Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 30th, 2006
It’s true that MASH was winding down by year 10. Everyone involved already knew that the next year would be the last. This is what separates the true professionals from those in it for the money. Instead of dragging out the concept until there was virtually nothing of quality remaining, the entire cast and crew decided it was time to finish on top. A lot of folks would have simply gone through the motions once the end was in sight. Instead, these guys kept pouring it on. The stories and acting in this season are just as good as in any other. The saddest thing about this release is that there is only one more to come.
For the first time in a while there were no major cast changes in this season. All of the characters from season 9 remain. I think if anything can be said about this particular year it might be that the characters have become a bit more vulnerable. Almost every character comes into a story where they are left questioning themselves. For Hawkeye it is mostly philosophical. For Potter and Winchester there are real questions of limitations. For Houlihan there are a ton of emotional issues when she is stranded on her birthday. BJ has to deal with changes in his wife. Klinger has a close encounter with the spirit of a dead soldier that causes his own inner reflection. Finally, Father Mulcahy has to decide a huge moral issue in one of his best episodes. An AWOL soldier seeks sanctuary in the mess tent after Mass.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 29th, 2006
Tommy Lee Goes to College is a show that was really sort-of set-up to fail from the beginning. NBC used to be the #1 channel on television, but they slipped badly in the ratings once the big reality television boom hit. In a bid to catch up, they took a chance on this show, which would have been much more at home on MTV or even FOX. The end result was something that was surprisingly similar in tone and charm as another rock-and-roll reality show; The Osbourne's. The thing is, the NBC audience is just no... prepared or interested in a show whose target audience is 18-24 year olds.
The fact is, this is not a show that is meant to be serious, or even really all that realistic. It is intended solely for fun, pure and simple. In that light, this show is a slam dunk. It is clear that the editors took very liberal license with the raw footage that they were given to work with. Still, the point of this show is not to provide an accurate portrayal of college life, it is to provide some mindless comedic entertainment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2006
The Adult Swim series of shows from Cartoon Network are sometimes amazingly hilarious, sometimes overly bizarre, but always creative. While some of the shows, such as Robot Chicken are roll-on-the-floor funny, others are just too strange for me. Lucky for me, The Venture Bros. falls into the first category. While not a constant source of laughter, this show is always clever and contains a few big laughs in each episode.
The Venture brothers are the sons of a moderately-successful scientis.... His feelings about the keen (and possibly homosexual) gents are not exactly warm and fuzzy. While he doesn't want anything to happen to them (as evidenced by the fact that they have a bodyguard that feels like he is right out of a Sin City comic), this is really more of a “Dr. Evil / Scott Evil” relationship. The episodes also largely see the boys as an obstacle to the Dr.'s plots at becoming the world's greatest scientist, which makes me wonder why they have become the shows namesake.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2006
I've never met anybody who doesn't like Penn and Teller. I'm not saying that those people don't exist, I'm just saying that I have never met them. Penn is loquacious and amusing, Teller is the ultimate straight man, and their magic almost always catches the viewer off guard. Many times, the understood premise of the trick itself actually turns into something different by the time the performance is over.
Unfortunately, this disc has some problems that makes it one of their worst performances. The concept is a...great one... Penn and Teller do various tricks under (and with the aid of) water. Unfortunately, thisis aprogram hat was created first and foremost for a television broadcast. The reason this is an issue is that the DVD version of the show is pulled directly from the television cut, complete with “title bugs” in the bottom corner of the screen, “next up” teases and the like. In fact, the first ten minutes of this hour and twenty-eight minute program is solely comprised of showing the viewer what they will see in the program. There are so many of these recap and teaser segments that I'd say that actual entertainment content of this disc is just a bit more than half of the discs total running time. What a waste of an opportunity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2006
I've never met anybody who doesn't like Penn and Teller. I'm not saying that those people don't exist, I'm just saying that I have never met them. Penn is loquacious and amusing, Teller is the ultimate straight man, and their magic almost always catches the viewer off guard. Many times, the understood premise of the trick itself actually turns into something different by the time the performance is over.
Unfortunately, this disc has some problems that makes it one of their worst performances. The concept is a...great one... Penn and Teller do various tricks under (and with the aid of) water. Unfortunately, thisis aprogram hat was created first and foremost for a television broadcast. The reason this is an issue is that the DVD version of the show is pulled directly from the television cut, complete with “title bugs” in the bottom corner of the screen, “next up” teases and the like. In fact, the first ten minutes of this hour and twenty-eight minute program is solely comprised of showing the viewer what they will see in the program. There are so many of these recap and teaser segments that I'd say that actual entertainment content of this disc is just a bit more than half of the discs total running time. What a waste of an opportunity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 25th, 2006
David Kelley’s hit series The Practice ran for 8 seasons. While it may have started slowly, the show was a huge hit for most of its run. This success led to other hits like Boston Public and Ally McBeal. Unfortunately, the end of this series was a rather tragic tale itself. The last year limped along with about half of the cast having been fired. There were public wars of words waged. As Warren Zevon used to say: “Ain’t that pretty at all”. That final season would have been a total failure if not for the introduction of James Spader’s Alan Shore. This unethical cold character with a heart suddenly drew attention away from the conflicts off the screen and brought the attention appropriately back to what was going on on the screen. Spader pulls it off almost through a sheer act of will. By the end of the year it was apparent to everyone that something special was going on here amid these ruins. As the final story arc played out, Shore would meet Denny Crane, played in an almost self parody style by William Shatner. Man, that cat has more lives than Morris. Here Shatner finds a character that is funny as hell. Crane, like Shatner, appears to be the shadow of the man he used to be. At times he seems to have lost all of his marbles. He’s often cruel and incredibly arrogant. Yet, somehow he’s a very lovable character. Shatner does a wonderful job of balancing these foibles with an amazing touch of vulnerability that has created perhaps one of television’s most memorable characters.
Boston Legal is a lot like The Practice in some ways. The writing is at times pure genius. The same kind of moral and social issues are explored, all using the same ensemble concept from the original series. Still, Boston Legal is very unlike The Practice in almost as many ways. Certainly the Shore/Crane relationship has taken center stage, leaving many of the supporting cast in just that, supporting roles. The show also has a wicked wit to it. It’s sarcastic as hell. The big complaint I have is that Kelly can’t seem to control his own fanatical political beliefs. If the show weren’t just that good, I’d have turned it off after one episode. Free speech is one thing, but I do get so tired of Hollywood attempting to jam their liberal superiority down my throat. Believe it or not, there are some very decent and good folks who happen to support the American President. You simply don’t win people over by trying to paint them as ignorant, or worse, evil. I assure you I am neither.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2006
Dave Chappelle and I are the same. Well, he's a year younger than me. And he's black. But we're both from Washington DC, but I live in the suburbs, and usually never go into the downtown area unless someone dared me. But he's a lot funnier than me, and Comedy Central decided to give him a 12 episode commitment on their network after seeing him in such films as Half Baked, Screwed and Undercover Brother.
And quietly, Dave has put together a smart, funny show that every one instantly dismisses, and yet will watch as long as it airs. To watch a crackhead talk about drug awareness at a public school is quite possibly some of the funniest stuff on television in the last 3 or 4 years, and many of the new episodes on Comedy Central leave me in tears. Thankfully the network along with Paramount decided to put Season 1 out on DVD in a two-disc set, in all its uncensored glory. The 1st disc has eight episodes, while the 2nd has the remaining 4, plus a decent helping of bonus material that is sure to keep the laughs going long after you've turned off the TV.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2006
There really was (and still is) no justice in the world when a show like NewsRadio was perennially ignored so often during the mid and late '90s. I mean seriously, get a comic mind from Canada's The Kids in the Hall (Dave Foley), another from the States Saturday Night Live (Phil Hartman), and yet another from the dark comedy Ben Stiller Show (Andy Dick) and give them some sitcom material to work with, and the result can be nothing but laughs.
And that's what NewsRadio was about. But it didn't go for cheap laughs where the cast would either yell their lines or make exaggerated reaction shots for the folks in the crowd. There was layer upon layer of laughs. Aside from the stories, there were small character quirks that fans of the show will always remember. Lisa (Maura Tierney, ER) has a somewhat veiled propensity to get drunk and (surprise!) has a criminal background. And speaking of mysterious backgrounds, there's the station owner Jimmy James (Stephen Root, Office Space), a fairly goofy billionaire who is on an eternal "wife search" while sometimes hinting that yes, he may in fact be Deep Throat from the Watergate scandal.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 22nd, 2006
Mystery Science Theatre is an acquired taste. For me, I’ve really got to be in that certain mood to watch it. That’s the beauty of these DVD’s. You pop them in when you’re ready. The idea is pretty whacked. Depending on the season you’ve got, Joel or Mike is trapped in space on the “Satellite of Love”. Doomed to spend his life watching very bad films, our hero makes the best of a bad situation. He uses his resources to construct a couple of robot pals. Together they watch the films from the front row, constantly ranting throughout. If you’re like me, you’ve invited a few friends over to watch a schlock festival. The movies weren’t as important as the banter you created while watching. That’s exactly what you see here. The silhouettes of our host and his robots dominate the lower portion of the screen, where they provide alternative dialogue and sometimes witty commentary on the action. The two evil station owners/mad scientists send them a new bad film each week to observe their reactions to the bombs. The films are broken up by off the wall skits and fake commercials to alleviate the tedium. This DVD collection is better than some because it includes films from four different seasons to give you a good sample of the overall series.
The first of the four films panned by these crazy hosts is “Women Of The Prehistoric Planet”. This film features an introduction by Irene Tsu, who starred in the flop. Look for Quincy’s Robert Ito and Rockford’s Stuart Margolin as well as science fiction legend John Agar. This film is from the show’s first full season on Comedy Central. Don’t expect any prehistoric women here as the title implies. The film is a super schlocky class struggle moral. There are plenty of oddly dressed women on the ship that remind you of some of those early original Star Trek female costumes, only cheesier.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 19th, 2006
In the first season review of Hill Street Blues I talked about the Steven Bochco family tree of producers and show runners that got their start on this show. This season does a lot to remind us that a great many actors made their mark with this program. Such future stars as Danny Glover, David Caruso, Brent Spiner, and Dennis Dugan all made their first heavy mark on Hill Street Blues. Dugan’s Captain Freedom episodes are some of the most remembered shows of the series run. This particular arc is a great example of how the show could be funny, emotional, and action packed, and still have more heart than any show on at that time. This season set pays good homage to that story arc with commentaries and a short featurette. None of the show’s quality slips in season 2. In fact, expect things to keep getting better.
Captain Furillo (Travanti) runs one of the toughest precincts in the inner city. The streets are inundated by gang violence. Furillo also often finds himself under fire by city politics, a bitter ex-wife, and even his own girl: ADA Davenport (Hamel). The squad includes veteran sergeant Esterhaus (Conrad), scrappy biter Belker (Weitz), redneck cop Renko (Haid), playboy detective LaRue (Martin), gung ho SWAT leader Hunter (Sikking), Detective Goldblume (Spano), Detective Washington (Blacque). A more diverse and entertaining cast has never been assembled anywhere.
