DVD REVIEW: 'HOUSE M.D. - SEASON FIVE'

by Austin McConnell

(Available NOW at Amazon.com!)
Original List Price: $59.98

We're starting our DVD reviews with one of my all-time favorite television shows: House. Can enough really be said about how good this show is? It's a show that certainly doesn't tailor itself to the lowest common denominator: it's smart, it's funny, it's insightful, it's dramatic, it's the whole package. And while I could go into great lengths about the series as a whole, we're staying on topic and simply reviewing the fifth season's DVD release.

The Season:

Two-Time Golden Globe® winner Hugh Laurie returns as the maverick physician who loves the challenge of the medical puzzles he must solve to save lives. This 5-Disc DVD brings every Season 5 episode right to your house!

DVD Features:

5-Disc Set
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.78
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
Subtitles - English, SDH, Spanish

Video Quality: I've been impressed with the quality from past seasons, but strangely, this one seems a bit lacking in terms of video quality. The Season 4 transfer to DVD was crisp, but the fifth season is a tad grainier than I'd prefer in some areas. This has to do mainly with the way several of the episodes were filmed: some episodes had a distinct 'shine' effect added during the original airing, and it might have caused a difficult transfer.
That's not to say that the video is bad, per se, quite the contrary: you'll find no artifacts or annoying blockiness, and some episodes and scenes were quite solid. The best way to describe it would be 'good, but not great'.
It's nothing to write home about, but it will get the job done.
Score: 07/10

Audio Quality: Again: good, not great. The audio is on par with previous seasons, but I think Season 4 might be a tad better. The biggest issue I've noticed with the Season 5 DVD is that a lot of the music tracks 'blend in' a bit too much with the voices, creating a minor annoyance sometimes. 'House' is one of those shows like 'Heroes', where a small, ambient, 3-4 note sound will chime off in the distance during a key moment, and it seemed like the DVD never really used a lot of bass.
Your sub-woofer wont be getting much of a workout here: 'House' uses lots of hollow-sounding tracks, and Surround Sound viewers will notice most of the audio coming from in front of them, and the back speakers used sparingly.
It's enough to get the job done, but I'd really like to see the audio in this series take a step up. The cinematography for the show is often movie-theater worthy...why not bring the audio up to the same level?
Score: 07/10




Extra Features: Listed on the DVD:

• House Meets A Milestone: The 100th Episode - Executive Producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs talk about this latest landmark for "House" and about their hopes for the future of the show.
• Keeping It Real: The Writers And Medical Consultants - David Foster speaks about how they diligently keep the scripts and sequences actual and factual. In short, we'll learn how the writers and consultants "keep it real" week after week.
• Dr. Mom: Cuddy's Storyline - In this featurette Lisa Edelstein speaks about the powerful Adoption/Becoming a Mother storyline written specifically for her character about how she thinks that being a mom will affect her character and her relationship with House.
• Anatomy of a Teaser: The "Anatomy of" DVD feature takes a step further to explore the weekly teaser - its purpose and development - which opens each new episode of "House."
• Visitors To The House: Casting Guest Stars - Delve into the weekly casting process, the importance of securing the right guest actor for the right role, any specific challenges encountered, and how it feels when a guest star knocks his/her performance out of the park!
• Episode Commentaries
  

Fans constantly ask for more Behind-The-Scenes goodies on the DVDs, and this set, while offering more BTS segments than Season 4, still doesn't feel up to par. The extras are interesting, but this show REALLY deserves more. When you consider all that has happened in the fifth season, you come away feeling a bit cheated with just a few more minutes of extra features than usual. The audio commentaries are nice, but there were several episodes I would have liked to hear talk on. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm an overly needy fan, but the extras aren't anything too special.
Score: 07/10

FINAL SCORE: 07/10 (70%, C)

Final Thoughts: When it comes down to it, my mind keeps going back to the same key thought: 'good, not great'. It'll get the job done if you want to relive the House Season 5 memories commercial-free, but if you're looking for something amazing that will blow you out of your couch, you're going to be disappointed. The quality of this DVD Set is just about the same as previous seasons. As a loyal fan, I really want something special out of Season 6. A show this special needs to have a special DVD.