Posts by Gino Sassani

The mere mention of Hammer Studios brings to mind bloody terror to the legions of monster fans who grew up on a steady drive-in staple diet of the studio's iconic monster movies. The studio picked up where Universal left off in the 1950's and delivered a new run of the classic monsters we had been introduced to in black and white. Hammer brought these creatures to life in living ... or is that living dead … color. Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf, and The Mummy were all resurrected for a new cycle of films from the British studio. The place earned its often-used nickname of The House of Horror.

But Hammer wasn't always known as a horror factory. The company actually began in the 1930's, creating decidedly British versions of film noir. In the 1950's and 60's when the horror phase began, Hammer was also putting out other fare for a hungry public. These films often embraced some chilling elements but didn't rely on monsters for many of the scares. The films were often even crime dramas or supernatural in nature. These films often were the training grounds for some of their staple talent over the years. In this collection Mill Creek has compiled some of these both classic monsters and psychological thrillers from the House of Horror.

"What's your favorite song? That's like asking me if I like steak or ice cream..."

He was The Beatles before The Beatles were The Beatles. His voice would make women swoon and men want to be him. He romanced some of the most beautiful women in Hollywood history, and he sat at tables with kings, princesses, and presidents. He was The Voice. The Chairman of the Board. He was Old Blue Eyes. His name was Francis Albert Sinatra, but we all called him Frank. He had an unprecedented singing career that literally covered seven decades. Eagle Rock Entertainment gives us a few frozen moments in time for three of those decades. The Frank Sinatra Collection is a group of television specials that give us a wonderful glimpse into several stages of the man's career. Witness the evolution of the song selections as well as the man himself.

You know a series is not likely to make it when it jumps the shark halfway through the pilot episode. But if your name is Steven Bochco, you get a little more rope than most with which to hang yourself. And why not? Bochco changed the entire landscape of television with shows like Hill Street Blues. He's provided the training ground that gave us other brilliant television minds like David Kelly and Dick Wolf. He's managed to push the boundaries of what you can and can't do on the small screen with such controversial hits as NYPD Blue. With those kinds of street creds, you get a lot more rope than most. Still, every now and then even the greats manage to use that rope to hang themselves. When Bochco proposed a Hill Street-like cop show that's also a musical, everyone told him it couldn't be done. This time everyone was right, and Cop Rock has gone down in history as the Plan Nine From Outer Space of television, and while Steven Bochco is no Ed Wood, this is the show that's so bad you might actually enjoy it anyway.

I remember the original (short) original run of Cop Rock from 1990. I appear to have remembered it more fondly than it actually deserved. When the opportunity to review the show came up, I jumped at it. I had somewhat warm memories of the show, mostly surrounding the very nice Randy Newman theme song and original opening credits. The rest was somewhat of a blur. Obviously, I blocked that out and was prepared for something different than what I got here. The show only made it to seven episodes on ABC in 1990. While 11 were actually produced, there are episodes here that did not make the original run but did end up aired. It was actually a very expensive show to produce and was hemorrhaging money faster than John Carter of Mars by the second episode. Everyone knew they were pretty much done by Episode 4. Credit the cast and crew for holding their heads high as they continued the remaining productions. There's a nice five-minute coda to the last episode where the cast are bummed about the cancellation and tell us it ain't over until the fat lady sings... and she does. This is actually really great stuff. Also a cameo by Hunter from Hill Street Blues is a wonderful few seconds.

"Everybody here knows what a spin-off is."

No doubt about it. Major Crimes has managed to do what few shows before it have been able to pull off. Shows have survived the loss of their lead, but the remaining years were usually something lesser than it once was. That's not the case when The Closer lost its lead actress/character. The title was changed, and with just a few cast tweaks the series returned as Major Crimes, and I dare say it’s a much better show than its predecessor. Is it a spinoff? I might have to go to the replay booth to answer that one.