The Show
HBO Original Series have been hit and miss, but thankfully their track record is more memorable for benchmarks like The Sopranos than for embarrassments on the scale of Life with Louie. Somewhere in that vast divide falls Bored to Death The Complete First Season. It's touted as a comedy, with a promising enough premise: A down on his luck writer (Jason Schwartzmann) decides to reinvent himself by applying what he's learned from detective novels to become a private investigator. He's good-hearted and rational (despite his drinking and weed-smoking), so naturally he is teamed on screen with a wacky boss (Ted Danson) and a wacky best friend (Zach Galifianakis, so wonderful in The Hangover, less so in G-Force.)
The problem is one of credibility, as the characters say would-be-witty things and are put into goofy situations that suggest a script-writer apparently quite taken with his own alleged pithiness. I find it the proceedings somewhat difficult to swallow.
The Picture
Eight half-hour episodes spread across two Blu-ray discs makes for a high video bitrate, flirting with 40 megabits-per-second, although this is no guarantee of quality. Out-of-focus backgrounds and foregrounds can be extremely noisy. There's also a lot of flicker, sometimes quite severe, particularly in the shadows of the 1.78:1 frame, and some slight motion streaking. Blacks not very realistic, but detail is stronger than expected.
The Sound
This is the first title in a while to make me think of DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 as overkill, even though this is a very recent, well-budgeted production. Really the only activity in the rears comes from the music, which is smartly, generously mixed. But despite the myriad noises of the city at their disposal, the sound designers did not see fit to create anything more elaborate to occupy the various speakers. The dialogue--and the show is mostly dialogue--is clean. I mean, there's profanity, but it's legible profanity.
The Extras
Commentaries are provided for a total of four episodes, all featuring star Jason Schwartzmann and writer/creator Jonathan Ames, one roping in director Alan Taylor, another with director Michael Lehmann, yet another with director Adam Bernstein, and one adding Ted Danson. We're also given one deleted scene for each of four episodes, seven minutes total, in HD.
In "Jonathan Ames' Brooklyn" (twelve-and-a-half minutes, HD), we tour the real-life locations seen in the show, guided by Ames and his fictionalized counterpart, Jason Schwartzmann. And "The Making of Bored to Death" (20 minutes, HD) offers background, along with ample actor (and other) interviews.
Final Thoughts
I didn't find myself checking my pulse or holding a mirror up to my face, but neither did Bored to Death engage me as much as I'd have liked. The Blu-ray looks and sounds okay, and the extras are interesting, so perhaps consider a rental before the new season begins on HBO.
Product Details
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