September is the month that new seasons of our beloved television shows debut - including the Emmy Award-winning series The Office. While fans wait impatiently for the season premiere on Sept. 25, NBC released The Office Season 4 DVD on Sept. 2. The four-disc set has every episode of Season 4, as well as a number of deleted scenes. The Office stars Golden Globe winner Steve Carell and an overwhelmingly talented cast including John Krasinski as the joking, lovable Jim, and his girlfriend Pam, played by Jenna Fischer.
For Pam-Jim fans who had waited three seasons for the couple to finally start dating, their moment had come. Other unexpected romances developed, as Angela and Andy started dating, much to the chagrin of Dwight (Rainn Wilson). And who can forget the epic proposal in the season finale and what that might mean for Season 5. The characters certainly took center stage in this season, in which the plotlines focused on ongoing relationships and problems as opposed to the more self-contained episodes of The Office's past.
One of the best features of the DVD is the deleted scenes. Some are available for preview on the promo site for the DVD including one hilarious scene titled "Strip Pong." The DVD also features a number of episodes with cast commentary such as "The Deposition," where Michael is asked to speak at Jan's deposition, and the episode titled "Did I Stutter?" where Stanley snaps and yells at Michael. The blooper reel is especially funny with great comedians like Carell and Krasinski.
Loving The Office is one thing; spending a significant amount of money for it is something else. Ordering the DVD from The Office web site is $37.98. You can find it a little cheaper on BestBuy.com and Amazon.com. The DVD also has significantly fewer episodes than previous Office seasons, as the Writer's Guild strike cut the season down to 14 episodes. DVD prices don't seem to reflect that.
Fans should also take into account a favorite TV venue for those of us not as blessed in the wallet department - watching videos online. Not only does NBC put some of its episodes online, with excellent sound and picture quality, but there are a number of sites that host videos for free, and that is a price you cannot beat. Veteran online watchers have unfortunately learned that these sites can be testy; slow connections, incomplete episodes, and poor quality are all too common ailments of the online video.
Bottom line: The Office DVD gets an A+ for quality but a C- for cost. Die-hard fans may want to jack up their credit card bills, but the rest of us are better off waiting for the price to drop.
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