Posted Nov 23rd 2009 11:08AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Late Night, TV on DVD, Interviews, Talk Show, Reality-Free
If you never managed to catch
Andy Barker, P.I. when it originally aired two years ago, try not to beat yourself up. Though the show had an impressive cast, led by Andy Richter as a CPA-turned-private-investigator, and including Harve Presnell, Tony Hale, Marshall Manesh, and Clea Lewis. It was also created by Conan O'Brien and Jonathan Groff. But it only lasted six episodes, and didn't seem to get much push from NBC. Watching it on the newly released DVD,
Andy Barker, P.I.: The Complete Series, it's hard not to feel the show could have had legs if given the chance.
All's well that ends well, though, and Richter is happier than ever, paired again with Conan O'Brien on
The Tonight Show, getting to do what he calls a "silly little comedy show" without dealing with the backwards world of the sitcom. I spoke with Richter earlier this week about Barker and being back with Conan.
Do you think Andy Barker, P.I. got a fair shake when it was first out?
Oh, certainly not. Absolutely not. It was sort of just, you know, shoved on TV and meant to go away.
Continue reading Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Nov 18th 2009 7:07PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
If all you know of Steve Coogan is Alan Partridge, the new
Steve Coogan Collection might be a bit overwhelming for you. It's thirteen discs with eight different series, including
Knowing Me, Knowing You, which introduced the character to television audiences,
Knowing Me, Knowing Yule, the Christmas special, and two series of
I'm Alan Partridge. That's five discs of Alan Partridge, which is always good news.
But there is plenty of good stuff on the other eight discs, a lot to discover for the Partridge-only crowd. Coogan has a wonderful talent for characters, and this
Collection is full of them. There are three discs of the
Saxondale series, in which Coogan plays Tommy Saxondale, an ex-roadie who has cleaned up and started an exterminator business.
Continue reading Review: The Steve Coogan Collection
Posted Nov 18th 2009 5:04PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
I admit there's nothing topical about a post on
Hogan's Heroes, but any day is a good day to sit and wonder how this show got on the air.
Don't get me wrong. It's not bad. It boasts its share of laughs and memorable characters. And, it's back on the radar recently because of the comprehensive DVD set,
Hogan's Heroes: The Komplete Series, Kommandant's Kollection.
But I'd give a month's pay from TV Squad (so, like $6.50) if I could build a time machine, change myself into a fly, stick myself to a wall in the network offices of CBS, and hear the pitch meeting for this show. I know it's not likely to happen, but there's no harm in dreaming.
Continue reading No one escapes Hogan's Heroes DVD mega-set
Posted Nov 18th 2009 3:02PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free, British TV
Many sci-fi fans wonder what classic
Doctor Who might look like if the BBC bosses of the '70s and '80s could have budgeted more than £6 per episode for visual effects.
A new
Who DVD set from BBC Video features a specially remastered episode that offers you just that experience.
Doctor Who: "The Black Guardian Trilogy" serves up a trio of 1983
Who episodes featuring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor in a life and death struggle against a supernatural evil force.
A team of restoration and digital effects artists took the final episode of that trilogy ("Enlightenment" -- a well-written, high-concept adventure featuring a simulated sailing race in deep space) and laid in 21st Century CG visuals.
Continue reading New Doctor Who DVD features new CG-enhanced episode
Posted Nov 16th 2009 6:05PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
Who would buy
Hammertime on DVD? I'm actually asking. Is that something that you would actually watch again after you've already watched it on TV?
There are some good complete series sets being released this week, though: Andy Richter's
Andy Barker, P.I., a
Rome gift set,
Farscape, and a new box for
The Sopranos.
- 7th Heaven - Season 9
- Andy Barker, P.I. - Complete Series
- Ben 10: Alien Force - Vol. 5
- Drawn Together - Complete Series
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted Nov 16th 2009 9:02AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark
And so
Jane After Dark has come to the end of
The Wire. I need to watch it again to catch more than the one-eighth I caught the first time around. But after watching all five seasons, spanned over most of this year, the thing that keeps popping into my head is that the bureaucratic end of things is really no better than the drug dealer end of things.
In some ways, the drug dealers have more ethics than the suits. At least when a druggie does something that wrongs others in the system, there's no messing around. They're shot. They know they have it coming, and they step up and take it, just like Snoop did, asking if her hair looked ok before being gunned down. Just like Proposition Joe did when he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable bullet to the head.
Continue reading Jane After Dark: The Wire, season five (part two)
Posted Nov 15th 2009 10:30AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, Animation, Adult Swim, Children, Reality-Free
Director Stephen Sommers might want to discourage the production of animated lead-ups to his feature films. They keep outdoing the movies they're supposed to set up for audiences.
Before his
Van Helsing reached theaters in 2004, Universal released
Van Helsing: The London Assigment. Written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, the animated half-hour was clever and action-packed.
Van Helsing? It was
not clever and action-packed.
Now, the DVD release of
G.i. Joe: Resolute, an 11-episode series of animated shorts that originally aired on Adult Swim before the release of
Rise of Cobra, brings a cooler and more visually compelling "Yo, Joe!" to screens.
Continue reading TV's G.I. Resolute outduels big-screen Rise of Cobra
Posted Nov 9th 2009 6:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
I'm always amazed at how many seasons
JAG lasted. It started on NBC in 1995 then went to CBS, and I really thought it was the type of show that wouldn't last beyond three seasons, but it lasted ten! I thought the same thing about
NCIS, and look at what happened there too. Obviously I don't do well predicting how shows with all caps in their titles will do.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Vol. 2
- Dawson's Creek - Complete Series
- Discovery Collection - Complete Collection
- G.I. Joe - A Real American Hero Collector's Set
- Heartland - Season 1, Part 2
- JAG - Season 9
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted Nov 5th 2009 10:02AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: TV on DVD, Adult Swim, Reality-Free
The new
Adult Swim In A Box is an embarrassment of riches - six boxed sets for six different shows and a bonus disc featuring five unreleased pilots -- more than 20 hours on 12 DVDs. I was especially happy to get season two of
Sealab 2021, which I have never been able to catch regularly, and season one of
Metalocalypse, which I have always enjoyed.
Getting season two of
Robot Chicken, volume one of
Moral Orel, volume two of
Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and volume three of
Space Ghost Coast to Coast just seemed like a bonus. Well worth the suggested retail price of $69.98 for Adult Swim fans who haven't already purchased any of the included sets.
The pilots are a mixed bag, but mostly good.
The Best of Totally for Teens is a live action parody of a moralistic teen variety show hosted by thirtysomethings trying to be hip. It's a promising premise, one that should maybe be revisited, but the pilot is a bit of a mess. It hits topics ripe for satire in the format like teen insecurity, drugs, and sex, and has the right look for Adult Swim.
Continue reading Review: Adult Swim in a Box
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 8:03PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV Royalty, TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark
Ah, how good it is to get back to
The Wire. I've been steered off track by other DVDs landing on my doorstep for
Jane After Dark, so season five of
The Wire has been a while coming. One again, the show blows me away with the writing, characters, cinematography and realism. I'm just part-way into season one, but I love all of the references to everything that's happened thus far in the series, and the crew's continued attempts to bring down Marlo's organization. And, apparently, Omar is still in the game ...
Continue reading Jane After Dark: The Wire, season five (part one)
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 6:06PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
If you loved
The Rockford Files and you own the season sets, you'll probably want to buy Volume 1 of the movies (four in this batch) that is being released tomorrow. They weren't as good as the series, of course (sort of like the
Spenser: For Hire movies that Robert Urich did after that series ended), but they're actually pretty good.
And season 6 of
Kate & Allie is out. That reminds me: I still have to get season 5.
- Afro Samurai - Complete Murder Sessions
- The Clone Wars - Season 1
- Doctor Who - The War Games and The Black Guardian Trilogy
- Edge of Darkness - The Complete BBC Series
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted Oct 30th 2009 4:04PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
I know I'm dating myself, but I'm really looking forward to watching the second season of
thirtsysomething on DVD.
The first season was released back in August, and I had a blast catching up with great characters like Michael and Melissa Steadman, Elliot Weston and Gary Shepherd. Season two
hits DVD in January, thanks to the good folks at Shout! Factory, known for putting out great sets like the packed
Freaks and Geeks collection and the recent
Transformers "G1" collector's set.
Some people might only think of
thirtysomething as "that '80s show about whiny yuppies," and that's fine. But the Emmy-award winning drama brings back a lot of great memories for me. As I
mentioned before, I used to watch it with my mom, who I'm pretty sure related to Patricia Wettig's frustrated homemaker Nancy Weston and free spirit Melissa Steadman, played by Melanie Mayron. (As for my dad, I'm not ashamed to say that he's more of a Timothy Busfield type!)
Continue reading Thirtysomething season two hits DVD in January
Posted Oct 26th 2009 6:00PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
Why didn't somebody tell me that they were going to release
The Guardian on DVD? I really liked that show. I don't know if the show is being released because Simon Baker and
The Mentalist are a hit or if it has been in the works long before that, but it's a nice surprise.
- The Barbara Stanwyck Show - Vol. 1
- Battlestar Galactica - The Plan
- CBS News Sunday Morning - On The Road with Charles Kuralt: Set 1
- The Diary of Anne Frank - Miniseries
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted Oct 26th 2009 12:29PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: TV on DVD, Battlestar Galactica, Reality-Free
Leoben, that tricky toaster, was right: All of this
has happened before, and all of it is happening again.
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan retells major events from the first two years of the celebrated sci-fi series through the eyes of the Cylons. It weaves together recycled scenes from the series with new footage to reveal a first-hand account of the Cylon agenda, or "plan."
The result is a film that feels incomplete, episodic and disjointed. It plays less like a movie and largely like a disk full of high quality bonus material. Most of what happens here feels irrelevant to the series -- almost like it was tacked on to the
BSG mythos to satisfy completists and hardcore fans. Still, it's worth watching to see Dean Stockwell carry the film with a fearless performance as the scheming and duplicitous Brother Cavil. The veteran character actor takes center stage in
The Plan, and your enjoyment of the film will rest largely on how much you like, or dislike, Cavil and his major role in the series.
Continue reading DVD Review: Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Posted Oct 25th 2009 3:03PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark
It's always interesting when you've been hearing about a series for years and then finally sit down to watch it. All the little pieces and pop references of
Ally McBeal are starting to come together, like Fishisms, The Biscuit, dancing babies and Vonda Shepard. I have seen the light. Well, at least season one of the light.
I mentioned in
my preview last week that
Ally McBeal seems like a mix of
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and
My World and Welcome To It. Having reached the end of season one, I still feel that way, with maybe a little
Buffy the Vampire Slayer thrown in (hey, don't throw things at me, Ally looks like Buffy).
Molly Dodd because Ally is funny, desperate, strong and cute.
My World because of all her fantasies, though not always in cartoon form as was the case with John Monroe / James Thurber.
Continue reading Jane After Dark: Ally McBeal, season one
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Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
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