Recently in tv Category

Limited offers this time around, but some good choices in here. They started with items under $15, and I threw in some other good choices for good measure.

TJ Hooker - The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons - $14.99
Get Smart: The Complete Series - $11.99
Blue Thunder: The Complete Series - $14.99
Riptide - The Complete First Season - $14.99
VIP - The Complete First Season - $14.99

Roseanne:
Roseanne - The Complete First Season - $14.99
Roseanne - The Complete Second Season - $14.99
Roseanne - The Complete Third Season - $12.99
Roseanne - The Complete Fourth Season - $14.99
Roseanne - The Complete Fifth Season - $14.99
Roseanne - The Complete Sixth Season - $14.99
Roseanne: The Complete Seventh Season - $14.99
Roseanne - Season Eight - $14.99
Roseanne: The Complete Ninth Season - $14.99
Roseanne: Halloween Edition - $9.99

The Three Stooges, starting at $7.99:
The Three Stooges: Curly Classics
The Three Stooges - Stooged & Confoosed (Colorized / Black & White)
The Three Stooges - Stooges and the Law
The Three Stooges: Stooges at Work
The Three Stooges - All the World's a Stooge
The Three Stooges - Cops and Robbers
Three Stooges - Dizzy Doctors
Three Stooges - G.I. Stooge
Three Stooges - Healthy Wealthy & Dumb
The Three Stooges - Merry Mavericks
Three Stooges- Nutty But Nice
The Three Stooges - Spook Louder
The Three Stooges - Three Stooges in History
The Three Stooges: Stooges on the Run

The Cosby Show:
The Cosby Show - Season 1 - $10.99
The Cosby Show - Season 2 - $13.99
The Cosby Show: Season 3 - $13.99
The Cosby Show: Season 4 - $13.99
The Cosby Show - Season 5
The Cosby Show - Season 6 - $13.99
The Cosby Show: Season 7 - $13.99
The Cosby Show: Season 8 - $13.99
The Best of the Cosby Show - $6.49

MacGyver:
MacGyver - The Complete First Season - $18.99
MacGyver - The Complete Second Season - $18.99
MacGyver - The Complete Third Season - $18.99
Macgyver - The Complete Fourth Season - $21.49
MacGyver - The Complete Fifth Season - $18.49
MacGyver - The Complete Sixth Season - $18.49
MacGyver - The Complete Final Season - $18.99

From Airlock Alpha:

Dollhouse," which is gunning heavily to be removed from Fox's lineup far earlier than expected, earned a 1.4 rating/3 share, according to Fast National ratings from The Nielsen Co. It basically matches the audience the show received last week, and was Fox's lowest-rated show ... period."

It's funny, since I was just discussing some of FOX's cancellations this morning with a co-worker (see my previous thoughts on FOX's "programming" here or here). I haven't been able to watch any of this season of Dollhouse just yet, but I guess I'll have to try harder - maybe just tune in the receiver and then turn off the TV? I'll watch it, just so dang busy.....

I guess I could also just wait for the ax to fall, then enjoy season 2 on DVD, much like you can now with season one.

If you're like me - and I know I am - you enjoy TV on occasion. I opened my email today to find that Amazon is having a sale on British Movies & TV: up to 50% off!. In addition to that, there's some good prices/new sets available:

The IT Crowd: The Complete First Season

The IT Crowd: The Complete Second Season

The Middleman: The Complete Series

Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

Dollhouse: Season One

Dollhouse: Season One [Blu-ray]

Also: pre-order "Star Trek" on DVD/Blu-Ray and you can save up to 34%!
Star Trek (Three-Disc +Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Star Trek (Two-Disc Digital Copy Edition)

Star Trek

Amazon has a sale right now - Up to 45% Off TV First Seasons on DVD. I went through the list - some very good choices in there, and some very good prices too boot!

From the BBC:

• The IT Crowd: The Complete Season One
• Primeval: Volume 1 (Series 1 and 2)
• Torchwood - The Complete First Season
• MI-5, Volume 1
• Doctor Who - The Complete First Series
• All Creatures Great & Small: The Complete Series 1 Collection
• The Sarah Jane Adventures - The Complete First Season
• Robin Hood - Season One (5DVD)
• Hotel Babylon - Season 1
• Chef! - The Complete Series One
• The Commander Set 1
• The Robinsons - Complete Series One
• Fawlty Towers - A Touch of Class/The Builders/The Wedding Party/The Hotel Inspectors
• The Prisoner - Set 1: Arrival/ Free for All/ Dance of the Dead

From HBO:

• True Blood: The Complete First Season
• The Sopranos: The Complete First Season
• Deadwood - The Complete First Season

Recently Cancelled:

• Pushing Daisies - The Complete First Season
• Life: Season One

Still running:

• Breaking Bad - The Complete First Season
• The Office - Season One
• Rescue Me - The Complete First Season
• Reno 911 - The Complete First Season
• Rules of Engagement - The Complete First Season
• Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List - The Complete First Season
• Keeping Up with the Kardashians: Season 1
• The Boondocks: The Complete First Season

No longer on the air:

• JAG (Judge Advocate General) - The Complete First Season
• Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2
• Quark - The Complete Series
• Profiler - Season One
• Will & Grace - Season One
• Mork & Mindy - The Complete First Season
• My Two Dads: Season One
• Knight Rider - Season One
• The Equalizer - Season One
• The Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 1 (1989-1990)
• Fantasy Island - The Complete First Season
• Family Ties - The Complete First Season
• The Partridge Family - The Complete First Season
• The Love Boat - Season One, Vol. 1
• Full House - The Complete First Season
• The Tick - The Entire Series
• Caroline in the City - The First Season
• Charles in Charge: The Complete First Season
• My Three Sons - Season One vols. 1 - 2

Some cheap shilling, yes. But they're also good shows. Some of them are on sale as part of Amazon's Spring TV Event. Peruse them, buy some.... We all win!

Complete Series:
Masters of Science Fiction: The Complete Series
Kidnapped - The Complete Series
The Black Donnellys - The Complete Series
Painkiller Jane
Tekwar
Get Smart: The Complete Series
Extras - The Complete Series (Includes Series Finale)
Nowhere Man - The Complete Series
Odyssey 5 - The Complete Series
M.A.N.T.I. S: Complete Series
Dilbert - The Complete Series
Starhunter 2300: The Complete Series
Witchblade - The Complete Series
The West Wing - The Complete Series Collection
La Femme Nikita - The Complete First Five Seasons

Episodes:
Battlestar Galactica - Razor (Unrated Extended Edition)
Stargate Atlantis - Rising (Pilot Episode)

NCIS Naval Criminal Investigative Service:
The First Season
The Second Season
The Third Season
The Fourth Season
The Fifth Season

The Shield:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6

Tripping the Rift:
The Complete First Season
The Complete Second Season
The Complete Third Season

Grounded for Life:
Season One
Season Two
Season Three
Season Four
Season Five

NYPD Blue:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5

La Femme Nikita:
The First Season
The Second Season
The Third Season
The Fourth Season
The Fifth Season

Titus:
Seasons 1 & 2
Season 3

21 Jump Street:
The Complete First Season
The Complete Second Season
The Complete Third Season
The Complete Fourth Season
The Complete Fifth Season

Silk Stalkings:
The Complete First Season
The Complete Second Season
The Complete Third Season
The Complete Fourth Season
The Complete Fifth Season

Mad About You:
The Complete First Season
The Complete Second Season
The Complete Third Season
The Complete Fourth Season
The Complete Fifth Season
The Complete Sixth Season
The Complete Seventh Season

3rd Rock from the Sun:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6

Arrested Development:
Season One
Season Two
Season Three

Weeds:
Season One
Season Two
Season Three

Have you seen the trailer for "Star Trek" yet? Go watch it. Now. I'll wait.

Watched it? Good. It doesn't tell you much, sure. But it leaves so very much to the imagination. And it also makes you want to see it - right? I mean, there's people in that movie you've heard of, but you can't really imagine them as, for example, a young Kirk, right? And who could ever be Scotty? Oh, wait - that's right, it's Simon Pegg. You might know him from Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. If you haven't seen them, go check them out - "Shaun of the Dead" is a great sendup of zombie type movies, and "Hot Fuzz" is a brilliant homage of just about every single police movie ever made. And then some.

And, in case you forgot about where "Star Trek" started (a young man named William Shatner... ah, memories!), you can check all of the series and movies on DVD.

If you haven't seen it, watch it. Returning Friday, April 4, Battlestar Galactica is one of the best "remakes" of tv going on. They tried to re-do Bionic Woman and apparently didn't do too well (I haven't had a chance to see it) - I just read that they're releasing all eight of the episodes on DVD, so maybe I still have a chance....

Another thing to be aware of: What the Frak is Going On? is a nice, concise, eight minute recap of the first three seasons of Battlestar. From what I understand, this will be the last season - every now and then it's nice to have a tv show go from start to finish, instead of being canned before it's aired fully (Firefly, Space: Above and Beyond, Good vs. Evil, Invisible Man, or many of the others) or
going on for years and years and years - sometimes past when it should have probably called it quits. Of course, the latter rarely happens. But WTFIGO is good not only to catch up on what you might have missed, but also for some nice commentary - mostly in the form of little snippets slid-in among the recap. You have to watch it to understand, but I laughed more than a few times.

So, to recap: Watch the recap online. Enjoy it. Get ready for season 4 to air on 4/4 (co-incidence? I think not!). And if you need to catch up, season 3 was just released on DVD as a whole set (none of this "Season 3.0", and then "Season 3.5" non-sense!).

LATimes.com brings the following obit:

Dick Wilson, a character actor who turned "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" into a national catchphrase as exasperated shopkeeper Mr. Whipple in the TV commercial campaign that ran for more than two decades, has died. He was 91.

Remember:
Please, don't squeeze the Charmin!

So, I just finished watching the "scrubs" musical episode, and I have to say that I'm very happy. Aside from the "Guy Love" song, which I had downloaded (for free!) from iTunes and instantly loved, there were more than a few other instant classics.

Aside from managing to get tons of medical jargon into the songs, they managed to do parodies of "Pirates of Penzance" and "Grease", but I'm sure that there were a few others in there that I've heard before but couldn't exactly place. Regardless. Awesome.

I don't know what it is about musicals, but they just make me happy. I don't know if I've mentioned this in the blog at all - or ever - but it's my opinion that there just aren't enough musicals in the world. They used to have tons of them back in the day (the 50's, 60's, 70's), but they just don't make them as much any more. Why? I don't know. I do know that Disney had a hit with their "High School Musical" thing - so apparently musicals are popular, at least with the so called "tweeners".

Where was I? Oh yeah, "scrubs" musical. I'm glad I taped it - I have to make Jen watch it about 10 times.

TV Squad brought me to what is apparently the theme song from the pilot episode of "Gilligans Island". It's... different. Check it out on
YouTube

SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel:
SCI FI Channel confirmed that it will not renew its record-breaking original series Stargate SG-1 for another season, but will pick up its spinoff series Stargate Atlantis for a fourth year. SG-1 aired its 200th episode on Aug. 18, and the SF series is the longest-running SF show on American television.

I was hoping that they'd keep the "gate open" for a while longer - but I can see how they'd want to get out while the going is still good. I just hope that they do it right and leave some chance for further movies down the line...

The TV Deal the NBA Wishes It Had Not Made - Los Angeles Times

Made 30 years ago by the owners of a team that folded after the ABA/NBA merger, it's basically iron clad and making them a ton of money. Somebody planned ahead - and didn't know it.

Charles Gibson Named Sole Anchor for ABC News - Los Angeles Times

I wonder why this is such huge news? Is it because the hub-ub over Katie Couric has finally started to die down?

So Charlie will be staying on "Good Morning America" until the end of June, when he'll do WNT full time. More than full time, according to Elizabeth Vargas, who is the current anchor - but she has a point.

"(ABC News President David) Westin had said he envisioned the job being too much for one person, since he wanted the anchors to travel frequently to news sites and do separate versions of "World News Tonight" online and for West Coast audiences"

I think that this format makes the show a little better - similar to how GMA is handled, where they have three anchors now, and they switch off among them. Not just during the show, but there have been times, like when Gibson's grandchild was born and Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts just did their thing without him. I think it's a little more organic and easier to deal with.

WiReD News has a fun little story about the Pilots that don't make it. There's some strange sounding shows out there - Ethel is an Elephant comes to mind - but you have to wonder what happens to most of them - especially since ordering a pilot costs quite a bit of money. Apparently more than a few pilots end up on the internet - such as the one for Heat Vision and Jack. It's backed by Ben Stiller, stars a then unknown Jack Black, and features Owen Wilson as.... well, you'll have to see it. And check out this website about the show.

Don't forget to check out the Forbes Top 10 failed Pilots. Kinda interesting.

Ironic Sans: The Google Maps Guide to Ghostbusters

Take Google Maps, add in the info about Ghostbusters (along with screen captures), and you have the Ghostbusting Google Map Mashup (which, by the way, is a mouthful!).

This dovetails nicely with something I've been meaning to write about - Ghostbusters. The kids LOVE it.

Sure, there's a few parts that are a little scary, and some language that they shouldn't hear - but to be honest, while I'm no longshoreman, I can't always refrain from swearing, no matter how much I try. But the idea of the movie is appealing to the youngsters, what with the ghosts and the sliming and let's not forget the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. Mmmmm.

goats: the store : what would sulu do?

I've never considered it, but I think it's about time I admit what I've always known: I live my life by the code of Sulu. When I find myself need an answer, I ask myself:
What would Sulu do?

While perusing the SciFi Wire, I found the following tasty tidbits:

O'Neill back for a visit:
Richard Dean Anderson, former star and executive producer of Stargate SG-1, returns to the series for its historic 200th original episode, SCI FI Channel announced. Production on the bicentennial episode begins April 5 in Vancouver, Canada. Anderson, who will be reprising the role of Gen. Jack O'Neill, will also make special guest appearances in a number of episodes of both SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis that will air in the upcoming new seasons, which are slated to premiere this summer.

I think we can all agree that while Ben Browder is doing a good job, O'Neill is the original. Hopefully they'll have more onscreen time together this go around.

Corin Nemec in SciFi original:
Former Stargate SG-1 star Corin Nemec told SCI FI Wire that he welcomed the opportunity to return to the genre in the upcoming SCI FI original movie SS Doomtrooper. Nemec stars in the film as Capt. Malloy, an American soldier who, in post-D-Day France, leads a unit on a top-secret mission to thwart a Nazi plot to create an army of supersoldier/beasts.

Did anyone else catch the "Parker Lewis Can't Loose" reference? That was good of the SciFi people to throw that in there.

"Wormhole X-treme" redux:
This time around, the SG-1 team helps Lloyd turn Wormhole X-treme into a movie. "Even though the series was canceled after three episodes, it did well on DVD," Wright said. "It's a little nod to Serenity, I suppose." Serenity is based on the failed Fox TV series Firefly, which was canceled in the middle of its first season, but which went on to sell well on DVD, warranting a feature film.

It's good that this is one of the episodes that O'Neill is back for - and it's also good that there's that little, very subtle nod to Firefly (DVD) and Serenity (DVD)

Overall, I'd say that if you're into SciFi, you should check out the wire - there's good info there. And don't forget to watch SciFi Friday this summer! Only three months left before they return!

scrubs "rowdy the dog" is my new number one search - at least that I know of.

blogdaze.com/drugaddict

So, I'm watching an older episode of CSI: Miami thanks to the amazing powers of the internet, and it started to do a bit of shark jumping: behold, the blogging plot twist.

What's irritating to me, as a blogger, is how they take things that are just plain silly and then try to pass them off as fact. It's one thing for the characters, who clearly know what they're talking about, to have their dialog include the usual explanation of why they're doing something ("We need to get this sample to trace so we can figure out where the killer was sitting while he waited" or whatever), but another when they start making statements about things that are just plain weird.

In this example, a character says that bloggers always put extra stuff in their pages that are like easter eggs. Guess what? I don't. I don't know very many people who do - but now it's out there, circulating. No, it doesn't affect me, but it does irritate me. Ugh.

I realize it's old news at this point, but I've had the page bookmarked for so long that if I don't post it, I'll feel that I wasted those bytes.

TSG Mug Shot: The "Lost" Girls

Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros, stars of the ABC megahit "Lost," were arrested by Honolulu cops in December 2005 and charged with drunk driving.

Mr. T Likes The Double-Shot Espresso

How cool is it that Paul just happened to run into Mr. T while running into his local Starbucks?

YouTube - Natalie Portman SNL Digital Short

It's good to see folks pushing their limits, and it's always fun to watch what they do with the guest host on SNL - and this was no exception.

Where Are They Now - The Great Gazoo: Where Are They Now?

The Great Gazoo? You know, the green alien who always managed to get Fred and Barney into trouble? Yeah, I figured you'd forgotten him, just like I did. He's not the only one listed on this site - there's also Punky Brewster, Snarf (from "Thundercats!"), Scrappy Doo, The Fonz and many more.

On "Stargate: SG-1" tonight, there was some discussion about what movie to watch for their "movie night". Teal'c was thinking of choosing "Old School," but at the end of the show, Cam suggested "Starship Troopers."
Teal'c: "Is it funny?"
Cam: "You betcha!"

Considering they'd just dealt with "bugs" of another sort during the episode, and considering the campiness of "Troopers"... Yeah, it's funny. This episode was a nice change, in some ways, from the more "we have to fight these people" episodes of late, mostly because they tried to tie in some of the political infighting that they've been bringing more to the fore of late. It was a nice plot device, and added some relief to the overwhelming-ness of the "Ori" story line - at least when the System Lords were the main bad guys, they'd switch things up every now and then and try to keep it interesting with some new villan of the week, on occasion. Or bring up the Asgard and their Replicator problems - little changes to bring on some variety.

"Stargate: Atlantis" was... well, not funny in that way. It was, however, funny in another way - I saw this episode about 2 weeks ago, when I got it on a CD from a friend who got it online. I guess the UK version of the show is airing ahead of the US version again, so he must have got it online. That internet thing is cool - I should check it out sometime. I hear Al Gore invented it....

"Battlestar Galactica" was frakking good, as usual. I must say that I appreciate any show that introduces a new "swear" word into my vocabulary. There was "frell" in Farscape, and now "frak" in BSG. Can't go wrong, I always say - especially since it gives me a word to say in front of the kids when I'd would really rather use some slightly more choice words... Anyway, I have been enjoying this season, but I have to say that some of the major plot points I saw coming a mile away:
Pegasus jumping into a trap? Yeah, of course.
Roslyn appeasing her largest voting block? Yeah.
Lee Adama getting command of Pegasus (aka The Beast)? Saw that two miles away.
Baltar flipping on Roslyn so he could try to become President himself? Well, that's been coming for a while.

All in all, I'd say that SciFi has a good thing going with their SciFi Friday lineup - SG-1 is the old hand, drawing in the regular fans. Atlantis keeps them around, since it's similar to SG-1 in some ways, but wildly different in others. And BSG is getting rave reviews from all over the place, and it's become quite a hot little item. As long as they don't frak it up, like they did by cancelling some of their best works (aka "Invisible Man" or "Farscape"), or they don't jump the shark in some way, we should be enjoying these shows for at least a couple of years.

So, the Olympics are here. It's nice to see that nothing too outrageous is going on at the moment, what the potential for terrorists, Olympic controversy and all sorts of other "fun" things.

Before I vent, I'd like to share a URL:
DFL

An interesting blog that looks at the other side of the coin: the folks who've worked for years to make the Olympics, only to come home with nothing but the satisfaction that they made it that far. There's some interesting commentary, and lots of info about the other people competing - because let's face it: just because you're the world record setter doesn't mean you're that interesting.

On to the big gripe: during the Blizzard of '06 (last weekend), there was plenty of time for the NBC folks to shower me with Olympic loving. They didn't. I found some of the lesser known/popular sports playing on some of the non-NBC branded channels (aka USA), but that was it during the non-primetime hours. I had to wait until 8:00 at night to start getting the good stuff, and even then, it's the usual "now that we've gotten you interested in what happened in men's snowboard half-pipe, let's switch to the couples ice dancing for a bit" bait and switch.

Not that I don't get it - they have to vary things, otherwise people will only watch the stuff they care about. But is there that much on during the day on a weekend that you can't pre-empt it for the one time every 2 years that the Olympics are on? I don't think so. You know that they get top dollar for the advertising during this time, so why don't they capitalize on it? And just because they showed it during the day doesn't mean that they can't replay the same footage - or even do highlights - later the same day. It's just plain crazy/stupid.

I also don't really see the need to repeat the footage from 1:00 am to 5:00 am - if I didn't watch it the first time, odds are good that I wouldn't watch it then either.

I did manage to watch some of the Curling that was on at 4:00 the other day, but that's because Ethan didn't want to go back to bed then. Of course, the Curling - which I still think COULD be an interesting sport - put both of us to sleep. I think it's time to get "Curling for Dummies" from the library and see if I'm right....

call-turk - Google Search
or
Turk Broadcasts His Digits on 'Scrubs'

I'm pretty sure I covered this before, but just in case...

You WILL call Turk. And make for damn sure that you dial that last K - unless you use Cingular, which can't handle the extra digit.

Right now it's just Carla saying they'll be back on the air soon - but I hope that they start answering again. That's some funny stuff.....

Serenity is now - well, in a few hours - available on DVD. From what I've read (below and elsewhere on the internet) it's a great movie - details that we never learned on the show, and new and fun information. I hear that some people died during the course of the story - very sad, and I wish I didn't know about it - but sometimes these things happen and are just the way things have to be.

A write up of the DVD: UGO.com Film/TV - Serenity DVD Review - UGO Blasts Off with Serenity

So, go buy a copy of the DVD - they didn't do extremely well in the theaters, so lets help them make up for it with this DVD release.

Barney's Blog

Blog Hi-five! Barney's the kind of guy who says what he means - and occasionally does so without engaging his brain. Check out his blog for a little slice of Barney's life, as well as some more info about things that happened on the show. Oh, and it's a good show.

Christmas Story

Told in 30 seconds. And re-enacted by bunnies.

Frigging awesome. Genius. HI-LARIOUS!

CHiPs is back! - Cinematical

Not only are Ponch and that bland white guy back, but Ponch will be played by the reigning king of cheese himself, Wilmer Valderrama.

I saw a photo of Wilmer in a post-Halloween issue of some "we love watching all the celebrities lives" magazines. I wondered - out loud, mind - if this was just a costume for the evening, or something he'd be wearing for a movie....