Liev Schreiber took a bit of a chance back in 2013 when Ray Donovan debuted on Showtime. Liev was the voice of HBO’s sports specials. He narrated their documentaries and Hard Knocks preseason football series. The rumor was that when Showtime announced it was going to begin airing Ray Donovan starring Liev, HBO let Liev know that they no longer needed his services in the voice over booth. Why would HBO want their voice to have a face on Showtime? Liev gave up a sweet easy gig for the risk of launching a TV series. Was it worth it? Ray Donovan had the highest debut rating of a series on Showtime. The series lasted seven seasons and a finale movie. Liev went from a supporting character and indie film darling to a TV star. The risk was worth the reward and HBO hired him back when viewers were upset that the “Voice” wasn’t the same on their sports specials. It was the kind of win-win that Ray Donovan specialized in arranging for his clients.
Ray Donovan is a much sought after fixer in Hollywood. The kid from South Boston knows exactly how to arrange things to get his clients out of trouble. He works for a law firm run by Ezra Goldman (The Long Goodbye‘s Elliott Gould) and Lee Drexler (House‘s Peter Jacobson). They like to provide extra services for their clients beyond the usual legal work. Ray’s first case in the series features a football star waking up with a dead woman. She overdosed on cocaine and he’s about to have his endorsement deals die. What does Ray do? First he has Avi Rudin (Scarface‘s Steven Bauer) clean up the death bed to remove elements of the football player. In a stroke of luck, the firm has another client who was caught in a bad situation with a movie opening. The movie star can handle the woman overdosing since he it will make him look heterosexual in the news. He just needs to go into rehab to finish cleaning up his image. Lena Burnham (L Word‘s Katherine Moennig) is his main investigator in seeing what the tabloids have on his clients.
As much as Ray is kept busy by his clients, his more sensational cases come from his family. His wife is also from South Boston. She wants good things for their kids and isn’t as afraid of Ray as most of Los Angeles. His brother Terry (Sherlock Holmes‘ Eddie Marsan) is an ex-boxer dealing with Parkinson’s disease. Bunchy Donovan (Law & Order: Organized Crime‘s Dash Mihok) has serious issues. Daryll Donovan (The Game‘s Pooch Hall) is his half-brother from his dad’s side. He takes a bit too much after Ray’s Dad which isn’t good. Mickey Donovan (Midnight Cowboy‘s Jon Voight) has just gotten released early from Walpole prison and shown up in Los Angeles to surprise the family. Ray is not happy because Mickey has zero desire to go the straight in narrow. He’s in town to cause more trouble. Ray just can’t get a break.
Over the course of seven seasons, a lot happens to Ray, He even ends up working for Susan Sarandon’s agency. He suffers a major tragedy that leads him to relocate to New York City at the end of season five. He has even more insane nightmares involving his father. There’s plenty of guest stars including Ian McShane, Katie Holmes, Fairuza Balk, Wendell Pierce, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky and Hutch), Frank Whaley, James Woods, Rosanna Arquette, Sherilyn Fenn, Ann-Margret, Jay Thomas, Hank Azaria and more. Ray does his best to fix everything that comes his way. The eighth season was supposed to wrap the show up. But without any warning, the series was canceled by Showtime. Fans were outraged. Within a few days, a deal was struck that they could make a movie that would wrap up the show. This was a smart move since instead of 10 episodes, David Hollander and Liev Schreiber were able to give the series a proper ending without meandering. We learn exactly how a kid from Southie became a hot shot in Hollywood. We also discover how Mickey ended up in Walpole. The movie was written in a way that a non-viewer of the TV show could enjoy it. But seeing how the movie now comes at the end of a boxset for the entire series, you’ll be able to enjoy it all. Ray Donovan: The Complete Series will give you an alibi of why you’re staying home on chilly fall nights.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The transfer brings out the shadowy world where Ray and his family exist among the glitterati. The audio is Dolby Digital Surround 5.1. You’ll heard a lot of gunshots and grunts from all over your room. Season 1-3 has a Spanish dub track in Dolby 2.0. Seasons 1&2 are dubbed in French. The episodes are subtitled in English in case you need help with the Southie accents.
Ray Donovan – Character Profile (1:03) goes into how at the end of season 3, Ray has a crisis of faith.
Mickey Donovan – Character Profile (1:33) gets into what makes Ray’s dad so nasty. This also gives off his career change at the start of season four.
Shooting Ray Donovan (8:14) lets cinematographer Robert McLauchlan guide us through how he shoots episodes. The visual buck stops with him. Unlike a movie, the director of photographer sets and maintains the tone of a TV series so the episodes have the same look and feel. Loren Yaconelli talks about her work on three episodes during the season.
Liev Schreiber on Ray (2:22) has him deal with season two. He talks about the clash between a kid from Southie and the dreamers of Hollywood. There’s a lot of battling with demons for Ray.
Jon Voight on Mickey (2:07) has him talk about the good and bad inside his character.
Location: Primm (8:05) goes into how the town of Primm is just over the border from California in Nevada. The place was turned into a gambling town in 1974. One of the Primm family gives the history of the town. He’s happy Ray Donovan put Mickey in their casino. They go into how they scheduled the shoot so it could cover three episodes. We learn the truth of Donut Manor.
Female Strong (10:32) gets into Abby Donovan’s characters and how things changed in the fourth season.
Commentary Tracks include episode 201 with Jon Voight and Pooch Hall on episode 201, Leiv Schreiber on episode 207 and episode 508 with Paula Malcolmson and David Hollander.
Cast Biographies are provided for season two regulars. They’re in text form.
Dog the Dog (2:13) exposes what the dog in the show’s real name is.
Nothing Goes Right for Bunchy (3:03) is about his frustration of his role in town.
Terry Donovan and Parkinson (3:03) goes into what shaped the way the actor portrayed the signs of Parkinson’s disease.
On Death & Dying (7:42) & (8:51) has cast and crew talk about creating a mystery to what could have been just a normal sickness storyline. The piece gets touching as Liev reflects on slowly losing a cast member during the scene. The producer fears what will happen with the character no longer part of the story for next season.
Ray Donovan: Inside New York City (3:28) goes into the Big Apple locations with trivia texts over the scenes.
Rise, Rebuild, Reclamation (11:49) is not to be watched until after you see season five and six. Otherwise you’ll get a bunch spoiled.
Dash Directs 705 (3:14) has Dash Mihok step behind the camera instead of playing Bunchy Donovan.
Ray Donovan: Inside New York City (3:28) goes into the Big Apple locations with trivia texts over the scenes.
Showtime Series Episodes are included for The Affair, Penny Dreadful, Happyish and Billions.
CBS DVD presents Ray Donovan: The Complete Series. Created by Ann Biderman. Starring Liev Schreiber, Eddie Marshan, Pooch Hall, Dash Mihok, Jon Voight and Elliot Gould. Boxset contents: 82 episodes and 1 movie on 29 DVDs. Release Date: October 25, 2022.
