“Oh no. Has it been a year already?”

The 10th season of Modern Family has arrived on home video. The series entered its 10th season with a bit of a tease. It was revealed that during this season one of the cast members would die. Of course the expectation being built was that it would be one of the regulars, and speculation had it that Jay was going to be the one to go. I never bought any of that. Jay’s the patriarch of this family and the one piece of the enormous puzzle that might be the most essential. What I and many fans of the show didn’t expect was that it would actually be a recurring character, and that the core family was safe for one more season. After the 11th season, it all comes to an end. Modern Family will be riding off into the sunset come spring of 2020, and it will be a sad day indeed. But that’s a ways off, and we still have Season 10 on home video to watch.
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In 1887, readers of the popular periodical Beeton’s Christmas Annual were to receive quite a special treat. There wasn’t much fanfare or hype to the event. Inside the pages of the magazine was a story called A Study In Scarlet. It was a detective story, perhaps like many published before, except for the detective himself, a certain Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Together with his faithful companion and chronicler Dr. Watson, Holmes would win the hearts of those holiday readers. It might have been an ordinary day, but the world was about to change. Sherlock Holmes would become the most famous detective in the world. His stories would remain in print nearly 130 years later. Over 100 films would be made featuring the character. There would be television shows and cartoon spoofs. No other character has appeared in more productions. When his creator dared to kill the beloved detective in order to move on to newer stories, his very life was threatened. It would seem that Doyle was on the verge of becoming a victim much like those in his stories. There was only one man who could save him from such a grim fate, and he did just that. It was Sherlock Holmes himself.
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“Look. There ain’t gonna be any cryin’.”

Just a couple of years ago the reincarnation of Hawaii Five-O looked to be in a bit of a controversy with some of the cast members who have been with the show from its start. Daniel Dae Kim played Chin Ho Kelly, a character from the original series. Grace Park played Kono Kalakua. They were important characters on the show, but the actors didn’t think they were getting paid enough. They believed they should have gotten the same pay as the two actors at the top of the call sheet. CBS declined their requests, and suddenly it became about race, because both actors are Asian. The only trouble with that theory is there are many Asian actors on the series, and this was the wrong show to play the race card against. Both are gone now. New cast members have moved in, and now the show appears to be at its best. The current cast is a strong blend of actors and characters. By the time I was halfway through this ninth season, I was asking myself Chin and Kono who?
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“In the 19th century, persons suffering from mental illness were thought to be alienated from their own true natures. Experts who studied them were therefore known as alienists.”

The Alienist is a new drama airing on TNT and is the latest in the recent trend of period-piece dramas to populate the television series market. Like many of these kinds of shows, The Alienist relies as much on atmosphere as it does on the actual story being told. The series is intended to attack the senses and obviously elicit some kind of a reaction. Filmed in Budapest, the show takes us back to New York City in the 1890’s and truly builds a rather deep and dark environment that you will likely remember far longer than any other element of the show. The series also utilizes a tremendous amount of computer-generated images for set extensions and sometimes complete environments. It’s an ambitious undertaking and might well have been the crowning achievement of the series. However, Warner has decided to send the DVD of the series and not their usual Blu-ray for my review. Unfortunately, the bandwidth of a DVD can not do justice to these grand illusions. The entire show suffers from compression issues and an off-putting soft focus that totally distracts from all of this creativity. I wish I could have enjoyed the show in its apparent grandeur, but alas, I can really only speak to the drama itself.
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Last month it was officially 50 years since the Manson Family brought chaos into the world with the massacre at Ciello Drive that left a pregnant Sharon Tate brutally murdered along with her friends.  Since then the name Charles Manson has become a symbol of pop culture despite not ever being a part of the actual murders.  Even after all these years, there are so many myths about Manson and his followers, it’s doubtful we’ll ever really know the truth.  Over the period of 50 years there have been countless films about the murders and the Manson family. Most recently Quentin Tarantino put out Once Upon a Time in Hollywood that gave audiences a fantasy perspective of the events of that night and came out to be a successful film over the summer and a contender for numerous awards.  With that being said, there are also films like Manson Family Movies that came out in 1984 and was nowhere near the commercial success.  Manson Family Movies is impressive where it dabbles in the found-footage genre as a recreation of the events that led up to the murders while also recreating the violent crimes.  Unfortunately, despite how ambitious it may be, this looks like it was made with no budget and at times is painful to watch.
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“Everything is always about Sheldon.”

Warner Brothers is very familiar with superheroes. That goes double for the character of Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons, on The Big Bang Theory. A common thread in the superhero business, of course, is the origin story. With the popularity of The Big Bang Theory, and the Sheldon character particularly, it isn’t all that surprising that we would eventually be treated to Sheldon’s origin story. But instead of flashbacks on the series, the decision was made that Sheldon’s childhood was territory that could be mined for years. Thus is born Young Sheldon. For fans of the original show and character, it couldn’t have come at a better time. Parsons just turned down an offer of $50 million for two more years of Big Bang. I can’t imagine how it must feel to be able to turn down that kind of money. But faced with doing the series without him, the smart decision was to shut it down.
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“Don’t stop me now. I’m in the zone.”

Every year at this time, I end up having to binge watch a ton of television. A lot of previous seasons get released on disc in anticipation of the new seasons about to get underway. It’s a daunting task that often makes me feel a little silly when I complain to friends that I have to watch so much television.  You kind of have to get yourself on a roll and immerse yourselves in these fictional television worlds. More and more I find so much of my time is taken by the NCIS franchise, which has just completed 30 seasons of episodes and is about to rack up three more very soon. Add that to the fact that this has been going on for the better part of the last decade, and NCIS has accounted for a fair amount of my waking hours. And while it does appear that the L.A. version of the show might be pulling up to its final destination, the New Orleans show is just getting its legs and looks to be here for the better part of the next decade. But it’s the mothership, originally spun off from JAG, that has just completed its 16th season with no signs of slowing down.
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“Sam Hannah without a bomb is like Aquaman without… I got nothing.”

This is absolutely an explosive year for NCIS: LA which just finished its 10th year, and now those episodes are together in one place thanks to CBS Home Entertainment. The series has become one of the most successful spin-off shows in the history of television. Only CSI and the Law & Order franchises have brought more episodes to our television screens, and next season the NCIS franchise will have passed CSI. The truth is, if you go all the way back to the original JAG series, this is hands down the most prolific one-hour series in television history. What is even more amazing is that the NCIS shows continue to be the most-watched franchise in the entire world, a position they have held for over a decade. No one has come close to this kind of television domination. If this collection of episodes is any indication, the ride isn’t anywhere near reaching the end. All three shows have been renewed, with NCIS getting a new two-year commitment at CBS. If you haven’t already caught up on all of those earlier episodes, you don’t necessarily need to do that, but why wouldn’t you? You can at least catch up with the first nine seasons of NCIS: L.A. Here.
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Here we go again, another revenge film. Despite my love for the “revenge” sub-genre, it is getting to the point where there just seem to be too many uninspired films flooding the market.  Blue Ruin is perhaps the best revenge film I’ve seen in the past ten years, and it seems several other filmmakers feel the same way because of the amount of films that have been churned out, all attempting to emulate its gritty realistic style, but just fail in the process.  Into the Ashes could have been something different; we get some glimpses at what could have steered this film into some interesting territory, but before it gets to take any chances, the film is quickly reeled back to the overbeaten path so many have tread upon before. In a small Alabama town, Nick (Luke Grimes) is trying his best to live a quiet, peaceful life.  He’s married to the sheriff’s daughter and has a decent job that pays the bills; the trouble is he has a violent past, and it’s catching up with him in the form of Sloan (Frank Grillo), who has just been released from prison.  Before Nick was living the quiet life, he used to run with a violent crew, and Nick took off with their money after things went bad.  Nick’s used the money to start a new life, but as you would expect, his former criminal partners don’t care that Nick has started a new life, and they are out for some payback.
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It’s been nearly five years since FX’s hit television series Sons of Anarchy rode off into the sunset. A lot of fans, myself included, were not necessarily very happy with the way it all ended. It wasn’t Sopranos bad, but it wasn’t the kind of closure or satisfaction one expects from such a compelling drama and well-written show. We all calmed a bit when we started hearing from the Sons of Anarchy Universe creator Kurt Sutter that he wasn’t quite done with that world. At first there was serious talk of there being a prequel series or movie that would take us back to the days of the original nine founders of the club. It seemed the perfect follow-up, because we already knew so much about that world through the pages of manuscript left behind by Jax’s father. It was a rich landscape, and we eagerly awaited more word. After a couple of years, hopes were starting to fall when word came that while the early story was still going to be told, the next visit to this universe was going to be the Mayan MC, which were sometimes allies and sometimes foes for SAMCRO.
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The first season without Peter Quinn. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I had planned to give the show up after Rupert Friend left, similar to how I gave up NCIS after DiNozzo’s exit. The Peter Quinn character has been an essentially part of the cast since the second season and filled the huge hole left behind by Damian Lewis’ exit. Not to mention the dynamic between Carrie and Peter was a driving force for the show, as well as realistic example of the division of love and duty. I just expected to find this season lacking, and though his presence is noted, Homeland continues to be one of the top shows of the spy genre. Homeland Season 7 delivers another thrilling experience .
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