On DVD: Drawn Together - Uncensored Season Three

When this series first started it seemed like a brilliant concept; a series that spoofs animation stereotypes and reality TV at the same time.  In this animated series various cartoon characters including a super hero and a fairy tale character are brought together to live in a house together Real World style.  The problem was that the series didn't start with a bang.  I found season one actually a bit boring and rather than spoof the things that are most irritating about reality TV it just seemed to recreate them in animated form.  After that first season though, the show did improve.

The Season

Season two of the series seemed to find its formula mixing parodies of reality TV and animated series.  Oddly season three, which hit at a time when reality TV had oversaturated primetime Drawn Together seems to lose its focus.  This season features very few send ups of realty TV compared to the cartoon spoofs.  I'd rather have seen the series stay focused on reality TV mined with animation spoofing rather than the other way around because The Animaniacs already took care of spoofing animated TV and the entertainment industry in general.  It's hard to beat what Steven Spielberg's Fox series did.

With that complaint registered there is one thing I really appreciate about this season of Drawn Together-the creators really go for broke in just about every episode.  They manage to push the boundaries of good taste and political correctness in nearly every episode with often some really funny results.  It's great to see a series pushing these boundaries and a network giving them the freedom to do so.  It's not surprising coming from a network that gave Sarah Silverman a television series though.  As edgy as the series was when it aired, it gets a good bit more extreme with these uncensored DVD's.  For once, the "uncensored" banner is actually appropriate.

Drawn Together is most definitely an adults only and of those adults you'd have to have an appreciation for a weird and twisted sense of humor and storytelling.  Just when you think it's gotten as offensive as it could get, it takes a step further, and that's a good thing.  This season of Drawn Together tries to play in a lot of pools including the edginess of South Park and the animation spoofs of Animaniacs.  While it doesn't surpass those series it is entertaining and is a great addition to the DVD collection of fans of those series.

7/10

The Video

The video quality here is quite surprising with high detail, vivid colors and very little grain.  This would be a perfect transfer if it weren't for the aliasing that plagues the thinner lines throughout the series.  Overall though this a good presentation for fans of the show.

8/10

The Audio

This is a really basic stereo mix with clean and clear dialogue, score, and effects.  With that said there's absolutely no dynamic range and the whole thing almost sounds mono.

5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

There are four full length audio commentaries with some of the creators of the series.  There's a good bit of information in the commentaries covering the making of the series, what some of the writers have been working on since the show, and the a potential future for the show.  Good stuff here for fans of the series.

Other than the commentaries there's a fairly useless karaoke feature and some promos.

5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

The Review

The Series 7/10

The Video 8/10

The Audio 5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 7/10

-Stephen Lackey