Street Date: June 24

Official Synopsis:
This is an hour-long drama about Chicago native Gary Hobson who becomes a reluctant hero when his morning newspaper reports tomorrow's headlines. Commodities trader Gary Hobson (Kyle Chandler) is losing it: his job, his home and his brilliant attorney wife. He thinks he may even be losing his mind when tomorrow's newspaper mysteriously arrives today - giving him a disconcerting look into the future. What will he do with tomorrow's news? While his best friend Chuck (Fisher Stevens) sees the newspaper as a ticket to personal gain, co-worker Marissa (Shanesia Davis) convinces Gary that the "early edition" should be used to better peoples' lives. So each day Gary begins anew the struggle to make sense of a world turned upside-down by the changing course of events that come from reading the "early edition."

  
Our Take:
Although it ran for a respectable four seasons, Early Edition never really got the respect it deserves. The show was never a big hit; instead it simply gathered enough ratings to stay on the air, but it never really broke into the mainstream. I can’t really fault people for that, though, because I never watched the show when it was on, either.  I remember thinking that it seemed like a cool premise and a fun show, but it hit the airwaves during a time when I really didn’t watch much TV at all. In fact, previous to the new Early Edition: The First Season DVD set, I had never seen a single episode. Perhaps because of that, this is one of those shows that I’ve been hoping for on disc for some time.

Not surprisingly, Early Edition is a great show. A series about a man who receives tomorrow’s newspaper today and tries to right wrongs with it, the show sounds in concept like Quantum Leap, but is really nothing like it at all. Aside from the “righting wrongs” aspect of the show, Early Edition really eschews any kind of sci-fi vibe and instead focuses on compelling stories. There is something of a mythology that develops throughout the first season that explores where the newspaper comes from and who got it before Gary Hobson did, so it’s not just a problem-of-the-week series, either. Of course, having Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler in the lead role makes the show even better, as he’s such a terrific actor that he can make just about anything work.

The DVD includes all 24 episodes from the first season, but there are no extra features to speak of. The only extras included are Episodic Promos for each installment; basically they’re just the “Next time on Early Edition…” trailers from the end of the previous show.

Early Edition: The First Season is a great chance to go back and discover a TV show that you might not have experienced before but is highly worth watching. Friday Night Lights fans will enjoy seeing earlier work from Kyle Chandler, Quantum Leap fans can enjoy a similar plot device, and good television fans will enjoy it because it’s, well, good television.

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Overall Picture:
Show: B+
DVD: C

- Mike Spring

Editor