Product Description

Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl), a tough, street-wise undercover agent, infiltrates the organized-crime syndicate in Atlantic City where, with one slip of his cover, he could end up a dead man. Partly because of his smarts and "wiseguy" attitude, special Agent Terranova has been trained by the Organized Crime Bureau (OCB). In his precarious position, only a select few know his true identity including Frank Mc Pike, his supervisor in the OCB and "lifeguard" his only communications link to the Bureau while undercover. In Sonny Steelgrave & the Mob, Federal Agent Vinnie Terranova establishes an ex-con rap to infiltrate the organized crime of Atlantic City.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72494 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-08-26
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 600 minutes

Amazon.com
With the release of Wiseguy on DVD, one of the best TV series of the 1980s gets a new lease on life. Long before Donnie Brasco brought similar drama to the big screen, Ken Wahl brought charisma, credibility, and chutzpah to his small-screen role as Vincent Terranova, a handsome 30-year-old agent with the FBI's Organized Crime Bureau. As conceived by cocreators Stephen Cannell (of The Rockford Files and The A-Team fame) and Ken Lupo, Wiseguy followed an innovative "story-arc" structure, allowing Vinnie's deep-cover missions to last only as long as necessary to bring each case to a sensible conclusion. Since copied by countless TV shows, this unique approach to storytelling attracted a devoted following of viewers addicted to the self-contained plots that forced Vinnie, his sourpuss OCB handler Frank McPike (Jonathan Banks), and disabled covert liaison Dan "Lifeguard" Burroughs (played by double-amputee Jim Byrnes) to achieve their objectives within 6 to 10 hourlong episodes.

Season 1, Part 1--the first of six Wiseguy DVD sets--includes the entire nine-episode arc (plus pilot) in which Vinnie infiltrates the New Jersey mob family of Sonny Steelgrave, a silk-suited kingpin played by Ray Sharkey in his finest TV role. Their brotherly relationship poses a moral dilemma for Vinnie (giving the arc its dramatic core and primary source of suspense), and Wiseguy earned its reputation as a well-written series that favored character-driven tension while providing the requisite pulp fiction (i.e. occasional murder and mayhem) that kept viewers and advertisers happy. While the DVD packaging gives bogus equal billing to Annette Bening (who appears here in one pivotal episode), her pre-stardom appearance is indicative of the show's consistently high standards in writing, casting, and stylish direction. The styles may be dated (including poodle-puff hairdos for women, including Bening), but there's not a weak episode in the bunch, including the stand-alone shows (involving domestic crises for McPike and Burroughs) that allowed character growth beyond the story-arc structure. It's all good, apart from a dispensable gag reel and commentaries by Wahl (on his two favorite episodes), who says little of interest between long gaps of silence. (He promises more on later DVDs, so Wiseguy devotees are advised to keep listening. Next up: the "Mel Profitt" arc, with guest star Kevin Spacey.) --Jeff Shannon

From the Back Cover
Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl), a tough, street-wise undercover agent, infiltrates the organized-crime syndicate in Atlantic City where, with one slip of his cover, he could end up a dead man. Partly because of his smarts and "wiseguy" attitude, special Agent Terranova has been trained by the Organized Crime Bureau (OCB). In his precarious position, only a select few know his true identity including Frank Mc Pike, his supervisor in the OCB and "lifeguard" his only communications link to the Bureau while undercover. In Sonny Steelgrave & the Mob, Federal Agent Vinnie Terranova establishes an ex-con rap to infiltrate the organized crime of Atlantic City.

Customer Reviews

Great Show, Poor DVD set!
Despite music omissions, I bought the earlier 3 volumes of this fantastic show and enjoyed them immensely, particularly the first 2 sets, which had some great extras. It was all downhill from there, as this set was vomited out of the factory and onto the store shelves by Cannell Productions and Studioworks!
As others have pointed out, disc 1/episode 3 has practically unwatchable video due to poor compression, and disc 4 has no option for show only audio, you are stuck with Ken Wahl's audio commentary and nothing else. Even Ken Wahl must have been frustrated by this when he got his comp set, as the 2 episodes on the set are 2 of his most favorite, and even he can't watch them without listening to himself talk over it!
The only good thing about this set is disc 3, which has the great Washington, DC story arc. However, Cannell messed that up, too, as the opening title credit sequence features the one from the prior storyline, whereas I clearly remember that the DC episodes had a title sequence featuring characters from that arc!
And finally, more music has been replaced, as Ken Wahl HIMSELF points out on his commentaries!
What a cheap, shoddy job--I will not be fooled into buying further volumes of this series (and there are supposedly 2 more to come!) I will be sticking to my own VHS tapes instead!
(And by the way, I've read on Studioworks' own site that the manufacturers'suggested retail price was something like $39.99, so I'm not sure how other sites are charging more for it)

StudioWorks offers a fix
Studioworks oversight of the missing 'setup' feature on the bonus disc is simply inexcusable. However, Tony Mills, who is the account executive at SW sent me this response about a possible replacement...


Thank you for purchasing Wiseguy: Between the Mob and a Hard Place. We have received your correspondence regarding the box set.
We apologize for any inconvenience and will gladly send replacements.
Please email info@studioworksent.com with your mailing information including phone number. Your replacement should arrive within 3-4 weeks.

Sincerely,
StudioWorks Entertainment


Hopefully, there won't be any technical 'oversights' on the replacement copies.

After reading some of the other reviews, hopefully I can answer a few of the questions other fans have posted here.

The 'official' story behind the first 15 minutes of "A Rightful Place" is that the original master tape was in extremely poor condition. What is on the disc now is the best that Studioworks could do as far as cleaning it up.

Yes, the 'music arc' was to come after the 'garment district arc', but due to all of the copyrights that have to be obtained to keep the music in those episodes, SW decided to release that box set last, so that no legal issues hold up the release date.
No word yet on whether or not those rights were obtained.

Visit the alt.tv.wiseguy newsgroup for further information
and/or discussion about the best dramatic series ever made.

Garment Story & Return of Sonny Steelgrave are worth it !!!
I got hooked on Wiseguy when it was a late-night staple on CBS 1989ish. After seeing all the garbage TV shows released on DVD I sent many an e-mail to Stephen Cannell's website asking if and when Wiseguy would be released on DVD. I was thrilled when I saw the Steelgrave Arc released and was hoping that it was not just a one time experiment. The first 2 sets were great. The interviews with Johnathan Banks and Stephen Cannell in the first set along with Kevin Spacey, William Russ & Joan Severance's in the second set were a terrific bonus treat for any fans of the show (or especially fans of Kevin Spacey).

The Mel Profitt Arc was released four months after the Steelgrave Arc and when nothing else was released four months later, I guess they figured: Thats all the buying fans would be interestred in. As the other reviews stated, it was definetly a let down going from the Millionare Mob Boss of Atlantic City (Ray Sharkey as Sonny Steelgrave) and the Billionaire, International Drug & Weapon's Contractor (Kevin Spacey as Mel Profitt) to the small time White Supremacy Group "The Pilgrims of Promise". Yeah Vinny's brother was killed but I guess they didn't think past those first 2 guys and were trying to keep it simple. It was still great story telling for broadcast tv at that time and I especially enjoyed the suspenseful "Revenge of the Mud People" where Vinny is wrongfully arrested for murdering a cop and the local police pull a Rodney King on him, while Vince is cut off from McPike and the Lifeguard.

The short four-story arc is a good appetizer to the brilliant Garment story with Jerry Lewis, Ron Silver and Stanley Tucci. Even though most of it was without Ken Wahl, the show never misses a beat. Thats because the catalyst isn't Vinny or his replacement John Raglin, it's the brilliant Jerry Lewis. Watching him struggle to hold on to what's left of his little piece of the 7th Avenue Garment District is powerful and is probably the best pure performance of the series. Great Wiseguy suspense and suprises.(However the finale was way too easy. I guess Joel Surnow was saving something for "24").

THE BIG BONUS on this set is a great return by Ray Sharkey as Sonny Steelgrave. While Vinny is in a rehab center healing his leg, he is mistakenly thrown in the Psyche Ward. There he is drugged, abused by the staff and has a nightly hallucination of Sonny. It's a great "What If?" when Sonny torments Vince about his betryal, and dual identity. One of the few episodes I could never tape when the show was rebroadcast on WGN and Court TV in the last few years.

Well worth the $60 MSRP. Four more VHS Tapes in the trash. Thanks guys, looking forward to the return of Don Iuoppo when he and his stepson Vinnie Terranova take back New York. (Due out December 2004).

Will they release the "Washington Arc" (The revenge of Admiral Stryken), the "Stranger in a Small Town Arc" (the Return of Roger Loccoco), or even the regrettable Steven Baeur era?

Only the toes knows.