Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

DVD/TV Series Review: Northern Exposure: Season 3

 



The 23-episode third season of Nothern Exposure aired during the 1991/1992 TV season. Season three is a mixed bag for Northern Exposure, both for the show itself and definitely for the US DVD release. This is the first full season of the show after finally getting a full series pickup after the two abbreviated seasons. The first two seasons were very short, just 7 and 8 episodes. It was aired as an off-season summer show in 1990 for its first season and aired a handful of episodes late in the 1991 TV season for its second season. This season gets a full run of 23 episodes and continues Joel's story arc but with a bit less of the fish-out-of-water aspect and more of an acclimating to the town and the people storyline. The show also focused on the other residents and the overall quirkiness of everyone who lived there. It also did the will-they or won't-they story arc with Joel and Maggie to the extreme, having them seem like almost a couple in one episode and back to loathing each other the next. This is also the season where the contractual issues between Rob Morrow and the showrunners/producers started, leading to his role in the show being reduced and eventually writing him out of the series.

The big issue with this season's DVD release is the music. As most know, music was a critical part of the show, and certain songs were selected to tie into or wrap up the episodes' storylines. Universal, the company that owned the rights to the US DVD releases, did not want to pay for the rights to some of the original songs; they just replaced them with horrible canned instrumental music that rivaled Elevator Musak in quality. The first season had all the original music, and the second season had most or all of the original music, depending on which release you got. However, season three (and the subsequent season releases) replaces much of the music, which is more noticeable with each release. One good thing about this season's DVD release is that they eliminated the awful double-sided DVDs used for the first and second season releases.

The DVD extras include deleted and expanded scenes for most (if not every) episode, unexposed scenes (which amounts to basically a gag reel), and lost storylines (which are really more deleted scenes. There are no commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes material, or the like.

This season does have some outstanding episodes, for example, the season premier in which we meet Adam's (Adam Arkin) wife, appropriately named Eve (played wonderfully by Valerie Mahaffey), an episode in which Joel and Maggie are stranded in the wilderness, an episode in which a small traveling circus troupe is temporarily stranded in Cicely, an episode in which Joel gets adopted into a tribe by a tribal elder, and an episode that flashes back to the founders of Cicely.

The season is very good, but the DVD release leaves much to be desired. The acting and writing are great, and the show continued to put things on TV that other shows at the time did not (e.g., lesbian relationships, Native American themes, etc.). It was not always politically correct, and some things would not fly today. The US releases are fine if you do not care about the music issue. But, if you really want to see the show as it aired and with the best picture quality, picking up the Region 2 Blu-Ray is the best option (if you can find a copy and are willing to pay the increased price).

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