The master of caught-on-camera disasters is back. For season two, Daniel Tosh and his minions have dug even deeper into the armpit of the internet to find the most disgusting, vile, cringe-inducing, shocking, silly, baffling, inappropriate and downright hilarious videos that it has to offer – and it's just as entertaining as ever. Bless our lucky stars that 'Deep V's' is coming at us with 16 episodes, unlike the 10-episode season 'Hoodies.'
As you may or may not know, the 'Tosh.0' seasons aren't known by their season number, but by the themed attire that the show's host has decided to don. Tosh wore hoodies while hosting the entire pilot season, but has carefully selected deep v-neck t-shirts for this second season. The great thing about clip shows like this is that their structure doesn't allow episodes to entirely remain with you. You could very well have watched this entire season when it ran on Comedy Central in 2010, but you're never going to remember all of the various clips and sketches that are featured. I originally watched most of this season when it aired, but had completely forgotten about more than two-thirds of them. Watching 'Deep V's' was almost like seeing it for the first time again. These older "re-runs" are just as entertaining to watch now as are the new episodes.
The format of the show is basically the same as it was during 'Hoodies' and as it is now: you typically get a video-driven intro, a "20 seconds on the clock" roast, a video breakdown, a fan video and a web redemption. The web redemptions of 'Deep V's' include the "lightning bolt" L.A.R.P.er, the QVC salesman, the "What What In The Butt" musician, the guy who spent 41 hours in an elevator, the cartwheeling soccer player, the pothead seeking a girlfriend, the overreacting 'World of Warcraft' kid, the "World's Worst Stand-Up Comedian," the "World's Worst Weatherman Ever", the Peter Pan girls, the angry black preacher, the 'American Idol' girls, Double Rainbow, the "I like turtles" kid and the reporter who can't break glass. The sixteenth episode features a Web Reflection instead of a Web Redemption.
'Tosh.0' features plenty of vulgar content, including strong language and graphic videos. Just as it was with 'Hoodies,' none of the language is censored here. You're getting the fully un-bleeped version of the show; however, whatever video was originally blurred or boxed out is still censored.
If you can't tell, I love 'Tosh.0;' having said that, it airs enough on Comedy Central that I can't say that it's a priority series on my Must-Own list. Considering the retail on this disc, it might have eventually make its way into my collection, but this isn't the type of series like 'Breaking Bad,' 'Justified' or 'Dexter' that I'm eagerly looking to acquire.
The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats
While the 10-episode season of 'Hoodies' only warranted a single-disc release, the 16-episode season of 'Deep V's' arrives on a two BD-50 discs in a blue elite keepcase. The cover art is in harmony with the 'Hoodies' release, featuring Daniel Tosh standing in front of a green screen with imposed artwork surrounding him – but the text on the spine of the case is slightly shifted, so the two releases aren't identical matches when placed side-by-side on a shelf. Upon inserting the disc, you're forced to watch a Comedy Central vanity reel, an FBI warning, an adult content disclaimer (since the disc is unrated and the audio is uncensored) and a commentary disclaimer before getting to the silent and static main menu.
Because the audio and video qualities of 'Deep V's' are nearly identical with those of the last 'Tosh.O' Blu-ray release, 'Hoodies,' the following review contains excerpts from my review of 'Hoodies.'
Being a 1080i/AVC MPEG-4 clip show featuring internet-quality videos, you can expect a lot of the source material to range from both ends of the spectrum. Some videos look great, but many of them are sub-par. It's a good thing that the content of the videos themselves is highly enjoyable, otherwise it would be unbearable.
The studio-shot video bits with Daniel Tosh are better, but still have some flaws. Episodes 203, 205 and 215 feature slight noise during the green-screen studio shots. What's funny is that the noise in those three episodes is always contained within Tosh's v-necks. A slight amount of aliasing can be seen in the butterfly tent scenes of episode 202. Banding still appears during the opening sequence of each episode, but the CG background banding from 'Hoodies' is absent here.
The nice thing about the studio footage is the crispness and clarity. Not that it frequently offers it, but that footage is also decently detailed. It's nice, but could be better. I had hoped that there would have been improvement from the pilot season, but it's just about the same.
The English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio mix has the tendency to be weird. The audio of the video clips is always forward-bound, like mono audio stuffed into a surround mix – which is probably exactly how the track is.
The in-studio footage places Tosh's voice front-and-center, where it belongs, and the audience is located in the back. The result of this mix makes it feel like you're in the front row of studio audience. Nobody is obstructing your view of Tosh and when the riff-raff crowd chimes in and cheers, it's like they're really behind you.
All in all, this isn't the type of series that's going to wow you with an amazing lossless Blu-ray track - and I highly doubt that's what anyone is expecting. If you're buying this disc, you want to see gross videos accompanied by Daniel Tosh's cynically hilarious commentary, which just so happens to ring out with perfectly clarity and volume.
The special features of 'Deep V's' have improved from those on the 'Hoodies' Blu-ray. Instead of getting 10 minutes of outtakes and extended footage, you're getting nearly 90 minutes of extras – most of which are actually worthwhile. The only problem is that none of the features carry names; instead, they're simply numbered.
Even though I absolutely love this disgusting clip show, and I enjoyed revisiting the 16 episodes that make up its second season, I don't believe that 'Tosh.0' is one of those series that demands to be placed in your collection. Sure, the show is absolutely hilarious, but part of what makes it so entertaining is seeing the shocking videos for the first time. Seeing them repeated on Comedy Central offers more than enough opportunities to revisit the series. This two-disc second season release is already cheap, so I imagine that those who feel the same way about the show as I do might finally want to pick it up once it drops even lower – and by "even lower" I mean $5. The video quality of the studio content is decent - nearly identical the last 'Tosh.O' Blu-ray release - but the original flawed content of the videos shown has the tendency to be as you would expect from internet videos: barely above YouTube quality. The audio is basically the same – studio sound is good, clip sound isn't. Fortunately, Comedy Central has decided to give 'Deep V's' vastly improved special features over 'Hoodies.' The 11 special features consist of nearly 90 minutes of extended footage, most of which is actually worthwhile if you're a fan of the series. Personally, I believe that it takes a lot to make a series worth owning. A series must feature some aspect that makes you want to keep revisiting them. I only have a select few TV series sets in my whole collection for that same reason. As much as I love 'Tosh.O' and the vulgar, inappropriate and offensive commentary that it's host offers, it's not one that I'm likely to revisit time and time again.