The Girls Next Door: Season Four – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews

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Everyone knows the story of Playboy creator Hugh Hefner by now. Hefner, now in his eighties is THE ultimate “playboy”. Through the years, he has had multiple girlfriends, who are usually twenty-something and blonde. Four years ago, E! decided to create a reality TV series focusing on Hefner and his girlfriends living at the Playboy Mansion. Nobody could have imagined that this show would still be around today. While the fifth season of The Girls Next Door may have wrapped up on TV, and also finished up Holly, Kendra, and Bridget as Hef’s girlfriends, the fourth season is now on DVD, letting us flashback to Hugh’s life from a few years ago.

If you have watched the show before, you know that the stars of E!’s reality series are actually the three girlfriends of Hugh Hefner. Hefner is an active participant on this series, but compared to his girlfriends he is just a supporting character. But they are not the only ones living at the Playboy mansion. There are numerous Playboy employees, Playmates, and friends and family popping in and out of this show. Of course, you can’t forget all of Holly’s, Kendra’s, and Bridget’s pets who run wild inside the mansion on a daily basis.

On the surface, Kendra, Holly, and Madison look alike, but they each have a different personality. They each have also changed and matured since the beginning of show, and evolved somewhat. Holly is still Hef’s main girl. She still wants to marry Hef, even as Hef continues to run away from that idea. Strange as it may sound, even as Hef’s main girlfriend, Holly is really the least interesting girlfriend; but for this fourth season she is not as much of a focus as Bridget and Kendra are. Bridget is still the energetic girlfriend, who is actually really educated despite the fact that she appears to be dumb. Her radio show on Sirius Satellite radio has really taken off, and she gets a lot of screen time. Finally, the youngest girlfriend, Kendra, is still as crazy, tomboyish, and – most importantly – naive as ever. Her laugh may be annoying to some, but to others it is infectious and something you can’t help but laugh at yourself.

Some of the highlights from this season include the girls going to Monte Carlo for a TV conference, only to have Kendra and Bridget get in trouble for trespassing; the girls making a cameo appearance in the film The House Bunny; the girls going to Jamaica for Holly’s sister’s wedding; an Independence Day celebration at the mansion; an elegant Arabian themed “Midsummer Night’s Dream” Party; Holly’s visit to her home state of Alaska, and Bridget’s murder mystery birthday. Bridget has quickly become the central focus of the show as she does more adventurous and interesting things like being a trapeze artist and a movie producer. Kendra is just there for comic relief, of course, and Holly is just Holly.

Really not much has changed with The Girls Next Door in the fourth season. The biggest complaint is that a few episodes this season seem way too familiar to previous episodes in past seasons. At times, the girls seem like they are doing the same thing over and over again, but then at other times, these girls are doing things you have never seen on TV before. Right now, Hef, Holly, Kendra, and Bridget have all gone their separate ways. Hef is living his life with three new girlfriends, but it will really be hard for those girls to live up to standards set by Holly, Kendra, and Bridget. Thankfully, we have at least one more season of Girls Next Door goodness starring Holly, Kendra, and Bridget. This might not be the greatest season of The Girls Next Door, but season four still takes viewers inside the world of Playboy for an unprecedented look at life at the Playboy mansion, and that’s good enough for fans of this series.

Episodes:

Disc One:

Episode 1 – Patriot Dames
It’s Independence Day at the mansion! Hef, Holly, Bridget, Kendra and the rest of the staff celebrate, while Bridget and her sister anticipate the arrival of their older brother home from Iraq.

Episode 2 – Heavy Lifting
Holly, decides to re-decorate the gym but her and Hef have a clash on personal styles and Kendra prepares for her mother’s plastic surgery.

Episode 3 – Half-Baked Alaska
Holly takes Bridget and Kendra to Alaska, to visit where she grew up.

Episode 4 – Unveilings
Hef spices up this year’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Party with an Arabian theme. Meanwhile, Kendra’s mom undergoes plastic surgery for a younger look, which is unveiled at the big party.

Episode 5 – There’s Something About Mary O’Connor
Mary hosts a ladies night, while Hef hangs out with “the guys” at the mansion.

Disc Two:

Episode 6 – The Full Monte Carlo
Hef and the girls attend the Monte Carlo International Television Festival when invited by Prince Albert. On the way they stop in a Paris and Saint Tropez to celebrate Kendra’s birthday. While exploring the sites in Monaco, Kendra and Bridget get into a bit of trouble.

Episode 7 – Every Day is Wednesday
Kendra consults a pet psychic, while Bridget takes Wednesday to get an agent.

Episode 8 – Go West, Young Girl
Holly reviews four candidates for Playmate who come to the mansion to be photographed.

Episode 9 – Jamaican Me Crazy (Part 1)
The girls take a trip down to Jamaica for Holly’s sisters wedding, without Hef!!

Episode 10 – Wedding Belles (Part 2)
The girls take a trip down to Jamacia for Holly’s sisters wedding, without Hef!!

Disc Three:

Episode 11 – It’s My Party And I’ll Die If I Want To
For Bridget’s birthday she decides to hold a murder mystery at the mansion with a ’20s theme.

Episode 12 – Surf’s Up
The Girls hit the beach, and bring a party with them! Pro surfer Kelly Slater stops by with surfing tips, and Holly makes a splash of her own by taking some much needed swimming lessons from gold-medalist swimmer Amanda Beard.

Episode 13 – House Bunnies
Holly, Bridget, Kendra and Hef appear in a Hollywood movie starring Anna Faris (The House Bunny) which is loosely based on life at the Playboy Mansion.

Episode 14 – Hot Chocolate
Holly, Bridget and Kendra getting Hef some very personalized gifts from Beverly Hills’ Madame Chocolat for his 82nd birthday. But before they can present Mr. Playboy with their sexy gifts, the crew heads to Sin City to kick off Hef’s birthday celebration.

Episode 15 – She Got Game
Hef and all the Girls attend one of Playboy‘s most action-packed, celebrity-studded parties of the year: the over-the-top Super Bowl extravaganza.

Episode 16 – Scream Test
It’s Halloween again and Bridget is approached to produce a low-budget horror movie that will showcase her on- and off-screen talents.

The video is given in fullscreen color with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The transfer is great with colors generally looking bright and vivid details everywhere.

The audio included is in English 2.0 Stereo sound. There are subtitles available in English as well. The dialogue and music come out loud and clear.

Audio Commentaries
There are audio commentaries from Holly, Kendra, and Bridget on all 16 episodes in this season. Once again, these are great as the girls are just as funny when they are watching these episodes as when they were in the actual episodes. Definite must-watch viewing again after seeing the season the first time. It’s also interesting to note that these commentaries appear to be recorded AFTER the girls left Hef and the mansion. They often talk about living in the “real world” during these commentaries as well.

Deleted Scenes
There is a little over one hour of deleted scenes from this season. That’s quite a lot. Once again unlike most deleted scenes, the majority of these are funny and worth checking out. Basically all of them were cut for time reasons. There are still some that don’t add much to the show, but they are all entertaining to watch.

Episode Promos
Once again you have the option to view the promo and preview that was shown originally on E! for the next week’s episode before each of the episodes on this DVD set. Again, this really isn’t needed, since you don’t really need a reason to watch each episode when you have bought or rented the DVD set. You’re already going to watch every episode, whether you have a preview or not.

The Girls Next Door is fun reality show that doesn’t take itself too seriously. This season is slow in parts and deja vu may set in while watching some of these episodes. But for the most part, this season is just as entertaining and engaging to watch as previous seasons. If you haven’t seen the show, this is an easy recommendation for a rental.


20th Century FOX Home Video presents The Girls Next Door: Season Four. Created by Kevin Burns and Hugh Hefner. Starring Hugh Hefner, Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson, and Bridget Marquardt. Running time: 379 minutes. Rated: NOT RATED. Released on DVD: March 17, 2009. Available at Amazon.com

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