Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Duck Dynasty: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 23, 2013

Note: This season is also available in the box set Duck Dynasty: Seasons 1-3 Collector's Set, which streets December 3, 2013.

As an Oregonian, I must state up front that Duck Dynasty is evidently not about the University of Oregon’s sports teams, nor is one of the series’ character’s obsession with beavers a reference to Oregon State University. With that pressing piece of business out of the way, perhaps it’s time to burst another preconception bubble—so-called reality television is not real. I know several people (whose names will not be divulged due to their wishes to remain employed) who work on various “reality tv” shows in different capacities, and they all tell pretty much the same story. While there are no “writers” on the shows, and while things are filmed in a supposed “verité” style that ostensibly catches things happening off the cuff, “suggestions” are often made to the shows’ participants, and certain “storylines” are discussed at length before the cameras ever even show up to capture the action. Furthermore, most shows are assembled with a team of editors who, along with the shows’ directors and other “creatives”, deliberately shape things to give these efforts some sort of dramatic (and/or comedic) arc. Duck Dynasty is simply the latest in a long line of cable outings which have melded characters’ work lives and family environments. As my wife stated when we began watching this new six disc Blu-ray set, “Hey, it’s Cake Boss on the bayou!” That pretty much sums up this show’s approach, which follows the “true life” adventures of the Robertson family, a group of good ol’ boys, their wives, children and employees, who run a multimillion dollar enterprise called Duck Commander, a unique duck call invented by paterfamilias Phil Robertson, whose son Willie, who built the business into its current day success. Rather incredibly, the saga of the Roberston family has become one of the biggest phenomena in cable history, recently smashing audience records for the series’ fourth season premiere episode. The series is having an impact in some unusual arenas as well. Both Fox News and MSNBC, hardly cable outlets prone to covering the same sorts of stories, recently mentioned that a Robertson endorsement of a so-called “mainstream” GOP candidate in Louisiana helped to get that guy elected over the Tea Party candidate (who was expected to handily win the race). With the show's (and its characters') popularity soaring, A&E and Lionsgate have made the unusual decision to release a Blu-ray box set featuring the first three seasons, which will be followed around a month later by standalone Blu-ray releases of those seasons.

Perhaps because the family had already been featured in previous television outings and the producers assumed those tuning in would already have some semblance of the dynamics and history of the brood, Duck Dynasty spends precious little time setting up any exigencies and instead simply jumps headlong into the day to day personal and business lives of the Robertson clan. The “characters” in the series are almost immediately differentiated and delineated. Papa Phil Robertson is a slightly crusty but nonetheless lovable guy who just happens to be one of the most unlikely entrepreneurs imaginable. His invention of the Duck Commander duck call in the seventies was an unexpected success, though even he admits he didn’t have the business acumen his son Willie has. Willie is the harried Chief Executive Officer, trying to wrangle his family and employees who often behave like a herd of cats. Willie’s brother Jase (Jason) is a good natured nemesis in many episodes, a supposedly dunderheaded guy who nonetheless is smart enough to drive his more business oriented brother a bit crazy from time to time. Also on hand are Miss Kay, Phil’s wife (who is often seen in the kitchen fixin’ up some victuals), Si, Phil’s Vietnam vet brother and assorted spouses, kids and other employees (that oft-quoted “and the rest” syndrome).

It’s probably pointless to try to discuss how manufactured much (if not most) of Duck Dynasty is, replete with faux controversies, minor skirmishes between characters and repeated attempts to inject some drama into a series which is after all basically a show about a family that makes duck calls. How then to explain what is quickly becoming a cultural (and some might even argue a sociopolitical) phenomenon? It probably boils down to one word: family. The Robertsons repeatedly display a cohesion, despite their sometimes petty arguments and patently fake challenges, that speak quite clearly to the increasing feeling among many that we’re losing sight of some fundamentals that have allowed us to flourish. This element is probably nowhere more clear than in what has become one of the series’ defining elements, the family dinner, replete with prayer. I’ve actually personally heard more than one television pundit opining portentously about how “important” seeing something like this is on a fundamental level, and while some may argue about its actual “import”, there’s no denying that the Robertsons have become an exemplar of what it means to stick together through thick and thin, united by a common faith and, perhaps just as importantly, a belief in each other.

In terms of actual content, Duck Dynasty wends its way through amiable but hardly earth shattering events, including several large orders for the company which present some challenges. Phil and Si do battle with beavers (not the OSU kind), and Willie tries to show Jase that being CEO is not a walk in the park (or duck pond). There’s a patently prefabricated feel to most of the shenanigans that make up Duck Dynasty’s appeal, including a season ending gambit that sees Willie considering taking employment elsewhere (yeah, like that’s gonna happen). But there’s also a refreshing lack of pretense to the Robertsons that perhaps helps the show to overcome some of its formulaic “reality television” aspects.

Duck Dynasty: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Duck Dynasty Season 1 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and A&E with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Perhaps due to the increased popularity of the show, subsequent seasons received a 1080p presentation, and there is a very slight but occasionally noticeable uptick in quality when compared to this first season. This season has a somewhat rougher appearance, with some stability issues especially apparent when establishing shots, often aerial, give us birds' eye views of Duck Commander or the swampy bayous, with minor shimmer slightly affecting image quality. The bulk of this presentation is sharp and well detailed, and the first person confessionals, which almost always feature the characters in close-up, offer great fine detail. Colors are natural looking and well saturated. As with the subsequent seasons, there are occasional nighttime sequences shot with "night vision" equipment that offer an extremely grainy, green appearance (see the screenshot of the snake for a good example).

Duck Dynasty: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All three seasons of Duck Dynasty come equipped with a perfectly fine lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix which capably captures the narration, on screen confessionals and back and forth between various characters. The mixes also nicely capture more forceful moments, as when the boys go hunting or target shooting. There is no damage of any kind to report in any of these tracks, and fidelity is excellent, delivering dialogue, ambient environmental effects and the twangy music cues effortlessly.

Duck Dynasty: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Featurettes (1080i; 36:35) contain an astounding 25 short pieces with interviews and scenes from the shows. The featurettes are: Romeo & Juliet, Sibling Rivalry, Willie CEO, Yuppies, Hairy Guys, The World's Largest Deer, Si-ence Fiction, All Cameramen Are Weird, Miss Kay's Cookin', When You Feed Them They Will Come, Generations, Uncle Si's Tea Party, Phil-osophies The Birds and the Bees, The Other White Meat, Jase "Si" Robertson, A Kind Gentle Woman, The Making of the Duck Call, Talkin' My Language, The Making of "The Commander's Kitchen", Snakes, Phil-osophies Chatter, Gators, Boys Will Be Boys, The Wives of Duck Dynasty, and Decoy Hunting.

Duck Dynasty: Season 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The first season of Duck Dynasty isn't as consistently engaging as the show became later in its run, but it's still a lot of fun, even if it is relentlessly formulaic and often obviously manufactured. The Robertsons are a lovable group of people, and though cynics might not be entirely persuaded by the clan's claims to having remained untouched by their financial success and (now) celebrity, there's still a refreshing honesty to their interchanges that helps the show overcome some if its more rote aspects. The series is both gently amusing and quietly heartwarming in about equal measure. This first season's video quality isn't quite up to the sharpness and stability of the next two seasons, but overall this is a nice package that comes Recommended.