DVD-related stories
Posted Jul 3rd 2009 1:04PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Animation, Reality-Free
Thank the late-90s gods for the existence of
Daria and praise be to the supernatural entities responsible for DVDs. For the first time ever,
Daria will be available on DVD.
We feared it couldn't be done, but it's going to happen! I can hear sour-faced now-20-somethings celebrating now. Yes, they're quiet, but they're definitely excited. Keep it cool, guys, keep it cool.
Continue reading Excuse me? Daria finally coming to DVD
Posted May 29th 2009 2:27PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
I wasn't even a twentysomething when
thirtysomething originally aired on ABC, but I remember the show fondly. I used to watch episodes with my mom, who actually was thritysomething at the time. We never missed it.
I won't pretend that I understood the show's linking plots, hashed out by the awesome producing team of Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (
My So-Called Life,
Once and Again), but I still loved watching it. To me,
thirtysomething was about a funny dude with a red beard creating commercials with his friend, and a bunch of sad ladies who were visited by a goofy cyclist with long hair. (I was nine. The other most sophisticated show I was watching at the time was
ALF).
Continue reading Thirtysomething is finally coming to DVD
Posted May 24th 2009 7:10PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, Short-Lived Shows, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark
I'm almost to the end of
Firefly, my
Jane After Dark readers' choice for this week. I really love this series, from the quirky characters to the general theme of a band of renegades burgling their way through the universe.
But even though it's set 500 years in the future,
Firefly isn't your typical sci-fi space series that includes all manner of aliens and weird creatures. They're on a spaceship, and yet they rob trains. How cool is that?! It's like
Alias Smith and Jones meets
Babylon 5.
As with the other Whedon shows I've watched –
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and
Angel – the stories are fun and deep and fanciful (yes, I said fanciful), but it's the characters and their interactions that make the shows.
Continue reading Jane After Dark: Firefly
Posted May 23rd 2009 7:15PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free, Saturday Morning
The same classic Disney cartoons that made up a television classic,
The Wonderful World of Disney, are heading to DVD in six separate editions.
Even before the days of cable,
Wonderful World ran on all three major networks at one time or another, racking up records as one of the longest running shows in TV history. While also featuring live action material, most episodes included short form animations that were once tacked onto Disney animated features in previous decades.
If not for that weekly television exposure, these older cartoons could have disappeared into vaults. Apart from Pixar, studios don't offer you animated short subjects before the opening credits roll.
Now, Disney made the smart move in using a comprehensive DVD line to keep these classic nursery rhymes and fables fresh in kids' minds.
Continue reading Disney cartoon classics return on DVD
Posted May 14th 2009 5:02PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, The Shield, TV Squad Polls, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dexter, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark
If you've been following my
Jane After Dark adventures, you know it's all about the DVDs I watch into the wee hours while I'm covering the
TV Squad queue and everyone else (at least in my house) is sleeping.
I've finished
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I'm nearly done with
Angel. I'll post this weekend about season five of
Angel. You guys are
absolutely right. It's awesome TV.
After that, I need you to help me choose my next Jane After Dark series. There are so many great TV shows on DVD, and frankly, I'm stumped at what to watch next. So please vote in my poll below, and tell me what to do! And if you don't see your series listed, tell me in the comments, and I'll add it to the list next time.
Posted Apr 15th 2009 1:01PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on DVD, Cancellations, Reality-Free
As if we haven't heard enough bad news about this show. Turns out that the final two hours of everyone's favorite guilty pleasure, Prison Break, might not even air on FOX. The over-the-top drama, which was recently canceled, returns this Friday ("The Mother Lode", 9PM ET on FOX) to air the first of its final six episodes. All of those episodes will air on FOX.
Confused? Keep reading.
Continue reading Prison Break's final two hours might not air on FOX
Posted Apr 14th 2009 6:03PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Reality-Free
Let's just get this out of the way:
My Boys isn't a very good show. Calling it mediocre is even going too far. However, I can't be the only one that's watching it, because the TBS sitcom is already a few episodes into its
third season. That's right -
My Boys has actually been somewhat of a minor success for TBS, partially due to some wise scheduling. Save for the first half of season one,
My Boys is always on during the spring and summer months when - surprise - there isn't much else to compete with. The show might not be great, but hey, new TV is better than no TV.
Continue reading Press Kits Unwrapped: My Boys, season three
Posted Apr 13th 2009 9:30AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reaper, Reality-Free
They're really rushing this one out.
Reaper's season two will
hit DVD June 9 -- only two weeks after the season ends on The CW!
The DVD was originally set for an even earlier release, June 2, but the studio pushed it back a week for reasons unknown.
I'm really looking forward to this set.
Reaper is one of those amazing but little-watched shows I can't seem to shut up about. I strongly encourage fans to pick this set up in June.
Like all good genre shows these days,
Reaper will probably be "on the bubble" as the season winds down. The show's executive producers are
reportedly leaving, and the fate of the show is hanging in the air. Good DVD sales might help
Reaper get renewed for a third season. (Well, it couldn't hurt.)
Click through to see Sam and crew gettin' all
Drunken Master on the DVD cover box.
Continue reading Reaper's season two rushing to DVD
Posted Mar 24th 2009 12:04PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Battlestar Galactica, Video, Reality-Free
It's hard to judge a new series by watching a bunch of random clips played out of order an out of context -- but let's do it anyway!
Sci Fi just released
seven clips from Caprica, the upcoming
Battlestar Galactica prequel series from
Battlestar producers Ron Moore and David Eick. (
UPDATE: Videos can now be found
here.) The show seems to be about humanity's reaction to rapid advances in technology and shifting ideologies. It centers on two families – the Greystones and the Adamas – who are "joined by tragedy in an explosive instant of terror," according to SciFi.
Possible spoilers after the jump.Continue reading Wanna watch a bunch of Caprica clips? - VIDEO
Posted Mar 8th 2009 2:16PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Heroes, Reality-Free
As
Bob wrote the other day, NBC has assured fans that
Heroes will be back next season. Isn't that great? Well, no, not to me. I would like to assure NBC that I have had it with
Heroes. I'm exhausted and fed up. Do you feel like me? Do you have
Heroes fatigue?
The changes have been detrimental to the original premise, ruining what was once the most exciting new TV show on the air since
Lost. Quite simply, I don't like the new "book"; I don't like the characters that have been mangled beyond recognition; I don't like all the story lines that were dropped in favor of this new paradigm that has the government hunting down Matt and Peter and the other familiar heroes and treating them like terrorists. At the end of the last episode, I just felt bad about
Heroes. What have they done to my show?
Continue reading Do you have Heroes fatigue, too?
Posted Feb 10th 2009 6:07PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, Video, Animation, Reality-Free
In case you didn't get the message with the DVD release of
Next Avengers or
Hulk Vs., Marvel wants to remind you that ninety percent of its animated output is incredibly awful. That's probably why they're finally releasing the '
90s X-Men animated series on DVD.
Stop right there,
X-Men fans; lemme explain my love-hate relationship with this series before you start typing four-letter words in the comments section.
I watched this cartoon on Fox faithfully as a kid, and I really loved it. It brought many of the classic
X-Men comics stories to life – even some of the weirder ones – and introduced a generation of non-comic book fans to Wolverine, Cyclops and the rest of the gang. But even as a kid it was hard not to wince at the awful animation, the over-the-top voice acting, and the ridiculous melodramatic vibe of it all. Compared to the more sophisticated
Batman: The Animated Series, which also aired during the early '90s, this thing looked and felt like an old episode of
Thundercats, which was a shame.
Continue reading The '90s X-Men series is coming to DVD this April - VIDEO
Posted Feb 6th 2009 12:00PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, Battlestar Galactica, Reality-Free
Here's more proof that Sci Fi Channel loves nerds – and their money. A limited edition "uncut and unrated" version of the
Caprica pilot will be released on DVD April 21. That means fans can get an early look at the
Battlestar Galactica prequel series starring Eric Stoltz and Esai Morales, which is slated to premiere on Sci Fi in 2010. The DVD list price is $26.98, according to Sci Fi. Great news, right? It gets better.
Because of the early DVD release, fans might get a chance to influence the development of the series. In a release, Mark Stern, Executive VP of Original Programming for Sci Fi, says the DVD release "affords the creative team an unprecedented chance to get viewers feedback before production on the
Caprica series begins this summer."
Continue reading The cool thing about Caprica premiering on DVD is ...
Posted Feb 5th 2009 5:02PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
If you grew up watching MTV in the '90s, then you probably remember
The State. If you don't – and you're an American between the age of 30 and 35 – do a YouTube search for "I wanna dip my balls in it" and let the memories flood right on back.
I credit the irreverent MTV sketch comedy show with keeping me from slipping into a full-blown depression during my teenage years, aka the angsty, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains-drenched years.
The State ran from 1993 to 1995 and helped launch the careers of some of my favorite comic actors, writers and filmmakers, including David Wain (
Wet Hot American Summer,
Role Models), Thomas Lennon (
Reno 911,
Balls of Fury) and Michael Ian Black (
Stella,
Ed). All 11 members of the comedy troupe reunited recently to perform new material at SF Sketchfest in January. The
A.V. Club talked to State alums Wain, Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver this week about the reunion and about their future plans. Among the things that came up in the interview was the status of that promised complete-series DVD.
Continue reading Hey MTV, I want The State on DVD already
Posted Jan 20th 2009 5:05PM by Debra McDuffee
Filed under: Programming, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
I didn't jump immediately on the
Moonlight bandwagon. The pilot just didn't grab me, and there was still a bitter taste in my mouth from
Buffy and
Angel being canceled. We Whedon fans don't forgive easily.
Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and I caught up on all the episodes and fell for
Moonlight. I loved the unique lore, the back story with Coraline and her family was riveting and yeah, Jason Dohring in love as a vampire? Much more appealing than when he's in love
with a little blonde super sleuth.
Well, you can now relive the tragically short
Moonlight experience, courtesy of the Sci Fi Channel. Beginning this Friday night, they'll be showing an
episode of Moonlight every Friday at 9:00, through the entire series.
As if that's not enough, the entire series of
Moonlight has been released on DVD today. I'm just not sure
Moonlight fans could ask for better news than being able to see the series run again. Well, they could ask, but they won't get it.
Posted Dec 22nd 2008 12:28PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Festivus, WGA Strike, Reality-Free
2008 was a strange one for television. Not because of the intense political and economic coverage, or the 27000 hours of Olympic telecasts, or the fact that Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul held back from killing each other for yet another season. No, the reason for the strangeness was that, at the beginning of the year, the schedule was a bit disjointed. This was thanks to the lengthy writers' strike.
Lasting from early November 2007 until February and costing up to two billion dollars, the WGA strike did something that previous labor disputes had not done to TV in the past: it changed the face of television. These were not cosmetic changes that reverted back to normal once the strike ended. These were changes that altered television as we now it and set the stage for its very uncertain future.
Continue reading Top TV Stories of 2008: The writers' strike and its aftermath
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