Sex and the City Essentials: Breakups is a little introduction type collection into the famed HBO series. Here we get three episodes about the various Breakups in the show. The first episode is entitled Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and is about Carrie deciding to chose her honesty first. This causes her to lose Aidan in the process. The second episode is entitled I Love a Charade and is about Samantha’s wrath for Richard. The final episode is entitled The Post-It Always Sticks Twice and is about …he post- Post-it note night out.
Since Sex and the City is aired regularly on TBS, I can’t possibly imagine what HBO is trying to do with these sets. Anyone who is possibly interested in the show, even the smallest amount, can simple turn on their television and watch an episode to see if this comedy is in their ballpark. I could understand if the Essentials discs came with a few rare features about the three episodes on the disc to warrant spending the money. HBO defends this release, according to their website, with Now, old and new Sex and the City fans can relive some of the sexiest, most romantic, emotional and memorable episodes from the series with the Sex and the City Essentials. I think a true fan of the series would know where their favorite episodes are season-wise at this point.
Video
Sex and the City Essentials: Breakups is presented in a 1:33:1 Fullscreen format. The image appears extremely grainy which makes me wonder if the actual season box sets are like this as well. As for colors, a majority of the colors seem dull and lacking any real spark. It feels like they were plastered on in the production area. A rather poor image.
Audio
We are given a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound Audio Track. Luckily the audio is far better than the picture. Having its‘ setting be in the loud city of New York, the audio makes us aware of everything from birds to car’s honking in traffic. The dialogue levels are pretty clear and easy to understand. We are also given a 2.0 English or Spanish Dolby Surround, which is barely suitable for the job.
Special Features
NOT one single feature. Not even a preview for other HBO shows! BOO!!
Closing Thoughts
Considering the full season sets are available as I type this, HBO must be really in need of money to release this sparse set. You only get 3 episodes per disc and at an MSRP of $14.99, we are talking $5 per episode. Since you can find the FULL season sets for $30 in most places, I’m not even going to do the math for you. This is a complete rip-off. Do yourself the favor and watch the re-runs on TBS or, if you really like the series, go out and buy the full season sets.
