Product Details

• Actors: Denis Leary, Lenny Clarke, Bill Nunn, Diane Farr, Adam Ferrara
• Directors: Tucker Gates
• Writers: Denis Leary, Ann Lembeck, Peter Tolan
• Producers: Frank Sackett, Richard Dresser
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Shout Factory Theatr
• DVD Release Date: May 24, 2005
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007NN6JC
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,357 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #1 in

  Movies & TV > Television > Crime > The Job

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Network television says they want original programs, but they don't always know what to do with them. Case in point: The Job, the late lamented series that lasted but 19 episodes before being unceremoniously yanked by ABC. So long Mike McNeil; we hardly knew ye. But what we did see of Denis Leary's working class anti-hero made for arrestingly funny television. McNeil, a cop, smokes, drinks, pops pills, and juggles a wife and girlfriend. And it's all beginning to catch up with him. "This stuff is Biblical," notes his partner, an African American whom the squad has nicknamed "Pip" (as in Gladys Knight and the...). The Job is not your typical workplace sitcom. There is no laugh track. Based on a real cop whom Leary befriended while researching his role in the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, The Job has the raw sound, rough language, and gritty look and texture of authenticity. It was shot documentary-style on location in New York. The focus of the series is more personal and less procedural than other cop shows. We get to know intimately this flawed and funny close-knit band of brothers, including straight-arrow Pip (Bill Nunn); Frank (Lenny Clarke), an old school cop and great bear of a man; and Det. Jan Fendrich (Diane Farr), a capable member of this boys' club in the classic Howard Hawks tradition, and who perhaps might have become a love interest for Mike had the series continued.

A series benchmark is "Barbeque," in which an anniversary party hosted by Pip and his commanding wife, Adina, inexorably descends into chaos when McNeil and company disregard Adnia's "no alcohol" edict. Another classic is the episode in which McNeil suspects that Frank is gay. While it does not jibe with Internet episode guides, the episode chronology on this four-disc set builds to a powerful climax, with Mike's girlfriend en route to confront his long-suffering wife (who may herself be having an affair), and Pip considering cheating on Adina with an old flame, all scored to the Ramones' pounding rendition of "Wonderful World." Whether it was ahead of its time, a victim of network neglect and mishandling, or just too dramatically different, The Job was too good for prime time. That it led to Leary's new hit series, Rescue Me, is small comfort. For faithful and frustrated viewers, it's great to have McNeil back on The Job. --Donald Liebenson

Product Description
The critically-acclaimed, gritty comedy starring Denis Leary now on DVD! All 19 episodes on 4 DVDs!

Mike McNeil (Denis Leary) is a self-medicating, hard-drinking, decorated New York City detective with a wife, a mistress and a crush on a coworker. Surrounded by a partner and fellow squad members who are just as colorful, McNeil pursues his uniquely unconventional, yet effective, approach to crime solving while attempting to manage the chaos of his personal life.

Originally broadcast on ABC in 2001, The Job was shot entirely on location in New York City, giving the show a gritty look to match its always edgy comedy.

Special Features:
Interview/Commentary with creators Denis Leary & Peter Tolan Gag Reel

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be different or original..., May 27, 2005

By	Jim Player (Rochester, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

As a mid-season filler for "NYPD Blue", "The Job" turned out to be one of the best shows aired in a long time. With a sharp-witted irreverant script and a uniformly great cast, it should have run longer than 19 episodes.

Denis Leary, co-creator, co-producer and co-writer (with Peter Tolan) stars as unscrupulous Mike MacNeil, a pill-popping chain-smoking NYC Detective trying to keep his wife/family, 26 year old girlfriend and job all in balance. When the show ended, everything was unravelling in his life....

The rest of the cast is just too good to single anyone out, even with the recurring "guest" roles - with one stand out there being Janet Hubert-Whitten. Although listed as appearing in only four episodes as Bill Nunn's (Pip) iron fisted domineering wife Adina, her presence is felt in nearly every episode looming over the whipped Pip like a dark menacing cloud.

Nothing whatever is sacred whether it be race, religion or severed body parts. Case in point would be Lt. Williams, played in the pilot episode by Richard Gant, who can't remember the two Hispanic detective's names and calls them rice and beans ("I've been a detective for 36 years...I'm too old to learn new names")

While many things in the show would be offensive if they were played straight, the brilliant scripts don't pull it's punches on any topic and delivers dead-pan humor with gleeful zest.

The four DVD set comes nicely packaged and has few, but substantial extras, including interviews and a gag reel. Definitely one of the best releases of the year!

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Injustice Served!, February 25, 2005

By	Kevin A. Stuecklen "Kevin" (Chicagoland, Illinois) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

No pun intended, but injustice was served when ABC cancelled this fantastic series midway through its second season!
As a pretty discerning TV & Movie watcher, this was a bitter pill to swallow; it's very rare that you find the perfect mix of dark humor with just a hint of drama. All this stems from Dennis Leary who surrounds himself with a wonderful cast.
It hasn't been until last summer's "Rescue Me" on FX that I got over this show being dropped! Now, I must admit, Rescue me (although a bit heavier on the drama) takes the EXACT same approach as The Job - by using the right mix of cast & crew. In fact, you'll see some of the same faces change their uniforms from Detectives on The Job, to Firefighters on FX's Rescue Me! Watch for Season 2 of Rescue me this Summer '05 on FX. In the meantime, I highly recommend adding this "GEM" of a series to your collection. Enjoy!
p.s. My personal favorite is the episode starring Elizabeth Hurley...be prepared to laugh yourself senseless when these two real-life friends reunite in an episode of The Job worth watching again-and-again!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh 'til your stomach muscles hurt, May 15, 2005

By	Vivian (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This was probably my favorite t.v. show ever. It was brilliant. Every episode made me laugh out loud and not very many shows make me do that. In fact, for the most part, I hate t.v. But 'The Job' was not only clever, intelligent and funny, but the casting was perfect and it had believable and fascinating characters.

I'm sure Denis Leary's character being addicted to painkillers was too controversial for an ABC show. But I found it to be very insightful because there are tons of everyday working class people addicted to painkillers and you'd never know it. (Doctors really do hand out Vicodin like candy these days and many people get seriously addicted to the stuff and it's more serious than a lot of people realize.) Mike McNeil had demons, but the writing never became wishy-washy....instead, the humor surfaced bigtime and it made for an entertaining show.

I also appreciated how Denis Leary's character did some of the most despicable things, yet he was still so lovable. The writing was simply hilarious. I loved how he put Robert Kelley in an episode playing a character named 'Luiz' when Robert Kelley in his stand up act talks about how annoying it is that everyone in L.A. always thinks he's Hispanic when he's IRISH! Hahaha.

Probably what I liked most about the show though was its top notch writing and comedic intuition- they really knew how to cut the fat, there were no pointless scenes, uninteresting characters, etc. I might be the only one who feels this way, but to me each episode was almost like a mini-movie. They were so perfect!

Anyway, this was a brilliant show. The characters found themselves in some of the most absurd and ridiculous scenerios that you'll remember for years. Insanely original. You won't be disappointed if you watch it.