Synopsis
Treat Williams is Dr. Andrew Brown, a high-powered NYC neurosurgeon. When his wife iskilled in a traffic accident, Williams re-evaluates his life, and the fact that he had put his familyvery much on the backburner with reference to his career, and on the spur of the moment movesthe family to Everwood, Colorado, a small town he was once told was idyllic. So begins a newlife, an effort to avoid making the same mistakes, and an effort to re-connect with his alienatedteenaged s…n.
The blurbs on this box set are all about how much “heart” the show has, and boy, does itever. You can almost touch the sincerity behind even the witty lines. This makes Dawson’sCreek look like The Simpsons in terms of attitude. The performances are real,though, and the “heart” is undeniably genuine. And though there are all sorts of difficult issuesour heroes face in Everwood (abortion being just one of many), the whole cocooning, return-to-the-family feel of the show marks it as being very much a product of the post-9/11 world.
Audio
The surround work on this 2.0 track is very good, much stronger than one is used to seeingwith TV products. That said, the environmental work is a bit too enthusiastic, since there aresome surround moments that are not only unnecessary, but inappropriate. The dialogue is clearand undistorted.
Video
The picture quality varies a bit from episode to episodes. The pilot and episode 23 are 1.78:1widecreen (but not anamorphic). The rest of the season is fullscreen. The image is generallysharp, with good colours and fine blacks, but some of the episodes are noticeably grainier, withblacks that aren’t as perfect as they are elsewhere.
Special Features
There are commentary tracks for the pilot and episodes 18, 20 and 23. Treat Williams andexec-producers Greg Berlanti and Mickey Liddell are on all of them, but are joined by more andmore other co-creators on the later episodes, with the result that the welter of voices is a littleconfusing. The discussions deal with both the practicalities of the shoots as well as the themesthe shows were addressing. Disc 6 has “In Search of Everwood” — a fairly typical 24-minutemaking-of piece. “Everwood Casualties” is 7 deleted scenes with optional commentary, while“Greg-and-Emily Cam” is something of an on-set video diary, and some amusingly candidmoments have been captured. The menu’s intro is animated and scored, while the main screen’smovement is limited to a slideshow.
Closing Thoughts
Earnest, well-intentioned, and handsomely mounted. Rather too earnest for my tastes, but Iprefer my entertainment cynical.
Special Features List
- 4 Audio Commentaries
- “In Search of Everwood” Making-of Featurette
- Unaired Scenes
- “Greg-and-Emily Cam” Behind-the-Scenes
