Courtesy: Shout! Factory
Later this month, home entertainment company Shout! Factory will resurrect the short-lived Fox sitcom Ned & Stacy on DVD when it releases for the first time ever Ned & Stacey: The Complete Series. While the series only ran for two seasons, it still garnered its own cult following, a following that will most assuredly appreciate this presentation. That is due in part to the set’s episode listing, which will be discussed shortly. The set’s packaging is another of the set’s elements that audiences will certainly applaud, and will be discussed later. Its bonus material rounds out its most important elements. Each element is important in its own right to the whole of Ned & Stacey: The Complete Series. All things considered, they make this collection a solid full-series set for the show’s fans.
Shout! Factory’s forthcoming release of Ned & Stacey: The Complete Series is a collection that fans of the short-lived Fox sitcom are certain to enjoy. That is due in part to the set’s episode listing. The series originally ran from 1995 to 1997 for a total of 35 episodes. However, 11 other episodes produced before the show was cancelled early in 1997, bringing the series’ total episode count to 46. Those previously unaired episodes are included in this collection along with the other 35 episodes that did make it to air. That in itself is a bonus for the series’ most devoted fans as it gives those audiences the complete series, and in turn a complete viewing experience. This forms a solid foundation for the set’s presentation and is hardly its only key element. The set’s packaging is just as important to note as its episode listing.
The packaging used for Ned & Stacey: The Complete Series is important to note because once again, it has set the standard for multi-disc television collections. As with so many of Shout! Factory’s other multi-disc sets, this collection places each of the series’ six discs on their own plates inside the standard size DVD case, two of which are placed on the inside of the case, one on the inside front and the other on the inside rear. By taking this approach, the discs are protected from damaging each other while still allowing the set’s packaging to remain ergonomically sound.
On another note, each of the set’s discs is clearly labeled with its respective season and disc number. This coincides with the set’s episode listing printed on the inner front and rear of the case. Season One is listed disc by disc on the inside front while Season Two is printed on the case’s inside rear. Each season’s episode listing is noted chronologically with short but concise summaries of each episode. When this is considered alongside the packaging of the set’s discs, the end result is a packaging that, again, sets the standard for every multi-disc set out there today and that strengthens the set’s foundation even more. While the set’s packaging clearly proves to be another key piece of its whole, it is still not the last of the set’s most pivotal pieces. The set’s bonus material rounds out its most important elements.
The bonus material included with Ned & Stacey: The Complete Series is its own important piece of the set’s presentation because of the extra touch that it gives to the set’s viewing experience. The bonus material includes a nearly 22-minute documentary that features interviews with the series’ lead stars—Thomas Haden Church and Debra Messing—and their co-stars, Gregg Germann and Nadia Dajani alongside a full audio commentary on the series’ premiere episode. While that episode’s commentary offers its own insight and entertainment, the behind-the-scenes featurette proves in the end to be the most important of the pair. Audiences will be surprised to learn in that featurette that Church apparently signed on to star in the show not for its premise but because he was impressed by the series’ characters. Viewers will be just as interested to hear Church’s praise for the series’ writers. On a related note, audiences will be just as interested at Messing’s commentary that she thought the series’ “edgy” writing was what prevented it from lasting longer. Those were her words in her interview.
Of course Church and Messing’s commentaries are not the only key discussions included in the set’s bonus documentary. Dajani laughs as she discusses at one point the point that her role as Amanda played in other roles that she landed since the series ended. She also recalls happily in her interview her tendency towards laughing throughout so many episodes’ tapings, a comment that will in itself have audiences laughing.
As if the cast’s interviews are not enough, audiences also get to hear from series creator Michael Weithorn about the series’ roots, its fans base and more during his interview segments. Those commentaries add even more interest to the series’ viewing experience. When they are joined with the commentaries from the cast, the series’ episode listing and its packaging, the whole of all three elements makes clear why this first-ever full-series release of Ned & Stacey: The Complete Series is a success for the series’ most devoted fans and for Shout! Factory.
Ned & Stacey: The Complete Series is a successful first-ever full-series release for the short-lived Fox sitcom. It is a set that is certain to impress any of the show’s most devoted audiences. That is, as already noted, due to the presentation of each of the series’ 46 episodes (including all 11 of the series’ never-before aired episodes). The packaging has once again shown why Shout! Factory remains the gold standard for multi-disc sets. The bonus material included with the set puts the finishing touch on the set. Each element is important in its own right, as noted before. All in all, they make this collection, again, a success both for the series’ fans and for Shout! Factory. It will be available in stores and online Sept. 26 and can be pre-ordered online now via Shout! Factory’s online store. More information on this and other titles from Shout! Factory is available online now at:
Website: http://www.shoutfactory.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shoutfactoryofficial
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ShoutFactory
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