Route 66: Season Four

This is a Great Final Season - Shout Factory Listened To It's Customers!
I have all of the three seasons of "Route 66" put out by Infinity/Roxbury Entertainment, now if I choose to, I can buy Season 4 to complete the series. Shout Factory took the complaints about not releasing an individual Season 4 release seriously and acted on them. I tip my hat to Shout Factory for listening to the fans! Now there is a choice to get the complete series set, or just the missing Season 4.

Personally, I think I will be putting my money towards the box set. My Season 3 discs do not load at all anymore. Infinity packaged them in such a way to cause them all to warp, or used warped discs initially. Every time I try and load a S3 disc it says either disc is dirty or disc is not playable. Yes I know all of the anomalies from the Infinity/Roxbury releases are in the Complete Series set (except for the artificial widescreen in S1), but overall I thought the quality of them was pretty good. I have a boot copy of S4 on DVD which is bad quality, stops and sticks all...

Disappointing finale
Like many others I was delighted when Shout Factory released season 4. But I have to say that its episodes don't come up to the standard of the first three seasons. The problem (in my opinion) is Lincoln Case - the character, not the actor (Glenn Corbett). Stirling Siliphant and the other writers of Rt 66 seemed to understand a character like Buzz Murdoch, who grew up on inner city streets and experienced violence, gangs, drug addiction, spouse abuse and child abuse. The edge that Buzz had was something they could work with, and use to dramatic effect. Lincoln Case, the ex-infantryman from Vietnam, they did not understand. You can see this in how the writing seems to lose its grasp on the character as the season progresses. At the beginning, Linc is reserved, guarded, and volatile. You can see the veteran. By the end all that's gone. Linc has become a kind of smiling, aw shucks country boy from Texas. War? What war? And strangely, in losing their hold on Lincoln Case the writers seem...

ONE OF THE BEST TV SHOWS EVER PRODUCED
For those who like well-acted shows with great scripts and provocative themes, ROUTE 66 IS FOR YOU! Since receiving my boxset last spring, I have looked forward to watching one episode/day. Invariably, the impact of the show is such that I find myself reflecting on it even after a good night's sleep! In this era of politically-correct mindsets, it is incredibly refreshing to see sensitive/controversial themes rigorously explored in a thought-provoking manner. It goes without saying that ROUTE 66 ranks amongst the best TV shows ever produced, and I doubt we will ever see it's like again! In addition to the riveting, highly literate scripts produced primarily by Sterling Silliphant, there is also a veritable cavalcade of guest stars that really know how to act! Finally, like all good art forms ROUTE 66 is a reflection of its times, which just happens to correspond with those halycon days before the JFK assassination, a memorable time to be sure.

Click to Editorial Reviews