slayer
Ben Folds
Aimee Mann


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    If there's one thing that can be said for Henry Rollins, he certainly has a lot to say. For those who are unfamiliar with Henry's career or stance on global issues, it would be very easy to write-off the muscular, tattooed American as a bit of ranting loony. But dig a bit deeper, and you begin to appreciate his tenacity.

    Henry the musician: Rollins gained notoriety during the 80s as frontman for the now legendary underground punk/rock band Black Flag. When they dissolved, he went on to form the Rollins Band, which has been through numerous line-up changes and reached a peak in the 90s with their album Weight and the huge MTV hit, Liar. The Rollins Band album, Get Some Go Again is a favourite of mine. The classic Rollins Band line-up reunited in 2006 for a performance on this program, for the season finale no less. The band are said to be back in action now.

     Henry the actor: If you look closely, you'll see Henry popping up in small roles in all manner of films, from David Lynch's Lost Highway, to Heat with Al Pacino. His scene in Bad Boys II was hilarious.

    Henry the author: Hank also runs his very own publishing company, 2.13.61, and has authored numerous books about his career, diaries, journals and the like. All are fantastic reading if you're into the ins and outs of rock bands.

    Henry the stand-up comedian: Rollins has toured extensively, doing spoken word gigs to packed houses all over the world. He also tours war-torn countries, performing for American servicemen. I've managed to catch him in Australia a few times and would easily rate him up there with Billy Connolly in terms of pure laugh-factor. I hope to review his latest spoken word DVD, Live in NYC, for you soon.

    Henry the talk-show host: The Henry Rollins Show is now in it's second season and is receiving rave reviews. Future guests on the show include William Shatner and musical artists Chris Cornell and Peeping Tom.

    Henry is unrelentingly intelligent in his delivery and highly opinionated, but to his credit he is also as uncompromising as he is hilarious. Produced by the IFC Channel in the US, the show follows a regular format; usually Teeing Off with a rant from Henry about something that's been on his mind - this could be anything from Blackberrys to Osama Bin Laden. A special guest occupies most of the episode, and Henry is a surprisingly candid interviewer. The broad range of interviewees is excellent, so there is really something for everyone. In fact, even the guests I'm not ordinarily interested in make for worthy viewing when they're conversing with Henry. Each episode closes with a musical performance, live in the studio.

    If I had to make one complaint about this DVD set, that would be the lack of extras. It's well known that each guest musical artist actually recorded more than one performance for the show, with one being broadcast and the other available via streaming on the IFC website. We're reminded of these at the end of each episode on the DVD. The frustrating thing is that if you have an Australian IP address (like me), the IFC website won't let you view the additional footage. Why not include some more music on the DVD as extras?

    The below list outlines each episode and the huge variety of guests that appear.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Track Listing

1. Oliver Stone/ Sleater-Kinney
2. Chuck D/ Jurassic 5
3. Werner Herzog/ Frank Black
4. Ozzy Osbourne/ Ben Folds
5. Bill Maher/ Black Rebel MC
6. Jeff Bridges/ Ben Harper
7. P.T. Anderson/ Aimee Mann
8. Eddie Izzard/ Death Cab for Cutie
9. Penelope Spheeris/ John Doe
10. Patton Oswalt/ Damian Marley
11. Perry Farrell/ Deadboy
12. Adam Carolla/ Dashboard Confession
13. Michael Chiklis/ Dinosaur Jr.
14. Billy Bob Thornton/ Daniel Johnston
15. Peaches/ Ringside
16. John C. Reilly/ Thom Yorke
17. Kevin Smith/ New York Dolls
18. Johnny Knoxville/ Slayer
19. Stephen Gaghan/ Ani DiFranco
20. Matt Dillon/ Rollins Band

Transfer Quality

Video

    This show was produced independently for broadcast on cable TV in the US. Our transfer is an NTSC conversion, presented in the original broadcast ratio of 1.33:1.

    There aren't really any surprises here. Resolution is decent, considering the NTSC source and lower-than-usual budget of the production. Overall the transfer is as solid as you would expect from a recent TV studio production.

    Colour depth is consistent with the NTSC source, with adequate depth to be found. There are no inconsistencies or bleeding in the transfer as far as I can see.

    A little MPEG grain can be seen on occasion, which isn't helped by the NTSC conversion process. There is no ugly macro blocking to be seen at all.

    There are no subtitles provided, which is really disappointing given that this is a talk show with so much to say.

    All three discs are DVD9 formatted. I didn't notice any layer breaks, so I presume they are placed between episodes somewhere.

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

Audio

    The show's original Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio is retained, presented here at 224Kb/s. It's a little on the thin side, particularly during the musical performances. On the upside, we know that because this is an NTSC conversion the audio pitch is going to be uncorrupted by PAL speedup.

    The English dialogue is always clear and easy to make out. There are no audio sync issues.

    The musical performances contain good separation between instruments and are very clear. The audio lacks a little weight behind the drums and bass guitars, and for what it's worth I would have preferred a higher Dolby bitrate.

    The subwoofer and surround channels are not utilised.

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

Extras

    None. The menus are static and silent, with a simple list of the episodes contained on the disc.

R4 vs R1

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

    This disc is identical across all regions. My instinct tells me the Region 1 would be preferable, being the NTSC master. On the other hand, we're not talking about a big-screen experience here, so I'm prepared to relax a bit on the conversion thing. Buy local if you can find it cheap.

Summary

    The Henry Rollins Show is great entertainment. I recommend it.

    The transfer is average.

    The extras are on the IFC website, but I'd prefer them on disc.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Rob Giles (readen de bio, bork, bork, bork.)
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-3910, using HDMI output
DisplaySanyo PLV-Z2 WXGA projector, Screen Technics Cinemasnap 96" (16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationDenon AVR-3806 (7.1 Channels)
SpeakersOrpheus Aurora III floor-standing Mains and Surrounds. Orpheus Centaurus .5 Front Center. Mirage 10 inch powered sub.

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