Review for Caroline In The City Complete Series 1-4 Boxset

Before Friends and Will and Grace there was Caroline in the City. This was almost the precursor for the group of friends comedy that seemed to come out in the mid-90s. Caroline (Lea Thompson) is a cartoonist living in New York who has many, many relationship issues which involves her work life amongst other things. She goes through life almost like a female Woody Allen making wry comments about life and relationships such as commenting that she had two cats, but one ran away and it was typical that it was the male. Yes, folks, these are the jokes. I shouldn't be too hard on the show as it does have its moments and the relationship between Caroline and Richard her colorist which is very similar to the Niles/Daphne relationship in Frasier is very sweet and hooks you from the get-go. Speaking of Niles and Daphne, one of the more interesting things about the series is the inclusion of Matthew Perry and David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves within the show. Not as themselves or as a new character but as their respective characters (Chandler from Friends and Niles and Daphne from Frasier) I don't recall this happening in another show and for fans of those shows this made it all the more interesting.

One thing I always liked about the show, despite some of the cringe worthy lines, is the feeling that rather than being a sitcom it feels like a collection of inter-related sketches. Each scene has the classic, setup punchline format that you would expect from any sketch show. The movement of these around the plot, makes them hugely enjoyable to watch, again despite the sometimes awful, awful jokes and punchlines it is quite simplistic in its style and gave me a show I didn't have to think about for long unlike some shows like Arrested Development that need a whole Wikipedia page just to explain some of the jokes and references. It's probably true that a female may get more out of the barrage of female insecurity of Caroline, than I did, but her way of looking at the world which is similar to that of Jerry Seinfeld or Woody Allen makes it a show that can be enjoyed by all.

At ninety six episodes, the show had its fair run and across the four series you can see the writing and the acting get better and better. However, just like most shows there is a feeling that maybe they went on a bit too long and maybe should have stopped around the third series. Despite this, there are a number of great episodes and the guest stars including Julie Andrews, Garry Shandling, Judd Hirsch and David Hyde Pierce make the show even more enjoyable.

Extras differ across the sets but included is the original Pilot episode, photo gallery for each of the main characters, Episode Synopsis for those who want them spoilt Cast biographies of the main cast. Continuity Errors is an interesting look at all the little gaffes that occur throughout the series, though could really benefit from showing the actual gaffe itself rather than just a brief text description of it. Cartoons is a collection of some of the cartoons that begin the shows and it almost like a recap of all the couch gags from The Simpsons.

Caroline in the City is a good show, I wouldn't say it is as great as Friends or Will and Grace, but it does have a nice charm that makes it far more enjoyable. Unlike those two shows that almost rely on the carbon-copy cut out traits of their characters (Chandler being sarcastic, Ross being awkward, Phoebe being kooky etc) this show is more of a story-driven sitcom which is very enjoyable and certainly worth a look and with over thirty hours of entertainment you're not likely going to finish this for some time.