Disc Type

I don’t find House of Lies funny. In fairness, I don’t think it’s supposed to be funny, or it’s trying to be funny in the most cynical and unpalatable way possible. It’s a half-hour format airing on Showtime, which would normally suggest a sitcom. It’s not a sitcom, but a brash dramedy. Our main characters all have MBA’s but frequently act like teenagers on drugs. They are smart enough to analyze things brilliantly but are so corrupt that they will do the absolutely worst thing possible if it satisfies their personal interests. House of Lies should not be confused with House of Cards, which also features high-level leaders with horrendous morals. It seems to promote undiluted self-interest at all costs.

The show is based on a tell-all book (House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and then Tell You the Time) by Martin Kihn. The main character on the show is Marty Kaan, played by Don Cheadle. It’s safe to say that the Showtime series is heavily fictionalized and is not about Kihn.

"From the chaos of the New York City streets rises a legion of visionary gangsters. Vicious killers and criminal geniuses determined to create their own version of the American Dream."

If you are looking for an actual documentary on the evolution of the mafia and famous Five Families of New York, this is absolutely a bad place to start. I'm a bit uneasy with AMC's use of the word documentary next to drama on this series. It pretty much follows the book The Last Testament Of Lucky Luciano by Martin A. Gosch and Richard Hammer. While neither author is listed in the show's credits as writers, I have found the material pretty much supports that narrative of the story. That's fine, except the book itself has been the subject of controversy since it was first published in 1975. At first there was a rumor the material was based on recordings that Lucky made while in exile in Italy. The authors never made that claim but did claim the material came from various sit-downs between Gosch and Lucky in the early 1960's just before his death. I'm very sure it's the story he might have told. But we're talking about a huge ego here, and much of it is embellished, just as much of Making Of The Mob: New York is quite embellished. This is no history lesson. But is it entertaining.

For over 15 years the CSI franchise has been a solid stable of programming for the Eye Network. The original show blasted through all initial expectations and lasted for 15 years. CSI: Miami went on for a decade, and CSI: New York for a little over five years. Now the original has bowed out of the game, and after 30 years of seasons, the franchise's future hangs with newcomer CSI: Cyber. All dynasties eventually come to an end. Some pass quietly in the night. Others do so quite horribly. After watching the short 13 episode run of CSI: Cyber, I'm afraid it's the latter path for a once-brilliant franchise. Catch it while you can, if you're interested. While it will be back this fall, I do not anticipate a long life for a show that is CSI in name only. Now is your chance to decide for yourself.

It all starts with Patricia Arquette as Avery Ryan. The character was first introduced in a back-door pilot the previous season on CSI. She is a psychologist who had her files hacked and made public. The resulting cybercrime caused one of her patients to die. So she joined the FBI and somehow became the nation's leading authority on cybercrime and now heads that team for the FBI. Forget that this is a weak character back story. It's too much been there, seen that. Characters who change the course of their lives over a death are cheap shortcuts trying to gain sympathy from the audience. But let's overlook that for now. The fact that she became such a knowledgeable techie in whatever time there was is completely unbelievable. It's hard to believe she was even much of a psychologist. Human empathy is something I find in neither the character nor the actor.

"Did you ever run away from a scream? You can't. It will follow you through the woods. It will follow you all of your life... courage is never enough."

How many films are lost and forgotten over the years? It would be interesting to know how many films have been made since the advent of the movie industry. It is probably in the millions, and yet most of us would probably have trouble thinking of a thousand.

Perry Mason officially ended in May of 1966, but that wasn't going to be the end. Twenty years later the surviving cast members reunited for Perry Mason Returns. It was Perry and Della back together again. Both Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale returned to their roles. William Hopper had died in 1970, so William Katt joined the reunion as Paul Drake, Jr. Katt might not have really been Drake's son; he was Hale's son. When Katt left the films he was replaced by William R. Moses as Ken Malansky. Ken was a young law student helped by Perry once when he was framed in law school for a rival's murder. He ends up being both a legal assistant and investigator for Perry in the reunion films. The films also often starred James McEachin as Lt. Brock, the cop on many of the cases.

While the name on the collection and each of the television movies might be Perry Mason, Raymond Burr and his iconic character only appear in two of these six films. Burr died in September of 1993, and CBS attempted to continue the series after his death. They never killed off Mason. He was away somewhere as a guest attorney filled in for him. The rest of the cast remained, and the name of the series was given an "A" before Perry Mason Movie. The style would more or less remain the same, but it just didn't have the legs everyone was hoping for after the loss of Burr. Obviously, this is the last of these film collections. The team would continue to do 30 television movies from 1985-1995. CBS has now begun to package these reunion films in collections like this. You get six films on three discs. The discs appear in a plastic case, and the cases are held by a cardboard slipcase.

Who would have believed that one of the world's most enduring if not exactly endearing comedians actually got his start in a serious drama? The film was Run Silent Run Deep, and the actor was Don Rickles. For a couple of years the former nightclub funny man would pursue the world of serious acting. That was until his friend Dean Martin made him a staple of his famous television roasts. Rickles became a standout, and his unusual brand of humor took off like a rocket to the stars. It's those very stars that helped make the man a household name that would bear the brunt of his fast and furious barrage of insults and put-downs. Most of them laughed in return, and soon it became a badge of honor to endure an attack from Rickles. The only thing worse than being insulted by Don Rickles was being ignored by Don Rickles. He earned such names as Mr. Warmth and the Merchant of Venom. What he really earned was the respect of several generations of fans. Today kids and adults alike know him as the voice of Mr. Potato Head from the Toy Story films and shorts. At nearly 90 years of age the funnyman has quite a legacy to look back upon. Now Time Life has given us the opportunity to do a little looking back ourselves with the 8-DVD set The Ultimate Don Rickles.

The set begins with the 6-disc complete CPO Sharkey series. The comedy series only ran two years from 1976-1978. In fact Don was never afraid to rib himself about how short his television run was. He blamed it on the fact that there were other shows on at the same time.