DVD Review: Two Guys and a Girl (The Complete Series)

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Some sitcoms seem to be on every channel and every hour. When is the last time you had to hunt on the dial for The Big Bang Theory, Family Guy or King of Queens? Other sitcoms that had a good run in the past twenty years are allowed to become obscure. Quite a few fade from the memory. But a few are rescued from being drifting into the abyss that claimed She’s the Sheriff because of future achievements of the on screen talent. Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place seemed destined to just exist as a Saturday Night Live sketch where after the show’s title was changed to Two Guys and a Girl, NBC had signed up A Pizza Place for a new series. The series deserves a renaissance because the main cast has gone on to major things. Thankfully instead of Twitter pestering your local TV station, you can buy Two Guys and a Girl: The Complete Series.

Coming in the wake of Friends, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place was about only two guys and a girl. Instead of hanging out in New York City coffee shop, the two guys worked at Beacon Street Pizza in Boston. They were trying to figure out what to do with their lives. The girl lives above them in the apartment. But they are friends and not a bizarre love triangle. They are not unambitious. Michael “Berg” Bergen (Green Lantern‘s Ryan Reynolds) is a working on med school. Pete Dunville (Rita Rocks‘ Richard Ruccolo) has just bailed on grad school in order to find a deeper calling. Sharon Carter (Monk‘s Traylor Howard) is a spokesperson for Immaculate Chemicals. She’s got the real job of the trio. Among their pals in the first season is David Ogden Stiers (M*A*S*H*) as a diner who keeps drifting between reality and movies and Pete’s girlfriend (Kissing Jessica Stein‘s Jennifer Westfeldt). Both would disappear with two new love interests arriving on the scene. If you ponder how Sharon can she resist the boyish charms of Ryan Reynolds to remain merely platonic, the answer comes in the second season when Nathan Fillion (Castle) arrives at the pizza place. He plays Johnny, who fixes jukeboxes and drives limos. Berg gets busy too as he falls hard for Suzanne Cryer (Silicon Valley). Fillion comes off as a more socially charming version of Puddy from Seinfeld. After the second season, the show went under a major change when A Pizza Place was given a pink slip. This made sense since the guys were no longer working their. The producer didn’t want to cling to the concept like the Pizza Bowl on Laverne and Shirley.

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“Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Delivery” has Carmen Electra date Pete, but can he really handle the woman behind the Pussycat Dolls? She’s breaking up the band and he’s not sure if he wants such a change. “Two Guys, a Girl and Thanksgiving” has a holiday fun that gets out of control. Berg is still trying to woo Suzanne Cryer except things get complicated because her formally long distance boyfriend (Two and a Half Men‘s Jon Cryer) is now living with her. He invites him over for Thanksgiving with the desire to show her how he’s the man for her. Except his plan makes this nasty between Sharon and Fillion. Dick Martin (Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In) arrives as Pete’s grandfather who blackmails the kid by threatening to tell his dad that he’s dropped out of grad school. Dick just wants a nice dinner without going home. “Two Guys, A Girl and a Vacation” has Fred Willard (Best In Show) talk about all the ladies he’s pleasured. “Two Guys, a Girl and a Psycho Halloween” has a cameo from a Drew Carey Show character. It wouldn’t be a series based in Boston around 2000 without a visit from Nomar Garciaparra. He’s the Redsox player known best for being traded for the players that would win Boston the World Series after 86 years of pain and agony. “Two Guys, a Girl and Barenaked Ladies” might sound familiar for fans of The Big Bang Theory. The band that does the opening title song for TBBT appears on camera for TGAGAPP as they sing about the on screen action. That’s right, Deadpool and Captain Mal (Firefly) are squeezed onto the small screen in the era before widescreen TV.

Two Girls and a Guy was doing respectable numbers for its first three seasons when a “genius programmer” at ABC decided to move the fun to Friday at 8 p.m. for the 2000-2001 season. The TV graveyard claimed half the viewers who normally have a life on Friday nights. This was just before the advent of the DVR so viewers couldn’t merely record the series and watch later. Since the series ended with only 81 episodes, it didn’t have that great of a legacy in syndication over the last decade. But with Reynolds riding high on the massive success of Deadpool and Fillion’s massive cult following with Firefly, people want to see their early comedic work. Having all four seasons brought together should appeal to fans of either actor who missed out on the network run.

The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The transfers are fine as you get to see what a babyface Reynolds had all those years ago. The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo. The levels are fine and no one gets drowned out in the pizza place. The episodes are Closed Captioned.

No bonus features.

Shout! Factory presents Two Guys and a Girl: The Complete Series. Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Traylor Howard, Richard Ruccolo, Suzanne Cryer, Nathan Fillion. Boxset Contents: 81 episodes on 11 DVDs. Rated: Released: June 28, 2016.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.