FEATURE: B
I’ve got fond, though hazy, memories of Dr. Katz from when I was younger. The Squigglevision animation and weird style made an impression, not to mention how jarring it is to go from, say, your average Saturday morning cartoon to more grown-up fare like this. Dr. Katz, his son Ben, and his receptionist Laura were interesting and quirky characters, and instantly easy to relate to.

The majority of the Best of Dr. Katz is made up of the therapy sessions featuring various stand-up comedians. Each episode would feature a different comedian or actor who would then air out their issues on Dr. Katz’s couch. Often, these sessions were reworked stand-up routines, or found their way into later stand-up routines. Sometimes, they are a little too familiar. Dave Chappelle’s routine in particular is going to be a little old to stand-up aficianados.

Despite that, it’s still a fairly funny set. While there are moments of outright hilarity, but this set of Dr. Katz segments is more about the creeping comedy, rather than something that will make you fall down in laughter. You smile most of your way through the disc, but you don’t quite reach the point where you’re in tears.

There are eighteen segments on the disc, which vary in length and scope. While this is a Best Of… collection, I’m not so sure that these are the best of the best. Some of the sets are hit or miss, while others are just miss.

It’s a good disc, but it feels a little light. I understand what the point of the set is, but there’s little to no continuity between episodes, which gives the entire affair a weird feel. It’s very disjointed and there’s no real rhythm in watching.

With most TV shows, you get into something of a rhythm while watching. Title card, twenty-two minutes, credits, next episode teaser, and then you repeat the process. With The Best of Dr. Katz, you end up hopping around a little too much. It feels like a feature length movie, since all of the credit sequences are saved for the very end of the disc. I was left feeling like I had to watch the entire thing in one sitting, rather than pulling up my favorite bits and watching them one at a time.

Just for the record, the actors in the eighteen segments are Dave Attell, Dave Chappelle, Margaret Cho, Louis C.K., David Cross, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovny, Susie Essman, Janeane Garofalo, Kathy Griffin, Denis Leary, Richard Lewis, Kevin Nealon, Conan O’Brien, Patton Oswalt, Brian Regan, Ray Romano, and Sarah Silverman. It’s an impressive line-up and stacked with talent. I think that Conan O’Brien and the two Daves ended up with the funniest segments.

PRESENTATION: C-

The presentation is fairly barebones. All of the menus function as expected, and there is an easter egg on the Bonus Features menu, but the menus are pretty bland. There is a Play All option on the main menu, and the Sessions menu opens up an alphabetically-sorted list of sessions. Selecting a session plays the segment and then returns you to this menu.

I mentioned the choppiness of the pacing of the overall DVD earlier. I was trying to articulate this idea while watching the DVD, and only realized it when the credits came up. All of the credits for each episode had been shuffled to the back end of the DVD, and were not abridged at all. It’s an odd choice, and I’m not sure if it is due to licensing or contracts, but a combined credits sequence seems like it would have been a better idea and more smooth than a bunch of nearly identical sequences set one after the other.

While most of the disc is taken up with therapy sessions, there are a few extra segments in the bonus features that feature Ben & Laura specifically. They are good, but not great. However, these short bits are basically the extent of the extras.

When you add all of this together, the set feels jumbled together. There’s no introduction to set up each guest, no context, and no frills. You get a basic menu, a few extras, and not much else. It feels lackluster, particularly in the face of such an otherwise quality show. It seems like Dr. Katz as a show deserves more than this.

OVERALL: C+

I liked The Best of Dr. Katz, despite its shortcomings. It is a sharp disc and pretty funny. It’s interesting as a kind of time capsule, as well. A few of these actors were nowhere near as big then as they are now, Dave Chappelle and Sarah Silverman in particular. It’s neat to see the younger versions of actors and comedians who have since moved on to mega popularity, or vanished into near-obscurity. It’s just a shame that the total package isn’t as good as it should have been. The low price point helps a little, but not quite enough.