TVSquad

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

How can so many TV DVDs be released on one day and still there isn't one that I want to buy? The only one of the below sets that I might be interested in getting would be Simon & Simon. And that's only because it's one 80s action drama that I never got into for some reason but feel I should catch up on. But there's plenty of stuff for fans of every type of show, from Sons of Anarchy to The Smurfs.

• The Beast - Season 1
• Cracker - The Complete Series
• Dexter - Season 3
• Dirty Sexy Money - Season 2
• Eli Stone - Season 2
• Everybody Hates Chris - Season 4

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

It occurred to me doing this post that I haven't seen - or even thought about - The Woody Woodpecker Show in probably 20 or 30 years. I'm not sure I'd go out and buy a bunch of DVD sets for the show, but a "favorites" collection might be good to own. He was never one of my favorite cartoon characters though. I was a Bugs Bunny kid.

The Baron I got in the mail last week. It was a British series from the 60s that starred Steve Forrest (yup, the one from S.W.A.T.) as an antiques dealer who was really a spy. I'll have to check it out this week and see how it is.

• The Baron - Complete Series
• The Best Years - Season 1
• Bonanza - The Collection

Upon seeing the headline that TNT is going to be doing a new version of the UK series Cracker, I suspect I had the same reaction as many of you: Wasn't this show already remade for U.S. audiences? Yes, it was. It happened in 1997 and starred Robert Pastorelli and an unknown Josh Hartnett. They even managed a guest spot for the star of the original, Robbie Coltrane. Unfortunately, it never really caught on, and struggled to make it through that one season.

Granada America still thinks the show can be a success stateside. More specifically, they think it can be a success on cable. As senior VP Julie Meldal-Johnson puts it, "We thought the timing was right and that American cable, edgier and more open, would be a better venue for it than broadcast." And that's the bit that, kind of, sells me on the idea. Cable does offer certain freedoms and TNT does have a pretty good thing going with The Closer and Saving Grace. We'll just consider that Heartland mess a learning experience, for now. Despite failing once, Cracker remains a great story, and I'm willing to give yet another incarnation a go.