Disc Reviews

Ed Asner's character Lou Grant started life on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The sit-com lasted seven seasons, taking a large stash of Emmy awards during its run. It also competed with All In The Family as a heavy-hitter in spinoffs. Rhoda and Phyllis each had a respectable run also in the sit-com world. But the most amazing spinoff and the most successful wasn't another sit-com at all. It was an hour-long drama that took us inside the workings of a major L.A. newspaper, The Los Angeles Tribune. There Lou Grant, fired from his television station gig in Minneapolis, lands on the doorstep of his good friend Charlie Hume (Adams), who happens to be the paper's managing editor. The job's his, and the drama ran for five seasons.

Today it might be a little difficult to imagine how a show like this could work. Newspapers are struggling and delivering their news in ways that did not even exist in 1977. But there was no consumer internet and no cable news stations. Newspapers were actually the main source of daily news to most Americans. There were no bloggers, and everyone wasn't carrying around a telephone in their pockets to instantly report and video-record what was happening in the world. The nation was still recovering from the Nixon Watergate scandal that had been revealed by two newspaper reporters at The Washington Post. For a little while, newspaper reporters were kind of heroes of the age. Lou Grant manage to take advantage of all of this with the help of wonderful characters and some solid stories often ripped from the real headlines of the day.

The premise here is dirt simple. They've taken the buddy cop idea and found a way to work in the forensics science fad and deliver a procedural with a few twists. The show is based on a series of mystery novels by Tess Gerritsen, who introduced us to Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles in 2001. Angie Harmon plays Detective Rizzoli. She's wanted to be a cop all of her life and is living the dream, working with a special unit out of Boston PD. Her best friend in life happens to be Dr. Maura Isles, who is the Chief Medical Examiner for the unit and is played by Sasha Alexander. These are the kind of friends who finish each other's sentences and share a lot of history together. That's not to say they are at all alike.

Jane Rizzoli comes from a family of cops. She's more of a playboy who likes to mix it up with the guys. She's got a temper and a love for the simple things. She's a good detective because she's like a bulldog when she's on a case. She doesn't worry about the niceties, and she's loyal to a fault.

With the success of the Teen Wolf series, it comes as no surprise that MTV would not just capitalize on creating another genre series to the channel, but also tap into the success of a young adult book series. It seems like a no-brainer. Tackling the book series of The Shannara Chronicles was a big risk for the network, with a large cast and a lot of effects, but most importantly, this may be the most dramatic shift the network has had in appealing to a demographic.  Really, let’s take a moment and realize how the network that once appealed to the audience that praised the exploits of The Jersey Shore is now attempting to appeal to a geekier and, let’s face it, a smarter audience. It’s a true sign of the times and how things have changed, and it’s a change for the better.

The Shannara Chronicles takes place on Earth, many years after the planet suffered through some cataclysmic event.  The world, or at least as far as I can tell, America, is now known as The Four Lands.  When the series opens up we are introduced to Amberle (Poppy Drayton), who is an Elf princess, but has been secretly in training for a contest that will determine an elite group called The Chosen, who are basically the protectors of her people.  As it would turn out, she does succeed, but it’s at a cost.  Her people worship a magical tree called the Elcrys that gives power and protects the people, unfortunately the tree is dying, and Amberle may be its only hope for survival.

"And then there's Maude."

In football, there's always a lot of talk about coaching trees. You know the idea. Some great mastermind who saw his assistants go on to have success of their own and who passed that lucky charm down to others for, perhaps, generations. All In The Family would be the television equivalent to a coach with a long tree. There were an incredible number of spinoffs that led to other spinoffs. Archie's neighbors The Jeffersons moved on up to the East Side and had their own several years of success. That show saw maid Florence have her spinoff from that show called Checking In. Meanwhile, Archie's daughter had her Gloria series, and after Edith's death, Archie settled into Archie Bunker's Place. Even the Bunker home had a spinoff called 704 Houser Street when a new family moved in.

For the horror fans out there, I’m sure you’ve noticed that there have been a lot of horror anthologies being pumped out.  It’s a concept that I can appreciate, but even as a fan, enough is enough already.  It’s great to see talented people coming together to film a handful of short films, all with a collective theme, and seeing how the filmmakers use the platform to tell the story.  For me the VHS series is my favorite of the bunch; not every story will be everyone’s cup of tea, but there are at least one or two stories per DVD that people can enjoy.  When it comes to Monsterland, I feel this is a film that somewhat cheats the rules of a true anthology, because it’s really just a collection of short films made independently of one another that seem to have been purchased for this one release.  The problem isn’t with putting a bunch of short films together to release for one DVD release; instead what bothers me is that of all the short films that are out there, these are the ones that were picked.  Not all of them are bad, but for the amount of talented upcoming filmmakers out there, it’s hard for me to believe that this is the best that could be found for this release.

We are brought into the story as we see a movie theater that is under attack by monsters. Bodies and blood are everywhere, but one guy armed with only a baseball bat decides to stay and watch the movie that is playing; the movie just happens to be Monsterland.