Product Details

• Actors: Timothy Busfield, Ken Olin, Patricia Wettig
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: ShoutFactory
• DVD Release Date: September 7, 2010
• Run Time: 1080 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003L77FY8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,111 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "thirtysomething: The Complete Fourth and Final Season" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 11/09/2010

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blame MGM?, September 20, 2010

By 

That Girl 122 "Contrarian, Aquarian" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: thirtysomething: The Complete Fourth and Final Season (DVD)

If you loved thirtysomething, of course you need the 4th (and final) season on dvd and for the time being this is the only one available. This season had so many memorable moments (Spoilers removed: Billy in the elevator, Ellyn's wedding, Nancy's cancer resolution, that shocking thing that happened to Gary, Hope & Michael's relationship being challenged, Nancy & Elliot considering moving to California etc). It is worth buying despite some of the issues with this particular package. I note that a number of reviewers are blaming Shout! Factory for the limited extras on this release. I am wondering if we are lucky to have the season available at all.

For many years, the thirtysomething dvd release was delayed due to problems getting clearances for the music that was such an essential part of the show. MGM, which owns the rights to thirtysomething is on the verge of bankruptcy. I noticed some changes in the "pop" music on the soundtrack, most notably that "Chapel of Love" was replaced on the wedding episode. This makes me wonder if the entire dvd had to be done "on the cheap" due to MGM's financial issues. This would also explain why the package artwork is clearly taken from first-season promo materials. It is possible that if it weren't for this "amazon exclusive," the 4th season might not have been released in any form whatsoever.

Creators Ed Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz taped a short introduction for Season 4 that basically rehashes material available on extras for the first season. Sadly, there are no commentaries from the actors, directors or writers. I have a LOT of questions for Liberty Godshall who co-wrote and acted in the episode "Advanced Beginners" which will probably have to wait for a deluxe edition. Mel Harris directed one episode and according to IMDB, never directed anything else. I would love to hear stories about that. I also noticed some comments about Michelle Pfeiffer who was the reigning "hottie" in pop culture at the time-- and had recently divorced Peter Horton who played Gary. (Surely an "inside" joke in the days before IMDB.com.)

Extras aside, this season is such a great encapsulation of a particular period in time. There was a familiar-feeling recession that hit-- forcing DAA to cut staff and partner with a Dutch company (and throw the usually-unflappable Miles Drentell off his game.) AIDS and AIDS-testing were new issues for heterosexual couples. One character deals with an HIV-positive test that felt like an immediate death sentence 20 years ago. Yet the stories and characters continue to feel like real people with real feelings and real challenges in relationships, in families, at work and in the greater society that are universal across time.

I love watching this show again and being reminded of who I was the first time I saw it. I was a little younger than the characters. Now, I am substantially older than thirtysomething and can see how this show influenced the way I understood my life in my 30s. (A lot of wishing that Billy Sidel would come along, of course!)

I think it would be a really interesting show for people who are currently in their 30s to watch and compare their lives with since when it first ran, they were little kids. It is a brilliantly written, acted and directed slice of time full of the humor, sorrow, drama and melodrama of the minutia of life.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Shout Factory cheaps out with extras with this Amazon exclusive release of final season!, September 10, 2010

By 

Steven H. Good "phraseturner" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: thirtysomething: The Complete Fourth and Final Season (DVD)

After three seasons of thirtysomething DVD releases with audio commentaries and great interviews included in the packages...


this 4th (final) season release--an Amazon exclusive--contains no extras save for a quick intro from the creators. No episode commentaries! And with so many crucial episodes story-wise!

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great drama, but that's about it., September 13, 2010

By 

Brian D. Iannessa (Cerritos, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: thirtysomething: The Complete Fourth and Final Season (DVD)

I honestly expected more from the season four set, considering this was the final season of this epic drama.

-The quality in some of the episodes is shaky - at least on my Sony Blu Ray player. There are a fair share of pixilated scenes (like in the episode 'Distance,' for example) that almost appear as if they were transferred from a VHS master. I didn't notice this problem with the first two seasons.

-No extras was a cheap way to go out. If anything, Shout Factory should have saved a few of the extras from the first and second season and placed them on the Season Four discs. Also, they could have mustered a few commentaries. Hell, get Marshall and Edward to at least comment on the series finale! Their series introduction - albeit intriguing - was the only extra in this set and very brief at that.

-Artwork was dated on the outside box. I'm starting to think that they only had good stills from the first season. Or perhaps all of the program's publicity photos were done in season one.

Final take: Only buy if you're a die hard fan like I am, and want to complete your thirtysomething digital collection.