I’ve been down for the count all week with Con Crud leftover from SDCC, which translates to a DVD marathon. I’m catching up on Supernatural because I’m a season and a half behind due to not liking an event in season 7. So… I have to catch up- which means I need to start at the beginning.
One thing I love about the SPN DVDs is that each season has a gag reel. Every show I have ever watched has obviously had errors in the filming of the episodes- no take is ever perfect. Especially when you get to the tenth one. So I love that they admit that they make mistakes and clearly have fun with them. And share that with the fans.
I bring this up because there are so many shows that don’t seem to care about the fans and share the fun. I have all 10 seasons of Smallville– and watch them at least once a year- and there are maybe 3 gag reels. All in the early seasons. I want gag reels for the later seasons! I want to see Justin Hartley making Tom Welling laugh. I want to see Erica Durance cracking up, or fucking up a line. I want to see Alison Mack stumble over those complicated explanations. Why don’t they give me the precious gag reels?
And I don’t want a minute and a half of funny. I’ve seen movie DVDs that give a piddly little sample of the screw-ups and pranks… but, just using these SPN DVDs as example, their gag reels average 10 minutes. And that’s not counting the random outtakes from certain eps (like this). These are people that know what fans want!
So I pose this… do you think there are enough gag reels on the TV show DVDs? Or do you, like me, want more? Gimme the good stuff!
dee2henry
intellichick
ladydethpool
magnitudev1
natashanerdlush
nerdlushguests
elizabeth ann
Billy
stewartmoncure
thetwoohsix
NerdLush 
I love the occasional gag reel, but it depends on the show for me. I’ve actually been looking at the Star Trek: TNG gag reels on the recent blu-rays and man, Worf has it hard with the syllables. Great stuff.
true… not sure, maybe the genre shows need to have them more than some of the others. i have a bunch of show DVDs that have nothing on them. which is annoying.
Oh man. Well, we already know how I feel about DVD features (ie: I hate the with a power of a thousand suns) but with gag reels… it’s hard to say “mreh! I hate things that are funny!” because who hates laughing? But that being said, in my circle it is a time honored tradition* of who is the lucky person who gets the privilege of creating the gag reel for the wrap party (that eventually lands on the DVD) as a way of showing how everybody on the crew had a fun time and how we’re all a happy family… so naturally my opinion of them is vastly different from y’all’s.
That being said, I’ve been waiting on the side lines for years for my turn and this year it was mine! So, having now gone through 6 months of footage of trying to find everybody flubbing a line in some way or another… It was OK. Honestly, I’d do it (and have already been told I’m first in line for next year) again. There is definitely an art-form to the gag reel, as you pointed out- and it’s actually pretty hard to find the right flow/jive/rhythm to make a good gag reel and if there isn’t the footage, then it’s best to keep it short rather than being a big clunker. (Luckily mine had plenty of footage so it was ten minutes so, nyaaahh!)
(And by “honored tradition” I mean everybody on the crew says “NOT IT!” and closes their door as fast as possible.)
i wanna see!