Product Description

Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 06/28/2005 Run time: 689 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26033 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2004-06-08
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: .75 pounds
• Running time: 689 minutes

Amazon.com
When Just Shoot Me debuted on NBC on a Tuesday night (following Frasier) in 1997, the spirited sitcom had the feel of an instant winner. The casting alone was an inspired blend of talent from uniquely interesting sources: George Segal, the veteran actor best known for comic performances in such 1970s film classics as Blume in Love and California Split, was certainly overdue for a hit. Laura San Giacomo, a strong and intriguing presence for a decade in a number of key movies (sex, lies, and videotape, Pretty Woman) promised good things as the series' lead player. Wendie Malick, the former model turned ubiquitous supporting player on the likes of NYPD Blue and Seinfeld, had left an especially indelible impression on HBO's long-running comedy series Dream On. Finally, David Spade, fresh from his great ride as a Saturday Night Live cast member, brought a version of a popular SNL character (Dick Clark's supercilious receptionist) to Just Shoot Me, playing the haughty assistant of Segal's magazine publisher.

The show's premise was fresh, too, and the nice thing about revisiting JSM's first two seasons is realizing how well the whole enterprise holds up. Giacomo stars as serious-minded journalist Maya Gallo, fired from her job as a television newswriter after sabotaging a clueless, on-air anchor. Desperate for work, Maya turns up at the offices of Blush, a women's fashion monthly published by her estranged father, Jack (Segal). Maya reluctantly takes a job writing sex quizzes and similar dreck for Blush, but it's the snippy and vainglorious crossfire between the magazine's staffers, and between Maya and Jack, that makes JSM so much fun. Malick's aging diva, Nina Van Horn, alternately lashes out and unburdens her soul in a failing bid to remain vital in a youth-obsessed culture. Self-centered Jack offers Maya a father's long-delayed love--albeit on his terms. Spade's Dennis Finch chases leggy supermodels around the office like a pathetic loser in junior high. Another cast member, Enrico Colantoni, is very good as the likable but impulsive, womanizing photographer Elliot DiMauro, who becomes an increasingly important player as he and Maya develop feelings for one another in season two. Somehow Just Shoot Me never quite lit up NBC's primetime stable of hit sitcoms, but it did respectably well and now looks even better divorced from its television competition. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Where the hell are the rest of the seasons?!
The first 2 seasons were great (and deserve their 5 stars), and they deserve to be followed up by the rest of the seasons. Attention Sony, and any other idiot company with a stake in this series, who are dragging their collective feet on getting the rest of the seasons out the door: Get your stupid ridiculous legal garbage sorted out YESTERDAY and get the freaking season sets into production! We the fans don't care about who owns the music rights, or which actors had a rider in their contracts for royalties on the sets, which you are now arguing about, or whatever else ridiculous garbage you idiots are bickering about. JUST. GET. IT. DONE!

Don't tick off your fan base like Mad About You did to theirs by pulling this exact same stunt. I can tell by the sales numbers of Mad About You DVD sets that screwing the fans for so long has hurt the long term sales of Mad About You on DVD. This is how boycotts happen, you morons. This is also what prompts idiot teenagers/pirates to put up bootlegs of the seasons burned from copies of the show, onto their own DVDs, and to sell them on e-bay, and upload them to the internet at large. Please don't let the idiot teenagers/pirates win! You are LITERALLY in a race against the pirates. You HAVE to get to market as fast as you can, if you want to sway the mildly legally minded consumer who might be tempted to just download the shows (I am not one of them, but I know a lot of college people who are) and not wait YEARS for the DVDs to come out.

Do whatever you have to do to get the sets out. If it is music rights, then either yank the music out and have ANY COLLEGE BAND IN AMERICA do a new music piece for anything that gets yanked (and they will do it for free -- just to get their band name in the credits!) or just pay whatever it takes for the music, and then add an extra $2-5 dollars onto the DVD price, and pass the cost onto the consumer. We don't care! We just want the sets. If you are worried about low sales numbers, then do a pre-order, and only print like 105% of the disks that were ordered, and keep doing pre-orders for every re-printing. Amazon and anyone else who takes pre-orders will LOVE you if you do that.

GET. THE. SEASONS. OUT. THE. DOOR!

a classic sitcom
Steven Levitan's JUST SHOOT ME remains a refreshingly-hilarious sitcom, thanks to pin-sharp scripts and top performances from a perfect cast. This box set includes the entire first and second seasons.

Young and idealistic journalist Maya Gallo (Laura San Giacomo) is fired from her newsroom job and has no other choice than to ask her father, Jack (George Segal) for money. Instead he invites her to join the staff of his fashion magazine Blush. Maya finds herself at odds with her co-workers including womanising photographer Elliott DiMauro (Enrico Colantoni), Jack's pint-sized insult-wielding assistant Dennis Finch (David Spade) and alcoholic over-the-hill fashion editor Nina Van Horn (Wendie Malick).

The first season (which only ran for 6 episodes) includes the controversial "Lemon Wacky Hello" where Elliott, Maya, Nina and Finch all fall under the effects of a hallucinogenic candy that Jack brought back from China. Other choice moments come in "The Devil and Maya Gallo" where Maya's strict moral code is tested to its limits; and "Nina's Birthday" where Finch and Elliott make a very funny wager.

The second season includes some of the all-time classic eps: "The Assistant" where Maya must contend with a very peculiar secretary; "Sewer" where Maya finally lands what she hopes is the biggest expose in the history of Blush; "Pass the Salt" where Finch's father (guest star Brian Dennehy) thinks that Finch is gay; "Nina in the Cantina" where Nina re-lives her greatest love affair and "The Kiss" which sets up the Maya-Elliott romance that would recurr throughout the rest of the series.

Extras include a great new retrospective with Steven Levitan and the cast; audio commentay on selected epidodes and a gallery of the Blush covers that featured through the episodes.

COMPLETE EPISODE LISTING:

"Back Issues" - A writer in need of a job reluctantly agrees to work for her father's womens magazine.

"The Devil and Maya Gallo" - Maya starts her new job with the best of intentions, only to be distracted by the magazine's lavish benefits.

"Lemon Wacky Hello" - Maya and the staff are forced to assemble the magazine while under the influence of a powerful hallucinogenic drug.

"Nina's Birthday" - Maya agrees to throw a party for Nina's birthday; Finch bets that Elliott cannot get a date without relying on his job.

"Secretary's Day" - Finch refuses to be regognised on Secretary's Day; Nina ponders plastic surgery.

"In Your Dreams" - A session to get a new photo ID inspires Maya's erotic dreams about Elliott.

"Sweet Charity" - Maya's tireless efforts for charity are overshadowed by her father's large cash donation.

"The Experiment" - Maya's experiment has unexpected consequences as Jack sets out to assemble a toy for his baby, and Nina relishes her role in a practical joke on Finch.

"The Assistant" - While Maya finds it hard to fire an incompetent new assistant, Elliott and Finch conspire to embarrass Nina during a radio debate.

"Old Boyfriends" - Maya and Jack square off over the advanced age of her new boyfriend; Nina's flirtatious behaviour has unintended consequences for a handsome window washer.

"La Cage" - Finch ignores all warnings and gets involved with Elliott's old girlfriend who turns out to be a deranged sex-maniac.

"King Lear Jet" - A request to get her father to stop his favouritism backfires and costs Maya a trip to see a Shakespeare play in London.

"My Dinner with Woody" - Maya's article about Woody Allen catches the eye of an imposter.

"Twice Burned" - Jack must prove himself worthy in order to get his young daughter admitted to a prestigious private school, where Maya was previously expelled after setting fire to one of the buildings.

"Jack, It's Christmas" - Maya's efforts to do something nice for a janitor backfires.

"Elliott the Geek" - Elliott vows to use a high school teacher's funeral to prove something to his old classmates.

"Sewer" - Maya tries proving herself to a successful college roommate; Jack's birthday sets Finch and Nina to fighting over who can find the best present.

"Pass the Salt" - Finch must convince his dad that he isn't gay.

"In the Company of Maya" - Maya is sued for sexual harassment; Elliott's new girlfriend stars in an embarrassing television commercial.

"The Walk" - Maya and her co-workers are puzzled by Jack's sudden bad mood.

"College or Collagen" - A college student Maya is mentoring decides to become a model; Jack and Finch secretly team as bridge partners.

"Nina in the Cantina" - Maya interviews a rock star who shares a dubious past with Nina.

"Amblush" - Maya is forced to defend the magazine during an interview with some feminist college co-eds.

"Nina's Bikini" - Nina agrees to have an old bikini enshrined at a local Planet Hollywood-type restaurant.

"The Kiss" - Maya pretends to be Elliott's wife in order to help him get a new apartment.

"Jack's Old Partner" - A bad case of writer's block forces Jack to look up an old partner he dumped thirty years ago; Nina seeks Elliott's help with a tax auditor.

"Bravefinch" - Finch is threatened by Jack's new assistant.

"Eve of Destruction" - Jack's ex-wife returns to claim a painting she won in their divorce settlement twenty-five years ago.

"The Emperor" - Maya gets the magazine in trouble with her honest appraisal of a famous fashion designer's new work.

"War and Sleaze" - Maya is roped into a blind date with Elliott, only to discover that it's with a philandering congressman.

"Rescue Me" - Maya and her colleagues recall the circumstances which led to their being hired by Jack.

Just Shoot Me: Must-See TV On DVD!
While some Just Shoot Me fans claim "the show got lame near the end," for me, the show was consistently funny up to the end. This was due mostly to the clever writing and the brilliant cast, who after working together for all those seasons, had developed that "TV family chemistry" that always made me want to tune in for each episode no matter what time slot NBC would move the show to. Shame on NBC for their poor treatment of Just Shoot Me.

However, what isn't poor is the first-rate treatment of this DVD collection. Great packaging, nice box and disc art, which neatly aligns with the inner foldout background photos of the cast. All 31 hilarious Seasons 1 & 2 episodes are digitally remastered and unedited. I was actually surprised by the restored content while viewing the set, having grown accustomed to the syndicated episodes because they air so frequently. It blew me away to hear Jack's restored voiceover during the closing photo screenshot from "The Walk" episode as well as hearing Jack & Finch negotiate over the closing credits from "My Dinner With Woody" which were excised from the syndicated versions.

The extras are cool. The "Always In Fashion" featurette with show creator Steven Levitan and cast, the Blush covers photo gallery, and commentaries all complement the show and the set. Hopefully, the Season Three set will contain the original "Pre-Finch" pilot. Surprising that it's not a feature of this set, given how often its mentioned in the commentaries. Guest-stars include: Tom Poston ("Newhart"), David Rasche ("Sledge Hammer!"), Kevin Weisman ("Alias"), Michael McDonald ("Mad TV"), Harry Groener ("Dear John"), Megan Mullally ("Will & Grace"), Dana Carvey ("SNL"), Lisa Edelstein ("Superman: TAS") and many others. Overall, this is a great set, a must for your TV DVD collection!