The Best of Compilation

Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show - DVD-licious is a compilation release of material from the first three years of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. This DVD release comes with two discs, with the main feature (1:16:07) on disc 1 and a bonus monologue segment (28:57) on disc 2. Also, from the time frame of September 19, 2006 to November 27, 2006, this DVD release is exclusively available at Target stores. Keep this information in mind if you decide to purchase the DVD set. For those who are unfamiliar with The Ellen DeGeneres Show, it is a talk show hosted by none other than miss Ellen DeGeneres herself. DeGeneres is a standup comic who has been in the public's eye for some time, having her own ABC sitcom Ellen, a friends-oriented comedy with comparable style to Seinfeld, that ran from 1994 to 1998, and a short-lived sitcom The Ellen Show on CBS in 2001.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show first aired in 2003 and it is about to enter its fourth season. The talk show has been very popular and it was nominated for a lot of Emmy awards and took home several for its first three years. Most notably, Ellen has won the Emmy award for Outstanding Talk Show three years running. The talk show features Ellen interviewing celebrity guest stars, doing monologues and acting all-around goofy. The content is usually very fun and witty. Ellen has the kind of personality to put a smile on your face. She is a friendly, open, warm, likable comedy who handles herself well. She is an excellent talk show host.

In this compilation, twenty-seven different monologues and celebrity interviews are compiled together into a single feature. Ellen acts as a host on the DVD and introduces a few of the segments as they come. The content is pretty fun and I had a blast watching them. My favorite segment was "Golfing with Ray Romano". It features Ellen golfing with Everybody Loves Raymond stars Ray Romano and Brad Garrett. First Ellen and Ray compete in a golfing contest--chipping golf balls into a jacuzzi. Ellen loses and offers to act as Ray's caddy the next time he goes golfing. When Ellen goes golfing with Ray and Brad, she is insanely goofy, and both Ray and Brad are hysterical too. Towards the end, there's a great bit when their pants come off. Very humorous. Another fun bit "Big Gin" involves Justin Timberlake and Ellen wearing costumes. Justin is a gingerbread man "Big Gin" and Ellen a marshmallow. The two dance and the act will definitely put a smile on your face.

The compilation has more fun celebrity guest stars that include interviews and other such acts. In "First Guest: Jennifer Aniston", Aniston did not turn off her cell and took a call in the middle of their interview. Ellen's reaction is priceless. "Will Ferrell" convinces Ellen to come in on her day off and to do an interview. The catch is nobody is in the audience. Ferrell is his usual eccentric self and works great with Ellen. The clip with "Jim Carrey" is relatively short, but it is still fun to see him act goofy. Gwyneth Paltrow, John Travolta, Britney Spears, and Steve Martin also make appearances.

The compilation also has some great monologues and adventures. In "Ellen's fall", Ellen replays a video of her slipping and falling on stage. She plays, rewinds, and pauses the video while cracking jokes at herself. "Backpacking through Burbank" is so ridiculous. Ellen dresses up in a silly hat with a big backpack and visits various eateries and talks with an accent. In "See's Candies", Ellen mixes things up when she visits the candy factory. "Driving School" is a crazy bit, with Ellen scaring the living daylights out of some young new drivers. "New York's smallest apartment" is a New York adventure with Ellen visiting some of the tiniest rooms around. There are also some good bits with young guests like the "Kid anatomy expert", "50 states girl", "6-year-old piano prodigy", and "Kid turkey callers".

Overall, I found the compilation to be a fun watch. I love Ellen DeGeneres and I think she is a very funny and likeable person. However, I do not get the chance to watch her talk show, and I thought that this compilation DVD was the perfect solution. There are some pretty fun moments with her and her guests. The only bad thing I can think of is that the feature is pretty short. It runs for an hour and sixteen minutes. Afterwards, you can pop in the second disc, which has select monologues that were picked from five-hundred and ten episodes (according to Ellen). But it only lasts for twenty-nine minutes. And once you are done, you are done. In this regard, I was let down because I was expecting the DVDs to be packed with a long main feature and lots of extras. Instead, we get two single-layered DVDs that have plenty of extra room for additional content. Well, despite my unhappiness, I still had a lot of fun watching the best of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and I think this DVD is worth picking up.

Segment Guide, Disc One
1. First Monologue
2. First Guest: Jennifer Aniston
3. Steve Martin Pt. I
4. Precious the Orangutan
5. Will Ferrell
6. Ellen's fall
7. Backpacking through Burbank
8. Steve Martin Pt. II
9. V.O. booth
10. Gwyneth Paltrow
11. Steve Martin Pt. III
12. Jim Carrey
13. Lenscrafters
14. Kid anatomy expert
15. Ellen's prom date reunion
16. Driving school
17. John Travolta
18. New York's smallest apartment
19. Prop room
20. Ellen and Gwyneth go door-to-door
21. Britney Spears
22. 50 states girl
23. Golfing with Ray Romano
24. Kid turkey callers
25. 6-year-old piano prodigy
26. See's Candies
27. Big Gin

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. The picture quality is pretty good. The image remains fairly sharp throughout the episodes with detail crisp and clean. However, some of the segments filmed on location are rough looking.

Audio:
The audio is given in English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound. The track is dialogue driven and it sounds good.

The DVD comes with Spanish subtitles and supports closed captioning.

Extras:
The second DVD in this two disc set contains a twenty-nine feature with various monologues selected from five hundred and ten episodes.

Final Thoughts:
Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show - DVD-licious is a fun compilation of monologues and interviews from Ellen's popular talk show. There are some very fun moments that include celebrity guest stars Ray Romano, Brad Garrett, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Travolta, Britney Spears, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, and Jennifer Aniston. In addition, the show has some fun skits like "Backpacking through Burbank", "Ellen's fall", and "Driving school". And when you are done with the main feature, there is a bonus monologue segment to watch. Overall, I think the content presented in this release is quite fun and anyone who enjoys seeing Ellen in action will appreciate it. However, I was disappointed to find out there are no extras beyond the monologue segment. I had assumed since it was a two disc set that the DVDs would be packed with additional content and special features. Despite, I still think the DVDs are worth getting.