The Commish: The Complete Series

Long before he was cracking skulls as Vic Mackey on The Shield, Michael Chiklis was Tony Scali, the Commissioner of the East Bridge Police Department. The show launched Chiklis's career and when you've seen both The Commish and The Shield, you really get the sense that this guy could play any role. Scali was the complete opposite of Mackey, whereas Mackey solved his problems through violence and intimidation, throwing the book out the window, Scali solved crime by using the book to his advantage. Scali would use his cleverness, his charm, and even his wit to get the answers he needed and was the true opposite of Vic Mackey in every sense of the word. The Commish was so much more than just a simple cop show, it was a family show, and during it's five year run on ABC it was way ahead of it's time. The show ran from 1991-1995 and even then was exploring such topics as bullying, gay marriage, the emergence of the internet, and in one first season episode, way back in 1991, Tony states that reality TV was the wave of the future! Scali wasn't just the clever cop who ran a large police department and solved crimes through extremely clever and unconventional methods, he was a family man. Much of the show intertwines his work with his family and he's just as clever, witty, and delightful at home as he is in the station. As I said earlier, this show launched the career of Michael Chiklis who now is a multiple Emmy Award winner and one of the best people you could have on board for a new series. Veteran actress, Theresa Saldana, plays his wife Rachel, and she's more than just a housewife. She's just as intuitive as her husband and is a working mom, another aspect of the show that was ahead of it's time. Their son David, was the first major role for Kaj-Erik Eriksen, who has seemingly been in everything. You may not recognize his name, but you'll definitely recognize his face from one thing or another. I have been watching the Commish regularly for about 3 months now and I can tell you honestly, this show never gets old. No two cases or personalities are the same, and you'd be hard pressed to find award winning novels that are better written. This is one of the most clever, fun, and heartwarming shows I have ever seen, and even though it's been off the air for nearly 20 years, it's still as relevant today as it was then and I can not possible recommend it enough.

This review is based on this set, not the show itself. Seasons 1 and 2 were previously released several years earlier by Anchor Bay. I never thought the rest of the show would see the light of day on DVD so it's great to be able to have the whole show at a very reasonable price. I mean, owning 91, 45-minute episodes for less than 30 bucks is a pretty good deal no matter how you look at it. So for just that reason alone, part of me wants to rate high.Other people have commented on the lack of extras and the bare packaging - which personally doesn't really bother me all that much for a budget set - I've seen worse. The paper sleeves the way it is packaged at least I don't think are likely to actually hurt the DVD's themselves - which can't be said for some other t.v. show releases out there.With that said, there is one drawback for me to this set: Mill Creek (the distributor behind this new release) seems to have reduced the video quality in order to increase the amount of episodes they could put on each disc. The old Anchor Bay seasons 1 & 2 releases definitely won no quality awards - the video quality was pretty bad on them too. However, rather than keeping the already bad transfers previously done, Mill Creek seems to have went and made them even worse (which is even hard to imagine!) by compressing them even further. I have no scientific data to back up this assertion - only my eyes. I own the old DVD's and I own this new set. I used the same episode, on the same disc, on the same DVD player, on the same T.V. and although quality was poor on both, I definitely noticed a decrease in quality on this new Mill Creek release, where more of the "blocky" compression artifacts were visible. It struck me as even more like a poor VHS quality.Granted, I have a 46" HDTV so it's going to be much more noticeable than someone that owns say a 25" old-style t.v. I'd sure hate to see these on a 65" screen - I'm thinking it might be hard to watch some of the episodes on such a setup! Anyway, on my t.v. they are watchable if you sit far enough away from the screen, but I've actually kept my old season 1 & 2 sets (I was going to sell them or give them away) because if I want to watch a season 1 or 2 show, I'll just use those old discs.After having now watched most of the season 3 and season 4 episodes, I can say that the quality of them seems to be much better (relatively speaking - it's still a far cry from "good"), so there is an inconsistency in quality throughout the set.My advice: If you already own the old seasons 1 & 2 and are a fan of the show, you might not want to get rid of them if you purchase this. If you don't own any seasons, you might try just this first and see if it's "perfectly fine" for you.

I grew up with the Commish, so it's a real treat to have the entire series on disc!! Those that are complaining about the packaging I think are being a little too critical- for $20.00, you cannot ask for more! I have a feeling that if Mill Creek had invested more money into fancy packaging, the customer would have seen a much higher price. I think it's slick how they have all the discs in individual covers, plus, it's very neatly done, and it is a space saver!My only concern, as I have only watched the first two discs, is this: does anyone else remember when the show was actually airing on TV, in the episode entitled The Best of Families, at the very end, the cops stop a car matching the description of the store robbers? When they try and tell him that they are a singing group, he asked them to prove it by singing right there on the street. In this box set, that scene is completely cut out-- we see them stop the car filled with the guys, we see the one guy tell the Commish that they are a singing group, and next thing you know, the credits are rolling! They cut out the entire part of the singing. Does this happen on everyone's disc, or did I get a dud?Regardless of this issue, I am VERY pleased with this set, and it's nice to have another show from my childhood on disc!!

This is a great police procedural drama to own on DVD. Tony Scali (Michael Chiklis) uses his keen wit and humour more so than brute force in his role as police commissioner of suburban Eastbridge, New York (filmed in Vancouver, BC). This series has so many nice things to offer - intense episodes, intelligent characters, a great supporting cast and excellent writing. The writers weren't afraid to address current social issues such as illegal immigration, sexual harassment, drug abuse, homosexuality, and corruption. There is some violence in this series but not a lot of gratuitous sex or offensive language.There are 17 discs with 92 one-hour episodes comprising all 5 seasons. The packaging in paper envelopes within a casing is innovative - not terrible. You don't have to deal with all that extra plastic nor do you have to worry about bits of it breaking off as you fight to extract the DVDs from the case.

Great to watch this series again with my wife. I purchased this for her birthday she really loved it.

Case fell to pieces when opened,and only into 2nd disc and scratched so much won't play,poor quality

THE COMMISH COMPLETE SERIES WAS AND IS A DELIGHT, GREAT QUALITY, TOTAL RELIABILITY, THE OPPOSITE OF THE COMPLETE TV SERIES FOR M.A.S.H. ALSO SOLD TO US BY AMAZON WHO WILL NOT HELP US SO FAR BECAUSE IT TOOK MORE THAT 30 DAYS TO LEARN THAT ELEVEN YEARS OF DVD'S ARE DEFECTIVE ON EVERY SECOND DISC, REGARDLESS OF WHICH DVD PLAYER WE TRY. BUT COMMISH. DON'T BY MASH. THIS IS MY FIRST DISAPPOINTMENT WITH AMAZON.