The Good
A funny show that follows in the traditions of the classic family sitcoms.
The Bad
Seems a little too similar to Grounded for Life.
The War at Home: The Complete First Season chronicles the ups and downs that Dave (Michael Rappaport) and Vicky (Anita Barone) Gold come up against in raising their three kids in Long Island, New York. They have a daughter named Hillary who is starting to show an interest in boys and she’s also not afraid flex what she thinks are her brain skills. Their son Mike has a very strong attraction to the opposite sex, which he seems to satisfy by playing a lot of video games. Their oldest son, Larry, is what you might call one of this kids that doesn’t fit in. In any case, Vicky and Dave are doing everything in their power to raise their children in the best way they know how.
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In the opening “Pilot” we see Vicky and Dave come to the realization that their little girl Hillary really isn’t a little girl anymore. A similar, but no less funny episode, “Like A Virgin,” sees the family dealing with the idea of Hillary possibly engaging in the same act that gave her parents their current brood of kids. The “Looney Tunes” episode was interesting because Vicky and Dave think that a song Mike wrote actually means a lot more than it does. Lastly, “13 Going On $30,000” is an episode that hit very close to home for me. Mike wants a Bar-Mitzvah but his parents aren’t sure if he wants to know more about his faith or if he just wants to get well with gifts. As someone who has had a Bar-Mitzvah I really related to that feeling of just what great things “becoming a man” could mean both personally and financially.
Features
Living Room Confessions
This featurette looks at the making of this show. We hear from the cast and creators as they talk about the casting, what appealed them about this idea, getting the family dynamic down correctly amongst all the characters, and pretty much everything else we usually hear on these things. That isn’t to say to that this piece isn’t worth watching, I guess I just wanted more. Considering that the show itself contains talking head interviews with the family where characters spill their guts about all manner of things (mostly what they think about one another), I found this real life segment comparatively tame.
Video
Aspect Ratio - 1.78:1. These shows looked good. They are fairly recent so it doesn’t seem like they would have too much time to deteriorate in the vault. The compression was sharp, seeming to even bump up the picture somewhat. I say this a lot about sitcoms but it really is true, they shoot these things in pretty classic ways. The War at Home has a somewhat more kinetic look and feel at times but for the most part this release played things straight.
Audio
Dolby Digital. The audio was similar to the picture. It was good but they really didn’t do anything with it. This show, like almost all sitcoms, is predicated on a certain slam-bang, back and forth banter. These characters all have that here and I never had a moment where I had to rewind things because I missed something. I rewound my DVD player a few times but that was only because I laughed, or a character didn’t hold long enough before starting their line after something funny was said.
Package
The cover of this slipcase shows off the family on a green patch of lawn with an endless blue sky behind them. The back cover showcases some images from the episodes contained in this three disc set. It also describes what The War at Home is about, a Special Features listing and technical specs. The three discs that store all the content have different pictures of the cast members laid out on them. Also inside are episode listings, descriptions and where the Special Features are located.
Final Word
All in all The War at Home was a pretty funny show. I laughed out loud in parts and I really think that Michael Rappaport has found a vehicle that’s good for his comic talent. Sometimes it seems like he has tried to stretch too much as an actor in certain roles (ie. Bamboozled). When this happens his performances don’t ring nearly as true as they could. I am not saying that he can’t act, he can, he just has a very specific type and sometimes when he’s ventured out of that I haven’t really believed his performance. Actually, the cast of this show has a lot of chemistry and they make the scenes flow really well. I think the biggest problem that I had with this show is that it reminded me a tad too much of Grounded for Life. Heck, even the characters from The War at Home sort of resemble those from the previous show.
If you want to laugh you could do a lot worse then checking out The War at Home: The Complete First Season.
The War at Home was released .
