TVSquad

(S01E18) This was a fun episode of The Mentalist, reminiscent of parts of the psychic episode, "Seeing Red," in that we got to see Jane in a comfort zone of his, something that he knows well. The difference is that Jane believes in hypnosis.

And we got to see Jane do his thing tonight ... his hypnosis thing anyway. He was clever enough to put the tracer in Rigsby's pocket, but my favorite episodes of The Mentalist are when Jane knows whodunnit ahead of time and sets them up. When Jane is a step -- or two -- ahead of everyone else, he shines.

(S01E16) "My other senses are heightened. They're super-heightened. I'm like Daredevil." -- Jane on his blindness

Now, this was an interesting episode of The Mentalist. We veered from the formula a bit, and I liked it. We got to find out a lot more about Jane's past, albeit Red John-free. Sadly, this episode was fairly Cho-free, as well, but we did get a lot of Rigsby / Van Pelt payoff.

Mostly what this episode was about, though, was Jane's questionable past: the lies he told to people, the money he unabashedly took, and the lives he ruined with his greed and his false representation of his psychic abilities. Jane is clearly carrying around a lot more guilt than just his family being killed, although that was obviously the defining moment for Jane.

When you think about it, it makes sense that we haven't seen a DVD of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia until now; after all, the first season was only seven episodes, and the show was on the brink of extinction until Danny DeVito joined the cast in season two. So, it was wise of FX to group the first two seasons into one package, which comes out tomorrow (you can get your own copy -- for nothing! -- if you enter the giveaway Keith mentioned earlier today).

Is it worth picking up? Sure; if you're a fan of the show, there's more than enough here to make a purchase worth your while. If you never saw the show but were curious, it's a good way to "catch up" (though this isn't exactly a show where you need to do that, but still...).

Hot off the presses (DVDs are pressed right?), the first season of How I Met Your Mother is out on DVD today. Without getting into specifics, I got lucky and ended up with a copy last week. So I've had all weekend to play around with it. The simple answer is that this is a great DVD set... for all HIMYM fans. Anyone else that picks this up probably isn't going to get as excited about the special features as I did.

That being said, the special features are scant. There's not many, but what you do get is worth it. Once you get over the fact that it's only presented in full frame (Joel and I were both angry about the lack of widescreen), there's plenty to watch. I especially enjoyed the commentaries on the pilot episode and "Drumroll, Please" because Pamela Fryman sat in on those sessions. It's a rare occurrence when one person helms the directorial duties for an entire 22-episode run, but Fryman did it and created a constant visual style throughout the entire season. So her thoughts held some weight in those commentaries.

(S01E11) It's interesting to watch how, in the infancy of shows that become cult classics like Buffy, there are some missteps here and there while the series figures out where it wants to go. This episode is an example of one of those missteps.

Sometimes it's interesting to see baddies on Buffy that aren't just demon in nature. While we'll see ghosts in future episodes, this was a totally different take on the invisible threat theme. It was full of holes, and those holes were filled with cheesy badness.

The big finales are finally over. Though we have a few cool premieres starting in the coming weeks, from Rescue Me (5/30) to Deadwood (6/11), let's face it -- TV isn't the same after May sweeps. The question that's floated around the TV Squad headquarters in the past couple of months has been, "what else can we review for the readers?" Enter "Retro Squad."

Starting this coming Sunday, we're going to take you back in time just a little bit. Remember all of those great shows that are no longer airing, either from being cancelled or ending long runs and taking a bow? Or maybe you remember the first seasons of shows still on the air? Of course you do; it's what makes you one of the millions of fans of these cult-classic shows. Well, we're going to bring them back to you, one episode at a time, every week. Read on for the exciting details.

(S01E21) Alright, now this is what I'm talking about. The entire hour of this episode was tense. Couldn't you feel it? It made the long season leading up to this point worth it. Heck, even some of the scenes with Nick and Veronica were worth watching. Well, the last scenes with Nick, at least.

You know, I was actually a little surprised that Pope was so angry at Michael right from the start, though that was a little more realistic of a reaction. I had thought he'd at least try to talk Michael down, or maybe just cooperate. And if Michael had put Pope's line on a pay porn phone line, there's no way the secretary would've interrupted him; she'd be horrified and probably just leave. And hell, I'd find it damned funny.