TVSquad

On an Adult Swim schedule where every show is strange in some way, Xavier may be the strangest of the bunch. The title character is a hairy birdman with a beak and legs with knees that bend the wrong way. And a snake hand. And a loincloth. And two different colored eyes. And six nipples (I could go on, but...) He talks like a surfer dude, mashing up new age double talk with double entendre, inhabiting a sort of alternate, SIMS-like earth and killing or damaging irreparably all he seeks to help.

The effect of this only intensifies when you watch a lot of episodes of Xavier in one sitting, which is what you can do with the new Xavier: Renegade Angel Seasons 1 and 2 DVD. In its usual dose of fifteen minutes per episode, it's odd. Watch it for two hours, you start to see spots. Even the animation, which stresses the bright colors and blocky movement of computer generated graphics, pushes you off kilter. It's an overused description to say something looks like a cartoon on acid, but if ever a show actually deserved the description, it's Xavier.

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...).