Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 27th, 2009
Charlie Sheen is an unlikely actor to star in a television sit-com. Even after watching the show, I’m not sure how anyone came up with the idea in the first place. He has little to no comedic timing, and he’s about as funny as a funeral. The thing that works here, however, is that he really doesn’t need to be all that funny to make this show work. Sheen pretty much deadpans his entire performance, which generously enough works rather well teamed with the more manic comedy of Jon Cryer. Throw into the mix a rather extraordinary young child actor in Angus T. Jones
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 27th, 2009
Think of it as The Odd Couple Private Investigation Agency. These guys might be brothers, but they have only one thing in common, and that’s their skills as private investigators. Otherwise they are as far apart as night and day. A.J.’s (Parker) the clean cut, nearly anal member of the sibling pair. He sees the detective game more in the mainstream world and tries to play things straight and by the book. Rick (McRaney), on the other hand, is a slob of a guy. He’s the kicked back let life come to him sort of chap. He doesn’t pick up very much after himself. He lives a Bohemian lifestyle complete with houseboat
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2009
NCIS is a spin-off, of sorts, from the popular military lawyer show JAG. You could say that NCIS is the Order to JAG’s Law. The NCIS is a real government agency that deals with criminal activity inside or involving the US Navy or Marine Corps. The series has an incredibly global feel and honestly looks damn good for television. Production values are high, and the location stuff is out of this world, or at least all over it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2009
Star Trek – The Original Series:
"Space...The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its five year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before!"
Let’s go back to where it all began. Back to a day before television executives did what the combined forces of the Romulans and Klingons couldn’t do: end that five year mission.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 25th, 2009
Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s…. well, Clark Kent. When Smallville was first developed for television, the showrunners made a few conscious decisions that have, for the most part, been kept for the show’s first 8 seasons. There was a strict “no flights, no tights” rule that was in effect for anyone hoping to pen an adventure for the show. Everyone knows we’re talking about Superman here, but the term is avoided like a deadly disease. All of the familiar places and names are firmly in place, but make no mistake. This is the world before Superman began to make his presence known to the world.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 25th, 2009
“Ride into this world all alone. God takes your soul. You're on your own.
The crow flies straight, a perfect line on the devil's back until you die.
Gotta look this life in the eye”.
When these guys send a message, they don’t use Western Union. Not only will they blow up your warehouse, but they’ll catch one of your guys and plant a stick of dynamite in his butt cheeks to set off the explosion. That’s the world of the motorcycle club, The Sons Of Anarchy.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2009
Dexter Morgan (Hall) is a forensic lab rat for the Miami-Dade Police. He really knows blood splatter. He should, because he moonlights as a killer. It seems that poor old Dex just can’t help himself. His parents were criminals, and he witnessed his mother’s brutal slashing by a chainsaw gang when he was just a young boy. He was adopted by Harry Morgan (Remar), a police officer. Harry saw the killer instinct in Dexter and taught him how to channel the urges for the sake of good. Dexter adopted Harry’s Code, which means he only kills others that he’s able to prove were killers themselves. Working for the police with his officer sister, Debra (Carpenter), Dexter is constantly just on the verge of getting caught.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2009
The Untouchables took on a perhaps too convincing appearance of reality. Remember that the audience was made up of folks who grew up getting their news from newsreels at the local theater. It was a stroke of genius to have real life news reporter Walter Winchell narrate the series. Everything from that narration to the gritty dark photography carried a documentary style feel to every minute of the action. You can only imagine why too many Americans thought it was too violent.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2009
It’s a disc loaded with pilots. No, you won’t find any daring men and their flying machines here. These pilots owe more to Philo T. Farnsworth than The Wright Brothers. Farnsworth transmitted the first televised image in 1927. In case you’re wondering, that image was a dollar bill. These pilots follow in those footsteps; that’s because these pilots are television shows. They’re the first episodes of some of the best action series to appear on CBS over the last few decades. Going back as far as the 1960’s, these shows represent a nice cross section of television action entertainment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 20th, 2009
“Unlike the rest of us, sex, lies, and scandal never take a vacation. Instead they take the Long Island Expressway and head East to the Hamptons. Some would say summer is their busiest season. Think Park Avenue, but with tennis whites and Bain de Soleil. The players change, but the game remains the same.”
And for fans of the series Gossip Girl, the place may have changed at least for the season two premiere, but it’s still the show that’s become somewhat of a guilty pleasure to so many viewers.
![Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/smallville-the-complete-eighth-sea-large.jpg)
![Sons of Anarchy: Season One [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/sons-of-anarchy-season-one-blu-ra-large.jpg)
![Dexter: The Complete Third Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dexter-the-complete-third-season--large.jpg)
