TVSquad

SyFy has picked up the rights to broadcast an American version of the BBC show Being Human. For those who are unaware, Being Human is about a twenty-something ghost, a werewolf and a vampire that live together, each with their own set of melodramatic problems. It's a bit like a supernatural Melrose Place.

Actually, given the context of the program, it would go much better on The CW. But that's not likely at this point. They already have The Vampire Diaries anyway.

While relaunching Americanized versions of Brit shows has been successfully done on television before (such as The Office), it's the first time that I'm aware that SyFy has tried it. Usually they have new versions of old television shows with hit-or-miss results (there was Battlestar Galactica, and then there was Flash Gordon).

The BBC series was okay but not great. If the British makers of the show are lucky, SyFy won't butcher it beyond recognition.

If you ask the average zoologist what makes mysterious creatures like Bigfoot or El Chupacabra so impossible today when once scientifically-dismissed species like the Mountain Gorilla or Giant Squid are now common enough concepts, they'll probably say, "The difference is the gorilla and the squid are real, and Bigfoot isn't."

The scientific dismissal isn't keeping Animal Planet from releasing a new DVD featuring stories of cryptozoological oddities.

Announced this week and set for release this fall (October 6), Lost Tapes operates under the thesis that, while thousands of new species are discovered and classified each year, there are some creatures that science still refuses to recognize.

I think I'm getting spoiled by special DVD sets. I have a lot of "complete series" sets and anniversary sets, and many of them are these massive, well put together sets that seem to be really complete and perfect. I'm thinking of sets that I own for such shows as The Twilight Zone, The West Wing, Friends, and The Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as season sets in shows like The X-Files and The Simpsons.

I say we're spoiled because I think that even die hard fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 might be a little disappointed by the packaging for their new 20th Anniversary DVD set (there's two actually - a limited edition tin box and a regular set; this review is for the limited edition box in the pic above). Not for the content, but for the way it is put together.

(S02E11)

As a change of pace, I asked TV know-it-all Paul Goebel to write a rebuttal to today's review. Goebel is an actor and comedian who appeared as the "TV Geek" on the short-lived Comedy Central quiz show Beat the Geeks and has appeared on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Ally McBeal, Will and Grace and other shows. He currently hosts a show at the UCB Theater in Los Angeles, and does a weekly podcast with his pal Jim Bruce called "The Paul Goebel Show." If you like TV, you should check it out. His response is after my review.

Ever since Linda Lavin helmed the CBS Schoolbreak Special "Flour Babies" in 1990, the idea of students being assigned fake babies has been spoofed numerous times. The winner for best spoof goes to the Strangers with Candy episode "A Burden's Burden" in which Jerri and her classmates are assigned actually babies. There's also the South Park episode "Follow That Egg" that manages to tackle both gay marriage and child custody battles when the kids are given eggs and told to treat them like real babies.