- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Spanish (Castilian) DTS 2.0, Spanish (Latin American) DTS 2.0
- Subtitles: English SDH, Danish, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish
- Region: ABC (Region-Free)
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run Time: 203 Mins.
- Discs: 2 (2 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: HBO Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: October 4, 2011
- List Price: $49.99
[amazon-product]B003L77GME[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Bored to Death: The Complete Second Season on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3.5/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
–
“I’ve been living like a demented god!”
The Series
[Rating:5/5]
In its first season there were many times I’d thought that Bored to Death was going to bore me to death, but the show intrigued me enough to stick with it and even tune in for the second season. I’m glad that I did, because in its second season, Bored to Death has really begun to hit its stride. Jonathan Ames (the writer/series creator, not the fictional character from the show) is a genius of wit. Bored to Death is an intelligent pulp comedy full of literary allusions, New York City hipness, and stoner absurdity.
A series about struggling writer Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) who decides to moonlight as an unlicensed private detective to earn extra cash, advertising his services on Craig’s List, the series follows his oddball cases and his friendship with his mentor, publishing tycoon George Christopher (Ted Danson), and druggie comic book writer Ray (Zach Galifianakis).
In this second season, the lunacy continues as Jonathan begins teaching a writing class after his second novel is rejected, George has a cancer scare and begins dating his doctor while caught up in a power struggle with the new majority shareholders of his publication, and Ray’s girlfriend Leah (Heather Burns) breaks up with him, inspiring him to create his best comic hero yet – Super Ray, a hero who attains his superpowers by hitting his penis on the third rail of the subway tracks.
And, of course, there are Jonathan’s crazy private detective cases, that find the guys smuggling a Korean transvestite out of a spa, George and Ray launching a not so surprising surprise attack to rescue Jonathan from kidnappers, and Ray rescuing Little Ray from a puppy mill. The one-liners are too many to mention, but this show has become laugh out loud funny. Its intelligent humor combined with its beautiful cinematography make it far and away better than any other comedy on television.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Bored to Death looks surprisingly film-like considering it is captured in high definition on ARRI Alexa and ARRI D-21 high definition cameras. It comes to Blu-ray in a progressive 1080p/24 AVC/MPEG-4 encodement that really only exposes its digital roots in some of the darkest of scenes where the video noise looks more electronic than analogue. There are natural flesh tones and good contrast throughout the encodement with nuanced details in the darker scenes.
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
While the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack has relatively spacious stereo imaging across the front channels and a punchy midrange with decent low frequency extension, but certainly not anything that will rattle the floorboards, there is practically nothing going on in the surround channels making for a rather dry and boring mix.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3.5/5]
The five audio commentaries with cast members, directors and show creator Jonathan Ames make for welcome and interesting additions, as do the amusing Inside the Episodes featurettes. Additionally there are some outtakes that are fairly amusing as well.
The supplements:
- Audio Commentary on Episode 2 “Make it Quick, Fitzgerald!” with Jason Schwartzman (Jonathan), Jonathan Ames (Writer/Series Creator), and Alan Taylor (Director/Consulting Producer)
- Audio Commentary on Episode 3 “The Gowanus Canal Has Gonorrhea!” with Jason Schwartzman (Jonathan), Ted Danson (George), Jonathan Ames (Writer/Series Creator), and Michael Lehmann (Director)
- Audio Commentary on Episode 4 “I’ve Been Living Like a Demented God!” with Jason Schwartzman (Jonathan), Ted Danson (George), Jonathan Ames (Writer/Series Creator), and Michael Lehmann (Director)
- Audio Commentary on Episode 6 “The Case of the Grievous Clerical Error!” with Jason Schwartzman (Jonathan), Ted Danson (George) and Jonathan Ames (Writer/Series Creator)
- Audio Commentary on Episode 8 “Super Ray is Mortal!” by Jason Schwartzman (Jonathan) and Jonathan Ames (Writer/Series Creator)
- Inside the Episodes (1.78:1; 1080i/60) – Writer/Creator Jonathan Ames humorously discusses the inspiration for each episode.
- Outtakes (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
I’m glad I stuck with this series after what I thought was only an average debut season, because season 2 is pure genius that gets even better after watching it the second time through. This HBO pulp comedy from writer Jonathan Ames is visually enticing and full of intelligent wit. The Blu-ray elevates the appreciation of the series, improving on the broadcasts by a mile. Highly recommended.
Additional Screen Captures
–
[amazon-product]B003L77GME[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Bored to Death: The Complete Second Season on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3.5/5]
–
