Rating: 
Summary: Captioning??
Review: Love the series. Why no Closed-captioning for the hearing impaired????
Rating: 
Summary: brilliant program finally on video
Review: Okay, the packaging of WISE GUY is ticking a few off. In the day when they are releasing whole years of a series in a block on DVD at once, WISEGUY is optioning (more money honey) to package the WISEGUY in the Arcs. They were conceived to follow one storyline for around 13 episodes. The first of the arcs was Sonny Steelgrave (Ray Sharkey). Sharkey gives his roll of a lifetime performance as the mobster Vinnie Terranova is assigned to investigate. Vinnie comes from the background where mobs were the norm, so his gaining Steelgrave's confidence is not hard. Keeping it is another matter. Steelgrave is paranoid when anything is mentioned about the FBI and sees agents lurking everywhere. Soon Vinnie is getting sucked into actually liking the man he is sent to bring down.Keeping Vinnie on the even keel and reminding him what he is there to do is Frank McPike Jonathan Banks and his check-in contact Lifeguard or "Uncle Mike" Jim Byrnes (Highlander). The writing is crisp and incisive, no black and whites drawn in characters, just a thousand shades of grey. Forewarned, music changes were made due to contacts which hurt the anticipation of people who know the series well...ie...NO Nights in White Satin ending. Was back in the days artists were thrilled to see the songs used - now it's show me the money...sigh! It's still a brilliant bit of work that was way ahead of it's time.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant program finally on video
Review: Okay, the packaging of WISE GUY is ticking a few off. In the day when they are releasing whole years of a series in a block on DVD at once, WISEGUY is optioning (more money honey) to package the WISEGUY in the Arcs. They were conceived to follow one storyline for around 13 episodes. The first of the arcs was Sonny Steelgrave (Ray Sharkey). Sharkey gives his roll of a lifetime performance as the mobster Vinnie Terranova is assigned to investigate. Vinnie comes from the background where mobs were the norm, so his gaining Steelgrave's confidence is not hard. Keeping it is another matter. Steelgrave is paranoid when anything is mentioned about the FBI and sees agents lurking everywhere. Soon Vinnie is getting sucked into actually liking the man he is sent to bring down. Keeping Vinnie on the even keel and reminding him what he is there to do is Frank McPike Jonathan Banks and his check-in contact Lifeguard or "Uncle Mike" Jim Byrnes (Highlander). The writing is crisp and incisive, no black and whites drawn in characters, just a thousand shades of grey. Forewarned, music changes were made due to contacts which hurt the anticipation of people who know the series well...ie...NO Nights in White Satin ending. Was back in the days artists were thrilled to see the songs used - now it's show me the money...sigh! It's still a brilliant bit of work that was way ahead of it's time.
Rating:
Summary: How cool is this news!
Review: One of my favorite shows ever. Can't wait! Includes Wahl commentary and a gag reel. One note: According to KenWahl.com, a lot of the music used from the show will be replaced on the dvd because of costs issues.
Rating: 
Summary: Who Should I HATE????!!!!!!!!
Review: Should I hate the Moody Blues for being greedy
and not allowing "Nights in White Satin" on
the DVD---or should I hate Stephen J. Cannell
for being tooo stingy and not paying the royalty
to include that song?????? The scene between Vinnie and Sonny in the
last episode loses all its depth and power
without the song. I loved the show--I hate the DVD
Rating:
Summary: Genius! Brilliant!!!
Review: So many people never even saw this series. You thought the first season of "24" was good. I did too but this has it beat. Ken Wahl & Ray Sharkey. I guess we'll eventually get to Kevin Spacey & William Russ. An amazing year one. Then there's Stanley Tucci, Jerry Lewis and Tim Curry to look forward to but the first year was the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Show, Sneaky Pricing
Review: The first season of Wiseguy was, unquestionably, one of the great series seasons of all time. This was a 5 star show. But I can't give this chintzy DVD five stars in any way. Why do I have to pay $$$ to get only half of a season of a show from the 80s, when I can get the 2nd season of an existing show (Angel) for $$$, and a whole season of Highlander (from the 90s) for $$$? Now, I consider Angel a bargain, and I'll probably pay for this piece of Wiseguy (to have Ken Wahl and Ray Sharkey memorialized in digital quality may well be priceless), but why can't I have the whole season? The Sonny Steelgrave arc is emblazoned in my mind, but I want Mel & Suzie Profitt and Roger Lacoco, too! Kevin Spacey is AMAZING, Joan Severance may well be the most beautiful wacko ever on TV, and Wm. Russ is so many shades of gray you never knew what side he was on. . . . I WANT IT ALL! Isn't Stephen J. Cannell rich enough? That said, Ray Sharkey and Ken Wahl were riveting together, and "Frank," "The Lifeguard," Vinnie's mother, "Pat the Cat," and Sonny's fiance really made the arc a work of near genius. Sigh. I guess I'll buy it - even if I do feel ripped off - but I can't give it the stars that the whole season deserves. Signed, a Vinnie Fan in Texas
Rating: 
Summary: Great show with one big disappointment
Review: The show is still as powerful to watch as it was on TV with one giant exception. The loss of Nights in White Satin destroys the impact of the final episode. What a shame!!!! I would have not spent the money on the DVD if I had known the original music was gone. Wish they would reconsider and release the final episode as a stand alone DVD with the music restored. Don't blame the Moody Blues for the cost of NIWS. Justin Hayward signed away his rights to the song when he was young.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant series -- DVD reservations
Review: This has been one of my favorite TV shows for a long time now, and it is worth watching for the quality of the writing alone. When you add in the incredible actors they had working on it, it is unbeatable. I was over the moon when I heard it was coming out on DVD. Then I heard that some of the music from the series was to be cut -- most notably "Nights in White Satin" by the Moody Blues. This is disappointing, as the musical selections were well made, heightening the mood wonderfully. And now I see that what I thought was going to be a set of the full first season is probably only the first half? Admittedly, I haven't checked the prices of every TV show on DVD out there, but compared with other things I have purchased this seems to be running about twice what other sets cost. I was planning on ordering this right away, but now I am hesitant. I think I am going to wait to hear the reviews in case there are other things I should know about before investing quite so much money. *****
[Added later] I've just had a chance to look at this new package. It's really pretty in hand, and the transfers look good. The "gag reel" is pretty mediocre as these things go, and doesn't seem to warrant all the warnings (danger: offensive material) leading up to it. One gem: the interview with Jonathan Banks is great. He's an incredibly underrated actor (mostly by people who only ever saw him in "Otherworlds" and "Cold Steel"). I haven't yet had the courage to watch the scenes with their music changed. I'd like to know something, though -- just how quickly was this put together? The final Ray Sharkey ep is listed as "No One Get's Out of Here Alive" (Get's?????), and there are no chapter breaks in any of the episodes. That just seems sloppy. I won't gripe about Annette Bening's name on the box -- it's just there to sell an extra copy or two. I also don't understand the choice to add "People Do It All The Time" and "Meet Mike McPike" as the extras. Sure, they're standalone eps, but they come from much later in the series. And wouldn't it make more sense to pair "Call it Casaba" with "People Do It All The Time", as they deal with the same characters? Still, if you want good copies of the episodes, this is the only way to go. It's a brilliant series, and I want people watching it. But heck, doesn't it deserve just a little more effort?
Rating:
Summary: This is Where it All Began
Review: This incredible series started off almost unnoticed, yet by the end of the first season, everyone knew about "WISEGUY". From the casting to the writing to the directing to the performances, this series (with very few exceptions) was the best crime series of its day, & still holds up with the best of them almost 20 years hence. Very few shows these days haven't drawn on the original concept of "WISEGUY"'s multi-story arc format, & it's safe to say that shows such as "NYPD Blue" & "The Shield" owe much of their success to "WISEGUY. Personally, I can't wait for all the sets to come out on DVD (even though they're excluding some of the original VERY dynamic music)!! If you've not seen this series, you're doing yourself an enormous disservice.
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