The Plot:
Divided across two discs, the 13 episodes that made up Blue Collar TV's second (and final) season all follow a similar format. Each one has an overriding theme, and features Foxworthy introducing the core concept with a monologue. Then there is a skit or two, followed by a look in the Redneck Dictionary, the awarding of the Redneck Yard of the Week, and then a final bit. At the conclusion, a guest artist will perform, or if none is available, the comics will sit onstage and take questions from the audience or offer up witticisms as the credits rolling. It is a very structured show, with little room for improvisation or chance. For those who are interested, here's the actual themes explored, and the material included in each installment of the show:

Disc 1:
Bad Habits (Special Guest: Ron White)
White Trash Days of Our Lives/ Etiquette School (Part 1)/ The Martin Brothers/ I Predict

Birth (Special Guest: Deana Carter)
Preggerwear/ NASCAR Baby Delivery/ Etiquette School (Part 2)/ Leather Boy

Dating (Special Guest: Travis Tritt)
White Trash Days of Our Lives/ Larry the Cable Guy Commentary/ Totes TV/ Soul Mates

Money
Bowling Alley Challenge/ At the Bank/ Truckey's/ Larry the Cable Guy Commentary/ Q&A

Lying (Special Guest: Ron White)
Bill Engvall's Country Sausage/ White Trash Days of Our Lives/ Bird Target/ Larry -Bot 7000/ I Believe

Aliens
Night of the Living Mullet/ Martin Bros: Alien Abduction/ Don Farnarious/ Lethal Weapon 5: Lethal Idols/ Q&A

Weddings (Special Guest: Ron White, Van Zandt)
The Ring III: 'Til Death Do Us Part/ Anniversary/ Larry the Cable Guy Commentary/ The P.C. Dukes of Hazzard

Dad
Jeff Caught Out of Context/ CSI: Mayberry/ Fancy Restaurant/ Larry the Cable Guy Commentary/ Famous Last Words

Disc 2:
Violence (Special Guest: Ron White)
Taser Tag/ Larry the Cable Guy Commentary/ Baseball Lessons/ Scouty Scout Cookie Sales/ Colon Springs Water/ Warning Labels

Beauty
Fugly's/ Hot-Bod Squad/ Barbering 101/ The View/ What Women Are Really Saying

Shopping (Guest Star: Ron White)
The Cloth/ Million Dollar Boobies/ Larry the Cable Guy Commentary/ Who's the Fool/ I Believe

Aging
The O.C. – Ozark County/ Larry the Cable Guy Commentary/ From Planet Sextor/ Handicops/ Paristrim/ Things You Don't Want to Hear Before You Die

Sinning:
Huffy's Auto Paint/ Larry the Cable Guy Commentary/ White Trash Days of Our Lives/ King Cobra/ America's Next Top Mechanic/ The Choir

The DVD:
As an example of post-millennial sketch comedy, Blue Collar TV is just not very funny. It relies on tired old jokes, equally lame sitcom style premises and just the smallest shot of the cultural clarity to differentiate it from other like-minded entertainment enterprises. For the most part, this is understandable – its primary contributors (Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy) are not actors or your typically skilled Second City crew. Instead, they are stand-up comedians, thrown into the mix with a group of seasoned pros (including Brooke Dillman, Heath Hyche, Peter Oldring and Gary Anthony Williams) and asked to match their talent for crazy, off the cuff performing. Sometimes they manage to contribute, but more times than not, you can see the show lowering its skit standards to conform to Larry's crass caricatures or Bill's befuddled blandness. The truth is, all three are perfectly serviceable, capable of giving something to a bit without causing it to crash. No, the real problem with Blue Collar TV is its secondary flaw – it's outright betrayal of its trailer park roots. One would assume that the men behind the successful stand up tour that begat this cracker cottage industry would tap directly into that material to formulate their humor. But instead of going straight to the redneck, Blue Collar TV hems and haws, unable to fully embrace its rural route heritage.

A perfect example of this issue comes in two of the show's routine running gags. The first is called "The Redneck Yard of the Week". Here, Foxworthy and series' eye candy Ayda Field announce a winner of the award (chosen from entries submitted to a like-named website) and after the photo is viewed, Foxworthy gets a chance to comment on the mess. Sadly, instead of being wild and outrageous, relying on his years of performing before people to deliver something brash and clever, he limps along, making obvious comments, before the bit dries up. Similarly, a segment called The Redneck Dictionary takes seemingly normal words ('gasoline', 'mantle') and turns them into basic blackouts, the sloppy scripting desperate to work the entry into the conversation. In the case of 'mantle', it's a sex change joke ("I was a mantle the surgery"), while 'gasoline' gets the supposedly foolproof fart treatment ("When I have gasoline over to one side"). Part of the issue is the punchlines – they're rather unoriginal, and not very clever. Worse, however, is the feeling that something FUNNIER was just around the corner, had the writers thought further outside the standard TV style of comedy they're creating. Frankly, anyone reading this review right now can probably come up with a better line for each one.

It's even the same with the stand-up substance. During one of his patented "commentaries" Larry the Cable Guy makes an off hand joke that an issue up for discussion is easier to understand than the jokes he's been given to read. Now, if we are to assume that he's just a mouthpiece for some cadre of so-called comedy writers, that's sad. Larry is more than capable of coming up with his own half-baked material. In fact, when he gets going, he can be quite original with his quips. But to saddle him with the 'angry Confederate' stigma is just ridiculous. It is probably the reason the fourth member of the Blue Collar Comedy quartet – Ron White – only shows up as a "special guest" in a few select episodes. While Larry or Bill might be able to withstand repeating tired old lines from The Inbred Idiots Jokebook, White is more polished than that. He does contribute here and there, even goofing along with the rest of his pals in a recurring role as one of the Martin Brothers. But he usually delivers his own material, not tied to the washed out wit on display overall. The same goes for Foxworthy. As the series' face, he gets a few minutes of monologue time at the opening, and while he doesn't dive into his "you might be a redneck" routine, he does seem far funnier than when he's putting on a character.

Truth is, this critic laughed once during the entire 13 episode run – and it was a line that had more to do with his love of a certain word than any of the performing or personnel issues. During an alien abduction sketch, Foxworthy has his mind melded and then switched with an intelligent extraterrestrial. He become erudite while the spaceman turns into a beer-swilling nimrod. Shocked that his buddy would suddenly become studious, Larry blurts out in his best Foghorn Leghorn "Oh my GOD! They've made him de-tarded!" Truth be told, Blue Collar TV needs more of these non-PC moments. It should be embracing its truck stop and beef jerky brethren, going full bore bumpkin on stereotyped subjects like inbreeding, illiteracy and illegitimacy. A good example of a series that understands this perfectly is Wonder Showzen. During the recently completed Season 2, the show featured a full episode of its bizarre Hee Haw spoof called Horse Apples. In the near exact duplicates of the Cornfield County gang, we get individuals who make incredibly tasteless self-referential redneck jokes as a means of commenting on the crudeness and crassness of the Nu-South society, one that embraces it's backwater days. It's brilliant, baffling and laugh out loud funny. But it also knows that it runs the risk of offending the audience its emulating. Happily, it doesn't care. Blue Collar TV wants to have its takes and please everyone too. The result is a collection of dull, derivative 21 minute episodes that barely manage a snicker, let alone a sustained laugh.

The Video:
Warner Brothers takes these fresh from transmission TV shows and delivers them on the digital domain in a near pristine manner. The 1.33:1 full screen image is crisp, clean and very colorful. Since this is filmed live on stage in front of an attending audience, the three camera conceit behind most of the standard sitcoms is in full effect. The only time the material gets arty or complex is when the boys head out to do a remote feature (usually attending some sort of school – barber, diction, etiquette). There, the freedom to film makes for a more compelling approach to the material.

The Audio:
Blue Collar TV is a typical Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 broadcast entity. The dialogue is clear, the laughs loud and clearly audible, and the occasional guest performer (Travis Tritt, Van Zandt, Deana Carter, Trick Pony) comes across in a perfectly professional manner. There is no real depth to the aural elements here, and sometimes, a line or two can get lost in the audience's overt enthusiasm, but overall, this is a solid sounding DVD mix.

The Extras:
Sadly, Warners only opts for about 20 minutes of outtakes and bloopers, spreading them out across the two disc package. On Disc 1 is so called "banned" material from the "What Burns Me Up" booth. Frankly, why this material was excised makes little or no sense. There is nothing controversial, dirty or outlandish here. Over on Disc 2, we get Too Much For TV "unaired" skits. Again, this is really lightweight stuff. The only thing remotely offensive is a story Foxworthy tells about making a fake turd out of mud to fool his mom. The rest is just rote – meaning bland and unfunny. While it would have been nice to offer up a few performer bios, some interviews, or a commentary or two, the supplements here will definitely intrigue the devoted. Unfortunately, it will mean very little to anyone hoping to learn about the Blue Collar saga.

Final Thoughts:
Unless you want to be bored by the same old material flashing before your eyes minute by minute, if you don't mind blatant homophobic attacks that go more or less unaddressed and accepted, if you like your wit on the warm beer side of merriment, if you just can't get enough of Foxworthy, Engvall, Cable Guy and White's redneck repartee, then by all means pick up a copy of Blue Collar TV: The Complete Second Season and grin like a goon at the mediocre elements within. If, on the other hand, you prefer your humor on the highbrow side, offered in a smart style that makes an effort to be both insightful and ingratiating, if you love a well crafted sketch and can't get enough of sly, subversive stand up comedians, then save yourself some major aggravation and skip this title. However, in an effort to be accommodating, this review will offer a rating of Rent It. It allows for some minor vindication on the part of the Blue Collar boys, while warning potential purchasers of the disappointment contained herein. In some ways, it's a good thing this quartet is breaking up. They each have the potential of expanding their own personal demographic without being tied to the trailer park. Individually, they are fairly funny. Blue Collar TV offers proof that, as a collective, these comics are only sporadically amusing.

Want more Gibron Goodness? Come to Bill's TINSEL TORN REBORN Blog (Updated Frequently) and Enjoy! Click Here