Customer Reviews

Starsky and Hutch: The Complete Fourth Season

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Farewell Starsky & Hutch we'll miss you. Starsky & Hutch's time as televisions best cop duo has finally come to an end in season four but thanks to these DVD's the striped tomato will continue to burn rubber at my house forever! The remaining 22 remastered episodes from season four are presented for your enjoyment in this amazing 5 single sided disc set from Sony Pictures. Once again the disc packaging and disc artwork from Sony Pictures is fantastic and Sony should be commended for their efforts. The picture & sound quality in season four is excellent, better than I can remember seeing on television and any fan of the show would be happy to own this set.

What more can be said about Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul they will always be the one and only "Starsky & Hutch" for me. Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul appeared to have a special chemistry that went way beyond their acting together on screen and it seemed like they were very genuine and sincere to one another on and off screen. The final 22 episodes from season four are a mixed bag when it comes to the quality of the stories and plots the actors had to work with and some are better than others. The season four series finale episode is definitely a fitting end to this incredible television series and an episode not to be missed.

The biggest disappointment about this DVD set and the first three season sets from Sony Pictures is the complete lack of bonus material or special features. This show lasted only four seasons and during the 93 episodes produced they're had to be bloopers, gag reels and some accidents to the Ford Torino's that were used during filming, why wasn't any of that footage included? Another complaint I have is that most of the actors from the show are still alive so why wasn't a cast commentary or cast reunion featurette included? I don't know about the rest of you but I would have liked to have seen Starsky, Hutch and Huggy Bear together again for this DVD release before it's too late. There will probably never be another cop show like "Starsky & Hutch" ever again and with all the reality garbage on television today, I'm glad I own the complete series on DVD. Zebra Three Out!

DVD Episodes include:
1. Discomania
2. The Game
3. Blindfold
4. Photo Finish
5. Moonshine
6. Strange Justice
7. The Avenger
8. Dandruff
9. Black and Blue
10. The Groupie
11. Cover Girl
12. Starsky's Brother
13. The Golden Angel
14. Ballad for a Blue Lady
15. Birds of a Feather
16. Ninety Pounds of Trouble
17. Huggy Can't Go Home
18. Targets without a Badge-Part 1
19. Targets without a Badge-Part 2
20. Targets without a Badge-Part 3
21. Starsky vs. Hutch
22. Sweet Revenge

The Main Cast:
Paul Michael Glaser.....Det. Dave Starsky
David Soul....Det. Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson
Bernie Hamilton.......Capt. Harold Dobey
Antonio Fargas.....Huggy Bear/The Snitch

The original "Starsky and Hutch" is an excellent TV series and this season is their final together. It's one of my favorite seasons of the entire run. My husband and I have been fans of this show since it originally aired.

Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky) and David Soul (Hutch) are terrific actors who did amazing with the story lines they were given. They're an excellent duo who have an incredible chemistry that's real. On the show the two men were cops, partners, and best friends (on/off screen) with that said some of our favorite episodes overall are when it featured the two of them such as the three part "Targets Without A Badge". Other episodes that stand out are "The Avenger" which actually showed us PMG can sing and sing very well. He should have done more singing! "Moonshine" has some pretty funny moments especially when they go into a local tavern and sample some of the drink, hence the title. The series finale of "Sweet Revenge" is on disc five and it's a mixture of some pretty intense acting and then a funny ending.

During this season Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul continued directing episodes such as "Huggy Can't Go Home", "Ballad For A Blue Lady" which PMG also wrote, and the series finale "Sweet Revenge".

About the product itself this 22 episode digitally mastered set has great picture quality and nice packaging of the DVD. A wonderful buy for all S&H fans. I would like to purchase the complete series gift set from seasons 1-4 but as this isn't available to us yet, I had to make the individual purchases of the seasons. This show did a total of 93 episodes in the four years that it was on the air. We now own all of the series and on Season 1 DVD there is a documentary called "Starsky and Hutch: Behind The Badge" which is very informative, featuring the two leads, the cast and the crew.

*We would be happy if a movie featuring "them" would return to a screen near us*, but for now we'll enjoy this series 70's style. But we're still hoping for the movie!
Great series made better by great acting. A 5 star purchase! Of course The Ford Red Torino with white stripes (aka Striped Tomato*g*) is on here. This show is truly one of our favorites! The price is right for this their final season together.

Fantastic seller, awesome low price, item new as promised, shipped fast and very well packaged. I couldn't be happier with my buying experience!

Season Four is a departure from the previous 3 seasons. It was the last go-round for the two wonderful lead actors, who were exhausted from three years of 16-18 hour days of shooting episodes while simultaneously preparing for the next. Consequently, it appears that they had negotiated some more time off in the final season, which is why there aren't as many scenes with the two of them together. And the two of them together was what gave this show its magic. That is my biggest complaint about the 4th and last season - until the final few episodes, when the "me and thee" was back on target. The "Starsky vs Hutch" episode seemed to be misplaced in the season lineup of shows. Logically, it should have been positioned before the "Targets without a Badge" series and the final episode, "Sweet Revenge," but instead it was placed between these two. Was that a mistake in the DVD packaging of the shows? Initially, I was also put off by the "Starsky vs Hutch" episode, because it seemed totally out of character for Hutch to behave in such a way toward his best friend, but on the other hand I was drawn to that show more than some of the others because it gave the actors a chance to play off of one another in a different way than they had, and it had its own magic because they are two very talented actors. I would have liked to have seen a transition scene before the tag that captured their "conversation" about what had happened in their relationship and how they came to their reconciliation, but maybe that got left on the editor's floor, or was never shot becacuse that was the nature of the TV budget in those days. "Blindfold" was also another show that seemed to go against character - this time, Starsky. In the first 3 seasons it never would have occured to Starsky to put his partner in harms way like he did in the tag of this episode. It just didn't ring true to the followers of this show. But those are minor, personal observations of the 4th season. Overall, though some episodes were better written than others during the entire four seasons, many of the shows tackled subjects that were often taboo on TV in those days, and they offered opportunities to a diversity of actors in non-stereotypical roles. But it was David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser who gave Starsky and Hutch its bones and its heart. They portrayed two cops who were best friends, who were tough but kind and compassionate in their jobs, and not afraid to show their love and affection for one another. Their performances (and directorial talents), as well as their unique chemistry and timing together, both dramatic and comedic, has yet to be duplicated on TV. They are the reason that this 1970's TV show has had such long legs and a huge following of fans. I know I'm very happy that these two actors, and their extraordinary partnership, have been preserved on DVD for other generations of audiences to appreciate.