DVD Review: so noTORIous, the complete series

It's tough being Tori Spelling. She's spent better than a decade living under the spotlight and having every mistake magnified. Granted, she brought a lot of it on herself, but I think she has probably taken more than her fair share. It's just so easy. But given all that, I think she gains a lot of points for being able to make fun of herself, because when you get right down to it, that's what so noTORIous is all about. Laughing at the absurdity that is her life.

I think that those years of bad press and bad jokes may have been the biggest problem that this show had. One that it faced before they ever shot a scene, and one that they were never really able to overcome. A lot of people simply dismissed the show for no other reason than it was starring Tori Spelling as herself. And that's too bad, because I'm here to tell you that they made a pretty funny sit-com.

Now, before you think that I am just completely off my nut, I'll couch that last statement by saying that no, this is not a classic, and it's not destined for any greatest shows of ever lists. But that being said, if you didn't see it I would encourage you to get a look, because it's probably much better than what you are anticipating. Normally our reviews of DVD sets assume that you have seen the show and so we dispense with just what the show is about. But given that I don't think a lot of people actually bothered to watch this one, I'll give you a rundown of what they had going on.

The show follows Tori and three of her friends. Janey (Brennan Hesser, Jonny Zero) is a rather sassy, take no shit, real estate agent. Pete (James Carpinello, The Punisher) is Tori's roommate who is on that long term college plan. He's going to move out as soon as he finishes med school, and his residency, and.... Sasan (Zachary Quinto, Sylar on Heroes) is Tori's GBFF. He's gay, and Iranian. As he puts it, "I'm gay, Iranian, and Muslim. All of my identities hate each other." Added to this mix are the recurring characters of Nanny (Cleo King) and Kiki Spelling (Loni Anderson). Kiki is Tori's mother who could best be described as upper class insane. She is the root of many of Tori's problems. Nanny is the no-nonsense housekeeper that actually raised Tori.

Throughout the series, as Tori gets herself into one mishap after another, many of which involve her work doing movies for the Female Channel, the recurring theme of her wacky childhood comes up again and again. They have a fairly clever device for doing this. Someone will ask Tori the obvious question that starts like, "Why don't you..." She'll then get that TV flashback gaze as we see another crazed scene play out where Kiki once again does the worst parenting she could possibly do. Then we cut back to Tori who always answers the question, "I don't know." It's usually pretty funny, and young Tori does a nice job. They tied it all together very nicely in the "Cursed" episode when we finally get a Kiki flashback that follows that same pattern.

The "Cursed" episode brings up another of the great things about the show. The casting. They managed to get Whoopi Goldberg to play voodoo priestess Mama Belle . As Tori puts it on the commentary, "I never thought I'd be in a scene with Academy Award winning actress Whoopi Goldberg." Joining Whoopi in doing great work on the show are Jeanette Arnette as the worst agent ever, John Michael Higgins as the leader of a Scientology-ish cult, Farrah Fawcett as herself, and Brian George as Sasan's father Omid.

As far as extras and goodies go, it's a pretty good collection considering how short-lived the show was. There are commentaries with producers Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler, and Tori for four of the episodes. The DVD also includes the unaired 10th episode, which is the Canadian episode, so you know it has to be good. Each episode has a short collection of outtakes, which are what you would expect. The producers do commentary for their favorite deleted scenes. There is also a behind the scenes featurette and a nice collection of interviews with the various cast members.

Overall, it's a nice set, and while I stop short of giving it the must have designation, the under $20 price tag at Amazon has me leaning to worth checking out. Go into it with an open mind and there is some funny stuff. And if nothing else, how can you pass up seeing Tori Spelling in her bra and panties while Whoopi Goldberg throws mud at her? The one thing I found disappointing about the set is that it is "the complete series." I would have been up for a season two.