InsidePulse DVD review – Titus Season 3

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Created by:
Christopher Titus
Brian Hargrove
Jack Kenny

The Cast
Christopher Titus ………. Christopher Titus
Cynthia Watros ………. Erin Fitzpatrick
Zack Ward ………. Dave Titus
David Shatraw ………. Tommy Shafter
Stacy Keach ………. Ken Titus

Released last month.
App. Running time: 462 minutes
Anchor Bay Entertainment

The Show

I’ve always enjoyed the show “Titus” for the same reasons that others did not. That is to say, it tends to be offensive, unpolished, and dark. The show has a very distinct look and feel springing from a complex yet simple format. Let’s try to explain this thing.

An average episode of “Titus” contains one single location present tense storyline. This aspect of the show was always taped in front of a live audience and feels something like a play or an improv group. Now the present story line is “narrated” by Titus in black and white host segments. It’s just Titus in a mostly bare room, conveying what’s presently going on, the history of characters and events, and philosophizing. This aspect of the sitcom ties it in with Titus’s one man show right down to his old Electric Chair. Now, in addition to narrating the main storyline, these segments also present flashbacks, fantasy sequences, and flashback fantasy sequences. These sequences are taped separately from the main storyline, without a studio audience, and thus provide an entirely different feel to the show.

It might sound complicated but it isn’t.

The show is strongly character-based and luckily it has strong characters. Dave and Ken Titus are, quite frankly, two of my favorites characters of any medium, ever. There is a consistency there not present in other “sitcom-y” shows on TV. Dave is the “stupid brother” character, yes. But, Dave is always Dave. There are certain idiosyncracies to the performance and the writing. He’s not just generically stupid, he’s a pot-head, he’s ADHD, he was abandoned by his mother and is thus desperate for attention. There’s continuity. Now, if you watch any 6 episodes of “Friends” you are likely to see six different variations of Joey.

The third season of “Titus” is not without its problems. At times, it plays like the episodes are out of order. For instance, in the first episode Titus’s left arm still doesn’t work as a result of his car crash in season 2. By episode 2, the recovery is a non-factor and the arm seems to work fine. In that same episode, Titus and Erin take in Erin’s niece Amy. But she’s then a non-entity until episode 6. The 2-part episode that is logically the end of season 3 is portrayed as the second to last episode o the season. There is a lot of weird shit going on is all I’m saying.

Let’s go back to general problems. Some of the scripts are pretty weak, especially for the episodes on Disc 2 of the four disc collection. The Amy character never quite clicks with the rest of the cast, and feels a lot like Poochy.

That being said, even the episodes that never quite work feature at least one big laugh. A bad episode of “Titus” is still funnier than most of what you will see on TV. Plus, the episodes on the last two discs are brilliant. The show was really hitting all of its marks at that point, so naturally, Fox killed it and ran those episodes at off hours in August.

Damn you FOX! Damn you for cancelling “Titus” and “Briscoe County” and “Strang Luck” and “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and… “Profit”? Was “Profit” Fox? Anyways…

Score: 7 out of 10

The Video

Show looks good. (I believe it might have been the first HDTV show.) The video all looks as it should, save for the poorly preserved quality of the blooper reels.

The Audio

No complaints.

The Extras

There are commentary tracks by the creators on four of the episodes. They’re okay, nothing too special.

We also got 3 fifteen minute interviews with Zack Ward, Stacy Keach and Cynthia Watros. Strangely, no interviews with Titus himself nor David Shawtraw.

There are also two fairly extensive Blooper reels, one from season 2 and another from season 3.

The extras are uncensored, so be warned, you will hear the word f*ck. Not a whole lot, mind you, but if you find the word f*ck offensive, you might want to skip the extras. Of course, if you find the word f*ck offensive, you’re probably not going to watch “Titus” anyways.

Disregard.

What can we learn form the extras (our goal is always knowledge, you know)?

1. Zack Ward was the bully in A Christmas Story.

2. Steve Carell was nearly cast as Tommy.

3. Cynthia Watros has some sizable busoms.

4. Stacy Keach smokes like a chimney.

8 out of 10

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs