After interviewing Rita Rocks star, Natalie Dreyfuss, I was very interested in checking out the sitcom. So I was thrilled when I received Rita Rocks The Complete Season One which is in stores today!
Run Time: 7 hours, 10 minutes + extras
Release Date: April 27, 2010
Nicole Sullivan (“MADtv”, “The King of Queens”, “Scrubs”) stars as Rita Clemens, an overworked wife, mother, and former lead singer of a Bangles cover band who has traded in a life of jam sessions and rock clubs for carpools and PTA meetings. Will she ever be able to hear that funky music again? Find out in this set jam-packed with 20 bangin’ episodes and rock-star worthy extras!
On the verge of a full-blown identity crisis, Rita struggles to maintain romance with her husband, Jay (Richard Ruccolo, “Two Guys and a Girl”), juggle the demands of her 9-year-old daughter, Shannon (Kelly Gould, “Lucky Louie”), and discipline her defiant teenage daughter, Hallie (Natalie Dreyfuss, He’s Just Not That Into You) and her ever-present boyfriend, Kip (Raviv Ullman, “Phil of the Future”). In an attempt to reconnect with her youth and with the hopes of putting some spark back in her life, Rita dusts off her guitar and forms a garage band with Kip, her nosy postal carrier Patty (Tisha Campbell-Martin, My Wife and Kids, Martin) and her unemployed neighbor Owen (Ian Gomez, “Sex and the City”).
Rita Rocks The Complete Season One is quite a delight for the whole family. The comedy gets better as each episode goes on and there’s also quite a sweet story here that mothers especially can appreciate. Watching Rita really step up and take time out to enjoy life and just rock out despite her busy family & work life…this brings for lots of entertainment as viewers get to see how this affects her family and see Rita connect more with her random bunch of a garage band.
The characters are very well written and all charming in their own way. The situations that the characters get into are all realistic. Well, maybe the cat fight towards the end of the season was a bit over the top but aside from that, everything is genuine. What was quite a smart choice was the decision to have the actors in the garage band sing themselves instead of lip singing to unknown singers. While you may have heard better garage bands, its not so much about how talented the band is as a whole, but how complete the band makes each band mate as an individual.
What I think viewers enjoy the most about sitcoms is that they are direct with the comedy but under the comedy, there’s a genuine heart to the show and this show does not disappoint in that regard. The show is simple but there is something to be learned and viewers can come to appreciate something in a new light in every episode. Rita Rocks encourages everyone to never let go of their goals (even if that means acting out those goals in a different way than you had imagined) because it will make a positive difference in not only your happiness and lifestyle, but will touch others as well.
Special Feature:
Music Video (4:37) – The original song, “Somebody to Worry About” is performed by Rita Rocks cast, Nicole Sullivan, Tisha Campbell Martin, Raviv Ullman, and Ian Gomez. The lyrics and music are by Kathleen Wilhoite. The music video integrates the original scene where Rita performs the song and various bits of the season with behind the scenes footage from when the cast recorded the song. It’s a sweet feature…the only fault is that there were no bloopers thrown into the music video or as a separate special feature. That’s the one thing fans want to see on a sitcom DVD. Maybe there’s a chance to see that on the Season 2 DVD?
Own Rita Rocks The Complete Season One today.