The Big C was a well done drama-comedy series featuring great performances from Laura Linney, John Benjamin Hickey and a respectable set of guest stars throughout the course of its four seasons.
The Big C: The Complete Series
(2010-13)
Genre(s): Drama, Comedy
Mill Creek Entertainment | TVMA – 1236 min. – $69.98 | April 16, 2019
Date Published: 04/16/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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Mill Creek Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE SERIES |
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Plot Synopsis: Cathy Jamison (LAURA LINNEY) is a 42-year-old schoolteacher who has always played by the rules. That is, until she receives a life-changing diagnosis. But instead of giving up, Cathy decides to live it up. Nothing and no one is safe, including her self-absorbed family — including estranged husband Paul (OLIVER PLATT), son Adam (GABRIEL BASSO) and brother Sean (JOHN BENJAMIN HICKEY) — her cantankerous neighbor (PHYLLIS SOMERVILLE), and her smart-ass students. Quick Hit Review: The Big C is a series which ran from 2010-2013, with a fourth season consisting only of 4 hour long episodes. I actually never heard of, though I also rarely watched shows on Showtime either but it was a nice revelation, a good balance of drama and comedy, the latter surprising especially for a show where your lead has terminal cancer, headlined by the wonderful Laura Linney, a great actress that I feel never got her due as a lead actress. Aiding her is John Benjamin Hickey being the standout, receiving a nomination at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2013 (as did Linney and Idris Elba in 2011) and Linney herself was a delight taking home a Golden Globe in 2010. The show also featured a nice rotating door of guest actors from Idris Elba (as a painter in a relationship with Cathy), Cynthia Nixon playing Cathy’s friend, Alan Alda and a doctor amongst others like Liam Neeson, Hugh Dancy, Parker Posey, Boyd Holbrook and Susan Sarandon. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5 |
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This six-disc set is housed in an extra wide Blu-ray case and has a side-sliding matted slip cover. Unfortunately none of the features from the first season, which included character profile featurettes, deleted scenes and outtakes, were ported over. Good news is, the included fourth season was only previously available through Sony’s MOD program. |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Mill Creek releases The Big C onto Blu-ray presented in the show’s 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio as it was originally televised. The 1080p high-definition transfer looks rather good, detail is fairly sharp and colors are on the brighter side even with the heavier subject matters concerning life and death, and other dramatic elements concerning the family and friendships. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| Each episode is accompanied with solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, though the bulk of this series was dialogue driven with some minor depth for some modest ambient noises and the score. Nothing amazing for sure, but certainly adequate for a drama-comedy series. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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Overall, The Big C was a well done drama-comedy series featuring great performances from Laura Linney, John Benjamin Hickey and a respectable set of guest stars throughout the course of its four seasons, the latter of which only previously available on DVD through the Sony MOD program. The Blu-ray itself, although has no bonus material, has good video and audio transfers. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.