Far From Finished

Bill Cosby surprised quite a few people by coming out with a stand up special after having been out of the game for decades, and even more so by doing it for Comedy Central, a fact that he opens his show with. 

 

With a name and face that has been engraved in the minds of billions it was a gimmie that the show would be successful. Cosby played to sell out crowds and seemed to have wowed his audience. So how was it and what did it look like on Blu-Ray?

 

PICTURE QUALITY:

Far From Finished comes at you with one of the most unattractive pictures you could imagine. Cosby’s red shirt is awash with an overpowering abundance of red crush and the picture is plagued by white noise. Texture, aside from the shirt, and organics look decent, but in no way come off as an HD transfer. I have a feeling that a DVD version might even trump this poorly executed BD version.

 

BONUS FEATURES:

~Interview With Bill Cosby: Robert Townsend (The Five Heartbeats), who directed the stand up special, asks Cosby some questions about his run as an actor and comedian. Really insightful stuff and, sadly, probably better then the stand up itself. 

~Gangbusters #1

~Behind The Scenes: Sadly this isn’t really a behind the scenes look at the special but rather an advertisement for the program that brought the crew together to direct the behind the scenes bonus. 

~Fans: Look for some familiar faces in the crowd in this bonus. Unfortunately a lot of what the fans talk about in regards to the specials, which was actually a two day event, is mostly missed in the actual program itself. Other then that I thought it was a bit generic as everyone they talk to poses and goes on about how wonderful the show is and gives Cosby the proverbial ego massage. 

 

OVERALL:

Far From Finished was an event at my house. I was pretty excited to be able to cover it and sat my family down in the living room to watch it. Cosby is a sage old familiar whose charm is measured by his grandparent like comedic advice on marriage (a majority of the material found within). Being married or even in a long term relationship is a plus, but Cosby ends up stagnating a lot of his material by making his jokes so long winded he ends up losing the moment. After awhile it felt like I was sitting through the special more for respect then for enjoyment. I was brought up during a time when, if a wise older person spoke, you would do well to listen to their story. In any case, the BD transfer and the special both beg to differ with the title of the special.