"The best television is challenging television. Smart television. Television that makes you think whether it is about history, or politics, or religion, or popular culture, or sports. Our goal as journalists and filmmakers, is to serve the public interest, to encourage public discourse in a way that is entertaining in the best sense." – Peter Jennings

On April 5, 2005 Peter Jennings announced to the world that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was about to begin chemotherapy treatment. On August 7, 2005 he passed away. For more than 20 years Jennings was behind the desk at ABC World News Tonight and he was one of the most revered news anchors of our time.

Jennings' career got started in the 60s when he landed a job as a co-anchor for a Canadian news program. A few years later he found his way to ABC and became the youngest news anchor in history at the age of 26. The road was a little bumpy at first, but he eventually worked his way back to the top in the late 70s. He eventually took over World News Tonight in 1983 and stood shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather. His career had been illustrious with many accolades under his belt and for many years he and ABC held the top spot where Americans went to get their news.

A new collection containing six of Jennings' recent reports has just been released on DVD hardly more than two months after his death. It seems a little inappropriate to release something like this the same year that the person passed away, but it could have been either out of consumer demand or the need to make a buck. Which ever way you look at it though, these documentaries prove to be entertaining, informative and in some cases, controversial.

The first documentary to watch is "How To Get Fat Without Really Trying". It's definitely interesting to see what Jennings though about the causes for America's obesity but I felt that the reasoning behind it was a bit of a stretch. Basically because the government subsidizes so much money for agriculture they are the ones responsible for us getting fatter. I agree on many of the points brought up on here, and there are definitely some connections made, but I've always felt it comes down to personal accountability and self control.

Fast spreading and widely popular, Ecstasy has become an increasingly used drug in our culture today. In "Ecstasy Rising" Jennings takes a look at its effects and what the government isn't telling the public about the drug. From the history of MDMA to modern application and how it came to be illegal, I found this very informative because really I knew nothing about Ecstasy.

In "LAPD" Jennings takes an in depth look at what it means to be an officer for the LAPD and the daily challenges that they face. He actually rides along with some officers in parts and conducts several interviews with people involved with the police force. Los Angeles is in many parts a dangerous beast that is filled with racial hatred and gangs. It leads the nation in homicides each year, but it's certainly nice to see the men in uniform going out there to make the world a better place.

The war of terror is still going strong and Iraq is taking their first steps towards democracy, but Guantanamo is still a dynamic key to our successes. In "Guantanamo" Jennings takes a look at the prison and investigates to see if our government is dodging the rules in order to win the war. Much of the public has been kept in the dark by dealings surrounding this prison and it's interesting to see some light shed upon it.

Closer to Jennings own personal struggle, "From the Tobacco File" is all about the cigarette industry and why the government hasn't cracked down on it. Jennings started smoking when he was eleven years old and didn't stop until he was much older in life. Taking the tobacco industry down has been a mainstream agenda for years, but all efforts seem to get stopped in their tracks for some reason or another. Have you ever wondered why?

Lastly, "No Place to Hide" brings up the subject about the Patriot Act and what freedoms Americans are willing to give up for safety. In this age of identity theft and the digital medium it is increasingly more difficult to remain anonymous and to protect yourself. How much information do you want the government to have on you? Security and surveillance are a big issue with this feature, but at what cost is our freedom?

Each of these features are equally engrossing and informative, though I found "LAPD" and "No Place to Hide" to be the better pair of the bunch. If you or someone you know is an ABC fan or sat down to watch Jennings report the news every night, then chances are they will enjoy this collection. I was hoping for a little bit of talk about Jennings, about his history and maybe some interviews with the people that knew him personally or worked with him. Instead this set is just a sampling of some of his work and completely lacks any personal touch.

Depending on what feature you are watching the image quality will be all over the map. These documentaries were obviously produced at different times, though for the most part they seem to be pretty recent. Some of them feature a lot of grain, softness, speckle, and edge enhancement, while many offer some very sharp and clean visuals. Most of these documentaries also feature stock footage and clips from other sources; so again, the quality is very diverse. Each of these productions is presented with a 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio, since after all they were broadcast on TV before the advent of HD.

Similar to the visual presentation, the aural features of this DVD vary greatly. Because each of these documentaries was produced for a television broadcast, the sound was recorded with 2.0 stereo in mind. The quality varies from clean to slightly distorted depending on the material. English is the only available language and there are no options for subtitles of any kind.

The collection is broken up into two discs and runs at about 250 minutes and features three documentaries on each. Irritatingly enough there are no chapter skips or anything remotely resembling scene selection. As far as bonus material goes, again there is absolutely nothing on the disc.

Peter Jennings undoubtedly had a distinguished career and these six documentaries are an example of some nice work of his. I found each of these features on this collection to be worth sitting down to watch and even though I admit to not being a long time viewer of Jennings, it's easy to see why he was as popular as he was. My only beefs with this collection come from purely a grade on the DVD itself.

There is no personal touch to the release and it feels like a shallow attempt at milking the Jennings name for profit. There are no audio options what-so-ever, chapter skips of any kind, or even any extra features. It appears as if next to no thought went into this production, which is unfortunate because it could have been so much more if that weren't the case.

Check out more of my reviews here. Head on over to my anime blog as well for random musings and reviews of anime, manga, and stuff from Japan!