Official Synopsis:
Emmy® winner Craig T. Nelson stars in Coach, the hilarious sitcom that's a touchdown with fans! Relive every Season One episode as Coach Hayden Fox (Nelson) teaches the moves to his football team, the Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles, while learning a thing or two about offense and defense from his close-knit family and friends. Co-starring Emmy® nominees Jerry Van Dyke and Shelley Fabares, this ready-to-rumble 2-disc collection is packed with a special featurette on the greatest TV shows of the '80s and a bonus preview episode from Season Two. Available on DVD for the first time ever, there's no time like the present to get in the game for one of the most entertaining series ever!
Our Take:
I never really watched Coach when it was on television, which is kind of strange when I think about what a huge football fan I am. But as I was watching the show in the new Coach: The First Season two-disc set, I realized what part of the problem was for me. I just have never really found Craig T. Nelson all that charismatic of an actor. I'm not saying he does a bad job; in fact, I think he’s perfectly cast here as a college football coach. There's just something about him that doesn't quite do it for me.
Another part of my problem with the show is that I just don't enjoy his supporting cast. I'm a firm believer that supporting casts can make or break a sitcom, and this one doesn't do it for me. Jerry Van Dyke is funny enough, and Shelley Fabares is fine as Nelson's romantic interest, but then there's characters like Bill Faggerbakke's character Dauber Dybinski. When you have an airhead like Jerry Van Dyke’s character floating around, having a complete moron like Dauber around too just gets kind of repetitive. How many non-intelligent characters does a sitcom with only five major cast members really need?
The new two-disc collection should satisfy fans (especially if they can snag the nifty limited edition package version), but there's not much in the way of extras. All that's included is The Great 80's Television Flashback, a documentary about Universal's 80's TV shows (all conveniently coming out on DVD!) that is fun but has been seen on about three or four other sets already. There’s also a bonus episode from season two. That’s neat, sure, but I imagine it will still be on the season two collection, so in a few months, it'll be a moot extra.
So as a DVD release, Coach: The First Season isn’t all that exciting; but for a show that ran for a long time and yet rarely shows up in syndication, I imagine most fans will be happy to finally see it on disc.
Overall Picture:
Show: C
DVD: C+
- Mike Spring
Editor
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