The DVD
Disc 1:
"Ballrooms and Biscotti" (original airdate: 09/23/03)
"The Lorelais' First Day at Yale" (original airdate: 09/30/03)
"The Hobbit, the Sofa, and Digger Stiles" (original airdate: 10/07/03)
"Chicken or Beef?" (original airdate: 10/14/03)

Disc 2:
"The Fundamental Things Apply" (original airdate: 10/21/03)
"An Affair to Remember" (original airdate: 10/28/03)
"The Festival of Living Art" (original airdate: 11/04/03)
"Die, Jerk" (original airdate: 11/11/03)

Disc 3:
"Ted Koppel's Big Night Out" (original airdate: 11/18/03)
"The Nanny and the Professor" (original airdate: 01/20/04)
"In the Clamor and the Clangor" (original airdate: 01/27/04)
"A Family Matter" (original airdate: 02/03/04)

Disc 4:
"Nag Hammadi is Where They Found the Gnostic Gospels" (original airdate: 02/10/04)
"The Incredible Shrinking Lorelais" (original airdate: 02/17/04)
"Scene in a Mall" (original airdate: 02/24/04)
"The Reigning Lorelai" (original airdate: 03/02/04)

Disc 5:
"Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the Twist" (original airdate: 04/13/04)
"Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom!" (original airdate: 04/20/04)
"Afterboom" (original airdate: 04/27/04)
"Luke Can See Her Face" (original airdate: 05/04/04)

Disc 6:
"Last Week Fights, This Week Tights" (original airdate: 05/11/04)
"Raincoats and Recipes" (original airdate: 05/18/04)

Episode titles in bold are personal favorites on each disc though the entire season should, preferably, be viewed in order from beginning to end.

Video:
Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fourth Season is presented in an adequate 1.33:1 full frame transfer that is easily better than original broadcast quality, and is certainly on par with the previous season on DVD. There are a few problems with this transfer, but for the most part these episodes look great. All the various colors that are the visual highlight of the show come across beautifully on this DVD set, although overall color can, at times, be a bit soft. Flesh tones are accurate, and shadows and blacks are nicely rendered. Detail sometimes leaves a bit to be desired, as the overall image is occasionally soft. There's nary a sign of edge enhancement or visible layer changes on these discs, and the only really noticeable blemish on this transfer is the abundance of grain from time to time. The show has an overall graininess to it that is far from distracting, but in some lower-light scenes grain rears its ugly head in a big way. Even these instances, however, are less frequent than in the first and second season sets. Nevertheless, the visual presentation on these discs is on par with what most of us have come to expect from a typical TV-on-DVD release and certainly outshines anything you might have seen during the original television broadcast.

Sound:
The audio on these discs is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 format that also stands up nicely to the usual TV-on-DVD expectations. Dialogue, as in previous seasons, is absolutely the most important aspect of Gilmore Girls, as it comes rapid-fire throughout every episode, and is presented beautifully on this track. It comes across as crisp, loud, and distinct, and is clearly the focal point of this audio presentation. The soundtrack, however, also plays a crucial role in the show and is presented nicely here as well. Balance is good across the front soundstage, though there is some very slight level fluctuation and some episodes seem a bit louder than others. The surrounds provide some support to the soundtrack as well. The overall track sounds just as good, if not better, than it did when originally broadcast, and when piped through Dolby Pro Logic II encoding actually comes alive. This is especially evident in episode 17, "Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the Twist" when The Shins provide some live entertainment.

Extras:
I'm not exactly sure what Warner Bros. was thinking when they put this set together. Not only have they included less extra material than on previous Gilmore Girls season sets, but the few extra features that are included tend to be more filler material than actually entertaining or interesting features.

Nearly all of the extra material for Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fourth Season is located on the sixth disc, and the most significant feature included on this set is Gilmore Goodies and Gossip for "Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the Twist," which is basically a pop-up video version of episode 17. The episode is shown in its entirety, only this time around little factoids pop up, occasionally, on the bottom of the screen. These factoids provide information about the cast, the obscure references made in the dialogue, and many other tidbits of information culled from the episode. While I think this feature was a great idea, I'm not so sure it's as good as it could have been. The pop-ups don't come frequently enough for my taste, and sometimes they only provide the most general information. Where they do shine, however, is when they refer to the obscure pop-culture references that pepper the dialogue of Gilmore Girls. This feature also appeared on the first season set and the fact still remains that it would have been great to have this feature for every episode to decipher the sometimes nearly undecipherable references. It could have been an excellent Annotated Gilmore Girls, but alas, comes across as merely hit-or-miss in its current form. I mean, it's great to know where a "brain freeze" comes from, but this type of information doesn't exactly expand my knowledge or enjoyment of Gilmore Girls.

There are also two additional scenes on two episodes included on this release. "Ballrooms & Biscotti" and "The Reigning Lorelai" each have one unaired scene, which don't necessarily add much to the episodes, but are still a welcome addition to this set. The unaired scene for "Ballrooms & Biscotti" is a humorous little aside featuring Kirk, and the scene for "The Reigning Lorelai" is really just a filler scene featuring Digger Stiles and Lorelai. It's certainly nice to have these two scenes collected here, but there aren't really of much significance.

The Stars Hollow Challenge Trivia Quiz also appears on the sixth disc, and is your basic set-top trivia game. While the graphics, transitions, and menus are pretty neat, the game itself is probably too easy for any serious Gilmore Girls fan. Worse than the easy questions, however, are the rewards for answering correctly. You guessed it: short video clips from the season of Gilmore Girls that you probably just finished watching. Great. This feature is fun for the first few minutes, but quickly runs its course.

We also have a very short featurette called "Who Wants to Get Together?: Season's Most Romantic Moments," which is my least favorite type of feature. Running just over a minute long, this is simply a collection of short clips from the season that include shots of characters kissing and otherwise being "romantic." This is a bit of wasted bonus material, in my opinion. They tried to make this feature work on the first season box as well. It was pretty much a waste of time then, and it's still a waste of time here.

Much more useful is the "Your Guide to Gilmore-isms" booklet that rounds out the extra material. This booklet is exactly the kind of "Annotated Gilmore Girls" that I had hoped would be included in the first season DVD release and, thankfully, was also included in the second and third season releases. It is a treasure trove of information on the many different wordplays and pop-culture references that are scattered throughout the season's rapid-fire dialogue. Sure, an actual video feature on this aspect of the show – preferably featuring the show's creators – would have been even better, but this booklet is a very good alternative.

Yes, I am still pining for a release with those coveted commentaries, documentaries, and extra goodies. Rumor has it that Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino will provide commentary for some episodes on the fifth season release. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this information is true, but I'm certainly not holding my breath at this point.

A Note on the Packaging:
Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fourth Season is packaged exactly like the previous season release. This time, however, I managed to receive my copy with no cracked plastic holders, scratched discs, or "floaters." Maybe I'm just lucky. I don't particularly like this packaging and I'm still going to urge Warner Bros. to switch over to the slim-cases in cardboard packaging like many studios are using for their DVD sets these days.

Final Thoughts:
While the fourth season of Gilmore Girls may be the hardest for the casual fan to get through, there's still plenty for the hardcore Gilmore fans to love. Rory going off to college, Luke and Lorelai finally acknowledging that maybe there's something between them, Paris and Rory ending up as roomies, and Kirk running naked through Stars Hollow. What more could you ask for, really? It takes a little getting used to, but Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fourth Season handles the show's transition year very well, and leads into one of the most compelling years the show has ever seen. As long as Daniel and Amy Sherman-Palladino are leading the way, I'll be along for the ride.

Warner Bros., unfortunately, doesn't seem to share my sentiments about the show. While they do still provide an adequate audio-visual presentation, they decided to skimp on the extra material for this season's set. I said, in my season three review, that it was the last time I was going to let WB off the hook for a sub-par DVD release and as much as I'd like to, on the quality of the show alone, give this set a highly recommended rating, I just can't do it. Hopefully Warner Bros. will wise up and give the fan's of Gilmore Girls what they want: better packaging, some real meaty extra material, and some audio commentaries from the show's cast and creators. Until then, it's only because the show is just so damn good that Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fourth Season comes as recommended.