TVSquad

Now that the second season of The Sarah Silverman Program has begun (see Brad T.'s review of last night's season premiere), anyone who wants to go back and review the first season can now do so on DVD.

Comedy Central usually puts together decent DVD packages for its shows, and this one is no exception. Well, it's decent if you're a fan of Silverman's goofy and self-absorbed songs, because this package features them quite a bit.

Let's get on with it:

Packaging: One disc. That's it, folks. The season was only six episodes, so everything fits on one disc. No fun inserts or anything like that.

Picture and Sound: Full-screen picture, just like it was on Comedy Central. Typical DVD sound. No alternate languages or subtitles (how would they translate "queefing" into French, anyway?). Oh, and not for nothing, but the menu for playing the episodes is extremely difficult to navigate.

Special Features: There are commentaries on every episode besides the "pilot" episode, "Batteries" (it was made first, but didn't air first). Some episodes have multiple commentaires attached. Commentaries were done by three teams: Silverman teams up with her fellow executive producers Rob Schrab and Dan Sterling; Brian Posehn and Steve Agee, who play the nerdy gay couple Brian and Steve, do some other commentaries; and Laura Silverman (she plays Laura Silverman -- duh) and Jay Johnston, who plays Officer Jay, also chime in on some episodes. The commentaries are predictably boring in spots, informative and funny in others.

There are three animated storyboards included; two that show alternate title sequences to the series (rather than the quick slide-show opening they ended up using) and one that shows a more elaborate chase seen for the "Batteries" episode.

There's a an easter egg; highlight the picture above the second title sequence pitch extra, and you'll see Sarah and a guy in a Tron suit play a dirty word game. There. I've told you what it is so you don't have to see it for yourself.

But, as I mentioned, the set is heavily dependent on Silverman's silly songs. There's a karaoke sing-along feature that collects the musical vignettes from each episode and allows people to either sing-along with the music or with-out it, karaoke-style, complete with the words and bouncing ball at the bottom of the screen. Then there is a "musical performances" feature, where Silverman sings about a dozen short songs with various cast members. If you like Silverman's songs, this will be a great feature. But if, like me, her act wears on you after a while, these features might best be viewed in small doses.

Of course, the same can be said about the series itself. The surrounding characters on the show are what sustain it, because Sarah's "sweet but dirty and selfish" act gets old. But what I didn't realize when I popped this disc into my DVD player and saw all the episodes at once is that each of the episodes had really funny and refreshing stories and elements to them. Since the first season was so brief, it'll make for a good rental, and it's a nice buy if you're a fan of Silverman and/or the series.