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By
WAYNE KLEIN
First Brenda has made me
confess--I haven't seen the second season DVDs yet
(as of this writing they haven't been released)
but did see the original broadcasts on TNT. This
second season continued the terrific
writing,acting and direction as Brenda tried to
crack difficult murder cases by cracking the
suspects. Kyra Sedgewick continues to be top notch
in the role and I'm disappointed and surprised
that she hasn't won more awards for her
performance. The reality is that this show has
such a small but devoted audience (relatively
large for basic cable though and TNT)that it's
easy to overlook. You shouldn't.
The second season set will include extras this
time around. We get a short featurette on the
development of the show, deleted scenes and a gag
reel. That's much better than the first set which
although priced the same at retail had only
deleted scenes as extras. If you want a
challenging, intelligent show with a quirky hero
that rivals Sherlock Holmes for genius and the
cops on CSI for getting confessions, step into
"the box" with Brenda.
She still works for the same cranky boss that she
once had an affair with and still pursues her
passion of junk food just as ruthlessly as she
pursues criminals. The first season set suffered
from one issue-a nonanamorphic transfer which
basically means that it doesn't look quite as good
as some DVD transfers on high definition TV's.
That's a minor flaw that will annoy some and not
bother others. The quality of the show itself
helps me make a decision on buying it. This one is
one of the best on TV. That said, it still looks
outstanding even with the extreme black bars at
the bottom and top of the screen (it's a "flat"
transfer that hasn't been enhanced for high
definition TVs). |
