When I was a kid, I loved Archie comics. Before every family road trip (at least once a year), my mom would head to the grocery store and buy up all of the latest issues of everything from Jughead to Little Archie. We amassed quite the collection, and I read those things over and over for years. Recently, in a moment of nostalgia, I bought a new issue. I was excited to see what my old pals the Riverdale gang were up to — boy, was I disappointed. I knew nearly all of the stories! They barely did anything to hide the fact that they were reruns, simply transplanting plots from summer to winter, or changing from basketball to volleyball. What a crock.

I've got this great idea for a new show: it's about a group of people stranded on a mysterious island after a plane crash. I'll call it Where Are We? It's gonna be the biggest ratings hit ever for whichever network is lucky enough to lavishly reward my creative genius.

On the other hand, it might seem like a complete ripoff of Lost, a rehash, old news that will never live up to the glory of the original. You know, like Cashmere Mafia, the Lucy Liu vehicle modeled gene-by-gene on HBO's mega-hit Sex and the City. It might only last seven episodes before it's axed. Now on DVD for the first time, Cashmere Mafia: The Complete Series is further proof that the entertainment industry is all out of fresh ideas.

Star of song and stage Jeannie Laird (June Haver) returns from a triumphant tour to settle down in her new suburban home. Next door is widowed cartoonist Bill Carter (Dan Dailey), and sparks fly between the glamorous star and the low-key nice guy. The course of true love doesn’t run smoothly, however, due to Bill’s son Joe (Billy Gray, of The Day the Earth Stood Still), who doesn’t take kindly to the new woman in his father’s life.

The 70’s and 80’s were fertile ground for horror films. It was a new era of iconic monsters. Starting with Michael Myers and Jason, the trend that gave us Freddy seemed to be at the end of its run by the late 1980’s. Certainly sequels were still being churned out, but it seemed like we’d seen the last of these maniacal monsters, at least for a while. But before it petered out, the cycle would supply our nightmares with one more notable denizen…Chucky. Today Chucky paces the sidelines here in Tampa as the head coach of the local NFL franchise

The character of Charlie Chan was created by writer Earl Derr Biggers in 1925 in the book A House Without A Key. He based the character on real life Honolulu detective Chang Apana. Like the fictional Chan, Apana was a detective of Chinese descent on the island. In the first three films, all based on Biggers novels, the character was played by three different actors. It wasn’t until 1933 that Warner Oland took the part in a long series of films that the character gained his worldwide fame. When Oland died in 1938 the series continued with actor Sidney Toler in the title role.

The Chipmunks began life oddly enough as a singing group, of sorts. They were the brainchild of struggling songwriter Ross Bagdasarian and were named after the three chief executives at Liberty records. His own alter ego David Seville’s name came from his World War II Army station in Spain. The Chipmunks first appeared in a 1958 record called The Witch Doctor, but wouldn’t officially become The Chipmunks until later that year when The Chipmunks Christmas Song was released.

I can’t quite decide how I feel about Paul W. S. Anderson. On the one hand, he clearly has a great deal of affection for his inspirations, and since most of his filmography, as either a director or producer, consists of adaptations, this is to the good. He is, for instance, one of the few filmmakers who actually seems to respect video games, even if his Resident Evil films consciously depart from the games’ story arc in a fairly massive way. Unlike Stephen Sommers, he does not feel the need to trivialize his material by giving up on the suspense and going for the cheap laugh.

Ike sucks, Rockband & Guitar Hero tracklist comparison and did I mention I hate hurricanes? - Welcome to the column that is free and there is no need to stand in line for half an hour known as Dare to Play the Game.

There wasn’t a column last week. I know, I’m sorry. I was too busy deciding what to do about Hurricane Ike. I had parts of it written last week time and time again. But I never could complete it because my heart wasn’t into it. My heart still isn’t 100% into it. You can blame it on Ike, or just hurricanes in general.

There are some significant changes in season 4. The interns now have interns of their own. It’s actually a little fresh to see them struggle with circumstances we only recently watched them deal with from the other perspective. All except George, who is forced to repeat after blowing off his final exam to help Izzie. There are also many cast changes. Gone are Washington and the baggage he carried with his gay bashing slur. Also gone is Kate Walsh, as her character has moved on to her own spin-off, Private Practice.

 

Medium was based on a real person with alleged psychic powers who apparently has helped out various law enforcement agencies in some actual cases. If you’ve seen the series, you might find that hard to believe, and the episodes are obviously fictional adventures and not based on the real Allison Dubois’s experiences. At first glance it might be easy to lump Medium in with Ghost Whisperer or The Dead Zone. Actually there are almost no similarities to any of those shows.