Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 3rd, 2006
Note: the following synopsis contains brief spoilers. Only read this first section if you know have happens in season four.
Nominated for 25 Golden Globes and 110 Emmys, including 7 for Outstanding Drama Series, ER has long been one of the best prime-time shows on television. Premiering in September 1994 on NBC, the hour-long hospital drama vividly illustrates the intensity and fast-paced stress endemic to hospital emergency rooms across America. Brought into being by Michael Crichton - famous Hollywoo... insider, novelist, and brains behind such films as Jurassic Park, Twister, and Timeline – ER fulfills its creator's ultimate vision (it took over a decade of pitching the show before network executives bit) for a close-to-life glimpse of the technology and the humanity omnipresent in the ER. Since its inception, many cast members have passed through the halls of ER, many of them having gone on to become big stars in Hollywood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 30th, 2005
Frasier is, quite simply, the one of best sitcoms of all time. This show proves that the studios don't have to dumb down their product to appeal to a mass audience.(Are you listening, Hollywood?) If the writing is of a great enough caliber, the audience will always rise to meet the material. More shows in this sad era of reality television overkill would do themselves well to follow the lead of this wonderfully funny program.
What Frasier is better at than just about an other film or televisio... show I have ever seen is it's mastery of farce. It is extremely difficult to make farce genuinely funny, and this show did it masterfully on a weekly basis. Any show can throw some lame jokes into a show, but it takes thought and attention to detail to craft jokes where the elements build up over time, and the punchline hits the audience out of nowhere.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 29th, 2005
Note: the following synopsis contains spoilers. Only read this first section if you know have happens in season four.
I shall first give a bit of the background of the show for any readers who are a bit interested in the background of the show. The show debuted in the fall of 1985 during an era of non-violent and very-feel good nature type television shows. Even though a show like Macgyver did follow this standard 80’s television show rule, the show manages to distance itself from the standard cop sh...w/soap opera show solely because of the lead character Macgyer. Instead of using brute force to overcome his adversaries, Macgyver simply stops and takes a moment to use his head to decide what to do next. Since Macgyer he has an astounding mind (most specifically in the science field), he is able to always get the upper edge over his foes with his ability to make easy use of any of the materials surrounding him to create solutions to the numerous problems he encounters. While I must say this is a bit different from your average show, this routine does get a bit tiring after awhile.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 24th, 2005
Season Four of The West Wing was the series' final season with the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin. This left quite a bit of trepidation among the show's faithful followers. What would happen with the series left in the hands of new writers, and without Rob Lowe's portrayal of Sam Seaborn? After all, Sorkin's original plans for the show were for it to focus on Sam, and now everything seems to be falling apart.
With one notable exception, I am proud to announce that the show is still rolling along at a s...rong pace in Season Five. It is hard to write about the show without giving away any spoilers, but I can pretty safely say that the cliffhanger from the end of Season Four is resolved within the first few episodes, some appointments are made, some decisions from the President's past come back to haunt him, and in the end, yet another White House staffer's life hangs in the balance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 21st, 2005
The kick in the nuts that was Fame the television series is now the kick in the nuts that is Fame - The Complete First Season on DVD. And let me tell you, it hasn't become any better over the course of time. Based off a film of the same name, this mess of a TV show follows the lives of students at New York's High School for the Arts. Most of the dialogue and situations are beyond predictable, and the cheesy early eighties soundtrack is as green and moldy as a block of Colby left out in the sun too long. As far as the students themselves are concerned, there's Danny the comedian; Julie the cellist; Bruno the composer; Coco the singer; and Leroy the dancer... and all lack the talent these shoddy scripts want you to believe they have.
The teachers fare no better. Led by Debbie Allen, who also handles choreography for the series, these educational gurus mostly seem like they're doing their best Mr. Chips impersonation after watching that far superior film a couple of times in preparation for the roles. In all fairness, neither students nor teachers have much to work with. The scripts are as inspired as a high school kid sacking groceries at the local supermarket. Given the time period in which it was created and the poor results of a limited budget, I kept hoping Fame would turn into a slasher movie somewhere along the way. It certainly has the characterization of one. But instead of seeing these obnoxious actors knocked off one-by-one in gory and satisfying fashion, their runaway personalities just go on and on and on for nearly sixteen hours, making for one of the worst shows in the history of television.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 20th, 2005
Note: the following synopsis contains spoilers. Only read this first section if you know have happens in season four.
The Fourth Season of 24 begins with a deadly terrorist strike resulting in the kidnapping of Jack Bauer's new boss, the U.S. Secretary of Defense James Heller (William Devane). Even though Mr. Bauer was dismissed from his job at the Counter Terrorist Unit in Los Angeles at the end of Season Three, it comes as no real surprise that Robo-Jack is called back into action. We quickly l...arn that this kidnapping of Heller is just the beginning of trouble for Jack and CTU. The main villian is master-mind Habib Marwan (Arnold Vosloo) the middle eastern terrorist cell leader the US government has been trying to track down for years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 20th, 2005
It was an excitable time for this young 13 year old boy. No matter where you were in the house, the sound came to you. No matter what you were doing, it drew you to the living room television. No matter how bad things were going, that sound brought a smile to your face. Mike Post’s opening theme for The Rockford Files has to be one of the best in television history, and it lingers in my mind as a precious anthem of days gone by.
He was every young boy’s hero. How could you resist James Rockford? He had the toughness of Dirty Harry. Yet, beneath it all, he was terribly flawed and even a little naive. Why is it that after the hundreds of TV detectives that have crossed our paths a small handful endear themselves to the pop culture? The answer is simple. Every once in a while an actor combines with strong writers and creates a character with incredible heart and soul. We can’t imagine anyone else playing the part. Peter Falk accomplished it with Columbo. In recent years Tony Shalhoub has graced us with Monk. You can’t complete such a list without James Garner and his alter ego, Rockford.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 7th, 2005
I started my review of season four by remarking how little CSI had changed over its first four years. In its fifth year the powers that be decided to muck up the works a bit. The team is split between day and night shifts and Catherine is given the supervisor position on days. This actually leads to probably the show’s largest continuity flaw. It seems that the shifts overlap not just once in a while but almost all the time. I found myself really confused about this whole shift deal. Mostly I think the change takes away from the character interactions that I have come to love so much about this show. CSI has been able to find the perfect formula. There’s enough interaction and private life to make things interesting. Still, the relationships do not devolve into casual romances that tend to bog even quality dramas down. Season 5 created some serious challenges to that wonderful system. You’ll still find the same good quality procedural drama episodes. The look of the show remains untampered with. Perhaps the changes will appear fresh to many long-time fans. We’ll see.
I do like the use of the Greg character more as he becomes a full time member of the field team. A new team member, Sofia, also helps to make up for the changes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 5th, 2005
Synopsis
This series has a clever conceit, being a sequel to the 1953 version of H.G. Wells’ novel. In the present, a terrorist group breaks into the base where the Martian corpses and war machines are being held. Turns out the Martians aren’t dead after all, and they revive to re-embark on their quest to conquer the Earth. In a budget-conscious move, part of this plan of attack consists in possessing the minds of humans, thus hugely diminishing the effects budget. So new viewers shouldn’t expect any...hing like the recent theatrical film, or even too much like the 1953 film, either. There is plenty of action, and a number of other clever ideas in the episodes (stars of the original film showing up, plays on the Orson Welles radio program), but plenty of limitations, too.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 2nd, 2005
Synopsis
Shannen Doherty, Holy Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano are three sisters who also happen to be witches. Very much in the vein of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, our heroines must battle supernatural monsters and evil cults, all the while dealing with love, heartbreak and other issues more connected with mere mortals. The season begins with Combs out of the picture, having eloped with Brian Krause. Their marriage is frowned upon by The Powers That Be, and this is one of the ongoing threads of t...e season.
