Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 5th, 2009
They say that it isn’t over until the Fat Lady sings. Did you ever wonder what “it” was or who the heck this Fat Lady is they keep talking about? I can’t help you there, but I do know who the Fat Man is. It’s William Conrad, who came back to television in 1987 as J.L. McCabe, better known as “the Fatman”. McCabe was one of those tough as nails district attorneys. He was actually an ex-cop, so had great criminal instincts. McCabe wasn’t above bending the law to put away the bad guy, and he wasn’t considered a very friendly type of fellow. He majored in stubbornness and plain speaking. He relied on Jake Styles, his private investigator, to do much of the leg work for the office. Jake was a bit of a flashy playboy, but he always delivered the goods for his boss. Again, Styles wasn’t against breaking a few rules to get what he needed. Styles was played by Joe Penny. McCabe also served as a mentor, of sorts, to young District Attorney Derek Mitchell, played by Alan Campbell. Mitchell was quite wet behind the ears and a little too eager sometimes. His ambition often got the better of him, and it was the gruff McCabe who kept him out of trouble. Finally, the team was completed by Gertrude, McCabe’s loyal and trusty secretary, played by Lu Leonard. While The Fatman put crooks away instead of defending innocent defendants, there could be no mistaking the parallels between Jake And The Fatman and Perry Mason. The two shows were from different times, and the styles might not have been the same, but the dynamic was very much the same. You can see a lot of Della Street in Gertrude and more than a little of the Drake/Mason relationship in the two leads. There was far more action, but that was more a reflection of the change in decades than anything else. And like Mason, the Fatman rarely lost a case.
The Fat Lady was warming up after the first season of Jake. The show did not immediately return for its second year. It was delayed until March and so only ran for 11 episodes. That’s why Paramount has issued this as an “entire” season set. The show never really found its footing and struggled for the 5 seasons that it ran. It wasn’t a terribly original program and was steeped in cliché for its entire run. It was never a ratings monster, and there were constant radical changes in attempts to retool the show over the years. In this season McCabe and his staff, excluding trusty Gertrude, moved to Hawaii in an effort to spice the show up Hawaii Five-0 style. Even that exotic location didn’t help matters, and the series returned to California by 1990. These erratic changes in location and style meant that the show never found the solid fan base it needed to survive. It was likely William Conrad that was the only thing that allowed the show to last 5 years. What made the show work at all was the unlikely pairing of the two characters. It wasn’t only their weight that separated the two. McCabe looked angry all the time and had a slower pace to his method. Jake was almost too slick; at least that’s the way they tried to portray him most of the time. In the end the pair really was too unlikely for most viewers’ tastes. While it did get 3 Emmy nominations, it never won. These nominations were for cinematography and music only. Today Jake And The Fatman wouldn’t have gotten past the mid season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 2nd, 2009
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on May 2nd, 2009
This is the second season of this prime time soap opera's fourteen season run. This show is the stories of three couples who all live in the same cul-de-sac, along the second season addition of single temptress Abby Cunnigham (played by Donna Mills), whose role inspires the packaging's amusing tag-line "Abby Cunnigham moves to Knots Landing. Do you know where your husband is?"
The show is a spinoff from the massively popular Dallas, and it contains much the same level of drama peppered with some sassy comedy, leading it to surpass Dallas in ratings for a time. This particular season kicks off with a two part story where one of our Californian cul-de-sac heroes is accused of rape and needs the aid of his lawyer neighbour. From there on we get stories involving the FBI, the mob, and an especially interesting episode where the women of the neighbourhood are held hostage at a baby shower and newcomer Abby uses her seductive powers to aid their escape.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 1st, 2009
Dexter continues his jump to the world of high definition as the second season finally makes its way to Blu-ray. The show is killer, if you’ll pardon the expression. In the first season, Dexter pointed out the contradiction of a crime scene in sunny Miami. The aftermath of brutality appears somewhat surreal in such a colorful and bright surroundings. On Blu-ray you really get to understand what he was talking about. It almost feels like the show shouldn’t look so clean, so crisp, so bright. But, of course, it should, and it does in this release.
As we begin the second season, Dexter’s run-in with his brother, as well as its ultimate solution, has again taken his confidence. He’s unable to kill. He must find a way to set his life straight. Rita thinks he’s an addict and makes him go to NA meetings where he meets Lila (Murray) who is as messed up as Dexter. While she might not be a killer, she’s obsessive and is drawn to Dexter’s dark nature. Her antics to keep Dexter are straight out of the Fatal Attraction Handbook. Doakes is also getting closer to finding out what Dexter really is, and that’s going to end badly for at least one of them. Dexter’s oceanic burial ground is discovered, and now he’s on the task force to bring in The Bay Harbor Butcher. Is this finally the end of the line for Dexter? You really need to take the ride and see for yourself. I guarantee you that these dozen episodes will just fly by. Jaime Murray is the best of the newcomers, and she’s simply fascinating to watch, as she appears more self destructive than even Dexter himself. Their relationship ends in one of the most chilling scenes of the series, so far. Keith Carrradine also joins the cast this season as FBI agent Lundy who is brought in to head the Bay Harbor Butcher task force. He’s also smitten with little sis Debra, making for some very awkward moments for everybody’s favorite serial killer. The Code Of Harry takes some hits this season as Dexter uncovers some secrets of both his and Harry’s past lives. The series continues to evolve and never ceases to amaze. This is the best cable series since The Sopranos.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 30th, 2009
“Super-toon extraordinaire Freakazoid! Freakazoid! Runs around in underwear Freakazoid! Freakazoid! Rescues Washington D.C .Freakazoid! Freakazoid!
Unless something better's on TV Freakazoid! Freakazoid! His brain's overloading. It has a chocolate coating. Textbook case for Sigmund Freud Freakazoid! Freakazoid!”
Only from the mind of Steven Spielberg and the gang that brought us Animaniacs could such a cartoon series and superhero be found. From 1995 to 1997 it could all be found as near as your television set, with the oddball Freakazoid series from Spielberg and Warner.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2009
“We’re tiny. We’re toony. We’re a little bit loony. And in this cartoony we’re invading your TV. We’re comic dispensers. We crack up all the censors. On Tiny Toon Adventures, get a dose of comedy. So, here’s Acme Acres, it’s a whole wide world apart. Our home sweet home, it stands alone, a cartoon work of art. The scripts were rejected, expect the unexpected on Tiny Toon Adventures it’s about to start.”
What do you get when you cross Steven Spielberg with the tradition of Loony Tunes? You get Tiny Toon Adventures. Spielberg produced this 1990’s television cartoon show for the WB Network. Set in Acme Acres, this cartoon was intended as a Next Generation of Loony Tunes characters and stories.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2009
With so many cast changes, it didn’t really come as too much of a surprise to fans that the series was winding down. Only one more season would follow, and this year never clicked in quite the same way previous seasons had. By now the team was so significantly different that there was little of the cast chemistry that made this one such a winner. With its glory years behind and only one more struggling year to come, we reach the end of our journey with the IM Force.
Jim Phelps (Graves) led his team in a sixth season of Mission Impossible starting in 1971. The show continued its trademark traditions. Jim would receive a mission from the “self destructing” tape and would gather his IMF (Impossible Mission Force) team. The team was necessarily eclectic in nature, and it changed significantly in the sixth season. Gone were Leonard Nimoy, Leslie Ann Warren, and Sam Elliott in his signature role of Dr. Robert. Still in the team we had Barney Collier, the gadget man, played by Greg Morris. The muscle was still supplied by Willy Armitage, played by brute Peter Lupus. Together they took on missions that the government could not be officially a part of. They were always admonished that should they be caught “the secretary would disavow any knowledge” of them. Usually they were sent somewhere to put some evil mastermind out of business. Their tactics ranged from scams to outright theft. Sometimes they were a rescue team, while other times they would infiltrate a group of bad guys. There were certainly cold war elements to the whole thing. Each week the team concocted some convoluted con to play on their mark, walking away at the end of each episode often without getting any credit or congratulations.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2009
After five years on the air, Hawaii Five-O entered its sixth season pretty much unchanged. There was actually very little change over the years. McGarrett was still on the case with his trusted Danno and Chin-Ho. The Hawaiian settings continued to showcase the locations of the island chain as well as much of the state’s local acting talent. But most of all, the show kept up with the quality of stories. The season began with an armless man out to kill the cops he holds responsible for his condition. The episode, Hookman, would get the season off to a solid start. Charter For Death brings plague infested rats to the island and a quarantine. The Sunday Torch means there’s an arsonist on the loose who only sets fires on Sunday. Is a Federal officer to blame for the death of a wealthy tax evader? McGarrett must catch one of their own in Murder Is A Taxing Affair. McGarrett must protect a visiting dictator from a female hired killer who looks like the target’s own daughter in A Bullet For El Diablo. Is a cop on a rape and murder spree in Hawaii? Find out in Nightmare In Blue. These are just a few of the cases for the gang at Five-O in this 6th season collection.
Working in Hawaii on one of televisions hottest shows in the 1970’s was too good a job for most of the cast and crew of Hawaii Five-0. This meant that there was very little cast turnover for the series in general, and none going into the fourth year. Jack Lord saw his star rise considerably, and while he began to see some serious pay hikes, even he wasn’t about to kill the golden goose. With this kind of consistency, fans were never disappointed or turned off by drastic changes in the cast or formula. With this cop show, it was all about tropical locations and formula. The fifth season was no exception to the rule.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2009
“You are invited to a reunion.”
I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing. Somehow 1991’s Snoopy’s Reunion has managed to escape my notice all of these years. Why isn’t this particular special among the classic cartoons of that era?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 19th, 2009
"Space...The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before!"
Star Trek: The Original Series finally makes it to high definition. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been waiting for this day for what seems like centuries. They’re here. One of the best features about this set is the multi-angle option. Remember how we were promised all of this control way back when DVD’s first hit the market? We got the same promises when Blu-ray arrived, and we weren’t going to hold our breath. Hey, I still have a red, yellow, blue, and green button on my Blu-ray remote. What are they ever going to be good for? Anyway, we finally have a use for the angle button. You can use it to toggle between the new digital f/x Paramount recently created for the show, or you can watch the original f/x if you’d rather. With that button you now have the ability to toggle between the two. Through the use of branching technology you can go between them as often as you like and never stop the show. I will warn you, however, that many of these shots occur so quickly that the second delay in transition might not allow you to see the entire segment. It also does not change while the video is in pause. It’s one of the best new features out there and perhaps the best reason to upgrade your recent purchase of season one to the Blu-ray release.
![Dexter: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dexter-the-complete-second-season-large.jpg)
![Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/star-trek-the-original-series-se-large.jpg)
