Writer: Various
Director: Various
Cast: Alan Campbell, William Conrad, Joe Penny
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: July 8, 2008

Back in December, I was your guy for reviewing Diagnosis Murder, so I suppose it was only natural that when Jake and the Fatman came out that I should review that, as well. If you’re wondering why that might be the case, it’s because Diagnosis Murder is actually a spinoff of Fat Man. If you like criminal dramas this one isn’t so bad. A product of its time with some behind the scenes drama attached, Fatman has some decent moments in this Volume One box set. In fact, one could wager to say that the most depressing part about this set is that it’s a split season set, and no fan wants to pay twice for the same season, while having to wait for the remaining episodes to come out.

This crime solving, prosecuting duo is a little unorthodox in some ways. The Fatman, played by William Conrad, is well acted, but anything other than smooth. He’s reminiscent of a single Uncle who has a relationship only with Cheetos and Beer. He’s pretty unkempt in the ways that you would expect criminal attorneys to be, but he makes up for it in all of his business matters. Meanwhile, his partner and the guy doing all the detective legwork is setup to be the ladies magnet. Whether he is a stud or not I cannot say, but the role he plays is set to make him look that way. While the Fatman is all about Cheetos, Styles (played by Joe E. Penny) is all about fine sophistication with expensive appearing suits, a sports car, and all of the finer things in life.

Release Information:
Jake and the Fatman was a part of some behind the scenes drama early on. The show was actually canceled in the first season though this ending was short lived. The show’s revival is due to the removal of Magnum PI from the CBS lineup. When the show was canceled CBS opted to take advantage of the Magnum setting, since they were paying for it anyway and it was incredibly expensive. This moved Fatman to Hawaii, which served to be a great move as the ratings rose dramatically.

Fans that have been clamoring for the Fatman to come to DVD will be pleased to know that Volume One of the First Season will be released on July 8, 2008. You can pre-order this on several sites on the Internet and once it is out, you should be able to find it just about anywhere that sells DVDs. If you plan to purchase it for pre-order, you can find it at Amazon for $26.99.

The Jake and the Fatman: Season One, Vol. 1 Plot
The basic plot for Jake and the Fatman is as simple as any one person could ever imagine. The story revolves around an established district attorney from Los Angeles named Jason Lochnivar (JL) “Fatman” McCabe (William Conrad - Cannon). While Fatman certainly has the smarts to figure out his cases all on his own, for his police legwork he uses the talents of Jake Styles (Joe E. Penny), the suave gun-toting pimp of the duo. This type of show is nothing new for William Conrad. He made quite a living off of playing in cop dramas. This one is no different. Fatman became a reality after Conrad starred on Matlock as a district attorney named James “Fatman” McShane. Obviously, one would assume this is meant to be the same character with a different name and that appears to be the case for the most part.

The first season, half of which is being reviewed here, was not the highest rated show. Things picked up later in the series and it ended up doing well enough to last from ‘87 until ‘92 for a total of over 100 episodes. The first season contained 23 episodes and this set includes 11 of those episodes. A list of the episodes on this set are included below:

“Happy Days are Here Again”
“Fatal Attraction: Part 1”
“Fatal Attraction: Part 2”
“Laura”
“The Man that Got Away”
“Love for Sale”
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”
“Body and Soul”
“The Man I Love”
“Love Me or Leave Me”
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”

The main reason this show worked as well as it did, despite its slow start was the relationship between Conrad and Penny. The interesting connection between the two mix-matched men made the show work. Not only that, but you could easily see these two men in their respective roles in real life. Penny could have easily played an investigator, and Conrad is similar to hundreds of district attorneys out there. A better match could not have been found for this particular show.

One of the funniest things about this release is that the two-part pilot was not the first episode in the lineup. It actually appears as episodes two and three. The pilot episode was one of the most interesting sets with a husband and wife duo that the Fatman thinks is guilty of murder. Of course, he cannot solve this murder right off the bat, nor is it his job to, which is why Styles is brought in to do the dirty work and see that the suspects are able to pay for their crimes. This is how most of these episodes work. There is a mystery of sorts to be solved, the Fatman, calls in Styles for help, and together the crime is solved. At the end, the criminal is usually put away. As I said, it generally doesn’t get any easier than a format like this.

The two main characters tend to clash, due to different personalities and lifestyles. The Fatman tends to hang with his pet bulldog, while Styles tends to hang with the chicks and likes to take more chances than his counterpart would prefer. Add some fun guest stars to the mix and things get even better. When it comes to the most entertaining of these episodes it would really depend on the viewer to make that decision. Some of my favorites, beyond the pilot episodes include “Brother Can you Spare a Dime”, “The Man that Got Away”, and “Smoke Gets in Your Eye.” Being new to the series, I cannot say how well the rest of the season is, but if it’s anything like this I am looking forward to checking it out.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The transfer for Jake and the Fatman includes an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. This standard transfer ratio is quite clear for a DVD set that is over 20 years old. Granted, there have been a number of excellent advancements in video since this was made, but things are looking good. The colors were represented well and there was little grain with practically no compression errors. I did notice some occasional noise, but that was about the only thing worth complaining about. Otherwise, things look good.

Dolby Digital Mono is offered up as the audio in this three disc set. While this isn’t the best option in audio it passes for a television set like this. I didn’t have to play with the volume and while it had a tendency to seem flat, since this is primarily a dialogue-driven show, it worked out. As a dialogue heavy show, like most dramas of this kind, it doesn’t present a strong need for overly dynamic sound. In the instances where sound effects were necessary, the sound stepped up as needed, so it wasn’t a total wash. It was as good as it needed to be without being as good as it could have been.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There is only one bonus feature available on this set for Jake and the Fatman. You can enjoy, if you want to call it that, promos for each episode. These are nice if you want the feeling of watching it as it occurred on television. However, if you don’t care about having this feeling, there is little purpose for these. It feels like they were added to have a feature, even if they really aren’t worth mentioning or watching.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Jake and the Fatman is a decent show overall. It’s not my favorite crime show ever made and it probably wasn’t the best of its time. Still, it was one of the better ones. It has some definite advantages, including good acting, interesting guest stars, and well thought out writing. If you’ve never seen the show this is the perfect time to rent it and get involved. If you have and you used to like it then I highly recommend you purchase this and reconnect with the episodes that you used to enjoy.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Movie, DVD Review, Jake and the Fatman, CBS, Paramount, TV on DVD, Crime Drama, Detective, Criminal Attorney, William Conrad

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