Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Paul Gross plays Geoffrey Tennant, a once celebrated actor who had a meltdown during a performance of Hamlet. Now he’s trying to mount The Tempest at the head of a broke company about to be evicted from its premises. Meanwhile, his former mentor, Oliver Welles, has just mounted a dispiriting version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the New Burbage Theatre, and very shortly thereafter dies. Tennant is brought in as the new artistic director, and his attempts to stage Ha...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 5th, 2006
Synopsis
Paul Gross plays Geoffrey Tennant, a once celebrated actor who had a meltdown during a performance of Hamlet. Now he’s trying to mount The Tempest at the head of a broke company about to be evicted from its premises. Meanwhile, his former mentor, Oliver Welles, has just mounted a dispiriting version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the New Burbage Theatre, and very shortly thereafter dies. Tennant is brought in as the new artistic director, and his attempts to stage Ha...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 2nd, 2006
Doctor Who is much more of a cultural phenomenon in the UK than it is here in the States. In fact, the series about a time traveler who fights evil is very much on par with the Star Trek series in North America in terms of its rabid cult following. The original series ran for a staggering 26-seasons on the BBC before finally fading away. The show has become one of the most popular Science Fiction programs of all time.
In 2003, the dead show was brought back as a new series, following the same ba...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 1st, 2006
David Boreanaz is better known as the guy who played Sarah Michelle Gellar�s love interest in Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first three seasons of its existence. Being used sparingly in some parts and shining in his occasional showcase episodes, helped convince Buffy creator Joss Whedon and producer David Greenwalt to give the guy his own spin-off series. And by having the Buffy writers and directors pull some double duty in the beginning before gently phasing in some new creative influences, it's grown into a spin-off show that, in its fourth season now, arguably gives Buffy a run for its dramatic money.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 1st, 2006
God bless producer Irwin Allen for aiming high in just about everything he did. He would make large scale productions, some focused on disasters (like his next film after this, The Towering Inferno), but he also produced Lost in Space for TV and made other contributions like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and an incarnation of The Lost World. He may not have had a DeMille-like grip on his project because the studios had so much control still in the early '70s, but he sure dreamt big, which is always a good thing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 30th, 2006
Synopsis
Ken Stott plays Inspector John Rebus. Working in Edinburgh, Rebus is dogged in his pursuit of the truth, no matter how many years it might be buried. He’s not one to stand on ceremony, doesn’t suffer fools at all, never mind gladly, and is curiously successful in romancing younger women. The two mysteries here, The Falls and Fleshmarket Close take place in very different settings: the former delves into the secrets of the very wealthy, the latter takes place in a high-rise proj...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 29th, 2006
Synopsis
Four teens hit the wilderness, looking for a Professor Waterman (celebrated SF/fantasy/horror writer Fritz Leiber in a non-speaking role). The professor is missing, but they find an ancient time that turns out to provide the secrets of life, death, and the demons beyond. Said demons want the book back, and our heroes are attacked by one monster after another.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 28th, 2006
I’m a lucky guy. I was able to witness the game of baseball before we all became so jaded. While I wasn’t born early enough to have enjoyed Mantle, The Babe, or Joltin’ Joe, I was fortunate enough to watch the likes of Mike Schmidt. Mike stayed 18 years with one team. He never held out and was always responsible in his public persona. Oh, and he ended up being considered the best 3rd baseman of all time in nearly every millennium poll conducted. It is this experience growing up with Schmitty and his like that make these stories feel much closer to home than younger kids are likely to feel.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 27th, 2006
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is, it seems, the poor cousin to the likes of the FBI and the Secret Service. It doesn't have all the toys of these other organizations, and appears to have a staff of four (five by the end of the first episode). Mark Harmon heads up the investigative team that delves into mysteries that invariably have a military tone (and thus the stories frequently deal with terrorism and the like).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2006
The Phil Silvers Show was groundbreaking for several reasons, but to look at the list of those who appeared on the show during its four season run is to look at a "Who's Who" of television ancestry and history. Allen Melvin played Sam the Butcher on The Brady Bunch, Harvey Lembeck previously appeared in Stalag 17 and his son Michael became an accomplished television director. Joe Ross played one half of the cop team in Car 54, Where Are You? next to a guest star of the show, a guy named Fred Gwynne, who also appeared in a show called The Munsters.
