Quick Reviews: The Sopranos, The Complete Series with Extras, HBO

The design challenged folks at HBO have struck again. Yes, the same folks who gave you that awful first The Wire collected set and that awful The Sopranos collected set where DVD's were stuck into cardboard slats so they could get scratched have struck again. They have decided that rather than stick the DVDs for their most recent The Sopranos complete set into regular keepcases and on multidisc holders as any Eric the half a bee with half a brain would, they would once again give us that bane of DVD collectors everywhere, a The Sopranos set in which plastic DVD's have been stuck into cardboard slats where they get scratched and buffed and generally abused. And to add further insult to consumer unjoy, they have created cardboard accordion season holders that, when you put the discs in and take them out of their cardboard holders, tear. I guess we should thank our lucky stars that HBO television is generally much better, though not that much better, than their design department. 

O stars for the packaging and a big raspberry for the zombie suited idiots in the design department at HBO. They have shown us once and for all that form does not follow functionality and that design is more important than protecting DVD's, at least for these corporate types.

Dear HBO, I hope you love the packaging of this set because it means that you just lost a sale because I just returned this box set for a full refund. I will not be buying another until your design department obtains their Ph.D's in rocket science, a degree which should, I hope, allow them to build a The Sopranos box set that actually protects the DVD's rather than looks sexy design pretty. Unlike you I don't judge a book by its cover.