The Fourth Season

In the first season of Ellen, the series was called These Friends of Mine. However, with the second season came many changes, including a different cast and title change. The third season introduces another cast change and continues the same episodic format as the past seasons that look into the crazy daily life of thirty something Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres) and friends. Overall, the comedy feels much like past seasons. For more details about this series please refer to DVD Talk's reviews of season one, season two, and season three.

The fourth season of Ellen was a revolutionary season in television history. What made it revolutionary was the simple fact that a leading character in a television series on prime time television came out of the closet and even more so that the actress had recently come out of the closet earlier that year. It was done in the two-part episode "The Puppy Episode". For this episode, DeGeneres won a Peabody Award for her performance and it won an Emmy for writing. This historical moment in television is not the only important thing about season four, as it continues to offer fun-filled episodes with Ellen in new situations getting her foot stuck in her mouth.

In the season four premiere "Give Me Equity Or Give Me Death", Ellen realizes that she is in her mid-thirties and she is living in the same apartment she has been living for the past several years. She decides it is time to move on and do something adult-like, purchase her very own home. In order to do that, she has to sell Buy the Book. Fortunately, Tom (Curtis Armstrong) and Larry (Larry Hankin), hippy businessmen, want to buy the bookstore. It is a fun way to start the season, with Ellen getting her foot caught in her mouth after taking some bad advice from Spence. This storyline continues throughout the season with more episodes dealing with Ellen purchasing her new home, getting a home loan, remodeling, and finally moving in at the end of the season. It also introduces a new reoccurring character Ed Billik (Bruce Campbell), who Tom and Larry assign to manage Buy the Book. Campbell offers a good character who intermixes with the Ellen cast well.

Another important storyline this season deals with Ellen's parents, Harold and Lois. In the episode "Splitsville, Man", Harold and Lois inform Ellen that they think it is time they move on. Over the years they have found they just don't love each other anymore. It sends Ellen over the edge and spills into several episodes thereafter. There are hilarious episodes like "Parent Trap", Ellen tries to recreate her parent's honeymoon, "Looking Out For Number One", Ellen's latest therapist tries to encourage her to be strong, "Not So Great Expectations", Lois joins a video dating service and Ellen is determined to intercede, and "Reversal Of Misfortune", Ellen tries to support her parents by having a divorce party. I enjoyed the situations this story arc brought to the season.

Some other fun episodes in this season include "The Bubble Gum Incident", Ellen confronts her past when she is forced to relive a horrible thing she did to Paige when they were kids, "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah", is a great episode that follows the aftermath of Ellen coming out of the closet and trying to inform her parents about her new lifestyle, "Bowl, Baby, Bowl" is a silly episode Ellen and Ed going head-to-head in games of bowling and billiards--both DeGeneres and Campbell are great together.

Overall, the fourth season of Ellen is notable because of its historical, ground-breaking story "The Puppy Episode" that featured the lead character coming out of the closet. The groundbreaking episode withstanding, I still found the fourth season to be a lot of fun. I love DeGeneres and I think she is a riot! She has a wonderful talent of turning everyday situations (common and not-so-common) into a laugh fest. I also enjoyed having Bruce Campbell as a reoccurring character. He had a good dynamic with the rest of the cast.

Episode Guide

1. Give Me Equity Or Give Me Death: Ellen decides to buy a home of her own-but at what cost?
2. A Deer Head For Joe: When Joe is fired, Ellen resorts to desperate measures.
3. Splitsville, Man: Ellen's parents separate, but she's the one who gets broken up.
4. The Parent Trap: Ellen orchestrates an elaborate plot to reunite her parents.
5. Looking Out For Number One: Can Ellen ever take her therapist seriously again?
6. The Bubble Gum Incident: Paige seeks revenge at her and Ellen's 25th camp reunion.
7. Harold And Ellen: Who's afraid of father-daughter bonding?
8. Not So Great Expectations: Only Ellen would sabotage her own mother.
9. The Pregnancy Test: A home pregnancy test prompts Ellen, Paige, and Audrey to rethink their lives.
10. Kiss My Bum: Ellen unwittingly invites a homeless man to Thanksgiving dinner.
11. Bowl, Baby, Bowl: Ed and Ellen experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
12. Fleas Navidad: Rescuing an abandoned dog might be more than one woman can chew.

13. Along Again... Naturally: Ellen practices the art of being alone.
14. Joe's Kept Secret: Joe's wealthy girlfriend grants a favor-with strings attached.
15. Makin' Whoopie: Ellen makes a lasting impression at a party.
16. Ellen Unplugged: An adolescent fantasy comes true.
17. Ellen's Deaf Comedy Jam: Spence and Ellen get their signals mixed.
18. Hello, Dalai: Spiritual retreats are not always relaxing.
19. Secrets & Ellen: Ellen comes clean with her grandmother.
20. Reversal Of Misfortune: By supporting their divorce, Ellen draws her parents closer together.
21. The Clip show Patient: Ellen tries her hand at entertaining an English patient.
22. The Puppy Episode (Part 1): A kindred spirit heralds an enlightenment regarding Ellen's sexual identity.
23. The Puppy Episode (Part 2): Ellen prepares for another moment of truth: telling her friends.
24. Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah: Ellen deals with telling her parents she's gay.
25. Moving On: Moving creates more upheaval than expected.

The DVD

Video:
The video is given in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture quality is fairly decent, with only a slight grain in the picture. However, there are noticeable compression artifacts in each episode, which cause slight color distortion.

Audio:
The audio track in this DVD release is an English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound track. The sound quality is fairly good, with only a barely audible distortion. Like most other television series releases on DVD, the audio is relatively flat, as it consists of spoken dialogue.

Extras:
For extras, this season set comes with biographies, information about the cast, and commentaries for "The Puppy Episode (Parts 1 & 2)" with Tracy Newman, Dava Savel and Jonathan Stark. The commentary is a fairly informative discussion from individuals who helped put the episode together. The participants are easy to follow and they talk about issues that do not come off as lackluster.

Final Thoughts:
The fourth season of Ellen features a breakthrough in television history. The episode "The Puppy Episode" features the leading character Ellen coming out of the closet, which was a big thing at the time. This alone makes the season stand out among the rest. Historical moments withstanding, season four contains twenty-five fun-filled episodes about Ellen and her friends. The comical, goofy personality DeGeneres brings her character is topnotch and she handles both common and not-so-common situations with perfection and makes them into a riot. Overall, this season is a lot of fun and sitcom-goers and fans of Ellen DeGeneres should not miss out on it.