CS Weekly Archive > DVD of the Day > 11/17/06

Doesn't Add Up

by jason davis

Numb3rs: The Complete Second Season

Sean Crouch, Andrew Dettman, Nicolas Falacci, Ruth Fletcher, Christos N. Gage, J. David Harden, Julie Hébert, Cheryl Heuton, Mark Llewellyn, Peter MacNicol, Don McGill, Robert Port, Ken Sanzel, and Barry Schindel
Created by Cheryl Heuton & Nicolas Falacci

In its freshman season, Numb3rs presented compelling crime stories positively shrouded in the chalk dust of the CalSci mathematics department. The math featured in the series was woven into the scripts on such an elemental level that the episode would have fallen apart if the math was removed. Season two's tales take an approach more akin to police procedurals such as Law & Order or CSI, with the formerly integral scenes of Professor Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz) applying math to a crime now reduced to mere plot points in his brother FBI Special Agent Don Eppes' (Rob Morrow) investigations. Essentially, Numb3rs is no longer a crime series about math, but rather a crime series with math -- a distinction that sadly diminishes its uniqueness in the TV landscape. Through the stories remain solid and the interactions of the brother and their father (Judd Hirsch) still reside at the heart of the show, the soul of the format seems missing. "Crunching Numbers" explores the creation of an episode from script to screen, and several audio commentaries (including one with Bill Nye, the science guy) showcase the creative team's perspective on the series.

Numb3rs: The Complete Second Season

Paramount Home Video
Not rated; 1,180 min.
$54.99

Buy it now

Jason Davis is the DVD Manager for CS Weekly, a contributing editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and has written for Cinescape.com, MSN.com, and created the TV series Studio 13, which ran on Lorne Michaels' Burly TV network. He lives in the small space left over by his ever-expanding library of books, movies, and music.

Numb3rs: The Complete Second Season courtesy Paramount Home Video

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