Year: 2010
Running Time: 59 minutes
Rated: Unrated
SRP: $19.99
Studio(s): Sub Pop Records
Release Date: May 25, 2010

Film/Feature: B–

On the main menu of David Cross: Bigger and Blackerer DVD, you’d think you’re about to watch a loud and boisterous Tom Jones concert, but instead you get the laid back, bearded Cross and an hour-long standup routine full of mild-mannered (but profanity-laden) observation humor that doesn’t discriminate. The deaf, religion, the airlines industry, green home products, junkies, potential date rape victims, anti-health care, anti-Obama-ists, “patriots,” Orthodox Jews, Mormons, Scientologists, Catholics amongst others are all fair game and many of them deserve the verbal lashing.

The feature is the mashing of two back-to-back concerts in Boston’s Wilbur Theatre, in the very town that Cross dropped out of college after one semester. It originally aired on the Epix Channel on April 10th. Since then Cross has paved a career writing for the Ben Stiller Show and starring in Waiting for Guffman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Tobias Funke in Arrested Development.

Cross is funny, but doesn’t bring the house down and you might find yourself chuckling and giggling through the routine, but not guffawing. Well, okay there is one person in the crowd who couldn’t breathe from laughing so hard because they cut to him often. It’s a funny, relevant standup act but probably won’t have you in tears nor make you feel like you just worked out with the Ab-flex.

Video/Audio: A– /B+
David Cross and his grisly beard can be seen in 480p encoded transfer in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. and there’s not a complaint that can be found with the transfer. Colors like the blue curtain behind Cross stand out with bright and bold intensity. While there is a slight bit of black crush, and graininess in the crowd shots, it’s a fine transfer for what the material is.

There’s a choice between the preferred 5.1 English Dolby Digital audio track or the 2.0 English Dolby Digital Stereo track. There are no subtitles available. Cross comes across clear and understandable, all of the whispers, breaths, and subtle emotive gestures and mumbles can be heard without too much straining. The stereo track is a bit more difficult to pick up on the subtleties and lacks the punch of the surround track.

Extras: C+
Much of the supplemental material are additional scenes from both concerts. Some of them really funny, others remotely so. Just like the rest of the disc. The only problem with all of the extras is the lack of 5.1 surround sound audio, only stereo.

An Existence predicated Upon Manufactured Necessity SD (8:04) Cross dips into the wealth of material that can be discovered in… the Sky Mall.

Live Blogging SD (3:35) Cross gets some help from his assistants to make fun of online critics.

An Unpopular Stance SD (2:15) tries to start out a bit that leads to finding out one of the audience members is a Dane Cook fan.

The Most Surreal Thing I’ve Ever Experienced SD (7:32) A funny closing story about Cross’ path involving getting high, sharpening knives, a cussing taxi driver and a Teddy Ruxpin doll.

How to Make Your Own Yogurt SD (2:42) David speaks with his mother about making hippie food.

Unnecessary Bonus Bullshit SD (7:02) a clip of Cross’ routine in Seattle, Wa in early 2004.

Easter Egg SD (1:57) Another snippet of the show with Cross moving tables and getting his microphone mixed up with his beer.

15 x 15 Poster A 15” x 15” foldout poster of the DVD Cover art is in the packaging sleeve.

Overall Shock Value: C+
Upon a second viewing, Bigger and Blackerer grew to be a stronger performance, especially the religious bits. I do love a good thumping of the bible and its most faithful of followers. The feature itself is on the short side, even for a comedy concert. I was hoping for 90 minutes and then some, but definitely dive into those extras because for one, they’re funny; and two, they help stretch out the short running time.

There is also a CD of the same name which features some different material (such as the sing along song “The Sultan’s Revenge” and Cross’ gastro-intestinal misadventures), as well as some overlap. So if you find Cross tickling your ribs with this dry wit, you may want to give this a spin as well. Given the lack of length, I’m going to recommend this as a Rent It! rating for the casual and curious. But longtime David Cross fans should find no trouble adding this to his other CDs It’s Not Funny (2004) and Shut Up, You Fucking Baby! (2002) and DVDs Let America Laugh.

Year: 2009
Running Time:
Rated: PG-13
SRP: DVD:$34.95 Blu-Ray: $39.99
Studio(s): Paramount Studios
Release Date: November 17, 2009

Pop Culture Shock usually gets the blu-ray of such big studio releases but due to limited material PCS was given the DVD to screen. I will try to list the differences where possible.

Film/Feature: B-
In an attempt to recharge the Star Trek franchise, Paramount handed the bridge of the USS Enterprise over to director/producer J.J. Abrams (Fringe, Cloverfield). His goal was to do what devoted Trekkers and Trekkies didn’t want to hear. “Let’s make a movie that EVERYONE will like.” He not only recharged it, he hit reboot and started over. Rather than dance in between what’s been already done, Abrams and crew created a film that tells the story of what happened before. No this is not Enterprise and Scott Bakula is nowhere to be seen. We get something completely different, and a little familiar…

In the start of Star Trek, we are witnesses to a young James T. Kirk being born after a tragic Starfleet battle with Romulan renegades leave his mother a widow. Now a young man (Chris Pine) Kirk is a reckless young man who is as much a ladies man, as he is an unpredictable force who lives hanging by a thread. Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) rescues Kirk from himself and tells him to enlist into Starfleet and do his father proud. He indulges Pike and meets Bones (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoë Saldana), Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Sulu (John Cho) and a young first commander, Spock (Zachary Quinto). Later Kirk meets up rather conveniently with Scotty (Simon Pegg).

This cast does rekindle the original cast members. The spirit of each character is retained, instead of being made into caricatures or impressions. Clever homages are made to the original series, dozens of easter eggs for the most faithful of fans and there’s even a special moment for those who hold Fred Steiner’s original score close to their heart for the patient. As far as the look, the set design, and the acting, I cannot complain one bit. Seriously, a big time score for that! Goal #1: Satisfy old Trekkers. Check. For now.

Now in a year one-type story, we know how everything plays out. We know what will eventually happen. So it’s set up that we get to see what is unknown that will lead up to the 1960′s television show timeline. Kirk, before he becomes captain; Pike, when he was bad ass; Good-looking versions of the cast; Uhura and Spock together? Wait, WHAT? Goal #2: Satisfy Non-Trekkers lured in. Check.

Star Trek’s antagonist is Captain Nero (a well-cloaked Eric Bana), the leader of this band of Romulan extremists. They’ve got some major bone to pick with the Vulcans and connect a digging tool the length of the entire atmosphere, from their ship to planet Vulcan. After digging into the core, they plan to set off a black hole bomb if you will, within the excavated land. The hole grows, Vulcan implodes. Spock attempts to save his parents, Sarek (Ben Cross) and Amanda Grayson (Winona Ryder) before the bomb detonates, but he fails and Spock is met with a great loss. This Spock is still green, and still bears the few ounces of the emotions from his human mother, while fighting logically-rooted genes of his Vulcan father. Tempers flare and it’s anyone’s guess how these two will become great friends. As they argue about, Pike has been captured and Earth is Nero’s next target.

Kirk is kicked off the Enterprise and banished to a polar planet where he discovers the chain reaction of events that have lead us to this point. Which brings us to the pivotal point in the film, where the main character comes in. No, I’m not talking about Leonard Nimoy (which surely sent Goal #1 through the roof), I’m talking about the science. Nimoy does in fact reprise his role as the iconic Vulcan from the future; as we know him. He reveals his own recent failure, and sums up in two minutes the entire crux of the story and why Nero is out to make him suffer. Reminds you of another time-traveling sci-fi franchise film, no? (cough) Terminator Salvation (cough). The film was winning me me over until then.

Here is where Star Trek falls short for me. Good sci-fi films don’t tiptoe around the science, they fold it into their mortar and slap it in between the bricks. Good science fiction makes you think about the film long after seeing it, opening discussion points that weren’t there on the surface. Whether it’s about humanity, diplomacy, history; Star Trek is usually about much more than Vulcans, Klingons, and Romulans. Bad sci-fi fails at becoming anything other than what we see on the surface. Star Trek is on the surface is bad guy vs. good guy; cue in lots of action with redemption and destiny; everyone goes home rich type of film. It’s fun, it was enjoyable, but it certainly was not a Star Trek film.

I give credit on casting and upping the pace of the film to the campy speed of the original Star Wars films because now both sets of fans can enjoy this film together. Abrams turned Star Trek into A New Hope. It’s not a traditional Star Trek story or even a classic. It’s a sparkling, lens flare-filled, year one-conduit to whatever Trek will become from here on out. Abrams admits he’s not a Star Trek fan, (it shows) and tells a story that takes convenient measures to separate from the original series. Being called Pre-Trek might have been more accurate.

Now, does that make this less of an enjoyable film? To average movie-goer, probably not. But certainly, if you were expecting anything more than an action film. The science is an integral part to Star Trek, and the science here is weak. Everything in the film is held together by the weak use of time travel. This story negates the history of Star Trek as we know it, and stuffs it into some alternative time or universe. For what reason? To get a new audience. And no one can deny its accomplishment in that, so to millions, the lack of science fiction made it more inviting. I get that, I recognize that, and that’s acceptable, in anything outside a film called Star Trek.

Video/Audio: B+/B+
J.J. Abram’s Star Trek comes by way of a 480p encoded transfer in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio. For a DVD, this looks great, as the colors and details of fabric, to skin are all very clear. It’s not crystal clear like on blu-ray, but for those with high definition televisions but no blu-ray should still be able to take advantage of the nice picture quality here. The blacks of space are like an endless abyss and the contrast and shadows are powerfully reproduced. The soundtrack for Star Trek on DVD is a 5.1 English Dolby Digital track that is sure to get some great play in a home theater. Lots of activity moves all around all five channels whether it’s music or sound effects. Pop in chapter 12 when Kirk and Spock are beamed onto the Romulan Ship. The gun battle that ensues is awesome. Laser beams from every direction whiz by, stuff explodes behind your head and even though it’s with less dynamic range, the DVD pumps out a respectable audio experience. Other audio selections include: French and Spanish tracks and yellow subtitles are available in English, French, Spanish

Given everything said here, the blu-ray promises to be even better. At 1080p, the HD transfer is sure to be sparkling and awesome. As should be the 5.1 English Dolby TrueHD soundtrack found on the blu-ray. Audio-wise, Star Trek should perform at a maximum level, with a large dynamic range that will generate excitement in home theaters for years. In addition to the above setups, Portuguese subtitles are available on blu-ray.

Extras: B-
This batch of extras is not bad when you consider what’s on here, but if you take a look at the blu-ray exclusives, the DVD pales in comparison.

Disc One:
Audio Commentary by director J.J. Abrams, writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and Producers Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof is of a casual nature. They reveal their approach at modernizing Star Trek, and gloss on their efforts as they watch the film. Bringing on Nimoy was a big topic of disussion as well as lots of classic Star Wars references into the plot, and amongst other things, bringing in the charming sensibilities of Star Wars into Star Trek.

New Vision SD (19:38) Abrams took what he liked about the Star Wars franchise (as sacrilegious as that statement is) and put that into Star Trek, to reinvent it to appeal a modern audience. He wanted to make it look as real by doing as much practical shooting as possible instead of being on a green screen. Abrams gives his reasons for shooting anamorphically instead of digitally, as well as, some of his camera tricks.

Gag Reel SD (6:28) is some mildly amusing usual outtakes and on-set silliness.

Previews for Transformers 2, GI Joe, Fringe, Star Trek D-A-C.

Disc Two
Deleted Scenes SD (13:38) Nine scenes that were taken out of the final cut have an optional commentary by Abrams, Bryan Burk, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof. They can be viewed separately or all together. They include: Spock Birth (1:58); Klingons Take Over Narada (0:46); Young Kirk, Johnny and Uncle Frank (1:35); Amanda and Sarek Argue After Spock Fights (0:38), Prison Interrogation and Breakout (3:08); Sarek Gets Amanda (0:22); Dorm Room and Kobayashi Maru (Original Version) (3:59), Kirk Apologizes to the Green Girl (0:54); Sarek Sees Spock (0:15).

To Boldly Go SD (16:45) is a featurette about the production crew and the influence of (or lack thereof) original series in their modernization of Star Trek, as they as a team tried to answer all the questions that were sure to come in revamping the series like creating a Spock and Kirk story, the classic prequel pitfalls. Changing the timeline. Perhaps the most crucial in this team, and as seen by the finished product is, “How do we make a film for everyone?” and somehow missed the major part of “What Makes a Good Trek Film?” by taking out the sci-fi element of the film.

Casting SD (28:58) Asks how do you get new characters and create something new while appreciating the original cast. Quinto and Nimoy explore the psychology of the Spock, and every other cast member is put under the magnifying glass.

Aliens SD (16:34) is a short feature on the costumes, prosthetic head forms, digital creatures and recreating the Vulcans and Romulans for Star Trek.

Score SD (6:34) is a look at the score composed by Michael Giacchino retaining the original melody by

A Digital Copy of the film is included in the extras disc.

Star Trek: D-A-C Game Trial for XBOX 360 users. To play the trial, you insert the extras disc into your XBOX 360 and follow the onscreen instructions.

Blu-Ray Exclusives
Where do I begin? I don’t have the blu-ray available to rate how good or bad these extras are, but I will list them for you to make the decision whether or not they add more value to your purchase. Personally, with this much added material, you’d be dumb not to save the pennies for the blu-ray.

Disc One
NASA News is a BD-Live feature to access the latest NASA news about real space exploration.

Disc Two
The same featurettes in the DVD are here too, but have additional “branching pods” that I suspect are added material.

To Boldly Go
-The Shatner Conundrum
-Red Shirt Guy
-The Green Girl
-Trekker Alert

A New Vision
-Savage Pressure

Aliens
-The Alien Paradox
-Big Eyed Girl
-Big Bro Quinto
-Klingons
-Drakoulias Anatomy 101

Planets is a featurette on the art department’s frozen landscape of Delta Vega to the desert plains of Vulcan.
-Extra Businesses
-Confidentiality

Ben Burtt and the Sounds of Star Trek brings legendary Hollywood sound designer Ben Burtt on to talk about creating sounds for the original Star Wars film by being inspired by the Star Trek series, and got to use all of that on this new film.

Props and Costumes shows Russell Bobbitt, Star Trek’s prop master and the challenge to design props true to the original series as well as today’s tech. Michael Kaplan then reveals the design of his costumes in making timeless and practical Starfleet uniforms.

Gene Roddenberry’s Vision interviews cast and crew and previous Star Trek writers and producers and even scientific consultant Carolyn Porco speaking well of Gene’s vision for this future world.

Starfleet Vessel Simulator gives users 360-degree views and close-ups of tech illustrations of the USS Enterprise, and the Romulan ship, the Narada.

Disc Three
In addition to the Digital Copy and XBOX 360 Free Trial, there are Weblinks to the Star Trek D-A-C Free Trial Game for PC and Playstation Network.

Overall Shock Value: B-
Damon Lindelof says in the extras, “This series lasted only three seasons, so it’s not a matter of how did Star Trek succeed all these years but instead, how did it survive?” It’s simple, Damon. I believe it survived like any good science fiction story. Because they were good science fiction stories that were much more than what was on the surface of what our eyes can see on the big screen. The shows continued to open all of these great lessons of humanity, allegories, and wisdoms but did so in the sci-fi vehicle. Abrams’ Star Trek does none of that. I agree that these stories were executed through these great characters, so in rebooting Star Trek, Abrams and crew achieved that perfectly. But the weakness of the science makes this a good film, not a great film. It’s a fine action film, but it’s definitely not a science fiction film. So it’s not really a Star Trek film, to me. Hopefully, for the sequel with all of the characters re-established, we’ll get to see a real Star Trek film that has to rely on the science instead of the action; or maybe we’ll just see another attempt to water down something that was uncool for the cool. As for the DVD, I would try to push anyone who’s thinking of buying this to upgrade to the blu-ray. The extras included, as well as the perfectly rich audio and video experience is well worth the extra dollars, almost pushing it into an overall B+ or A- grade. But if you’re stuck with the DVD, it’s not a bad consolation.

FEATURE: A+
I first saw Tropic Thunder in San Diego during Comic-con International with my PCS compatriot Howard Brown. Roughly fifteen seconds into the movie, we were already reduced to laughing so hard there were tears streaming down our face. When I had to recommend the movie to skeptical friends, I told them that the first ten minutes was funnier than any comedy they’d seen in the past two years, and it was all uphill from there. Every single person I recommended it to came back to me and said “You were right.”

Tropic Thunder’s high concept is an easy and familiar one: a director wants to make the greatest war movie ever and runs into problems. What makes it special is that director’s cast. Ben Stiller’s Tugg Speedman is an action movie star who needs to reignite his career, or else. Jack Black’s Jeff Portnoy needs a role lacking in fart jokes in order to earn some respect. Robert Downey Jr’s Kirk Lazarus is an Academy Award-winner looking for another statue. Brandon Jackson’s Alpa Chino is a rapper turned actor, with all the drama and swagger that entails. Jay Baruchel plays the ostensible straight man of the crew as Kevin Sandusky, a new actor eager for a good role.

The director drags his cast out to the deep jungle of Vietnam in order to both teach them a lesson in not being amazing crybabies and to get some excellent guerilla footage. Things go wrong pretty much immediately, and the actors have to band together in order get back to safety.

Where Tropic Thunder shines isn’t in its plot, which works, but is fairly predictable. It’s in the character exchanges. Four-fifths of the main cast are completely self-absorbed and caught up in their own problems or hang-ups. The other fifth is just desperate to be liked.

The comedy comes from the interactions between all of them. Jay Baruchel’s endless monologues about movie history minutia punctuate a couple of scenes, and seal him as the guy who is trying really, really hard to be a friend to everyone and anyone. Jack Black’s dope addiction provides a lot of fun pratfalls and screwed-up scenes for our enjoyment. Ben Stiller’s desperate action moviestar is so fraught with insecurity and lonelines that just looking at him is funny.

One thing I loved that Tropic Thunder isn’t afraid to do is to let a scene sit for a moment. There are reaction shots to funny scenes that just add to the comedy. Characters pull faces, especially Jay Baruchel, that tell you exactly what they’re thinking, but also remind you exactly how ridiculous the cast is.

I was hard pressed to find just one thing I loved the most out of the movie. The leader of the bad guys of the film is well-acted, funny, and gets a few amazing shots, particularly when he pulls out an RPG. Jay Baruchel’s rookie actor was excellent. Alpa Chino was fun and appropriately over the top. Ben Stiller was great.

One of my favorite things, but not my most favorite, is the interaction between Robert Downey Jr and Brandon Jackson. Their relationship is obviously going to be racially tinged, and no holds are barred. What sells it is Downey’s completely earnest performance. He isn’t insulting or pandering. He’s playing his role, which is a pompous award-winning Australian actor’s idea of what a ’60s era black sergeant was like. It burns Alpa Chino, and they have it out more than once.

Basically, the movie is hilarious. It’s hard to pin down one exact reason why, because the entire feature is so solid. I’ve seen it three times at this point, and I still laughed at jokes I knew were coming.

PRESENTATION: A
What’s great about the Blu-ray menus is that they are, at first glance, just like the menus you’d see on a real war movie. You see flashes of the film on a dark background, sparse menus, and very pared down design. Once you’ve seen the movie, you will understand the absurdity of the situation, but the menus are extremely fun. They aren’t layered with a lot of excess animation or anything to slow down hopping into the movie. The video that plays during the menus is surprisingly lengthy, as well, which just shows the care that went into the planning.

The Blu-ray case is right out of the past, too. Other than a note that it’s a Director’s Cut, the case looks like a legit war movie. There’s a grinning skull as part of a military-ish patch design, and it all looks very proper and blockbuster-y. There’s just the barest hint of the comedy that lies within.

The submenus are fast to activate and easy to navigate, which is always a plus. I never ran into that annoying situation where my cursor is at one point on the screen and I can’t figure out how to get it where it needs to be.

Tropic Thunder is just an attractive package from the box art down to the menus.

EXTRAS: A+
Tropic Thunder’s director’s cut has some 20-odd extra minutes, so I kept an eye out for them. Other than one added scene, which runs about five minutes long, early in the film, the rest of the edits come in the form of extending already existing scenes. You get more lines, more room to breathe, and more jokes.

Tropic Thunder is a fast-moving movie, so I didn’t really notice the extended time. While the Director’s Cut is certainly watchable, I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s a better movie than the theatrical cut, but they do provide slightly different experiences. If you’ve seen Tropic Thunder at all, the Director’s Cut is well worth it, if only for the second Jay Baruchel rant.

There are an obscene amount of extras that round out the Blu-ray disc. There are two separate commentaries, one for the cast and one for the crew, and that’s just the beginning. From there, you can choose to watch vignettes on each major character, or perhaps a make-up test for Tom Cruise.

There’s a bit called 8 Minutes of Hell, which are Robert Downey Jr and Ben Stiller acting out a scene from late in the movie. The majority of the scene was improvised and the final cut was perhaps a minute long. They do the scene over and over, with changes each time. Downey regularly cracks up Stiller, forcing them to do it all over from the top.

There’s a long mockumentary called Rain of Madness included on the disc, as well. It’s all filmed in-character and as if the movie were real. It isn’t as laugh out loud funny as the main feature, but it’s a different kind of comedy. It’s more subdued and irony based than Tropic Thunder itself.

There’s enough extra content here to keep you busy for a couple of days at least, and that’s not even counting the commentary. As far as being worthy of a Blu-ray disc goes, Tropic Thunder is top notch. Some of the extras are worth the price of admission alone, and getting all of them along with the film is a steal.

OVERALL: A+
Tropic Thunder is my pick for comedy of the year. Nothing else even came close to making me laugh as long or hard as Tropic Thunder did. I’d even go so far as to place it in the top three films of the year, after only Dark Knight and Iron Man.

It simply hits on all cylinders. The straightforward slapstick comedy is played completely straight, the grossout comedy delightlfully revels in itself, the offensive comedy is played so amazingly straight that you have to laugh, and the more subtle comedy will keep a grin on your face for those brief moments when you aren’t laughing outright. In a word, Tropic Thunder is excellent.

Feature: A?

If you’ve never seen Sarah Silverman’s stand-up routine or her ridiculous television show, The Sarah Silverman Program, then all you have to do is catch one episode from the very beginning. Silverman describes the show is about her, her dog Doug, and her real sister, Laura who is a nurse. Laura dates a cop (Jay Johnston) who no one likes. Her neighbors and good friends, Brian (Brian Posehn) and Steve (Steve Agee) are gay stoners who spend all day playing video games. Together they often find themselves in bizarre situations and half-baked adventures. Here’s a brief taste of what I mean.

Episode 1: Brian and Steve argue over Dungeons and Dragons while Sarah leads a group of extreme pro-lifers to shut down an abortion clinic, until they find out that she’s aborted a few babies herself.

Episode 2: Curiosity killed the cat, but here it put Sarah in a world of trouble and Doug is separated from her when she decided taste for herself, just how good a dog’s asshole could be. Meanwhile, Brian and Steve discuss their commitment to each other.

Episode 3: In “Face Wars,” Sarah bets her waiter at her local diner that it’s harder living life as a Jew than as an African-American. After a visit to a makeup artist who paints her in blackface, she understands just how quick people are judge her on face value.

Episode 4: When their mother’s grave site and remains has been violated, Sarah and Laura go on their favorite TV show, Cookie Party to try and win money to replace her tombstone.

Episode 5: Tucker Smallwood reprises his role as God and hooks back up with Sarah. But when he begins to resemble a needy boyfriend she uses him to impress others at her high school reunion. Brian and Steve contemplate giving up the chronic but at what cost?

Episode 6: Sarah finds out she can be a terrible person when she fires her maid, Dora and gets her deported on the suspicion of stealing one of her dolls. It turns out Sarah needed Dora more than she thought and must go down to Mexico to convince her to come back.

The cast and crew is comprised of Mr. Show grads and Silverman’s comedy friends. Posehn and Agee deliver some of the show’s best laugh-out-loud moments and Silverman will charm the pants off you with her cute tomboy looks and then leave you gaping after dealing a vulgar blow. Many of the stories come from Sarah’s demented childhood and wicked mind but also someone who indy comics fan know, Rob Schrab, of Scud The Disposable Assassin fame. He is the director of the show, a writer, and makes a small role as Mini Coffee, who’s best experienced on screen rather than any description I can come up with. It’s a show that’s understated as unique and best taken as a piece of Sarah Silverman.

There’s no exaggeration in my summaries and if you found yourself giggling reading them, then this show’s for you. On the contrary, if you didn’t find the synopses amusing, then you might want to move along. Comedy is such a subjective thing, and in no way is Silverman’s comedy is for everyone–especially those easily offended. She balances the tightrope of absurd silliness and smart satire but has carved her own brand of funny capitalizing on stereotypes, current events, and sensitive touchstones. Dave Chappelle’s not the only one who can do it right and in some instances I think Silverman takes it further and you go, “did she really go there?” You’ll feel guilty at first for laughing but it’s contagious and once it’s started, nothing feels better than a hard, tearing laugh at something as screwy as this. 

PRESENTATION, AUDIO, and VIDEO: B

A slipcase holds two slim cases that each house a DVD. The menus are plain simple, but appropriate. It’s standard TV affair at Dolby Digital 2.0 so there’s nothing there to surround you. But it’s a dialogue-driven comedy show so there’s no reason to expect any more than that. There are no other audio options. The Sarah Silverman Program is colorful and looks as clear as a DVD can look. Nothing’s been altered to the point of aggravation and the aspect ratio is full-frame 1:66:1.

EXTRAS: B

For a TV show we get a lot of things to open up?but don’t be mislead?a lot of them are really short lasting 2 minutes or less. On Disc One, there are seven audio commentaries for five of the six episodes and is broken down like this: Sarah and Laura Silverman do commentaries on eps. 1 and 4, Laura Silverman and Jay Johnston on episode 3. director Rob Schrab and executive producer Daniel Sterling on eps. 4 and 5, Brian Posehn and Steve Agee cover eps. 5 and 6.

The Good: the Posehn and Agee tracks are well-worth a listen; they keep the conversation going and varied. Schrab and Sterling also turn in solid ones too because again, find plenty to talk about, shedding some light on working on such a wild and creative show. The Bad: These episodes are about 25 minutes each, but with the amount of dead spots in the sisters’ commentaries, you’d think they were 25 hours each. The ladies really struggled to put hold your attention. The Ugly: two episodes have two commentaries and episode two didn’t even have one. What happened there?

The biggest and best extra on the second disc is the 2007 Comic-Con Q&A (29:33) after the first season. Moderated by the very dry and witty Zach Galifianakis, this gives fans a taste of the Comic-Con experience where the success of these panels depend on the strength of audience questions and the panelists being able to play off of them. With this cast, the answers start straight but they go on tangents and go south fast. And by south I mean vulgar and funny. On one creepy note, whenever Jay Johnston answers a question his answers tends to create awkward moments or quiet the room–completely.

Two Digital Shorts are a few skits designed for the DVD release. The first is a fantastically silly uncensored animated short featuring our favorite gay duo in Steve and Brian’s Basement Adventure (2:40). It’s silly, like everything else, but it’s short. A poltergeist with an unpublished screenplay haunts Brian’s New Office (1:57) In the fourth episode we got to see a clip of Sarah’s favorite TV show, Cookie Party. There’s three more episodes of the uncensored cartoon hosted by Mini Coffee (Rob Schrab) and Ookie. They’re insanely funny and inane shorts about scrumptious cookies that come alive and fart to save the day. Cookies Come Alive Part I (3:44) Michael Cookieson fends off the evil Crookie who wants his talking cookies. In Part II (4:15) Michael builds a robotic oven but the cookies aren’t having anything to do with it. Part III (4:27) The cookies get drunk. If you ever see the Cookie Video Game (1:00) on the shelves, do not buy it, I repeat, Do not buy it!

Last but not least are the eight behind-the-scene clips, again most at or around two minutes feel like skits that were drawn up to just film for fun but were never designed to see network airing. They’re made just for the fans. The best of the lot are the interviews with cast members done by Michael Smith who is anything but a professional journalist leading to very awkward moments.

SILVER IS GOLDEN – OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: B+

Whether you first so her in The Aristocrats or from F-ing Matt Damon, Sarah Silverman knows how to manufacture laughs. It’s hard not to like her -even if just a little bit – and her show is damn funny. It’s dark-roasted laughs from a sassy, sexy Jewess, and every episode that airs is a miracle it doesn’t ruffle more feathers in our seemingly overly conservative society. But all comedy comes with personal barometer for each viewer and their experiences. Some stuff may go sailing over your head, and other jokes hit the bulls-eye every time. I only wish that Comedy Central release this as one box set instead of splitting it up into two volumes. This DVD release is sure to please the already-converted and loyal congregation that laughs under the church of Silverman and may find those looking for something fresh and funny to arrive at an epiphany.