thirtysomething-related stories
Posted Jan 18th 2010 6:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
Defying Gravity is one of those shows where I said "oh, I have to start watching that," and then it was gone from ABC. I guess there have been several shows like that in recent years. I can say the same thing about
Damages and
Durham County, but at least those two shows are still around.
Guess I'm interested in shows that begin with the letter D this week.
- 21 Jump Street - Season 1
- Cranford: Return to Cranford and The Collection (Cranford/Return to Cranford)
- Dallas - Season 12
- Damages - Season 2
- Defying Gravity - Complete Series
- Durham County - Season 1
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted Nov 5th 2009 5:03PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
I'm all for more Westerns on television. It's a genre that lends itself well to the ongoing storytelling format that a regular TV series allows. So when I saw an article that FX was gearing up
Reconstruction, a series set in the post-Civil War era of American history, I was pretty excited.
Creators Joshua Brand and Peter Horton thought it would make a good allegory for today's world, dealing with the economic crisis and even the ongoing war. "How does one heal after (a war)? How do you find your humanity again?" asked Horton. These are things the show hopes to deal with.
It centers around Jason, an East Coaster who comes back from the war changed. He finds refuge in a small town in Missour, where the saga will unfold. All of this was great, until I got to one line in the
Reuters story: "Brand, the co-creator of
St. Elsewhere, is
writing the script for the project, which will include magical elements, with
thirtysomething actor-turned-director Horton attached to take the helm." Magical elements? What?! Why?
Continue reading FX is bringing back the Western with Reconstruction
Posted Oct 30th 2009 4:04PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on DVD, Reality-Free
I know I'm dating myself, but I'm really looking forward to watching the second season of
thirtsysomething on DVD.
The first season was released back in August, and I had a blast catching up with great characters like Michael and Melissa Steadman, Elliot Weston and Gary Shepherd. Season two
hits DVD in January, thanks to the good folks at Shout! Factory, known for putting out great sets like the packed
Freaks and Geeks collection and the recent
Transformers "G1" collector's set.
Some people might only think of
thirtysomething as "that '80s show about whiny yuppies," and that's fine. But the Emmy-award winning drama brings back a lot of great memories for me. As I
mentioned before, I used to watch it with my mom, who I'm pretty sure related to Patricia Wettig's frustrated homemaker Nancy Weston and free spirit Melissa Steadman, played by Melanie Mayron. (As for my dad, I'm not ashamed to say that he's more of a Timothy Busfield type!)
Continue reading Thirtysomething season two hits DVD in January
Posted Aug 24th 2009 6:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.Well. This week has a little bit of everything, no matter what the TV fan is looking for. We have current shows (
NCIS,
House,
Scrubs), recent shows that have been canceled (
Life,
Samantha Who?), classic shows you probably thought you'd never seen on DVD (
Wiseguy,
Wanted: Dead or Alive), kid shows (
Suite Life on Deck,
Sonny with a Chance), cartoons (
Batman,
Dungeons & Dragons), and quirky reality and/or documentary shows (
Dog The Bounty Hunter, MonsterQuest,
The Universe).
There's also two DVD sets called
TV Sets, which are a mix of various episodes of sci-fi shows (
Star Trek,
The 4400,
Medium) and crime shows
(Streets of San Francisco,
Dexter,
CSI: NY).
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted Aug 17th 2009 1:33PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, Web, Reality-Free, Mad Men
So last night we had the
return of the guys and gals from Sterling Cooper, and Asylum.com has a list of the
best fictional TV advertising agencies.
Beyond
Mad Men and
Bewitched, I couldn't have told you the names of the ad agencies on
Bosom Buddies,
Full House, or
thirtysomething if a million bucks was at stake. Did they miss anyone? I know we've had other ad agencies on TV but my mind is blank at the moment.
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 Feb 3rd 2009 6:03PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, Reality-Free
Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the producing team behind
My So-Called Life,
thirtysomething and
Quarterlife, are
prepping a new drama pilot for CBS. The project, called
A Marriage, will be an examination of a working modern-day marriage.
I'm looking forward to this.
Quarterlife had its problems, but Herskovitz and Zwick are masters of nuanced character-centric drama. I was a teenager in the '90s; so believe me when I say that they helped paint an absorbing and realistic portrait of adolescence with
My So-Called Life. For me, that show really captured the raw emotion, pointless anxiety and simple joy of being an American teenager at that time. (It also encouraged me to buy my first albums by The Lemonheads and Juliana Hatfield. Thanks TV!)
Continue reading Thirtysomething creators start A Marriage with CBS
Posted Dec 30th 2008 10:02AM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Late Night, Programming, Video, Celebrities, Retro Squad, Reality-Free, Cheers
While
ABC,
NBC, and
CBS have historically remained in a cutthroat battle for viewers, each network has shared one common trait: come the season of network promotional campaigns, all actors
must be prepared to look absolutely ridiculous.
After the jump ... Remember this
pop cultural gem (video below) that gained traction on the Net not too long ago? The sheer oddity of the clip alone forces us to ask ourselves several questions: do these people all live together? Why is
Marla Gibbs dressed like an astronaut? Does
Bea Arthur do everybody's shoppingl? CAN'T
NELL CARTER JUST SIT DOWN AND REST HER FEET FOR A SECOND? (Seriously,
give her a break!)
Continue reading Seven retro network promos to leave you confused, delighted - VIDEOS
Posted Jun 16th 2008 11:42AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S02E02) Army Wives is reminding me of some of my favorite TV dramas of all time, shows like
thirtysomething and
Party of Five. Especially this episode where there are more feelings and reactions to the bombing at the Hump Bar. How does life go back to normal after a tragedy? How do you cope?
Time has passed and life may appear to be getting back to normal at Fort Marshall, but things are still quite unsettled among the close knit coterie on
Army Wives. Chief among them are the Holdens. Claudia Joy is simply not returning to normal and it become clear as the episode progressed that she's an emotional powder keg.
Continue reading Army Wives: Strangers in a Strange Land
Posted Apr 16th 2008 10:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free
There's something really great about being able to buy an entire season of a TV show, or the entire run, on DVD. It can be addictive, too. But isn't it interesting that even though there are scads of great -- and some not-so-great -- series committed to DVD and readily available online or at the local superstore, there are a ton more that aren't? And what about great TV specials? When I read this
list, it got me thinking about which TV programs I would buy in a heartbeat. My list is very subjective -- maybe even eclectic -- but here's my ten TV shows that need to be on DVD.
The Bob Newhart ShowRecently, when the
American Masters did a special about Bob Newhart, they showed footage from
The Bob Newhart Show. No, not the one with Suzanne Pleshette as Emily. They had clips from the 1961-62
Bob Newhart Show on NBC. It was a variety hour, showcasing many of his now classic routines. It looked really funny, filled with his inspired sketches and bits. And it was critically acclaimed, too, winning Emmy and Peabody awards. Naturally, NBC canceled it after just one season. I'd love to think that there's enough footage from those shows to create a DVD.
Continue reading Ten shows that desperately need DVDs - VIDEOS
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 9:03AM by Paul Goebel
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Ask TV Squad
As I'm sure you've heard by now quarterlife was a huge failure on network television. Those of you who read my unfavorable review of the show last week know that I didn't see much of a future for the show anyway and yet, I feel that the show was still treated unfairly by the people in charge, i.e. NBC.
Producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz designed this show to appeal to a very specific audience, men and women in their mid-twenties who spend a lot of time online. Now, that may seem like a very small demographic if you're a 40-year-old TV addict like me. but I actually know people in their mid-twenties who don't watch network TV. One of my friends, who is chronically hip insists that the only time he watches network television is online or on DVD. Aside from making me feel very old, his revelation cleared up some things for me.
Continue reading Stump the King: thirtysomething
Posted Nov 19th 2007 10:21AM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Web, Pickups and Renewals
It's being called a
"revoluntionary step" in television entertainment.
Quarterlife, created by
thirtysomething's Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, has the honor of becoming the first webseries to be acquired for broadcast television. The hour-long drama will begin airing on NBC sometime in February.
Herskovitz and Zwick reportedly
launched the series (about a twentysomething video blogger and her friends) directly on the web in order to maintain complete creative control. However,
after viewing the series online , I began to suspect that
quarterlife simply wasn't good enough for primetime. In fact, I doubted it would ever gain a strong fanbase or end up on network television.
Shows how much I know.
Continue reading NBC picks up webseries 'quarterlife'
Posted Nov 12th 2007 7:01PM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: OpEd, Web, Episode Reviews
(S01E01)"We blog to exist...therefore, we are idiots." (Dylan Krieger)
I mentioned last week, that
I am a huge fan of Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick (creators of
thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, and Once and Again), and I was eagerly anticipating the launch of their new webseries,
quarterlife. Lots of people have talked about producing programming for the internet, but nobody has been able to launch a completely original successful series with mass appeal and excellent production value -- yet. So, I put a lot of faith behind the professional team of Herskovitz and Zwick, and applauded their bold experiment.
Unfortunately, their experiment, at least to me, went horribly wrong.
Continue reading Quarterlife: Part one and part two (webseries premiere)
Posted Nov 8th 2007 2:02PM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Web
Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick are responsible for creating some of my favorite TV shows:
thirtysomething,
My So-Called Life, and
Once and Again. They've influenced my writing and even my desire to write for TV probably more than anyone else in Hollywood. They've been absent from the TV landscape for a couple of years, and I've definitely missed them.
Luckily,
Herskovitz and Zwick are back with a brand new series, called
quarterlife. The series, however, will not currently be available on ABC or any other network. Herskovitz and Zwick are bringing this new series to life on the web. And in
a recent L.A. Times item, Herskovitz explains why they've left traditional television behind.
Herskovitz believes "the business of television has become an exclusive club, closed to new members," which has some producers "turning to the internet to have a voice."
Continue reading Thirtysomething co-creator explains reasons for leaving TV
Posted Oct 17th 2007 10:01AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Brothers and Sisters
I don't know if you caught the little
Brothers and Sisters song-and-dance pre-season-premiere show this fall. I believe
you can catch it online if you didn't see it on air. I am being a little smarmy about that pre-show because one of my fears about
Brothers and Sisters is this: Their attempts to oversell it will turn people off. If I were an uninitiated viewer, or even a lukewarm one, having the cast and crew get together to talk about how much they love the show and love each other would make me wonder what they were compensating for. Smacks of desperation. And there's honestly no need for that.
One of the things that resonated with me as I watched the DVD extras, watched the early shows again, just for some perspective after a year of watching, is that this is a really good show.
Continue reading Brothers and Sisters: The Complete First Season - DVD review
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