Hey everyone,
I run a DVD review site (www.dvdlaunch.com) and today I receieved the first volume of "Family Guy" to review. I'm a big fan of the show, and while I haven't gone through everything yet, I figured I would post a few impressions of the set and what you should look forward to.
Yes, it does contain the first 28 episodes spread over four discs (7 episodes per disc). The packaging is your standard cardboard case, but each disc is housed inside a mini DVD case. These cases are rather thin. If any of you plan to pick up the "Futurama" set next week, then you'll see the same exact cases that the "Family Guy" discs are housed in. Nice stuff.
The episodes look quite good and are quite colorful and the English Dolby surround mixes are suitable. There are also Spanish Dolby Surround mixes as well as French stereo tracks.
As far as extras, this is where the set seems to fall short (but is a big improvement over the overseas release). There are eight commentaries in total (two per disc). Seth MacFarlane is featured on all of them, and there is a pretty good roster of "guest" commentators per episode - mainly made up of producers, writers and some of the cast (Alex Borstein is featured on the first episode while Seth Green is on "Let's Go To The Hop").
The only other extras are strictly promotional: Internet promo spots (which bring back some memories of when the show premiered) and a featurette which is fun to watch, but doesn't go really in-depth.
The press release I receieved with the set mentions deleted scenes and the "Wish Upon A Weinstein" episode, but I can't find them. Unless they're cleverly hid easter eggs, I think it was just a mistake on Fox's part (maybe we'll see that stuff on the next volume).
The menus look nice but are standard. Characters appear in bubbles (yes, bubbles) and spit out some quotes while there's a main family member to the left of the screen and episode selection to the right.
Still, given that the episodes look and sound good and there are some extras (not to mention you get two seasons worth of the show), it's definitely worth picking up. Not that I needed to convince any of you anyway.