Customer Reviews

Everwood: The Complete First Season [HD]

5 star:		(198)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had never seen an episode of "Everwood" before, but the premise intrigued me. A renowned brain surgeon moving to the middle of nowhere after his wife dies to establish new ties, build a new family, and perhaps forget past failures. Treat Williams is excellent as Dr. Andy Brown, a talented surgeon who treats his patients better than his own children. Andy is neglectful, but not intentionally. His absence from his children's lives is maybe an admission that he has not clue how to relate to them. Watching him bond reluctantly with his hostile son is one of the many pleasures of this delicate, intelligently-written show.

Dr. Brown is an affable man, yet flawed, which makes him instantly recognizable. His struggles to properly raise his son and daughter form the core of "Everwood". Williams anchors the show with his vivid, tortured protrayal of a man with internal demons hidden by a calm facade. He's the type of man one would enjoy inviting to a poker game, a basketball tournament, or a beer in the local bar. His son Ephram, played by the amazing Gregory Smith, is a gifted pianist who clashes with his father over issues of desertion and emotional detachment. Watching them spar and yell and eventually come to a greater understanding of each other is an almost religious experience. Ephram challenges his father to see if he really cares. and his testing brings the family close to the verge of an emotional meltdown. He's the type of adolescent who is fiercely loyal to his friends, sees through the transparency of phony peers, and is uncompromising in his demands for basic decency. The daughter, Delia, is a sweet kid who just wants to fit in at school, but has a tough time adjusting to the almost alien climate of Everwood.

The subplots are compelling, the supporting cast uniformly superb, and the character interactions credible. The season finale builds suspense so brilliantly it's almost painful to watch. After viewing the final episode, I regretted that I would have to part company with these special people, at least for a short time (which means that either the writers did a stellar job or I need to get out and socialize more!). "Everwood" makes you cherish the people you take for granted in everyday life, whether they're brain surgeons, grocery checkers, or the kid that delivers your morning newspaper.

As the overall quality of mainstream movies declines, television seems to have become the refuge for some of the very best drama. Everwood is a prime example of this trend. This series has a superior cast served by excellent writing. It does occasionally deal with "the issues" that we have all seen addressed in other family shows many times before. But do not let that fool you. In very subtle ways, this show revolutionizes the genre. For example, focusing on a single father is, after all, something that has not often been done before outside of comedies. Also, for some reason, single dads on TV tend to have daughters exclusively. By contrast, this single dad's relationship with his son is a central theme here. Locating the action in a small Colorado town (most of the locations are actually in Utah I believe) is also a very clever choice. It is refreshing to see TV characters in bleak weather wearing clothes that are not meant to be stylish but warm. And as other reviewers have pointed out, the locations are beautiful and highlighted by the show's unique photography. The storylines are captivating and the depth of characterization is really quite exceptional. As is often the case with dramas, the dialogue is sometimes so deep that you might be tempted to think "No-one talks like that." Maybe. But the feelings behind the words are real and it is impossible not to identify with them. I am not the crying type but I have shed some tears watching Everwood. Because I relate to it and I think most people can. But there is humor in Everwood as well. Very clever humor at that. This series is a gem. Now if they could just release Season 2! What's the hold-up?

I came across this series by accident and rented the first disc not expecting much. I was very, very surprised at the quality of this series. The acting from all the players is excellent. The photography stunning. And the various threads are all interesting and well done. I have now watched all 6 discs of the first season and the quality did not deteriorate over the entire first season.

My only disappointment was that when I went looking for the second season, it wasn't available. Apparently, WB hasn't put out any but the first season. What are they waiting for???

This is one the greatest shows ever to grace the airwaves, as far as I know. Thus why WOULDN'T one want to buy the DVD? Unfortunately, sales were poor for the first season, so unless they pick up soon, the subsequent seasons will not come out on DVD. So buy Everwood for your friends/family (for birthdays, Christmas, etc.); sales HAVE to go up! This show is totally underrated.

For those of you who don't know, there is a bit of a problem with Everwood's chances of renewal. The WB will no longer exist, by September of 2006; neither will UPN. They are combining in The CW (short for CBS and Warner Bros.)! This means that they will be making some cuts; but Everwood is too good a show to let it be canceled because of a merger-type deal.

Don't JUST review Everwood on Amazon or on TV.com, send your comments directly to the big cheeses themselves.

Dawn Ostroff

UPN

11800 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90025

This woman will oversee programming on The CW (President); she's currently the President at UPN. Send her your thoughts on Everwood; don't let her dismiss it!

You might also benefit from sending the same letter to her e-mail: Dawn_Ostroff@UPN.com.

Les Moonves

President, CBS

7800 Beverly Blvd.

Los Angeles, California 90036

This is the big man at CBS. He will play a major role in the creation of The CW, so send him your thoughts too. He may be more interested in what Everwood will bring him, financially, though, so keep that in mind; but don't bore him: tell him what you think of the show too (the actors, the situations the characters get into/deal with [abortion, death, etc.], the directing, the writing, etc.) Those are all good things to send to both Les AND Dawn.

We may never know why Everwood did not sell well, at first, but we can try to fix that.

Also, Everwood returns with new episodes--through the end of the season!--on March 27! That's right, Everwood is moving back to its original Monday timeslot, right after 7th Heaven. It will return on the 27th with a two-hour events, so don't forget to tune in an hour early; you won't be disappointed. To air all 13 episodes by the end of the season, The WB is going to have to air 2 more two-hour events, not including the initial one. That might mean that we'll get to see two hours of "fresh" Everwood on May 22 and a two-hour finale on May 29!

(Everwood will also air in syndication, this fall, on ABCFamily; let's make sure they have more than 4 seasons to air, shall we?)

Write your letters, and don't stop with just one...or two. KEEP sending them, and don't stop until the upfronts (mid-May)! We can't let this gem of a show disappear after only 4 seasons.

For more, check out talk.thewb.com and choosemeback.mindsay.com.

I just bought this DVD because of the excellent reviews I saw here.

Now that I am done with S1 after a couple of weeks of almost nonstop viewing, I just have a feeling of frustration when I read over various forums that it is unlikely that Warner will release the rest of the seasons because of low sales of this one.

This is hands down one of the best shows I have seen in the past ten years. Vancamp is terrific, Smith is a total discovery, the dialogues are just brilliant.....It is difficult to beat a package like this.

And yet we have to sadly see how the only series that seem to do well in sales are the CSI's and the like.

Something is very wrong in today's audiences..........

Back in the fall of 2002 I saw the promo for a new show called "Everwood". The storyline intrigued me. I usually try to pick one new show per year to watch and stay with. I chose "Everwood" for that year. I was fed up with endless and frenetic crime, lawyer,reality, and medical shows which now grace (and saturate) our airwaves. This seemed different. The show intrigued me from the beginning. Shortly into the series I became aware that the writers of this show were doing something very clever, but I could not put my finger on it. About mid way through the series I figured it out on my way to work. The writers had worked a subtle Rockwell motif into the story. It is most explicitly seen in the opening credits during the first season. The shots of the cast are not only done in Rockwell's style but are also seen in quintessential Rockwellian settings. A clever twist- take a hip, yet disfunctional, New York family of the 21st century and plunk it down in "fly-over country" - the small town America of Norman Rockwell. The motif was again alluded to, when, in a later episode, I noticed a copy of Rockwell's "Country Doctor" hanging on the wall of the doctor's den. The point was then made quite explicit in the episode "Miracle of Everwood" when the journalist makes reference to the picture as he attempts to justify the inaccurate story he is going to publish. I was pleased to discover that in the commentary track Berlanti talks about the motif in the opening credits and how hard and expensive it was to do. Details and texture such as this can add so much to the storytelling. Furthermore, some of the editing was of a very high quality and emulated a lot of techniques used in cinema: graphic matches, matches on action etc. Whoever chose the songs also did a very good job. The selections were not just the music popular today (also designed to sell more WB cds). Some great standards from the past were used as well, such as Etta James' "At Last". I have great respect for Berlanti and the writers on this show. The constraints of the medium force them to work very fast and to appeal to as big a market as possible.In such an environment it is hard to produce anything that rises above the level of schlock. Thus, it always amazes me when anything really good emerges from such a format. While I, like other fans of the show, am disappointed to see it cancelled, I have to say that the miracle is that it lasted as long as it did. Given the moronic network it was on and the minimal backing it received, we were fortunate to get four years out of it. While it was killed off undoubtedly before its time - there is one blessing. It will remain one show that never "jumped the shark". The idiots at CW have seen to that.

This series, which just finished it's second season on the WB network, is the perfect mix of comedy, drama, characters, and storylines. The show its self is about a family (the Browns) that move from New York City to the small town of Everwood after the passing of their mother.

From creator Greg Berlantini, comes a powerful series, that at first explores how a family must come to gripes with the death of a love one, but eventually evolves into a dramedy about getting on with one's life, with the beautiful Colorado Back Drop.

One of the best things Everwood has going for it is it's very talented cast. Treat Williams plays Dr. Andy Brown, Gregory Smith plays Ethram, Emily VanCamp plays Amy Abbott, while John Beasley, Tom Amandes, and Chris Pratt fill in the supporting cast. Not to mention the amazing Debra Mooney, who plays the tuff-as-nails Grandmother to the Abbott Clan.

Over the course of the 23-episode first season, the show manly surrounds the ongoing story of Collin Heart, a boy who was put into a comma after a car accident. But the overall arc of the season is not what makes this show so specail, its the stand-alone episodes which provide positive information on many subjects families should talk about but don't: Teen Drinking, Pregnancy, Abortion, Dieing Family Members, and so on.

Once again Warner Brothers had put together an amazing set of episodes from an ubelievably wonderful show, complamented by special features (4 commentaries, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes featurrettes). Also recamended "Gilmore Girls - The Complete First SEason."

I can not believe that CW cancelled this great family show. I wish they would hurry up and release all the other DVD's so we can at least watch these episodes over and over.

The show is great like most commenst wrote before. But there is one thing i don`t get. Why aren't the other seasons not available yet? I would buy them and i'm waiting now for more then six months for at least season two.

Come one Warner! Put it out!

Thank god for The WB. It has been a while since there has been a family drama that is so refrshingly honest, sincere, engaging, and brave. Since it's debut in September of 2002, this show has emerged as the crown jewel in the network's arsenal. Filled with fresh stories and new twists on old conventions, this show also boasts an incredible cast who bring to life realistic and engaging characters. This show continues to grow and expand on this brilliance in it's two subsequent seasons. Do not let the reviews who state otherwise fool you. It stays true to itself in later seasons and I can only assume these reviewers were unhappy with what happened and toss it off as "bad" or "not as good" simply because they didn't get it. Thank god the critics and real fans do. Treat Williams stars as famed New York surgeon, Dr. Andrew Brown. A workaholic with a wife and 2 kids. When tragedy strikes the family, he makes an about face in his life and moves his kids to the idyllic town of Everwood, Colorado. There he sets up shop with a practice in the town's old train station, which is right across the street from the town's only other physician, Dr. Harold Abbott(perfectly played by the fantastic Tom Amandes). Andy's son is 16 year old Ephram(The superb Gregory Smith), a loner type kid with a major chip on his shoulder concerning his father. And then there is 9 year old Delia(Vivian Cardone), a littly dynamo with a penchant for baseball caps. Others include Dr. Abbott's daughter Amy(The adorable Emily Van Camp), Abbott's son Bright(The funny Chris Pratt), Abbott's mother, and Andrew's nurse, Edna(The great Debra Mooney), her husband and town bus driver Irv(John Beasley), who is also the show's narrator, and Andy's lovely neighbor Nina(Stephanie Niznik). It had been such a long time since I had watched a stellar debut season. It was perfect. The show manages to be as realistic as possible and tries to go as far as it can with certain topics. Something I am sure the people who said the seasons afterward were no good only because they couldn't take the show's incredibly gutsy moves. One of the show's strengths is taking overused storylines and giving them a fresh and invigorated new shot at life. The ongoing arc this season between Ephram's love for Amy and her comatose boyfriend Colin Hart regaining his self and wanting to be Ephram's friend, is one cool example. The show is intelligently and creatively written, and is one of the most beautifully shot shows on television. Treat Williams has been given one heck of a career resurgence. He is so perfect for the show and this is really his moment. Where's his Emmy nod?. Tom Amandes as Dr. Abbott is right up there. He made his character a pompous fuss bucket and then turned him into a real human being who isn't all he seems. The banter and wars between him and Andy are priceless and are about as enjoyable as you can get. Episodes here range from the great to the fantastic. Some include the brilliant "Episode 20", a show about abortion. What happens is an impeccably written episode that shows both sides and different angles of the subject and it's choices. Well done. Other highlights include "A Thanksgiving Tale", "Is There A Doctor In The House", "The Kissing Bridge", "Colin The Second", and the fantastic finale, "Home". The kids here are all very well presented. Gregory Smith is a real find. A great repreentation of a young kid who isn't perfect and has issues. Emily Van Camp as Amy is his equal. Those big pretty doe eyes are nice too!. The WB should be proud. It has a show that is for everyone, and doesn't shy away from important topics. Nor does it cookie cutter it either. It's honest, tender, funny, realistic, life affirming, and brave. You will enjoy your trip to the rocky environs of Everwood. A place that you will want to visit again season after season. Enjoy your stay.