Most television shows that are set in a specific city tend to choose either New York or Los Angeles, so it's an interesting change to see the titular city of Providence take center stage in this family drama. Of course, only a few shots are actually done on location (the rest of the show being filmed back in – you guessed it – Los Angeles), and there's not a whole lot of local flavor in the show, which really could be transplanted just about anywhere, but it's at least something that tries to be a little different in a show that's otherwise fairly run-of-the-mill.

The central theme of Providence is family. Dr. Syd Hansen (Melina Kanakaredes) is a successful plastic surgeon in Los Angeles, but the death of her mother and a crisis of "what am I doing with my life?" prompt her to pack her bags and head back to her home town of Providence. Here she embarks on a career of working in a low-income clinic and helping her widowed father and single-mother sister get through life. Interestingly enough, Syd seems to adapt immediately to a radical pay cut and a complete change in her surroundings; she's simply energized by the possibility of making a difference to people once again. Uh-huh, that's realistic: no pining for her spectacular modern apartment in LA, or the paycheck that made it possible? No frustration from living at home again? Never mind: this isn't the kind of show that really looks at the whole picture like that. Providence is a feel-good drama, plain and simple.

Or at least it seems to be, as far as I can tell: The Providence Collection is a set of twelve episodes harvested from across the show's four-year run, so there's little time to get used to any of the characters or their situations. With four episodes from 1999, two each from 2000 and 2001, and four from 2002, we move through the storylines of Providence with a hop, skip, and a jump. The individual episodes are self-contained stories, but the relationships of the various characters are evidently ongoing, with various developments happening over time. I say "apparently" because The Providence Collection presents quite a few weddings and relationship crises among its selected episodes; without having seen the full seasons, it's impossible to say whether these were developed in context, but I'd assume so.

That leaves us with the question of who The Providence Collection is aimed at. If it's aimed at fans of the show, it misses the mark, since it will be unsatisfying to only get a handful of episodes rather than full season sets. And if it's aimed at hooking new viewers, it misses the mark even more. The sudden jumps in time, and the shuffling of secondary characters, that are the result of presenting a "best of" collection make for a rather confusing experience.

Since the set is clearly not playing on the appeal of seeing the characters grow and develop over time, as would have been the case in full season sets, I can only assume that the episodes are intended to stand well on their own. Frankly, though, they're not good enough to make me want to watch a full season. The scripts are cheesy and sappy, blatantly going for the viewers' emotional buttons. Some of the "feel good" moments are overdone to the point of being ridiculous. (No, it is not possible to instantly cure a violent, severely autistic child by giving her a doggie and telling her "I know you can talk if you really want to.") It's as though Providence is trying a bit too hard to be family-friendly, making the conflicts and problems all bathed in a soft, warm light. If you like the characters, it might be entertaining to watch the show and see how things develop... but not in a twelve-episode "best of" set.

The DVD

The Providence Collection is a four-DVD set, with the discs packaged in hard plastic pages bound into a cardboard cover. The episodes that are included are "Pilot," "Home Again," "Tying the Not," "The Letter," "Don't Go Changin'," "The Thanksgiving Story," "Falling," "Best Man," "Act Naturally," "A New Beginning," "Eye of the Storm," and the series finale, "The Eleventh Hour." A two-page pamphlet is included that lists the selected episodes with air dates.

Video

The image quality here is reasonably good for a recent TV program. The episodes, which are presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio, are generally bright and colorful, with good levels of detail. The pilot episode looks the best, with a nicely sharp, clean presentation that's not matched in the subsequent episodes, which have a moderate amount of noise and grain.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is, like the transfer, reasonably good. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand, and the background music, while it's obtrusively manipulative, is well balanced with the rest of the track.

Extras

The main special feature here is a set of audio commentaries for five episodes in the collection, mainly from the production staff but also featuring some of the cast as well. On Disc 1, "Pilot" and "Home Again" have commentaries by John Masius, Mike Fresco, and Monica Wyatt. "The Letter" has a commentary by Mike Farrell, Concetta Tomei, Mike Fresco, and Monica Wyatt, and "Tying the Not" has a commentary by Paula Cale, Seth Peterson, John Masius, Mike Fresco, and Monica Wyatt. On Disc 3, "Eye of the Storm" has a commentary by Melina Kanakaredes.

Apart from that, there are a few special features on the fourth disc of the set. "Memories of Providence" is a 26-minute featurette on the making of the series, featuring various members of the cast and crew offering reflections on their experiences with the show. It's likely to appeal mostly to existing fans of Providence. There's also a reasonably funny four-minute gag reel.

Final thoughts

What's the point of a twelve-episode set of the best episodes from four seasons of Providence? It's not engaging enough to create interest among viewers who haven't seen the show, and existing fans of the show will want season sets, not a compilation. The only real reason to pick this up would be on account of its commentary tracks for five of the episodes, which will interest devoted fans. Overall, I'll give it a "rent it."