House Season 4 DVD - More Disappointing Packaging
**Many apologies for the length, but you know how I do go on!**
Guess what time it is? It's time for my annual rant about the latest House Season on DVD! What exactly keeps them from putting an ounce of creativity into the content and packaging? I haven't watched the bonus features yet so I won't rate how lame they are. I will rail against the packaging though. Again. Listen, how tough is it to get the packaging right? Seriously! The outer sleeve - one of the most annoying properties of box sets - is abysmal. Part of it is a nice shade of green and the other is a horrible shade of green. Instead of looking like a subtle fade it looks like an accident in printing. This is heightened by having Hugh Laurie centered along the medial line. Also on the front sleeve are 5 tiny pictures of Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), Foreman (Omar Epps), Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), Chase (Jesse Spencer), and Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). The problem with that? Um, wasn't Cameron a blond this season? She wasn't in it very much so I might be mistaken. I'll let that go, but with reservations. If you haven't seen the season yet and are one of those who waited all year avoiding spoilers and media in order to watch the entire season in one marathon session, don't turn the box over. Why? Well you will see the shiny photos of the three winners of House's new staff search that's why! Not only is the wording on the back condescending in that “I don't do marketing writing - how hard can it be?” way, but it further gives away the main story arc's ending. And the bonus features are listed in an oversized annoying pill bottle similar to the one used on the Season Two set only this time it is even more obtrusive and questionably cropped. By the way, if you are going to go to the trouble of adding a quantity to the pill bottle graphic why not make it the number of episodes in the set? I know it was a short season, but that seems like an easy call. Again, nobody is picking this up and reading the back trying to decide if they should buy it. They might be picking it up and reading it to decide if they shouldn't buy it. Subtle, but important difference.
Setting the annoying sleeve aside (and can't we find a better solution than those sleeves???), out pops the ad insert. Oh look! It's an ad from Universal for House of Fox. Sure, you bought the tv show on DVD, but you had no idea it was on broadcast television! Plus side, it is one of my favorite cast photos. You know the overhead shot with House lying on a table with his 1-3 season team, Wilson, and Cuddy standing around him all looking up? Sure it's been overused, but this is a nicely retouched version and you can even see the purple of Foreman's tie and the texture of House's jacket. Very nice and, more important from a marketing standpoint, it made me turn it over. Well done! The other side advertises several other shows on DVD and is ok. It reminds us that “Crossing Jordan” uses a font that isn't print friendly and “Friday Night Lights” uses an unfortunate light effect in the word “Lights” that doesn't work in a small image. It's on slightly thicker paper than similar adverts and I have to say that outside of some shadowing on the white text side (which might have been intentional) it's well printed. So far this is the highlight of the packaging. Sad.
On the back in an unappealing white on brown they list the contents of disks 3 and 4. Opening the flap we see an even more unappealing white on green page listing the contents of disks 1 and 2. As per previous seasons I find the episode descriptions unsatisfactory. The least they could do is add the name of the actor playing that episode's patient. Would it have really taken up that much space to add (Mira Sorvino)? No, it sure wouldn't. In fact, the description for “Frozen” is centered so strangely that adding (Mira Sorvino) would have helped even it out.
The DVDs are labeled in the same format used for Season Three. I would have preferred the nice portraits of Season Two, but clearly they are trying to save some money. Pathetic and cheap and another shad of green that clashes with the shades of green used on 70% of the package. Brilliant.
One more unfolding and wait a tick! That's the same photo as the one on the advert! Let me double check that. Yes, it is just a poorer quality version of the advert picture. So without the nice color balancing, good quality paper, and superior printing you get an ok image, but since we have the premier version of the picture right here in the same package we can see how washed out and poorly done the DVD box is. Ok, to be fair it isn't the exact same picture. It is from the same photo shoot, but clearly 4 of the 6 people have their hands in different positions so I can't say it's the same photo. I can say the interior photo should have been House and the final 10 fellowship candidates. Oh wait. I forgot this was all about how cheaply they could make this set. Wouldn't want to pay out an extra royalty there! On the other hand, the photo of Hugh Laurie on the front of the inner box is nice, but the chair seems weird. And to match the other sets and the series shouldn't it be a picture with the cane?Is that broken symbolism or a broken theme? And isn't that the same wrinkled blue shirt from the Season Two and Three boxes? I know he wears it a lot on the show, but really!
This is another complete failure in DVD packaging for House. As for the DVD content, clearly the episodes are wonderful, but the DVD menus are lackluster. It's amazing how poorly done this is compared to the Season Two set. Also, why not include a DVD bonus feature as simple as a link for those viewing the disc from a computer to go to a special page for purchases where they can view all the Pre-Season Five promos? In an attempt to protect their brand (I once heard the show producers were afraid of diluting the brand with too many t-shirts) what they have managed to do is not establish a brand. With only one product a year Isn't it time to capitalize on the fan base or to at least respect the fans by not putting out a disappointing product?
Guess what time it is? It's time for my annual rant about the latest House Season on DVD! What exactly keeps them from putting an ounce of creativity into the content and packaging? I haven't watched the bonus features yet so I won't rate how lame they are. I will rail against the packaging though. Again. Listen, how tough is it to get the packaging right? Seriously! The outer sleeve - one of the most annoying properties of box sets - is abysmal. Part of it is a nice shade of green and the other is a horrible shade of green. Instead of looking like a subtle fade it looks like an accident in printing. This is heightened by having Hugh Laurie centered along the medial line. Also on the front sleeve are 5 tiny pictures of Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), Foreman (Omar Epps), Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), Chase (Jesse Spencer), and Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). The problem with that? Um, wasn't Cameron a blond this season? She wasn't in it very much so I might be mistaken. I'll let that go, but with reservations. If you haven't seen the season yet and are one of those who waited all year avoiding spoilers and media in order to watch the entire season in one marathon session, don't turn the box over. Why? Well you will see the shiny photos of the three winners of House's new staff search that's why! Not only is the wording on the back condescending in that “I don't do marketing writing - how hard can it be?” way, but it further gives away the main story arc's ending. And the bonus features are listed in an oversized annoying pill bottle similar to the one used on the Season Two set only this time it is even more obtrusive and questionably cropped. By the way, if you are going to go to the trouble of adding a quantity to the pill bottle graphic why not make it the number of episodes in the set? I know it was a short season, but that seems like an easy call. Again, nobody is picking this up and reading the back trying to decide if they should buy it. They might be picking it up and reading it to decide if they shouldn't buy it. Subtle, but important difference.
Setting the annoying sleeve aside (and can't we find a better solution than those sleeves???), out pops the ad insert. Oh look! It's an ad from Universal for House of Fox. Sure, you bought the tv show on DVD, but you had no idea it was on broadcast television! Plus side, it is one of my favorite cast photos. You know the overhead shot with House lying on a table with his 1-3 season team, Wilson, and Cuddy standing around him all looking up? Sure it's been overused, but this is a nicely retouched version and you can even see the purple of Foreman's tie and the texture of House's jacket. Very nice and, more important from a marketing standpoint, it made me turn it over. Well done! The other side advertises several other shows on DVD and is ok. It reminds us that “Crossing Jordan” uses a font that isn't print friendly and “Friday Night Lights” uses an unfortunate light effect in the word “Lights” that doesn't work in a small image. It's on slightly thicker paper than similar adverts and I have to say that outside of some shadowing on the white text side (which might have been intentional) it's well printed. So far this is the highlight of the packaging. Sad.
On the back in an unappealing white on brown they list the contents of disks 3 and 4. Opening the flap we see an even more unappealing white on green page listing the contents of disks 1 and 2. As per previous seasons I find the episode descriptions unsatisfactory. The least they could do is add the name of the actor playing that episode's patient. Would it have really taken up that much space to add (Mira Sorvino)? No, it sure wouldn't. In fact, the description for “Frozen” is centered so strangely that adding (Mira Sorvino) would have helped even it out.
The DVDs are labeled in the same format used for Season Three. I would have preferred the nice portraits of Season Two, but clearly they are trying to save some money. Pathetic and cheap and another shad of green that clashes with the shades of green used on 70% of the package. Brilliant.
One more unfolding and wait a tick! That's the same photo as the one on the advert! Let me double check that. Yes, it is just a poorer quality version of the advert picture. So without the nice color balancing, good quality paper, and superior printing you get an ok image, but since we have the premier version of the picture right here in the same package we can see how washed out and poorly done the DVD box is. Ok, to be fair it isn't the exact same picture. It is from the same photo shoot, but clearly 4 of the 6 people have their hands in different positions so I can't say it's the same photo. I can say the interior photo should have been House and the final 10 fellowship candidates. Oh wait. I forgot this was all about how cheaply they could make this set. Wouldn't want to pay out an extra royalty there! On the other hand, the photo of Hugh Laurie on the front of the inner box is nice, but the chair seems weird. And to match the other sets and the series shouldn't it be a picture with the cane?Is that broken symbolism or a broken theme? And isn't that the same wrinkled blue shirt from the Season Two and Three boxes? I know he wears it a lot on the show, but really!
This is another complete failure in DVD packaging for House. As for the DVD content, clearly the episodes are wonderful, but the DVD menus are lackluster. It's amazing how poorly done this is compared to the Season Two set. Also, why not include a DVD bonus feature as simple as a link for those viewing the disc from a computer to go to a special page for purchases where they can view all the Pre-Season Five promos? In an attempt to protect their brand (I once heard the show producers were afraid of diluting the brand with too many t-shirts) what they have managed to do is not establish a brand. With only one product a year Isn't it time to capitalize on the fan base or to at least respect the fans by not putting out a disappointing product?