No!

No, I refuse to accept it! It simply can not be true!

And yet, here the answer sits, staring me in the face like a deer that had previously been hypnotized by my headlights and now rests on the hood of my car, protruding through the windshield, the blood dripping out of his mouth and onto my steering wheel.

Can you believe it’s been twelve years since Nash Bridges first aired in 1996?

I feel somewhat older just thinking about that.

Not to mention bummed.

Oddly enough, Nash Bridges eluded me during its entire six season run on CBS. I knew of its existence. I saw the occasional advertisement for it. And, even though I was a fan of Cheech Marin, the show never sounded all that interesting. It’s partially due to the fact that, while Nash Bridges was on the air and in its heyday, Mystery Science Theater 3000 was taking up all of my time with its new run on The Sci/Fi Channel. After MST3K had been prematurely canceled (the bastards), I felt little to no need to watch television and thus, Nash Bridges still escaped me.

It’s too bad, too -- ’cuz it turns out that Nash Bridges was a highly enjoyable show! Granted, the show’s inaugural season may have only been comprised of a mere eight episodes (I’m guessing it was a mid-season replacement?), but, at the end of those eight eps, I was-a-hankerin’ for more.

Wait… there only eight episodes for the entire First Season? Now I’m really bummed.

So anyway, Nash Bridges (Don Johnson) is a San Francisco cop with an interesting vocabulary, an unimpeachably mid-90s-ish wardrobe, two ex-wives, a teenage daughter, a cherry 1971 Plymouth Barracuda (although in reality, it’s a ’71 Hemi ‘Cuda… but we can forgive that tiny bit of erroneousness… but just this once, though) and a flair for using a little magic every now and again just so he can get that extra boost of confidence from his friends (and annoyance from his enemies).

Accompanying Nash throughout his daily routine are his work associates: the ex-hippie Inspector Harvey Leek (Jeff Perry); Officer Ronnie (Ronald Russell); the ever-annoying Richard Bettina (Daniel Roebuck); the decidedly inexperienced Inspector Cortez (Jaime Gomez); and their seasoned superior, Lieutenant A.J. Shimamura (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa… in one of his few good guy roles). Rounding out the cast of characters are the aforementioned the aforementioned ex-wives (Annette O’Toole and Serena Scott Thomas) and the daughter (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, in her first big role).

But one of the biggest pluses to Nash Bridges is the casting of Cheech Marin as Joe Dominguez, Nash’s former partner who comes back to San Fran and immediately has the desire to get back on the force (which he does, naturally). Now, despite what ever ill feelings some of you may harbor towards Don Johnson, you can’t deny the fact that Nash Bridges was most certainly his show… and the onscreen relationship that he has with Cheech Marin is so genuinely sincere that one gets the feeling that they are indeed watching some good friends in action.

Nash Bridges - The First Season comes to us on DVD via CBS/Paramount and includes all eight episodes (sigh), including “Genesis (Pilot)”, “Home Invasion”, “Skirt Chasers”, “High Impact”, “The Javelin Catcher”, “Vanishing Act”, “Aloha Nash”, and “Key Witness”. Guest stars (most of whom weren’t famous then… and some of whom still aren’t) include Lucy Liu, Arnold Vosloo, Xander Berkeley, James Hong, Tony Plana, Robert LaSardo, James Gammon (as Nash’s father, who would later become regular in future seasons), RuPaul, Cynthia Nixon (as a Goth girl!), Giancarlo Esposito, Udo Kier, and Valerie Perrine.

Presentation
Seeing as how Nash Bridges was the product of mid-90s television, one can’t expect it to look as snazzy as many of our modern High Def digital TV shows look. That said, CBS/Paramount has done a fine job with this 2-Disc set: the 1.33:1 Full Frame episodes present a fair amount of grain and softness, but ultimately, it comes through quite admirably. The only audio option offered here is the original English Stereo soundtrack. No Subtitles are provided, but the discs are Closed Captioned.

Extras
Hey, Special Features! Yay!

Yes, with all of those other older TV shows being released on DVD without any Extras, it’s nice to see that CBS/Paramount has opted to include some Bonus Features on this one. First off, Disc One contains a newly-recorded Audio Commentary for the Pilot episode with Cheech Marin and series creator Carlton Cruse (which is a fun listen, especially for any avid fan of the show) as well as another Audio Commentary (for “High Impact”) with Don Johnson (this particular Commentary appears to have been edited together from an Interview and is strewn out over the length of the episode). Also on that same disc is Writer’s Roundtable (18:41), a Featurette with Cruse and four of the regular writers as they sit around and discuss the good times they had with the show.

Disc Two’s Special Features, while a little on the retro side, include an On-Set Interview With Don Johnson & Cheech Marin (2:13) which was filmed somewhere during Season Two as it contains footage from future episodes; Don Johnson And The Original Gonzo Idea (7:30), a new Interview in which the actor/producer cites his late friend Hunter S. Thompson (who can be seen briefly in the Pilot) as the brains behind the original story; and an old Season 1 Promo (2:32).

Some Previews are tacked on at the beginning of Disc One as well.

The Bottom Line
IT’S BEEN TWELVE YEARS?! NO, IT’S JUST NOT POSSIBLE