'CSI' Fourth Season Out on DVD Today

The much-anticipated fourth season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was released in the US today after a delay from its originally scheduled release date to very favourable reviews which cited the increased character development and more adventurous storylines of the show's fourth year.

DVD Talk's Francis Rizzo III rated the set "highly recommended", saying that although American viewers can at this point watch some form of CSI every night during the week, the original remains the best. "The writing is consistently fantastic, while the acting is as good as any that has been seen on television," he wrote. As with previous sets, the technical specs on the digital transfer and sound earned positive marks, while the menus "have taken a big leap since the last set, and are animated using footage from the show."

Among the extras are commentaries on seven episodes by executive producers, directors and writers and a four-part behind-the-scenes featurette, "The Evolution of an Episode", which explores the writing, pre-production, filming and post-production of the episode "Suckers" which explores both an electrocution and the death of a goth vampire. "Combined with the commentaries, this feature puts this season set head and shoulders over the series' previous collections," said Rizzo.

Kevin Clemons of Digitally Obsessed gave the set a B+ on average, saying that some fans may not appreciate the emphasis on matters affecting the personal lives of the investigators instead of a cleaner focus on the cases themselves:

In the fourth season, Greg (Szmanda) begins to train as a field agent, getting him out of the DNA lab, while Catherine (Helgenberger) and Sara (Fox) each deal with personal matters that may affect their performance. Some may find this to be the last resort of desperate writers who may be running out of ideas, but in many ways it feels natural. The series needs to expand and develop its characters rather than following the same tried and true plot lines that have been around since the series' inception.

In terms of the DVD package, "CSI continues to be the best-looking TV on DVD there is," with excellent audio transfer, and Clemons appreciated the extras. His favourite episodes of the season are "Jackpot", "Homebodies" and "Invisible Evidence", all of which offer "added emotional weight to the series, wrapped around some intriguing plot threads."

CSI: The Complete Fourth Season is available from Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

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