Featured TV on DVD Review: Girlfriends: The Complete Series
January 7, 2018
Girlfriends: The Complete Series - Buy from Amazon: DVD
Girlfriends was the longest running series with a predominantly African-American female cast. It lasted seven and a half seasons and was cut short due to a writers strike. It is being re-released this week on a complete series Megaset for reasons I’m not too sure about. One of the show’s stars, Tracee Ellis Ross, won a Golden Globe for her performance in Black-ish and was again nominated for a SAG for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series, but that seems like a flimsy excuse. Is it worth picking up for fans of the show? Is it worth the double-dip?
I’ve previously reviewed the show and since this is a complete series, it’s less about the quality of the show and more about the quality of the overall package. After all, I doubt many people blind buy TV on DVD Megasets.
Tracee Ellis Ross stars as Joan Clayton, a lawyer who is more successful in her career than with relationships. Toni Childs is Joan’s oldest friend, as they’ve known each other since they were kids. She’s arguably the most glamorous of the four women. Tracee and Toni met Lynn Searcy when all three of them were in college. She’s the wildest of the bunch and while smart, is immature. Maya Wilkes starts the series as Tracee’s assistant in her law firm, but they are also friends. She starts the season married with a child and is the most stable when it comes to relationships.
Girlfriends is a sitcom and it is, for the most part, very funny. The five leads are all talented actors with strong comedic timing. If it were just a funny show, then it would be worth checking out, but it wouldn’t have a lot of staying power. However, the show also dealt with a lot of serious issues and that helped it stay above the crowd when it came to its fellow sitcoms.
There are plenty of extras on the 25-disc set, including some featurettes, audio commentary tracks, and even an episode of the spin-off show, The Game. However, none of it is new to this release. In fact, the discs are just the previously released discs, completed with the old previews. That said, the complete collection is just $44, which is a great price for the amount of entertainment here.
If you like Girlfriends and don’t own the show on DVD yet, then The Complete Series then it is worth picking up. If you haven’t seen it yet, I would have suggested watching it on VOD, but only the strike-shortened eighth season is on Amazon. In fact, the full show doesn't appear to be on VOD anywhere.
Strangely, Paramount is releasing five complete series Megasets on February 6th, including Bosom Buddies, Duckman, and others. It’s weird that this one is being released a month early. Then again, Girlfriends is by far the most successful of the six shows, so maybe the studio wanted it to get a chance to shine by itself.
The Show
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Jill Marie Jones, Tracee Ellis Ross, Persia White, Golden Brooks