"Greg, I want you to meet my dog Stinky. And this is Stinky's dog Nunzio." - Dharma Finkelstein (Jenna Elfman)
Dharma & Greg: Season One DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
The dictionary perched atop my desk defines chemistry (the kind you find in movies, not the boring kind you study in school) as "mutual attraction or sympathy; rapport." The definition sounds simple enough, but onscreen, Hollywood rarely gets it right. Even actors who are passionately in love in real life often seem like cold fish when they try to play off of one another on film. For an example of Tinseltown finally getting chemistry correct, look no farther than Dharma & Greg: Season One, an unabashedly romantic and sweetly funny sitcom that features one of the most believable and likeable relationships ever broadcast on TV.
Greg Montgomery (Tales of the City's Thomas Gibson) is a by-the-book US Attorney in San Francisco. Dharma Finkelstein (Jenna Elfman) is a free spirit who trains dogs by day and teaches yoga at night. On paper, they don't exactly sound like a perfect match. When they meet one morning on a subway platform, though, it's love at first sight. By the end of their first date, they wind up in Reno for pie and then get married. Why Reno? As Dharma says, "My family lived in Reno for a couple of years until my dad fixed the van."
If Dharma and Greg prove the axiom that opposites attract, then they also prove that opposites' families may have problems getting along. Dharma's father, Larry Finkelstein (L.A. Law's Alan Rachins), is a sixties burnout who is convinced that the government watches us through the V-chip in our TVs, and listens to us through smoke detectors. He and Dharma's mother, Abby O'Neill (Homefront's Mimi Kennedy), have been together for years but refuse to get married simply to conform to societal expectations. Larry can't believe that his daughter has married "a Fed," but it's okay - he'll probably forget Greg's occupation soon anyway. Both Larry and Abby are hippies who have never quite left the '60s - or their VW van - behind.
Greg's parents are so rich and conservative that their only employment seems to be maintaining active status at their country club. Edward Montgomery (All My Children's Mitchell Ryan) inherited his family's wealth. Icy blond Kitty Montgomery (Falcon Crest's Susan Sullivan) vows that the day she celebrates her son's misguided marriage is "the day I ride a goat to K-Mart."
Of course the lovebirds also have friends. Greg's best friend is Pete Cavanaugh (Joel Murray), his buffoonish coworker at the US Attorney's office. Dharma's closest friend is Jane (Shae D'lyn), an oddball who lives in the building.
Season one documents several milestones in Dharma and Greg's new, highly unusual relationship. They meet and get married ("Pilot"). The in-laws meet and immediately start arguing over plans for a party to commemorate the marriage ("And the In-Laws Meet"). Dharma is surprised by her own jealousy when she meets Greg's seemingly perfect ex ("The Ex-Files"). Greg is picked to run for Congress, but Dharma might be a liability ("Mr. Montgomery Goes to Washington"). Dharma is horrified to discover that her father is not actually wanted by the F.B.I., but with Greg's help, she continues to charade so that Larry can continue his anti-establishment beliefs ("He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"). As Dharma prepares Thanksgiving dinner for the entire family, she begins to have suspicions that she's pregnant ("The First Thanksgiving"). A bad cell phone connection leaves the Montgomerys thinking that the Finkelsteins are interested in swapping mates ("Dharma & Greg's First Romantic Valentine's Day Weekend").
While many of the episodes deal with emotional subjects (several episodes, for example, feature the Montgomerys unsuccessfully attempting to hide their impending separation from Greg and the rest of the family), others just center on slapstick, silly fun. Greg reluctantly agrees to allow Dharma to cat-sit for Jane.until he discovers that Jane's "cat" is really a man (Teller, of Penn and Teller) who thinks he's a cat ("The Cat's Out of the Bag"). Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) appears as herself in a delightfully daffy episode in which Dharma falls off the Pixie Stix wagon and goes to extremes to keep a secret without lying to Greg ("Dharma's Tangled Web").
The first season of Dharma & Greg is quite appealing. Many of the episodes hinge on the sophisticatedly unsophisticated romance of sitcoms like Mad About You, while other episodes are just pure, dumb fun.
Familiar faces popping up in season one include Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), John Byner (Soap), Yeardley Smith (The Simpsons), Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman (Walker, Texas Ranger), Bill Brochtrup (NYPD Blue), James Eckhouse (Beverly Hills 90210), Bill Maher, Raphael Sbarge (The Guardian), Drew Carey (The Drew Carey Show), Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne), Paul Sand (Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers), Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives), Paul Johansson (One Tree Hill), Chick Hearn, Penn Jillette, Alice Ghostley (Designing Women), Leslie Jordan (Hearts Afire), Dick Clark and Michelle Shocked.
The twenty-three episodes that make up the first season are divided onto three double-sided discs. The discs are housed in two slim, black keepcases. The first keepcase holds two discs. The front of each case features the same publicity photos of Elfman and Gibson. The back of each case features a listing of episode titles, airdates, and brief synopses, as well as a few production photos. The cases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve which features the same photo of the stars.
The full motion menus are both attractive and easy to navigate. On the main menu, each episode on the DVD is listed in airdate order. Clicking on a title brings up that episode's individual menu screen. From here, the episode options (scene and language selection) can be chosen and the episode can be played. Each episode is divided into chapters. There is no "play all" feature.
