Releasing today on DVD is the fourth season of television’s funniest show, “The Office.” Season 4 was yet another great season of the NBC show and featured the hookup (finally) of Jim and Pam (or Jam as affectionally put).
It starts off with 4 hour long episodes which, while still good, lack the zip and concentration of the original 30 minute segments. In total, there are 14 episodes in what was a shortened season (due to the Writer’s Guild Strike). I didn’t think that Season 4 was as funny as Seasons 2 and 3, but it is still strides in front of any other comedy on the tube today. It does end strong though, with the season’s best episode “Goodbye, Toby,” which happened to feature Oscar nominee Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone, The Wire).
The box set is chock full of bonus features, including:
- Over 2 hours of deleted scenes on each disc.
- A special on “Rabies: The More You Know,” - This is a reference to the pilot episode in which Michael organizes a run for the cure of rabies. great stuff.
- Episode Commentaries :
- – “Money” - Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Melora Hardin, Brian Baumgartner, Paul Lieberstein, Michael Schur, and Jennifer Celotta.
- – “Local Ad” - B.J. Novak, Ed Helms, Leslie David Baker, Creed Bratton, Craig Robinson, Jason Reitman, and Anthony Ferrell.
- – “The Deposition” - Commentary with Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Melora Hardin, Brian Baumgartner, Ed Helms, Lee Eisenberg, Lester Lewis, and Ryan Koh.
- – “Did I Stutter?” - Commentary with Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Leslie David Baker, Kate Flannery, Justin Spitzer, Brent Forrester, Gene Stupnitsky, and Randall Einhorn.
- A 22 minute Bloopers Reel - This is the best feature and is gravy if you’re a fan of the show and can’t think it can get any funnier. If you were every wondering how these actors get through these scenes with a straight face, then watch this. You’ll be sure to be scanning for cracked smiles on real episodes.
- The Office Convention: Writer’s Block - You can watch a panel of the show’s writers (which include actors B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling). It actually is pretty insightful if you can stomach the numerous “WOooooos” and “Aoowwwwws” from the audience.
- Michael Scotts Dunder Mifflin Ad - Michael’s spot from the episode, “Local Ad”
- Summer Vacation Promo - This aired on NBC before Season 4 aired. Somewhat funny, but too short to make it worth blabbering any more about.
Another cool feature of the DVD I reviewed was an included script of one of the season’s funniest episodes, “Dinner Party.” Reading along the episode with it gives you a sense of how the show is directed and how much it really takes to put it together.
This DVD is a must for any fan of The Office and is a great pick up for those looking for a almost 7 hours of serious laughs. The Office Season 4 is available on September 2, 2008 and you can pick it up at Amazon.com.
I will leave you with a look at some of the bloopers on the DVD:
you can win season 4 of the office!! just visit film.com and click on tv and then on the left hand side, you’ll see the tv addict blog and click on her office giveaway post to enter to win!