Greek chapter four comes out on DVD tomorrow, and I’m sure you’re all wondering the same thing: Should I run out and buy this set for my collection?
We actually had the opportunity to follow chapter four together last spring as it aired. In fact, Greek was one of the first show’s I regularly covered here at CliqueClack. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so good. Let’s do a brief rundown.
Guest star Jesse McCartney appeared as Andy, a high school football teammate of Calvin’s who was new to CRU. An introduction to Rusty and Kappa Tau led him to rush the KTs, and also to steal new transfer Jordan from right under Rusty’s nose. Rusty and Jordan’s budding romance led Andy to flee in a huff.
Rusty and Dale, meanwhile, settled into an off-campus apartment that Casey rented for them. Clark Duke was far from around regularly, but his lady friend Sheila (Kristen O’Meara) definitely provided him with a juicy storyline that continued into chapter five.
Casey was dating Max, who forewent getting his PhD at a real school in order to be with her. But a stint in England left Casey open to renewed interest from Cappie … who was busy secretly rebuilding a relationship with Evan in their newly joined Amphora society.
Ashleigh was dating Fisher (Andrew J. West), Rebecca tried being a lesbian, Frannie and the IKI house caused trouble for a while, and Evan went nuts when he got his trust fund. A lot happened, but it all seemed very haphazard.
The chapter ended at the KT’s “At World’s End” party, with Ashleigh and Cappie talking about love. We now know that Cappie went after Casey only to be stopped by Evan — keeping Cappie and Casey apart until mid-chapter five — but at the time, we were left wondering.
And that was chapter four. So what did the good people of Greek provide us with by way of extras?
Episode Commentaries – For 12 episodes, there were just two commentary tracks. I said it in reference to the chapter 3 DVD set, and I’ll say it again — the commentaries on a show where you can imagine having fun with the actors usually live up to that image. But for me Greek fell flat once again. The first commentary pairing included Scott Michael Foster (Cappie), Amber Stevens (Ashleigh), Dilshad Vadsaria (Rebecca), and Jacob Zachar (Rusty). I couldn’t believe the amount of hysterical giggling that laced the entire track. I certainly enjoyed the few insights that we were provided with (in a segment everyone discusses working with Jesse McCartney), but I felt as if the show and the episode were almost ancillary to the discussion.
The second commentary included Spencer Grammer (Casey), Scott Michael Foster, and Tiffany Dupont (Frannie). The biggest insights I gained from this one were that the KT backyard is a lit basement set, Spencer Grammer had her foot in a boot cast for the entire chapter shoot, and none of the actors watch the show. At least that’s the impression I got when scenes with the boys left Grammer and Dupont out, or ones in the ZBZ house left Foster silent. Plus Grammer said in reference to Casey’s kiss with Rebecca: “I was looking forward to seeing how that turned out; I haven’t watched it yet.” Really? A year later and she’s never seen it? But I also got that impression from the interview I participated in with Grammer — if she wasn’t in the scene, she didn’t know anything about it. Doesn’t that seem a bit odd?
At World’s End – Not so much a documentary on the making of the finale as much as a funny piece about what all the interviewees would do if they knew the world would end in 24 hours. I liked that lesser characters were included, like Derek Mio (Wade), Andrew J. West (Fisher), and Aaron Hill (Beaver). Funniest were Clark Duke and Paul James (Calvin), whose entire segment was bleeped out for some nasty things that they were supposedly discussing doing with Dilshad Vadsaria (Rebecca). But as one of only four extras on the DVD set? Not good enough.
“How Do You Sleep?” – music video by Jesse McCartney – I’m sure there’s a segment of viewers who will love this, although I hope that no one buys the set solely because of it. It’s exactly what it sounds like. My 22 month-old son made me replay it a bunch of times because he enjoyed it.
Bloopers – A couple minutes of fibbed lines, and not much else. My son laughed every time the cast did, so there’s that. But I feel as if that was the wrong way to go with this one. Think about any of your favorite sitcoms, and the blooper tracks that come on their DVD sets. We’re talking missed cues, accidents, bad adlibs, and intentionally sabotaged takes that are hysterical. Now think about dramas … what makes for the funniest moment in a drama? A missed line in the middle of a deathly serious scene. Heightened emotions lead to the most laughs when they’re rudely interrupted.
Greek’s a soapy comedy, but a comedy nonetheless. We know this cast can be funny. So why aren’t those the bloopers we get to see? The practical jokes they play on each other, the in-jokes that they lob at one another instead of reading their lines. Think more Everybody Loves Raymond, and less ER. Let’s shake it up a little!
Doesn’t sound so good, right? But I’ll tell you something that I did discover. Re-watching the episodes was fun! The problems persist, and Cappie and Dale don’t appear any more frequently than they did the first time around (which is the crime of the century), but this is an extremely re-watchable show. Whether you want to pay $25 for that pleasure is up to you, but the episodes are most definitely worth many more looks. The extras? Not so much.
Disclosure: This review is based on a commercially available copy, provided complimentary to CliqueClack TV by ABC Family for the purpose of review.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 08, 2010 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
