Sordid Lives series DVD release---your reviews

I’m not sure if a review of the DVD boxed set of the 12-episode series “Sordid Lives” has been published on here on the pages of AfterElton or not; but wanted to bring the release to everyone’s attention, just to make sure they know it is now available.

However, it should be noted that this is a Canadian release; unfortunately it’s still not officially available in the US.  There has been some sort of legal wrangling going on with the party that owns the rights to US distribution;  I don’t know all the details, but it doesn’t look like a US release is anywhere in sight.  No fear, however---Canada to the rescue!  The series DVDs are listed on the Canadian Amazon site, and since the US and Canadian DVD systems are identical, Canadian DVDs will play fine on American televisions.  The only drawback in ordering anything from Amazon in Canada and having it sent to the US is the higher shipping rate---which in my case was about $9.55 USD.  But, no big deal…  (It should also be noted that series creator Del Shores is selling autographed copies of this release through his own web site, for a slightly higher price than the unsigned copies from Amazon.)

I won’t discuss the merits of the series itself in this review---the programme had been discussed on AfterElton as it aired in 2008---other than to say I thought it was hilarious.  I loved the cast, the scripts---the whole package.  I have no complaints to make about the series at all, other than expressing some regret that it looks like there will never be a series two.  Let me focus here on the actual DVDs themselves.

There had been some reports of quality control problems immediately after the set was put on the market, with pixilation and out-of-sync audio issues.  I have to say that on my own copy, I’ve noticed none of that at all (it would appear that there was an isolated bad batch of discs, perhaps?).  I’m watching this on a 50-inch widescreen plasma set, and the picture looks fantastic; nicely detailed with no problems in that respect whatsoever.

The set includes three discs.  The first two each include six episodes, plus a bonus feature of an extensive slide show featuring stills shot during the filming process.  The third disc is all bonus material; it includes the premier’s teaser and a number of complete Olivia Newton-John performances.  It also includes a fairly comprehensive blooper reel and many, many deleted scenes; a satisfyingly large amount of material for viewing, there.

Some viewers expressed a bit of frustration at the time this aired on television, due to the very frequent commercial interruptions and the "bleeping" of some of the dialogue.  It's quite a pleasant difference, to watch each episode in one 22-minute uninterrupted go.  The DVD release is completely uncensored---and for those interested in such things, contains a bit of nudity not present in the televised version, as well.  (Heh.)  

Now, there are two drawbacks to this set; one is a bit of a disappointment for me personally, the other could possibly be a problem for a number of viewers.  First off, there was a huge amount of promotional/behind the scenes material produced about this series, which appeared on the Logo website as the programme aired on television.  I found much of the material fascinating---among other things, it included interviews with many of those involved with the show, and the vlogs creator Del Shores taped for each episode, where he would discuss the particulars of filming with co-star Jason Dottley and (on occasion) some of the other people who appeared in the episode under discussion.  I don’t know who owns the rights to all this footage, whether it is Del Shores or Logo, but unfortunately not a single bit of it appears in the extras on this set (and none of it is still up on the Logo website).  So, that is quite disappointing.  I hope it will appear on the American DVD release, but have no idea if that is even a possibility---and who knows how long it will be until the American release, anyway?

The second drawback is a technical issue---one I’ve never encountered before, so I’m hoping for some input from anyone else here who has viewed the DVDs.  The picture is framed in the widescreen 1.78:1 ratio, so as to fit perfectly on widescreen/hi-def television sets.  (The image should be letterboxed---with black bars at top and bottom---if viewed on a standard tube television.)   Now, every single DVD I have that is “enhanced for widescreen televisions” has played just fine on my own widescreen set---slide in the DVD, the picture comes on and fills the entire width of the screen, no problem.  But in the case of the Sordid Lives DVDs, on all of the episodes the picture is displayed with an anamorphic squeeze---in other words, the widescreen picture is compressed to a 4:3 aspect ratio (the squarish shape of an old television screen), which is centred in the widescreen display.  And oddly enough, this is only an issue with the episodes themselves---the slide-shows, and the bonus material on the third disc, have no problems with squeezing/distortion.

Now, this anamorphic squeeze is not really a problem for me, because of course every widescreen set has several pre-set aspect ratio settings---so with the touch of a button on the tv remote, I can adjust the picture so that it displays properly in the correct 1.78:1 shape (and without cropping any part of the frame).  However, the point is I shouldn’t HAVE to do this.  And, this would seem to be a problematic situation for anyone watching the discs on a standard CRT television.  I tried playing the discs on a second set-up here (standard tv, standard DVD player), and  yes, the anamorphic squeeze was still present---but of course there’s no way to compensate for that on a regular television.  So, if that viewing method is your only option, you’ll be watching a distorted image where all the people appear to have very thin faces and stand about eight feet tall.

Has anyone else had this problem with the discs?  I’m most curious to know…

At any rate---absolutely love the series, and although I’m a little disappointed with the lack of some of additional content I was hoping for, I can’t complain very much----I’m very pleased with my purchase.  I don’t know whether the particular playback problem I experienced is widespread, but anyone watching these on a widescreen set should be able to make the necessary adjustments.