Looking past this new CBS Home Video penchant for replacing original scores (and is someone going to allege they couldn't track down Billy Joel to clear licensing?), Dave's World emerges as a cute and competent sitcom strong on character and family interrelationships, coming off as a sort of precursor to Everybody Loves Raymond (and in fact, look at the main home set used in the series--its floorplan is virtually identical to that used in Raymond years later, not to mention the fact that the leads in both series portray newspaper writers).

This early to mid-90s series, based on the writings of Pulitzer Prize winning humorist Dave Barry, offers Harry Anderson (of Night Court fame, probably the series most people are going to remember him for despite the four season run of this particular show) playing a slightly fictionalized version of the Florida scribe, in this series working for a fictional Miami newspaper. Barry is surrounded by his sweet, though occasionally caustic, wife (DeLane Matthews), two adorable sons, and his two best friends, his newspaper boss Kenny (L.A. disc jockey Shadoe Stevens, doing surprisingly credible comic work here) and Meshach Taylor (Designing Women) as a plastic surgeon who is part of Barry's inner circle and poker playing crowd. There's also some nice work by J.C. Wendel as newspaper secretary Mia, a stereotypical "dumb blonde" who regularly seems to outsmart at least Kenny, her boss.

The show intersperses voiceover from Anderson as Barry, at times quoting Barry's often very funny musings, with typical sitcom family fare, a lot of it focusing on the kids and Anderson's and Matthews' differing parenting styles. There is some very sharp writing here, especially (and notably) for the kids (Zane Carney and Andrew Ducote, both of whom are exceptional throughout), as in one episode where Barry's older son, after a heart to heart talk with his Dad, says, "But, Dad, I don't want to change the world. I want to be like you." The interplay between Anderson and Matthews is especially likable, quite reminiscent of that other married couple of this era, the Taylors from Home Improvement. Matthews' Beth Barry is no shrinking violet and gives as good as she takes, something she shares with Patricia Richardson's Jill Taylor from the long running ABC sitcom.

While Dave's World differs from Everybody Loves Raymond in its noticeable lack of regularly meddling parents, even that well-worn cliché is put to good use by guest star Florence Henderson, doing some great work as Beth's overbearing mother, who visits at Thanksgiving and sends everything into turmoil. There are some fantastic lines throughout this episode, not the least of which is Dave jokingly referring to Kenny as Eddie Haskell after Kenny's too polite "hello" to Beth's mom, after which she mistakenly refers to him as Eddie for the rest of the episode.

If the series is nothing ground shaking, it routinely delivers its laughs in very cogently written episodes that cover the gamut of modern (at least early to mid-90s modern, anyway) family life. The "un-actory" performances of the two kids combined with the outstanding pro work of Anderson and Matthews make Dave's World a cut above the tried and true family sitcom as it existed in that era.

The DVD

Video:
A pretty typical full frame television image is what you get here--colors are vivid (the Florida setting means lots of pastels), and detail is sharp and defined.

Sound:
The standard stereo soundtrack sports excellent fidelity and typical television separation. No hiss or dropouts were noticed throughout the 23 season one episodes.

Extras:
None are offered.

Final Thoughts:
If you're a fan of either Dave Barry or Everybody Loves Raymond, you're sure to enjoy this series. Smartly written and with appealing performances across the board, Dave's World may have been a middling Top 30 success in its day but seems more like at least a bronze standard of television comedy writing in hindsight. Recommended.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet