my husband and i are working our way through season 1. we both said we'd forgotten just how amazing the show was. "i'll be home for christmas" is a killer ~ fantastic acting, especially from ken olin and melissa mayron.
what are your thoughts on season 1?
I am watching as time allows (which is to say, unfortunately, not as much as I would like to). Regardless of time constraints, I am delighted this is out on legit DVD.
My thoughts are that thirtysomething was never better than in its first season. With episodes like “Couples,” “Weaning,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “South by Southeast,” the superb “Undone,” and “Born to Be Mild,” it is a solid, solid season long overdue on DVD.
I have spot-checked for music cues, and have not yet found any substitutions or missing cues (thanks to Shout Factory).
It does look like the credits have been re-typeset, but that is a trivial concern, and hardly unprecedented.
Warning: Spoilers for season 2 ahead (for those who haven't seen the show)
Actually, I think season 2 is my favorite season. Too many great episodes to name and a lot more happening: Hope's pregnancy and miscarriage, the crashing and burning of Michael and Elliot's ad agancy, the beginnings of Elliot and Nancy's reconciliation, and the introduction of acerbic Susannah and the always intriguing Miles Drentell.
I loved most of season 3, as well, but back when I watching the Lifetime re-runs I thought that it all started to fall apart in the last season. I'll be curious to see if my original impressions hold up after viewing each season on DVD. I just finished watching season 1, and although I was grateful to be able to revisit that season, it just whet my appetite for better things to come.
I am surprised that I am finding the writing better than I remembered and the acting worse.
The leads are charismatic but are consistently outshined by the guest actors. Polly Draper is the one exception. I am finding her fascinating (in spite of having the least interesting scenes to play).
The show is one of the best representation of what it is like to live with an infant that I have ever seen. Hope's life is controlled by grunts and cries from a child and it is all there in its glory and misery. But Mel Harris's performance is the most disappointing. She always makes the obvious choice and rarely suggests much going on under the surface.
Maybe things change in later seasons, but as much as I like the show, I am finding I like it for completely different reasons than when it was first aired.
I watched it when it aired live, then I watched every ep on re-runs numerous times, too. But it has been a while since they were airing re-runs!
In the past, I always wondered why Mel Harris never got nominated for an Emmy, & now I'm realizing why. I completely agree with you--she is the weakest link in the cast. She's not well-directed, and most of her lines sound so incredibly stilted and phoney. I like Ken Olin's acting, but must everything everyone says always be so cutsie-poo? And the scenes of the women together, always "bonding away" are so contrived and bogus.
Mel Harris is the only one who never really had a career after this. Now I see why...
"I believe that this library is not an entirely strange place for you,"
Casanova in Bohemia
I'm finding the acting quite good, but as has been mentioned, with the exception of Mel Harris. She just seems to deliver all of her lines with the same sort of sing-songy voice that you use when speaking to a baby, except she does it with adults too.
But I always thought of Ken Olin as sort of a wooden, one dimensional actor, but seeing this again, while his delivery is somewhat deadpan, which led me to that assumption in the first place, there's also a bit of wry, smart-alecky humor in his relations with the rest of the cast.
The writing of course, is top notch throughout. And I kinda like the 80's fashions and hairstyles. ;)
The DVD packaging is nothing to write home about, but I like how it incorporates a lot of the publicity stills used in the media at the time. Brings back a nice feeling of nostalgia for when the show first aired, and much nicer than some Photoshopped 'heads' cover, or fancy modern graphics would have been.
I was REALLY looking forward to this coming on DVD so I could watch all the episodes again. I loved this show in the '80s. But after watching the pilot I have to agree--the writing is fantastic, but the acting--particularly Mel Harris--is dismal. She is surprisingly one-dimensional and unconvincing. It's like I'm watching someone in acting class reading her lines from a teleprompter. And listening to her whine and complain all the time about how tired she is and she didn't have time to go to the market or clean up is ridiculous.
I'm still going to watch the series all the way through again. But I was surprised by my reaction to the pilot because, like most TV shows from 20 years ago (think Miami Vice) the actual show isn't as good as I remember it being back then.
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If you aren't the lead dog, the view never changes.
I've watched the first 10 episodes so far and it's even better than I remembered it. And I'm enjoying the commentaries too. I really hope that all of the seasons will eventually come out on DVD.
shareWe don't have cable TV and so haven't seen 30somthing for 28 years with the exception of occasional grainy partial eps from YOuTube. My husband and I were addicted to this show back in the day. We were the same age as the cast
So, we are very much enjoying the first season. So far have watched disc 1.
I am so in awe of Mel Harris as the perfect Yuppie woman that I haven't noticed her lack of subtlety. As I think about it, gee, I think they are ALL fairly one dimensional. We see a whole lot more of Mel Harris than anyone else.
The marvel that is 30Something is the writing and the production itself. Imagine, allowing such a navel gazing show on for one entire hour of teevee. Would never happen today. DH siad "I remember this show as being much more about the entire cast" because so far we've seen 4 episodes that are 93% about Hope and Michael.
My immediate reactions are: good god, some of those fashions were pretty aweul including those awful awful baggy pants that as scrunched up with belts, and of course the ubiquitous shoulder pads.
And has there been anyone on TV nmore handsome than Michael Steadman? I think not.
"My immediate reactions are: good god, some of those fashions were pretty aweul including those awful awful baggy pants that as scrunched up with belts, and of course the ubiquitous shoulder pads."
I noticed that too! I love this show and am also around the same age as the cast, but it has taken me awhile to warm up to it again. I was mystified by the first episode when Michael is looking at women passing by in the mall and at first I'm wondering why he is gawking because they didn't seem gawk worthy with all that frizzy hair and strange to my eyes fashion.
I finished the 1st season disc 4 and 5 very late last night--couldn't stop watching. I had forgotten how well everything was written and acted/directed.
I'm getting Season Two today. It is a well written show. Great story lines and probably would have been cancelled midway through the first season if it were to run on NBC in todays world.
shareI was 30 something when this showed aired on TV and absolutely adored the show.
The very first episode it was and IS intelligent charismatic. It is a time capsule of the baby boomer 80's sensibility. My first thoughts are that the writing is excellent and I love that the characters of the show who are always self-examining. I wish TV today had that same mindset, but it seems TV is too captivated by technology and style, and not substance.
I plan on getting ALL of the episodes.
Been thinking about 30something since the 80"s. I've ALWAYS loved the show. I was about that same age in the 80"s. I've been watching the 1st season. Haven't seen it since then, and I am AMAZED that the show is still WONDERFUL! I love the writing and the well defined characters!
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