The Show:

Season 6 had some really good scheming going on. Mac and Dennis came into some money, about $2,000, from a website they started, and they decided to buy a boat. The only boat they had money for was a run down boat that needed a lot of work. Dennis and Mac decided that Charlie, Frank and Dee would be the ones doing the brunt of the work while they went out buying supplies. Suffice it to say, nothing went the way it should have and by the end the boat was no longer in their care. It’s what happens during this time that’s just over the top and for any normal person, would not happen. Everything that could go wrong did.

In another episode, Dee announces she’s pregnant. Frank, Charlie, Mac and Dennis have to go over the Halloween party they had in order to figure out which one knocked Dee up. With each telling of the story, it changes dramatically with the storyteller, until they think they figure out who the father is. In a 2 episode arc, Dee become a substitute teacher, while Charlie becomes a janitor in the same school. The gang then have to reconnect with an old friend to take over for Charlie in their group. Jason Sudeikis (who would later star with Charlie Day in Horrible Bosses) plays the friend. René Auberjonois, the wonderful character actor, plays the teacher that Dee is subbing for. Wackiness then ensues.

If you’re looking for a show that’s 30 minutes of just off the wall fun, this is certainly the show for you. There really are no storylines to follow, outside of a 2 to 3 episode arc here or there, so if you come in cold, you can enjoy it. It fills the void that so many Seinfeld fans have been wanting to fill since it ended.

The Extras:

The Sunny Flip Cup Challange – This is a blu-ray exclusive. It’s an interactive game you play with your remote. It’s made up of 3 rounds of trivia about season 6, and the questions get harder to read with each of the 3 rounds, do to the game making it seem like you have been drinking. There are then 4 other games to play on random between each trivia round. One is an 8 bit video game where you guide Frank and Charlie through the sewers of Philadelphia on the boat the gang buys. There is one where you have to shoot a puck, like another episode, at a hockey goal. There are 2 other games that I never got to play due to the randomness of the choices.

Lethal Weapon 5 Extended Cut – There is a story arc in a couple of episodes where this movie is talked about Mac and Dennis made their own version of a Lethal Weapon movie with Frank as the bad guy and Charlie as the many henchmen. This is a wonderful short and very, very funny. Worth checking out for sure.

Dennis and Dee’s Podcasts - Another episode of the show has Dennis and Dee trying their hand at making a podcast. This is a few of said podcasts. This isn’t anything that great. It has a few funny moments, but nothing too great.

Blooper Reel – Short but has a few funny moments. Typical on a set like this. Nothing too great, but still pretty good.

Deleted and Extended Scenes – There weren’t many of these, but they were great. Mainly cut and changed do to time constraints, but this was still fun to watch.

Commentary on Select Episodes – Only on a few episodes, but it was still a good, entertaining listen. The gang’s here and they are having fun with this.

Audio/Video – The picture quality is perfect. From season 5 on, the show was shot with HD cameras, so nothing is lost here. The audio is just as good as if you watched it originally on television.

Final Verdict – If you’ve been missing the great sitcom in the last 15 years, then this is a must see show. It’s witty, smart and very, very funny. Every member of the gang is dumber than the other and it’s fun watching them fail at everything they do. Each episode is about 22 minutes (30 with commercials) and it flies by.

The Show Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Extras Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

With despondency taking its toll on him, and writer’s block crippling his creative juices, Mike comes to the realization that his wife had been doing her homework and is leaving him clues as to why she spent so much time by their house near the lake – there was a brutal double murder from ’39 involving his grandfather. African-American singer Sara Tidwell (Anika Noni Rose) was raped and killed by local kids, and her daughter was drowned to death.

Mike also runs afoul of the malicious Max Devore (William Schallert) after almost running down his granddaughter Kyra (Caitlin Carmichael). The old timer is in an ugly  battle with his daughter in-law Mattie (Melissa George), and he will do anything to have her little girl taken away. Mike is subpoenaed by the law to help decide what is best for Kyra in case a custody trail becomes necessary. He goes to bat for Mattie, although her daughter was left alone long enough to almost get struck by a car on the open road.

A hex has been laid down on the male bloodline of the murderers who never served a sentence for their atrocious acts. One by one, the men have drowned their daughters, and Mike is blindsided by the notion that his wife feared he would kill their child. Max Devore has vested so much energy into the doomed town because he is the culprit responsible for the dispatching of two innocent souls, and he believes killing Kyra would once and for all, lift the curse.

Stephen King is at his best when his work deals with the universal fear of death and the loss of loved ones. Being a husband and father of a little girl, the horror of witnessing a man left alone because karma wasn’t on his side left me in a melancholy mood. We can argue until the cows come home if there is the existence of ghosts or aliens, but we can’t run away from father time and fate. King doesn’t skimp on the grisly happenings and ghosts from the after life, but this is a character driven piece in the vein of Misery. It’s a slow burn for the first two acts, but the finale is a barn burner, which hasn’t always been the case in the ouvre of King.

Mick Garris has directed two of the best Stephen King adaptions, Bag of Bones and Riding the Bullet, and both are dramatic horror films that have heart and deal with the human spirit. Garris and King have been making magic together for nearly 20 years, going back to Sleepwalkers, and together they have proven the horror genre shouldn’t be pigeonholed to blood and guts.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Show:

The good thing about a show like Modern Family is that if you miss an episode, you won’t miss anything except what happened in that episode. There is no underlying storyline that connects the episodes. Things you might have missed from an episode a few weeks prior won’t effect a joke the week you watch the show. That said, with this Blu-Ray, you won’t miss an episode.

Season 1 was fantastic and was nominated for many awards. It won the Emmy Award for Beast Comedy Series. Each of the cast members did an amazing job with their respective roles. Going in to the second season, fans and critics weren’t sure if the show could hold up. Would it hit the sophomore slump? Would the ratings hold up? Well, the answers would be No and Yes. In fact, the episodes were as funny and the ratings rose with the second season. It started out a little slow, but once the season got rolling, the laughs wouldn’t and couldn’t stop.

The show seemed to pick up so much steam that many big named actors wanted to guest star. The writers have said that they didn’t want to being a lot of guest stars on the show, because they didn’t want those actors to take away from the show. There were a few notable actors that did make appearances on the show in the second season. Shelly Long returned to the second season. She played Jay’s ex-wife. When she returned, she wasn’t alone as she brought along Matt Dillon to play her younger boyfriend, and ex-boyfriend of Clair. Celia Weston showed up as Cameron’s mother, Danny Trejo played a janitor in at Manny and Luke’s school, James Marsden played a new neighbor to Cameron and Mitchell in a very funny episode where he walked around without his shirt. Nathan Lane showed up as a recurring character and friend to Cameron and Mitchell, Pepper Saltsman.

There are very few shows on television right now that can equal the laughs of this brilliant show. There is never a boring episode. The cast that was put together all work hard and have amazing chemistry. Overall, this is probably as close to a perfect show as one can find.

Audio/Video: The blu-ray looked great. The show is shot for HD, and it really came across here on the discs. They looked clear and perfect. The video is typical of that for a television show. Everything sounded great here.

The Extras:

Deleted Family Interviews: This was a cool extra, but didn’t add too much to the show. The thing about Modern Family is it’s shot with interviews of the family members, similar to The Office. These were deleted interviews with the characters.

Deleted and Extended Scenes: These are just regular deleted or extended scenes. Nothing too special here. A few were funny, but nothing was missed in the episodes that these were cut from.

Strangers on a Treadmill: The Table Read: Strangers on a Treadmill was one of the episodes from season 2. It was a very funny episode, and this was a live table read of the episode by all the actors. This was a cool little extra as some jokes didn’t make it to the final shooting script. Very much worth watching.

Mitchell’s flash Mob: In another episode Mitchell is told by Cameron that he’s not spontaneous. While out together, a flash mob breaks out, and Mitchell is part of it. This is a behind the scenes featurette about the shooting of that scene.

“Imagine Me Naked” Music Video: Haley’s boyfriend on the show, Dylan, is an aspiring rock star. This is the music video for one of his songs, and the song is just ridiculous, but in a good way. The video is a little much, but kind of funny. Probably the only skippable feature on the disc.

Gag-Reel: Typical gag-reel, but since it’s from one of the funniest shows on television, the reel is worth checking out. Non stop laughs here.

Modern Family Holidays: Modern Family had a number of holiday themed episodes, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Mother’s Day, etc. This is a behind the scenes feature with the cast and crew talking about the various episodes.

Waiting on Oprah: Oprah is a big fa of the show. She had the cast on her show via satellite to interview them. This is a featurette following the cast around that day.

Chatting with Steve Levitan: Steve Levitan is a writer, producer and director for Modern Family. This was an interview with the man behind the show. Very insightful.

At Home with Modern Family: This was a tour around the 3 homes that are used for the filming of the show.

The Show Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Disc Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Show:

Workaholics stars Anders ” Ders” Holm, Blake Anderson and Adam DeVine as slacker college buddies out of school and having misadventures working at a telemarketing firm. Their lives are going nowhere, but they don’t seem to notice since they’re under the assumption that the partying lifestyle they enjoyed in college can continue indefinitely. This is the very simple premise of one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in recent years.

Situations that have been included on the show have been: an office camp-out; a celebrity lookalike swinger’s party; the guys looking after the the bosses bother who has Down Syndrome and is one of the biggest party-animals they’ve ever met; a visit to a Juggalo get together; and, wizard rap.

The antics these guys get into, as written, are pretty funny. But, it’s the talent of the entire cast–not just the three leads–that makes this show so damn funny. These would include Maribeth Monroe, Jillian Bell, Erik Griffin and Kyle Newacheck. A great supporting cast for any type of show is usually the deciding factor if a show is a must see or not. And, these folks make this show a must see for me.

Bottom line: I actually tried to not laugh at this show, and I failed. I’m looking forward to seeing more seasons of Workaholics.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: I find this strange, but there’s two audio options here. One is the “rated” version which is 5.1 Dolby Digital. And, then there’s Dolby Digital Stereo for the “unrated” version . Anyone who picks this set up isn’t going to bother with the “rated” version anyway. Why not both versions being in 5.1? Truthfully, issue is moot here since both tracks sound pretty much the same. Which is nice and clear. The video image is nice and crisp and clear.

Special Features:

Extended Catherine Zeta-Jones song: This was feature in the episode, “Office Camp-out”. It’s cute.

Extended ‘Ders’ Rap: This was featured in the “Straight Up Juggahos” episode. I’m not really a rap kinda guy.

Digital Originals: These are short comedy bits. So-so stuff really.

Cast Interviews: Gives great background of the formation of these group of guys and the creation of the show.

Deletes Scenes: Not really a fan of deleted scenes.

Alternate Takes: This is actually pretty interesting stuff.

Live at Bonnaroo: The guys do a live skit. Not bad.

Audio Commentary on All Episodes: These are pretty fun and, at times, informative.

The Show Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The DVD Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Show:

Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) is back and better than ever in the second season of one of televisions’ most promising shows. Sophisticated cons, intriguing cases, riveting story-lines, and a cast that is nothing short of amazing make White Collar a must watch television masterpiece.

The Second Season beings exactly where the First Season left off. The question of who blew up the plane Neil’s girlfriend was on is the thread that strings the entire season together. Needless to say, Neil is grieving over the death of his beloved  Kate, yet his smooth demeanor allows him to continue to solve the tough cases that the FBI kept him out of jail for. The incredible connection between Neil and agent Peter Burke (Tim Dekay) is the anchor that holds this series in place. Neil’s slick and Peter is weathered, but the two complement each other perfectly.

This season has a slew of wonderful opponents for Neil and Peter to track down. Tim Matheson’s Edward Walker was a standout, as well as Andrew McCarthy’s Vincent Adler. But it’s Willie Garson playing Neil’s old friend Mozzie that steals every scene he’s in. His uncomfortable charisma make him a charming character, but his ties to the underbelly of the city make him a useful counterpart.

Standout episodes this season are; Withdrawl, Copycat Caffrey, Point Blank, Payback, and Forging Bonds.

White Collar isn’t a show without problems. Sometimes there are plot holes, as there are in most shows trying to tell a compressed story, but the good far outweighs the bad. White Collar is a stellar show that deserves high praise, and Neil Caffrey is an expertly crafted and enthralling character. So do yourself a favor and pick this season up on DVD because it is an absolutely killer series.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: The audio came through loud and clear and the video looked fantastic for the most part. There were a few instances where the blacks were crushed, but nothing that took away from having a solid viewing experience.

Special Features

Deleted Scenes: I usually don’t dig deleted scenes all that much. Most of the time they were deleted for a reason, but this time I’m guessing they were cut because of time. Most of the scenes here are quality scenes that could have enhanced the episodes they were cut from. Definitely worth watching.

Gag Reel: The only bad thing about this feature is that it is to short. It clocks in at just over five minutes and it could have been three times that and still been entertaining.

White Collar Roasts Burn Notice: Burn Notice creator Matt Nix along with other writers from both camps compare their shows. Worth watching.

Burn Notice Roasts White Collar: See above.

There are a host of other features such as, Slick Willie, So Here’s the Deal: Anatomy of an Episode (worth watching), and the prerequisite Commentary.

The Show: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Given the 10-12 minute format of the series, in nine episodes, Kevin Tancharoen created a kick-ass look at each character, but not without some hiccups. After the stunning two-part opening episodes, featuring Jax and Sonya (Michael Jai White, Jeri Ryan), the series really feels episodic and abbreviated. The need to see more, to know more, to want more, is really a credit to Tancharoen’s loving retelling of our favorite fighting game and its universe. The action is top-notch, the production values are slick, which gives the web-series potential as a growing format in our ADD culture.

The Rayden episode is a dark, foreboding tale of the God of Thunder and his quest to help the mortals in the tournament. Rayden, who’s been played with regal and camp from the previous movies, is given a make over. He’s dark, tormented, and yet humble. But the best episodes are the riveting two-part Scorpion and Sub-Zero episodes, which are so good, I think fans would love just to see a movie based on these two. Ninja movies haven’t always been the subject to greatness like samurai genre, but Tancharoen’s reinvention here makes ninjas epically cool. Scorpion’s mask and spear are cleverly mystic. Sub-Zero is his (ahem) polar opposite and makes for a great prequel to their feud.

Where the series stumbles is in the fantastical elements, which is an odd criticism at first. The video games have caught the imagination of fans due to its mixture of fantasy with Enter The Dragon. But the Kitana/Mileena episodes fail because there’s too much back story to fit into 10 minutes and to tell this, most of the episode is devoted to animated flashbacks and fights. After a killer opening to this two-parter, with Baraka murdering everyone in sight, in order for Shao Khan to nab the princess Kitana, the animation while superb, guts out the emotional connection to these characters. The fantasy elements at times feels counter-intuitive at times, despite the fantasy elements are the reason why we love Mortal Kombat.

Over nine episodes, Mortal Kombat: Legacy teeters between being excellent and just mini-prequels to the newest game that was recently released. In the end, so? It’s a violent, reinvention to our favorite characters. It doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s bloody good. Get over here!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Series:

I don’t know what baseball cap wearing little boy growing up in the mid-80s didn’t love Transformers, whether it was from the simply animated classic cartoon or all of the coolest damn toys ever from Hasbro, but if you didn’t, then you must’ve been a Ninja Turtle fan. Or at least where I came from, you were a Turtle or a ‘Bot. I was a ‘Bot. Call me sentimental, but I liked my cartoons with silly morality messages of teamwork, friendship, and loyalty, and that’s why I transformed and rolled out.

But Beast Wars? That’s been a completely forgotten section of the Transformers lore to me, yet despite that and thanks to the third Michael Bay movie, Shout! Factory has rolled out the Transformers: Beast Wars – The Complete Series on DVD for all of us.

First airing in September 1996, the show took the basic concept of the series and rebooted two key aspects of the series that added some different flavor to the lore. The show took place on a futuristic setting, as our Transformers land on a prehistoric planet looking for Energon and these robots are descendants of the Autobots and Decepticons, which take on animal-like qualities, thus dubbing themselves Maximals and Predacons. It’s silly I guess, when Optimus Prime in Beast Wars is now a Gorilla robot, and you got things called Waspinator, Terrorsaur, and Cheetor.

The characters are the only new thing, as the animation left its 2D cell animation roots for the newly developed CGI, something that wasn’t as everyday as it is now. So of course, as seen in today’s eyes, it looks crappy, cheap, and primitive, but in 1996 Toy Story barely looked a little better, and that was big budgeted. Beast Wars actually won an Emmy for its animation, if you can believe that.

So animation and newly redesigned characters aside, the series is still well-liked, mostly do to its constant action, darker story lines, and clever humor. Season 1 introduces us to the characters, the story arc, and feels episodic mostly. Although any of this season two-parters like the first two episodes in Beast Wars, and The Trigger and Other Voices are stand-outs.

Season Two isn’t as long as the first season was, but it’s probably a little better in terms of characterizations and stories. There’s a bit of continuity too, so it helps to pay attention episode to episode, which only strengthens the show, especially in the Season Two finale, The Agenda. There’s some fun original series references and Easter Eggs for die-hard fans.

Season Three is a fan favorite, despite the frantic nature of its pacing. The stories are darker, more deaths, more violence (all PG level, I mean, it is robots), and new Transformers. Seriousness aside, there’s plenty of the show’s tried and true humor lurking around, although amidst all of the story continuity and cameo appearances by the original Megatron and Optimus Prime, Season Three is a neat ending to the series, which helped at the time, briefly revitalize the concept of Hasbro’s Transformers.

While I think the series hasn’t aged that well, you’d be surprised by the fun, quick episodes, the constant humor and action, making it a decent series for Transformers fans and not-so-die-hard fans. Shout! Factory has reissued the series from Rhino Entertainment who didn’t do that good of a job on their initial DVD release.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: While the CG is dated, in terms of colors and animation, Shout! retains the lovable look of the series in some great transfers, all things considered. No real issues are noticeable, as most animated series from the 90s look worn, this transfer retains the look and feel of the show. Don’t expect the vividness of modern CG toon on DVD, but fans will gladly not care and accept them. The audio is DD 2.0 Stereo, and while those old Rhino releases had a 5.1 mix, fans are given the correct audio choice. Everything is clear and decent.

Season One contains a nice little 20-minute doc titled Maximize! Creating A New Breed Of Transformer. Hasbro talks Beast Wars in terms of its inception and reception, as well as other fun tidbits. It’s a nice look back. Also here are Art Galleries, Original Character Models, and an Episode Booklet.

Seasons Two and Three are all together on four discs, and has a companion doc called  Remembering The Spark, which focuses on these seasons, the show’s legacy, and other great stuff, making it a tell-all on Beast Wars. Great stuff for fans and animation fans. Plus, we get the original Making of Beast Wars featurettes that are years old, perhaps from those OOP Rhino discs? Art Galleries and that Episode Booklet round out the extras.

Season One can be purchased everywhere DVDs are sold, but this Complete Series box set can only be bought at the Shout! Factory store.

The Show: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Show:

After I completed this season set, I exclaimed “I can’t believe it’s been fourteen years of South Park…” I remember back in 1997, that this was a crude show, both in terms of animation and in tone, but it was obsessively funny, mostly because it followed a group of boys in the fourth grade, doing what boys do, and it was raunchily hilarious. The second part to my exclaim that South Park has been on for 14 years, was that: “…and it’s still godd*amn funny after 14 years.”

It’s true and that’s only because Trey Parker and Matt Stone are more than just funny men, it’s because they are smart men. South Park would have inched a few seasons out before getting cancelled if those guys didn’t install social satire, which is the life force of this show. If the boys would have just done little boy things, eh, after a few seasons it would’ve all been forgettable (and I’m looking at you Simpsons). But the social satire is the structure of each episode, and thus offers endless possibilities. So a few too many fans have thought Season 13 wasn’t on their typical par for funny, but Season 14 makes up for that in spades.

Actually, the first handful of episodes are freakin’ gems for the show. The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs is just hilarious spoof at books controlling young men’s minds, as Butters creates a book so raunchy, so vile, that no one can get too far without vomiting. But, despite the buckets of puke, all who read The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs recognizes the brilliance of his words, the depth of the story, and its subtext. Of course, the boys call everyone’s bluff, as it criticizes how people read too much into something. Great stuff.

Even better is the episode called You Have 0 Friends, which is more of an in-depth look at social networking than The Social Network, a keen expose on the world of “likes” and “friend lists”, that gets bubbled over into a Tron spoof. Perhaps no discussion of Season 14 is complete without mentioning episodes 200 and 201, a daring self-mocking look at the show’s ability to point at celebrities and laugh (Tiger Woods, Tom Cruise, Bill Clinton, you get the drift on what they’re attacking) and also ask the simplest of questions: Why can’t we show the Prophet Muhammad? Of course, culturally Muslims can’t and it is against their views, but the handling of this episode by Comedy Central is equally as interesting as the content and satire.

Blah blah blah, huh? South Park – The Complete Fourteenth Season is another (bleep) fine example of some of TV’s (bleep) best comedians as well as one of the funniest (bleep) shows in all of (bleep) animation. ‘Nuff said.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Initially, the thought of this show in and on HD seems pointless, but Paramount/Comedy Central offers up a nice presentation. The show is off crappy animation, but the colors, details, and textures are quite nice in HD. Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack is impressive. Blasting music, nice low end, and a overall nicely mixed sound design, gives fans more than they bargained for.

Mini Commentaries: A Trey Parker and Matt Stone specialty. Short, funny, snappy yak tracks, offer up just the right amount of info fans will love.

Deleted Scenes and The Coon episode from Season 13 finishes off the extras.

The Show: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Show:

Following its highly successful debut in 2009, Glee, has captured the total and undivided attention of the TV-Musical scene. There was borderline-dangerous amount of expectations on the second season about whether the show would crack with all the pressure or solidify its status as a powerhouse!

With the release of season two, volume one, many questions were answered. The DVD contained 10 episodes, most notably Audition, which is the first episode and the concluding episode A Very Glee Christmas. The season also includes many theme-based episodes that add some different aspects to the overall DVD.  Guest appearances are also a nice addition to the season give-or-take a few of the choices.

I will be the first to say that I hated High School Musical. So, when I was given the chance to review a somewhat similar type of show, I definitely thought this would be an open-and-shut case. Contrarily, my roommate and I found ourselves glued to the TV like some eager pre-teens. The selection of music was the hook that we got caught on.  Every factor of the series that followed fell into place. The plots, guest appearances, placement of performances and the theme-based episodes were all brilliant. Come on, who doesn’t remember the Oops I Did it Again by Brittney Spears? Needless to say, I was impressed with my first encounter with show. The only worry I have is that the show will suddenly turn into a slew of theme-based episodes with no plot. If that never happens, I think we’ll all be glad.

Extras:

The Wit of Brittany – Brittany’s most profound moments from Season 1 and the first half of Season 2.

A bonus Rocky Horror song recorded exclusively for the DVD

Getting Waxed with Jane Lynch

Glee music jukebox

Glee at Comic-Con 2010

Conclusion: Still a lot of potential that has not been realized, but definitely headed on the right track.

The Flick: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Show:

So how does one make zombies interesting again? By adapting Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead as a min-series. It doesn’t take much to please most zombie fans. Just give them some great gore and lots of the undead, but while playing homage to George A. Romero’s immortal Dead series, Kirkman’s wonderful stories are more than sweet Fulci-type gore gags, he sprinkles these elements over the framework of surviving in the hunter/gatherer sense. And unlike the latter Romero zombie films, The Walking Dead is far from being just another stiff. It’s alive in the intimate levels of being human.

For nearly fifty years, the zombie film has become the “Bizarro World” of our society, and audiences continue to eat up these stories. But what makes Kirkman’s story so involving is the in-depth look at daily life within the zombie apocalypse. Tension, suspense, morals, the good things we rarely consider in our daily routine are epic situations that could lead to death. Over these six episodes spur the best zombie-related film we’ve had since 28 Days Later – if you even want to consider Boyle’s film a zombie film.

In fact, the first episode, in its  whopping 70 minute running time, might be the scariest zombie tale since the closing moments of Day of the Dead (1985). The scope of the episode is large, and while it features some incredible zombie gore, make-up, and action, it’s a damn scary look at how quickly we can decay as a person in a dead world. The show from here got renewed for a second season, but hardcore fans of the comic from Image, felt disappointed by the last couple of episodes. Did it veer to far from the source or were fans not willing to accept anything outside of what Kirkman created? I call it the Watchmen syndrome: stay close to the source, please the die-hard, but within this idea, that film (a completely different beast than a series of drawings) felt stale and was unable to give non-fans much.

New characters like Norman Reedus’ Daryl Dixon and his brother (played by Michael Rooker) add to the series in some interesting and great ways. But fans pretty much gave the final few episodes the cold shoulder. Too bad. The Walking Dead might have dumped their Season One writing team, and it might have been too front loaded with awesomeness, but for  a genre show, it’s superb. Playing all six episodes together on the discs really helps the flow of the stories, unlike the week long wait on Cable. I think the biggest strike was the six episode arc givin to the series by AMC, made some story arcs come and go too quickly, without building properly. Now that a second season is coming, I expect tighter, scarier episodes. The Walking Dead is the best thing Romero wished he could have done with his later zombies films. Who knew the dead were this alive?

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Anchor Bay/Starz releases the series on Blu-ray (and DVD), and it’s up to their typically high levels of quality. The image was blah on Cable, even in HD, for whatever reasons, but here the source is detailed, colorful, and has depth. The DD TrueHD is a great track: loud, moody, and bass friendly, most – if not all – should be really pleased.

The Making of The Walking Dead: In HD, this is a really good look at the series with interviews with everyone: Frank Darabont, Robert Kirkman, all of the actors, and KNB Effects’ Greg Nicotero. For 30 minutes, we get the low down on how they adapted the comic for AMC, the look of the zombies, the actors casting, and everything in between.

Inside The Walking Dead: Each episode gets a quick look at some big set piece. They’re tiny featurettes, but offer some value.

A Sneak Peek with Robert Kirkman: This all-too-brief and uninformative look at the show from the comic’s creator should have been more in-depth, something I’m sure the fans would have loved to see.

Behind-the-Scenes Zombie Make-up Tips: KNB Effects hosts a great look at a how-to for would-be FX artists on zombie make-up. Good stuff.

Zombie School shows the extras in a zombie boot camp; On Set with Robert Kirkman is a quick tour with the creator; Bicycle Girl is a look at the work on the series’ most recognizable zombie; Trailers; and a couple of Interviews with Andrew Lincoln, Jeff Demunn, and Steven Yuen round out the extras, which are all on Disc 2.

The Show: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The show:

So I have a rule… I love TV shows more than movies because viewers can really form an attachment to characters as they evolve. That being said, I love movies more than TV shows with episodes that can stand alone because they tend to be more plot driven than character driven.

Bones is the one and only exception to this rule that I have come across.

Bones tells the story of the unlikely partnership between FBI agent Seely Booth (David Boreanaz), a heroic, rebellious romantic, and forensic anthropologist Temperance “Bones” Brennan (Emily Deschanel), a logical, emotionally unattached, and socially awkward genius. Together with their team of “squints,” they solve some of the most unique murders to ever grace my television screen.

The beauty in Bones is that while each episode is a new crime that is resolved within the hour, similar to NCIS and other crime dramas, it also carries on the storylines and history between characters, making it perfect for both casual viewers flipping through channels and devoted fans who never miss an episode.

Bones has some of the best written characters on TV. Each has such a unique background and personality, and they all come together as part of this team, fighting crime and putting away the bad guys, falling in love and keeping each other sane through the rough patches in life.

Season 5 apparently picks up right where Season 4 left off. I had not seen more than two episodes of Bones prior to this, but I did not have any trouble following the story line. Things are explained throughout the season as need be. If you decide you want to start watching this show (which I highly recommend!), but you do not have time to go back and follow the characters from episode one, Season 5 is a great place to start off. In fact, Season 5 features the 100th episode, told in flashbacks, explaining how the Jeffersonian team came together from diverse backgrounds to be the successful, close-knit group that viewers care about today.

Bones is smart, using very official sounding terminology and machines, but always taking the time to demonstrate the processes used so viewers can understand. Bones features both an amazingly talented cast of actors along with an extremely creative plot from episode to episode; the chemistry in that lab is undeniable. . It’s funny; from straight-laced, no-nonsense business types to socially awkward geniuses, every character has a unique sense of humor. Bones will make you laugh and smile, all while staring at some of the most gruesome looking “dead bodies” on television.

The DVD:

Season 5 is separated into six discs, and the dvd’s bonus features, found primarily on disc 6, are sort of weak—gag reels, commentary from the actors, directors, etc. The only feature that was really worth the watch is a featurette on the bodies of the Bones and the men who bring the gruesome details from paper to the screen.

In the last couple of days of watching Season 5 of Bones, I have been conformed from a casual watcher to a loyal fan. It’s now in my Top 5, my list of shows I can’t miss each week.

The Show: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Tyler ‘The Fuse’ Draven [Aleks Paunovic] is a disgraced football linebacker who has as much juice in him as Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, and Marc McGwire combined. He has been loading up on experimental, designer steroids based on his own DNA. To add fuel to his problems, the abuser has taken every drug under the sun and has been suspended from the league.

Ava Williams [Lexa Doig] is a smokin’ hot fire inspector and is brought in to investigate a fire at a jail where Tyler was being held after being caught by the police. Federal agent Lee Cooper [Ian Somerhalder] has been ordered by a judge to escort the angry chrome domed lunatic to court, but his plans go down in flames because the blaze has caused Tyler’s cellular structure to be altered and now he has the power to shoot fireballs from his hands and turns things into a disco inferno upon contact. He uses his new-found power to wreak havok and exact revenge on anyone he feels has done him wrong.

I have been quite vocal in my disdain for the catalog of crap that the Syfy Channel churns out, but I have to say Fireball is a blast! Not only is Lexa Doig [Jason X] easy on the eyes, she is a take charge kind of lady whose character deals with the all too real problem of women of power not being respected in the workplace. There is also a romantic angle as she and Cooper spend a lot of time together and start to fall for each other.

The effects could have been better, but the filmmakers did not have access to the hundreds of millions of dollars that industry giants like Michael Bay have access to. Considering the limitations that director Kristoffer Tabori had, he still managed to make a fun little flick that had me singing goodness gracious great balls of fire.

Rating: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Show:

People always felt that New Yorkers were odd, but this odd? Ugly Americans is a new animated series on Comedy Central that present its social commentary and satire wrapped in the warped sense and nonsense of EC Comics. It has a flat, broad animation style that really underlines the deadpan humor, which for some won’t always hit the mark. It’s not South Park humor, but it’s just as biting towards its political ideas.

The series follows Mark Lilly, a do-good social worker for the Department of Integration, that helps (or not helps) monsters who seek American citizenship. His best friend is a zombie and he dates an evil, possibly Satanic succubi, all the while living in NYC. Developed by ex-Simpsons writer, David M. Stern and Devin Clark, Ugly Americans is, if anything, a wholly original animated series since Dr. Katz or The Critic. There’s something warm, yet distant with it, and maybe it is the humor, or as some have noted, lack there of. Ugly Americans I doubt will ever be side-splitting funny, but its intent is far more commentary than joke-infused.

Dating woes, post-9/11 fears, racism, border patrol, are all elements the series deals with, but using monsters, zombies, blobs, as metaphors, which allows the writing to be as biting as it needs to be, without offending people. To me, that’s a-okay. It has a brain and in time, it’ll gain its heart as a series, only in this volume, seven episodes deep. Luckily, Comedy Central isn’t quick to hit the cancellation button, because this show will gain a cult following. How can it not? Each episode, besides the aforementioned commentary, offers us cool monsters, EC Comics color schemes, adult situations in sex and cussing, which aids in its originality, something that TV animation fans now is far and few between. It’s off to a wonderful start and in time, its fan base will come to it like zombies after brains….

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Paramount/Comedy Central offers up a solid TV presentation on DVD. Colors, the series’ animation focus, are vivid and bright. There’s really no errors in the presentation and the audio is fine for what it is.

Commentaries: Each episode is given a track with David Stern, creator Devin Clark, and other members of the production team that chat about the show, the episode, the ideas and production, all in a straightforward, quick chat that fans should dig.

Fifteen minutes of Webshorts, that inspired the show are collected. A slew of Art Gallery stills are here to thumb through, as is a clever brochure as an insert for the Department of Integration.

Conclusion: It’s off to a great start and horror fans should be excited for this series.

The Show: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Show:

Okay, I don’t live under a rock, but when it comes to sitcom TV, I’m more like behind the rock. Has Scrubs really lasted nine years? After the wake of 9/11, a little show called Scrubs debuted and while it took a few seasons to get going, it’s ER-meets-Family Guy type of humor caught a few viewers and that snowballed it into popularity. The Bill Lawrence developed show had better seasons than its ninth, yet it still had some laughs left.

For a quickie recap: Scrubs follows J.D. (Zach Braff) as an student/intern who, throughout the course of the series, who eventually earns residence in the hospital. Simple, yet pretty funny. The humor zips by, sometimes subtle and smart, other times – well, most of the time – goofy and sophomoric. After nine years, to the credit of the cast and the writers, there’s still laughs left in the tank, although by now, we’ve entered into TV territory not seen since Saved by the Bell: The College Years. That spin-off show had to take their aging high school cast and give them their degrees, even if the rules of sitcoms do not apply to real life, eventually a change must happen. That’s what happened with this season of Scrubs. The characters are older, some left (Elliot (Sarah Chalke), Carla (Judy Reyes), and Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins), and newbies came on board.

Even with the new cast members, while not the most interesting, we accept them this late in the game, since the humor hasn’t left. It’s easier to say that prior seasons were funnier, and that maybe be true, the timing and the nature of the humor hasn’t changed. Even if it did, Scrubs has Dr. Perry Cox (John C. McGinley) and because of him, all is right with this season. McGinley is really under-appreciated in the comedy world and this show was his chance to shine and he never, never disappoints.

Arcs come and go, but remember this is a sitcom, so it really doesn’t matter. Scrubs has always been a slow burn show, as evident with its longevity even when its rating were low, here it still is (or was). Scrubs: The Complete and Final Ninth Season won’t win over new fans, nor does it need too, as long time fans will rally beside the little ER show that could one final time.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: It’s all about dialogue and that comes across just fine, even with the music blaring. The video is average for SD, but a little soft and grainy at times.

No commentaries like on previous season sets.

Scrubbing In: A quick, EPK-level on how season nine was and the show is general. It’s okay, with Braff hosting.

Deleted Scenes: With/without Optional Commentary, these feel like extended bits from a collected handful of episodes. Nothing to pivotal here.

Live from the Golf Cart: The two security guards (the guy from the Miller Hi-Life commercials) joke around and try to sell a book.

A quick selection of Bloopers and plenty of TV shows Trailers and TV Spots round out the extras.

Conclusion: Fans should enjoy, all others watch in syndication.

The Show: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The flick opens with a crew of oil men readying a drill in the dead of night, during a rain storm. These poor unsuspecting oil douche bags inadvertently run into an ancient indian artifact. They try to dig through it, but the supernatural forces within the object are to powerful for them (duh). To make a long story short, said douche bags release a wolf-spirit of sorts, and man is he hungry.

After the tragic and brutal deaths of the douche bags, company man Stark (Robert Picardo) calls in Maria (Leonor Varela), a sexy lawyer to help cool the flames. Only, Maria soon starts a fire of her own when her old flame Yale (Jason London) rushes back into her life. It doesn’t take long for Maria and Yale to dig themselves deep into the mass of bodies piling up all over their town in order to find out more about the mysterious wolf. Along with comic relief Chase (Griff Furst), this unlikely group of sleuths reminded me a bit of the Scooby Gang, only in this gang their dog is trying to eat them.

Overall Monsterwolf is one of the most solid original movies the Syfy Channel has released in a while. Director Todor Chapkanov captured the beautiful Louisiana scenery with style and stitched together a movie that is three steps above the standard made-for-TV fare. Normally, when I sit down to watch a flick on the Syfy Channel I’m usually not expecting much. I know I’ll get bad CGI, hot ladies, wooden acting, and inconsistent story telling, but Monsterwolf shattered most of these expectations. Sure, the CGI could have been better, but the acting is solid, Leonor Varela is smoking hot, and the story, while simple, never deviates from its chosen path. Production company Bullet Films has raised the bar for late night TV with this one.

If your a fan of what the Syfy Channel is already doing, then this sci-fi/horror hybrid will definitely put a smile on your face. It’s a gory good time and a positively killer film.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars