The Good
Yet another interesting detective show from our British neighbors.
The Bad
Poor picture quality. A little too much packaging real estate.
Lovejoy: Complete Season 1 stars Ian McShane in the title role as an antique dealer whose eye for priceless pieces often lends itself to his getting into one adventure after another. Lovejoy e will travel far and wide to find just the right piece, and it is precisely these skills that help him help people who have been victimized or done wrong. Aiding Lovejoy throughout this 10 episode saga are Tinker Dill (Dudley Sutton), Eric Catchpole (Chris Jury) and the deep pocketed Lady Jane Felsham (Phyllis Logan).
What really sells this show is McShane’s portrayal of Lovejoy. He isn’t bumbling but he isn’t suave. He’s simply smart and he uses his skills to read people better than most. Lovejoy seems to know some hidden secret and because of that he ends up one step ahead of whoever he is dealing with. For a DVD set, Lovejoy: Complete Season 1 is quite good, I guess I just wish there was more.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Features
Ian McShane Talks About Lovejoy
According to the actor, a fan sent him a Lovejoy book (this show is based on the novels of Jonathan Gash) and McShane liked it because it mixed comedy and drama. He then talked about how the show came together, they expanded on the book giving the show more characters and apparently this show wasn’t supported by the BBC at first. After this he discusses how he produced and directed some episodes and how after the First Season, they had to wait three years to follow up the show because of a contract they signed at its inception.
Video
Aspect Ratio - 4:3. I hate to say it but the quality of these shows wasn’t that hot from a visual sense. There seemed to be a lot of dirt on the picture and at times I wondered if they did the DVD transfer from a VHS tape. I wouldn’t say that these shows seemed like they were falling apart, but I guess I just expected them to look better. They are from 1986 so I can sort of understand that they haven’t held up that well, but I was surprised that the transfers wasn’t better.
Audio
Mono. The audio on this three disc was alright. Played against the images, I guess I would have to say that the audio was better, but I am not sure that that is saying too much. I had to turn up the sound about three quarters of the way up on my set, but once I did that things played fine. I guess my only other issue is that sometimes the actors seemed to speak so quickly I couldn’t understand what they were saying.
Package
Lovejoy is presented on this front cover with a painting in his hand and members of his team smiling behind him. Oddly, even this front cover image seems faded (maybe I am just too used to how companies like Fox or Sony gloss all their TV on DVD releases up?) The back gives us three shots from this show, a description of what Lovejoy is about, an Episode listing, a Special Features listing, a cast list and technical specs. They have stored all three discs in an oversized amaray case that seems to have too much space inside it for its own good.
Final Word
I had never heard of Lovejoy until MovieWeb gave me this release to review. On the whole I liked it a lot. I review a good amount of Acorn Media titles, and most of the ones I am given are of the the detective variety. What I liked about this show is that Lovejoy doesn’t seem eager to be helping people, but at the same time he isn’t like Jim Rockford who always seems put upon. Lovejoy seems to see everything as an opportunity to do the thing he really wants to do, which is find antiques. He is a man apart but that doesn’t seem by choice so much as circumstance. After all, who would want to travel to the ends of the earth looking for pieces that may or may not be of any value?
At its best, Lovejoy: Complete Season 1 showcases just how solid of a talent Ian McShane is, as well as why this character endeared himself to people like he did.
