Broad City: Season 4 - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Broad City: Season 4



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


​

Movie
It’s amazing how much YouTube has infiltrated our lives, and absolutely incredible how someone can be a “nobody”, only to make something giant out of their lives with the use of said internet social structure. Justin Beiber was put on YouTube by his mother, and suddenly he’s a giant popstar worth millions. Someone can pick up an item and start reviewing it weekly, and suddenly they’re paid 10s of thousands of dollars a year to advertise and talk about products. And just a few short years ago Ilana Grazer and Abbi Jacobson were a couple of friends making a YouTube show, and BOOM! Comedy Central picked them up and they’ve just completed the 4th season of their hit comedy show (with a 5th season already contracted and on the way)!

Crude, rude, nasty and completely random Broad City features Ilana Wexler (Ilana Glazer) and her friend Abbi Abrams (Abbi Jacobson) as they live their lives in New York City. Neither of the them are very stable, and in fact, are a bit crazy if you think about it. Ilana is the epitome of the stereotypical rebel, living life to the extreme and not letting anyone tell her any different. Abbi is supposedly the “stable” one, but has enough hang ups and female empowerment issues hearken herself to Ilana as her counterpart. Much like Seinfeld, Broad City is a show about nothing, and everything all at once. The show chronicles the foibles and mistakes the girls make as they try to live in the joyous chaos that is the big apple.

Seasons 1-3 carried a unique flair, and also happened to take palce in the gloriously bright summer months. A sort of call out to the joy and bubbly optimism the two girls share. However, the 4th season takes a drastic curve and shifts the tone of the show to a much bleaker vibe by changing the weather from the bright outdoors of summer, to the dark and gloomy winter months. Much of this centers around the politics of the day, as a Trump presidency changes their outlook on life (Trump is also bleeped out to T***p, as if its a swear word). Episodes that feature Abbi and Ilana’s “Friendiversary” seem to be going one way, and then the tone shifts instantly and it’s moving in a complete 180. Abbi discovers she has a grey hair, and the girls bask in their own misery as they wonder what is going to happen to their rights under this new political regime.

I like that the series took a chance and moved from upbeat and optimistic, to darkly brooding and gloomy. It keeps the series fresh, and allows for the show to adapt and change, while still staying mostly the same throughout. Taking this tonal change from bright and sunny, to dark and gloomy also allows us to look into the personalities of Ilana and Abbi and see who they are in this period of their life, instead of just the “same old, same old” of the previous three seasons. Personally I find the politics a bit distatsteful, but that’s mostly because I swing more conservative and my biases come into play. The crudity and savage nature of the show hasn’t changed one bit, though, and for those who are accustomed to it, the series will still ring true and comfortable.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Shot on with its traditional use of handycams and other recording devices to imitate a “docudrama”, Season 4 of Broad City maintains the very stable and standard look that has been replicated by the previous three years of DVD sets. The show is a bit rough and raw in its filming style, but the textures and vibrancy of the show is still quite enjoyable. There’s a glossy sheen to it that replicates the raw look of New York City, and colors pop through with excellent saturation levels. Fine detailing is appealing to the eye, and while there are some funky contrast issues and a few bouts of macroblocking, the twin DVD-9s themselves look to be fairly free of any digital abnormalities. Sunny day shots show off the most detail, with small bouts of digital noise cropping up inside of the cramped apartments that the girls call home and in dim lighting. The crude nature of the show’s filming style may be intentional, but it is also in no way detrimental to the show, as there has been quite a lot of care taken to make it look as good as it can with the artistic style intended. For it.






Audio:

Much like season 3, season 4 is given the choice of 5.1 or 2.0 in Dolby Digital, and while the upgrade to 5.1 is fairly mild, it gives the show a little more aural depth and spaciousness to it’s New York City landscape. The 2.0 track will still get the job done, as a ton of the information is still stuck up front in the mains, but the hustle and bustle of New York City allows for the roaring of cars, or the scream of an angry city dweller in from the sides. LFE is a bit punchier, with some heavy rumbles and roars from traffic, as well as minor ambient audio cues, like slamming doors and the like. Dialog is still crips and clean, and the imaging in the front two channels is excellent. It’s a solid audio track that has a nice uptick in quality going from the traditional 2.0 comedy tracks to a full 5.1 mix.






Extras:

• Hacking Into Broad City
• Behind Broad City
• Deleted/Extended Scenes and Outtakes

Final Score: ​

Broad City is nothing if not consistent. Whether you like the over the top crudity from Grazer and Jacobson, or are repulsed by it, you have to admit that the four season Comedy Central show has maintained it’s level of humor and production quality. Something that not many other TV shows can attest to. The humor and quirkyness is right on cue, and the political humor of the day is integrated heavily into the show (naturally it’s living in a “Trump World” this season) evenly. I personally am not a fan of the girl’s brand of humor, but it has been a runaway hit for Comedy Central and its consistent quality has made it a staple for the channel. Audio and video are on par with previous seasons, but once again the extras are even slimmer than before. Recommended as a rental for newbies, but a purchase if you’re a fan of the show.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ilana Grazer, Abbi Jacobson, Hannibal Buress
Created by: Ilana Grazer, Abbi Jacobson
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 MPEG2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Paramount
Rated: NR
Runtime: 215 Minutes
DVD Release Date: February 13th, 2018

Recommendation: Rental as a taste test​

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will have to first check out the first season.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Good grief, Mike... who in the world at Paramount thought that cover art was a good idea? A summer intern from the local high school???

F minus!