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Get a Life - Vol. 1

Get a Life - Vol. 1

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $15.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What a Gyp!
Review: For some reason I remembered this show as being really funny, but these four episodes are so not! The only comical part is in the opening theme, where he's staring at the woman while riding his bike and runs head-on into a parked car. The rest is about as unfunny as Cabin Boy. Maybe there are funny episodes later in the series, but somehow I doubt it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!
Review: For some reason, I remember this show as being hilariously funny back in 1990. Two things must have happened since then: either I remember only the good episodes--unlikely since there appears to be none, or I suffered from a seriously juvenile sense of humor. Unfortunately, I think the latter is correct. This DVD is a complete waste of $20. How Chris Elliott EVER got his own show is beyond comprehension, although I suspect a casting couch and a pact with the devil were involved.

As far as productions go, the four episodes presented here are bottom-of-the-barrel amateurish fare: "Prettiest Week Of My Life" has its short moments of brilliance but too many unfunny minutes go by in the process, "Bored Straight" suffers from unbelievably forced acting (looks more like a rehearsal than an actual shoot), "Spewey And Me" is insultingly stupid and mind-rotting (not to mention completely unfunny...there's not a laugh to be found in this one), and while "Girlfriend 2000" is the better episode of the lot it's not enough to justify or even sustain the other three episodes.

Technically, the DVD image is a bit grainy and lacks crispness. It looks as if they taped it directly from a television during the original broadcast and copied the whole thing onto a DVD. The chapter access feature is standard. The laugh tracks can be turned off on three of the four episodes: it is this feature that reveals how really awful this show is...without the laugh tracks, the juvenile scripts are glaringly unfunny. Finally, the previously-unseen "bonus" footage has been unseen up until now for a very good reason: it's terrible!

Avoid this DVD. Save your money for something else.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Greatest thing since girls!!!!
Review: I can't believe they released this DVD. I am so lucky. I never imagined that episodes from this series would ever be released on DVD. I have almost never been so happy to be wrong (#1: when I was little I thought girls were icky). I remember the episode "Spewy" from so long ago when it aired and it is still great. The other episodes are quality ones as well. There were dud episodes in the series as a whole but these are all great. If you don't like Chris Elliot's and his writers' humor then you probably can't even read so I won't get into cut-downs here but if someone is reading this for you then call me at ____________ for some big-league snaps. But seriously, my mother loved the series as much as me and she was drunk half the time so it appeals to all kinds. Bob Odenkirk of "Mr. Show" semi-fame even wrote two episodes for Get A Life though neither of them is in this DVD or the next available DVD so it's just trivia I guess. The paperboy character Chris plays is such a great fit for his style and you know Brian Doyle-Murray [as "Ted" in 1st episode on the DVD ("Prettiest Week") and as "Gus" in second season episodes (last 2 on this DVD)] is always kickin' out the jams. Oh, and Chris' real-life/TV dad is keepin' it real up in da field as usual with an extra sumthin' sumthin' for all the olde tymey "Bob and Dave" fans out there.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Oh¿ My¿ God!
Review: I didn't remember many of the details about "Get A Life" when it was on TV - just that Chris Elliott was a major looser as a 30-year-old paper boy living in a garage. And that it was one of the funniest shows I'd seen in a long time. So, I ordered the DVD, hoping to recapture the guilty enjoyment of a twisted comedy that I remembered.

All I can say is: Girlfriend 2000. Oh... My... God! THAT'S what was so funny about the show! The episode opens with Chris on his bike, getting plowed down by an SUV. He ends up falling in love with the driver after she re-sets his mangled legs and repairs his totaled bike on the spot, and sets out on a stalking spree. Animotion's "Obsession" playing while he follows her around is pure brilliance. This is the forth episode, and it's about here where Elliot really finds his character.

The other three are very good as well, especially "Spewy and Me" which features a projectile-vomiting alien. All through the show he's throwing up, and it just gets funnier and funnier! Please Rhino, PLEASE may we have another?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Truly Sick Show. I Loved It.
Review: I enjoy off-the-wall humor, so American television has been pretty much a barren wasteland to me on that score since, oh, let's say 80s-vintage Saturday Night Live, Letterman's defection to CBS, Police Squad! and Get A Life.

"Get A Life" was a show that boasted no aspirations other than to be as thoroughly stupid as it possibly could be. On that score, mission accomplished. I found it infinitely more enjoyable than what passes as "situation comedy" these days. That may be the reason why "Get A Life" wrapped after just over 30 episodes -- it was a sitcom that parodied sitcoms. From the director, Dwayne "Dobie Gillis" Hickman, to his real-life dad as his sitcom Dad, to his sitcom Mom, Eleanor Donahue ("Father Knows Best"), the concept seemed to be designed solely to poke fun at the genre at large.

The shows on this DVD are from the 2nd season which added Brian Doyle-Murray to the cast. While I don't consider these to be the best of the shows, I'm still grateful for their reissue on DVD, and I hope more volumes with earlier shows will follow.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disappointed in Life
Review: I just found Rhino's release of Chris Elliot's old show, "Get A Life". I had seen a handful of the thirty-four episodes that were made, back in the early 90's, but I loved what I had seen, and mourned that the show only lasted a couple of seasons. I looked forward to getting it on video, but never found it. So I waited patiently... Last night, my girlfriend and I couldn't wait to get home to watch the show we missed so much. We watched, slack-jawed as it became grossly apparent that it is an awful show. Just terrible. The lighting is fake, the acting takes they used looked like rehersals, and the writing made Battlefield Earth seem like The Illiad! Blecch! If you remembered how great the show was, and how ahead of its time, etc. go rent it from NetFlix or even buy a copy. Awful.... Why did I remember it being so amazing?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Do not buy this dvd
Review: I made a claim to my friends that Get a Life was one of the funniest shows I had ever seen. (I was only about 13 or so when it was on television.) I was excited when I got this DVD and extremely embarrassed when my friends and I started watching it. The jokes make me sick. Thank God Rhino gave the option to turn off the laughtrack or else I don't think I would've been able to watch it for more than a few minutes. The funniest part of the whole thing is seeing Chris get run over by a car. We all cheered at that part, but unfortunately he's invincible and can't be killed permanently.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chris Elliot: You'll either love him or HATE him!
Review: I remember watching this show when I was in 8th grade on Sunday nights! While not for all tastes, I can definitely say that there is some absolutely insane comedy genious at work here. Spewey and Me (remember the McDonald's ET rip off film "Mac and Me?") and Girlreind 2000 are the gems of this collection, but the others are incredibly funny as well. If you don't have an offbeat sense of humor, or do not conider yourself to be on the wacky side, I would recommend you stay away from this collection. Chris Elliot's humor is not for the masses, but those who dig it are in for a great treat. I watched this DVD with my girlfriend who never saw the show before, and she was utterly disgusted during Spewey and me, meanwhile I'm laughing like a bafoon. She went in the other room and wanted no part of the rest of the programs. Theres no fine line here, as judging from the reviews, youll either love it or hate it. By the way, Rhino is the coolest company ever...they brought back the Transformers to video and now the ever elusive, never syndicated (not to my knowledge) Get A Life show which ive missed since its cancellation in 92. They really put out that rare stuff that people like me want to see! I didnt have enough foresight to tape this show when it aired, so I definitely want more episodes released on DVD- especially "Zoo Animals On Wheels"!! Thats gotta be the series hallmark! Overall I think this was a great purchase- 4 episodes on one DVD! The picture quality wasnt that great, but you figure these episodes have been sitting around for years, and like George Lucas is going to remaster Get A Life in THX? It has the quality of the time, and it's worth it just to see the show again. I think the producers got a little silly with the laugh track though (laughing after EVERYTHING), but you can turn it off if you want. I dont mind it...it kind of adds to the bizarre nature of the show. Any Chris Elliot fan will love seeing this cult classic again!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not as good as I remembered
Review: I remembered this show as being the funniest thing I had ever seen, and I still stand by that review. I don't remember seeing any of these episodes the few times I was able to watch it on-air, though. If I had, I don't think I would have loved it so much. There are some great moments on this DVD, but most of the time it falls waaay short of the level of comedy I remember. I'm glad I bought the DVD and I will buy more if they come out but I was definitely diasppointed with their choice of episodes. Hopefully next time they'll do better.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Sadly Dull
Review: I remembered watching this show and laughing hysterically, but at the same time, I enjoyed Married with Children. It seems that my sense of humor has altered over the past 10 years. These episodes, some of which I remember enjoying during the original airdates, are astoundingly unfunny.

The four episodes, spanning two years of the show's original run, make it evident that Chris Elliott couldn't decide whether to play the character as a naive idiot or as a psychotic idiot. Unfortunately, the awkward mixture of the character types keeps him from exploring the extreme absurdity of either role. With the exception of a couple of throw-away lines from "Girlfriend 2000," Get a Life disappoints by wallowing far below the bar.

Rent if you must, or avoid at all cost.


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