Posts Tagged ‘sitcom’

DVD Review: Alice – The Complete Second Season

Posted: 22 February, 2013 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: Alice – The Complete Second Season

Article first published as DVD Review: Alice – The Complete Second Season on Blogcritics.

It always seems like it was just yesterday to me when I sat on my grandparent’s ugly green carpet night after night watching Alice on our already-archaic tube television set. When the Warner Archive Collection unleashed the first season of the barely recognizable spin-off of Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore last year, it enabled me — as well as millions of other viewers who fondly (or even uncaringly remembered the program) — to revisit our memories of the show, for better or for worse. A few short months later, Warner packaged together Alice: The Complete Second Season for us to enjoy. Or not, as the case may be for some. (more…)

DVD Review: Desperate Housewives – The Complete Eighth and Final Season

Posted: 16 December, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: Desperate Housewives – The Complete Eighth and Final Season

Article first published as DVD Review: Desperate Housewives – The Complete Eighth and Final Season on Blogcritics.

Having warped my own fragile little mind as a youngster by viewing Monty Python’s Flying Circus, I tend to occasionally slip into a similarly-surreal world of strange skits. When I see a terrible television show run entirely too long on any network (even UPN!), I can’t help but envision a take on the timeless “Upper Class Twit of the Year” sketch, wherein something resembling the Olympics ignores all things athletic-like and focuses instead on television shows competing against each other in order to jump over a shark. Were such an event to be constructed and televised, Marc Cherry’s Desperate Housewives would surely be a hot item to lay even money on. (more…)

DVD Review: How I Met Your Mother – The Complete Season 7, The Ducky Tie Edition

Posted: 19 November, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: How I Met Your Mother – The Complete Season 7, The Ducky Tie Edition

Article first published as DVD Review: How I Met Your Mother – The Complete Season 7, The Ducky Tie Edition on Blogcritics.

Despite the fact that How I Met Your Mother has been popping up on televisions near and far for the better part of a decade now, I was never one who really tuned into the program — with the frequent exception of seeing it displayed in front of me sans sound on one a TV located at a local bar. As such, I had absolutely no idea what the hell the show was about, and determined that it consisted of nothing more than five people sitting in a café or bar talking about stuff. Well, that, essentially, actually is what the series is about, though I have to confess it’s a whole different ball game when you can hear it. (more…)

Two and a Half Men: The Complete Ninth Season: How to Carry On After Your Star Gets Fired

Posted: 25 September, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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Two and a Half Men: The Complete Ninth Season: How to Carry On After Your Star Gets Fired

The loss of a lead performer in a film or television franchise can be a truly devastating ordeal — whether the missing star’s absence is attributable to an unfortunate real-life passing (see: Taggart), or someone simply went wacko and got shit-canned by producers (see: Valerie). In the moving picture industry, this can be rectified by a simple bit of recasting. In TV Land, however, there are these strange, ardent, geek-like individuals — people we often refer to as “fans” — who become so rapt by their favorite show that the mere thought of hiring a new player is usually met with disaster.

[Read the rest at Cinema Sentries.]

*DVD Review* Alice: The Complete First Season

Posted: 23 July, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: Alice – The Complete First Season

Article first published as DVD Review: Alice – The Complete First Season on Blogcritics.

Once again, the folks at the Warner Archive Collection have pulled out a relic from the past which — for one reason or another — meant something to me during my youth. In the case of Alice: The Complete First Season, I am reminded of sitting up during the later part of evenings with my grandparents watching television, laughing at the onscreen hijinks of the staff of Mel’s Diner. Of course, I have grown up significantly since then (well, a bit) when it comes to my taste and experience in the departments of film and television, so checking out Alice again after all these years had the potential of being a bittersweet experiment. (more…)

*DVD Review* Car 54, Where Are You?: The Complete Second Season

Posted: 22 May, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: Car 54, Where Are You? – The Complete Second Season

Article first published as DVD Review: Car 54, Where Are You? – The Complete Second Season on Blogcritics.

There are few sitcoms in the annals of American television that only ran for two entire seasons but, in turn, become icons of comedy for decades to come. As a matter of fact, I’m hard-pressed to think of one other than the topic at hand: a series that is quite possibly the quintessential cop comedy of all time, Nat Hiken’s immortal classic, Car 54, Where Are You?, which was originally aired on NBC from 1961 to 1963. Set in the The Bronx, the series brought us the hilarious misadventures of two hapless officers of the 53rd Precinct, Gunther Toody (Joe E. Ross) and Francis Muldoon (Fred Gwynne), whose patrol vehicle is — yup, you guessed it — Car 54. (more…)

*DVD Review* The Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 1991

Posted: 7 March, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: The Last of the Summer Wine – Vintage 1991

Article first published as DVD Review: The Last of the Summer Wine – Vintage 1991 on Blogcritics.

As Marian Gold, the lead singer of Alphaville once said: “It’s so hard to get old without a cause.” And the old farts that the long-running British sitcom The Last of the Summer Wine centers on are living proof of that statement. The series, which ran for thirty-one seasons over the course of thirty-seven years (wow) and has since gone down in the annals of television as the longest-running comedy ever, brings us the misadventures of several elderly gentlemen in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. BBC Video’s release of The Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 1991 brings us all six episodes from the show’s thirteenth outing, along with the Christmas Special from the same year. (more…)

*DVD Review* Happily Divorced: Season One

Posted: 5 March, 2012 in Movies/TV, TV
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DVD Review: Happily Divorced – Season One

Article first published as DVD Review: Happily Divorced – Season One on Blogcritics.

Every time you think you can go about with your existence and live out the remainder of your life without fear of hearing her voice ever again, Fran Drescher finds another reason to get on television. Her latest dabble into the realm of her patented form of “Dear God, please make it stop” entertainment is the TV Land series, Happily Divorced, a sitcom that centers on a couple who separate — but still stay together — after the husband comes out of the closet and confesses to being gay. Created and co-written by Drescher and her real-life gay ex-husband, Peter Marc Jacobson, the series is actually inspired by their own actual experiences — though I can’t imagine their genuine lives being this awful. (more…)

*DVD Review* Fresh Fields – Set 1

Posted: 23 May, 2011 in TV
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DVD Review: Fresh Fields – Set 1

Article first published as DVD Review: Fresh Fields – Set 1 on Blogcritics.

A middle-aged suburban housewife ventures into a modern (‘80s) clothing boutique to apply for a sales position. This results in nothing more than a damaged ego, as a young dumb blonde running this shoppe tells her she’s too old to work there. Worried the administrative twit might actually be correct in calling her “old,” the housewife attempts to get into shape, but throws her neck out during an aerobics class and if forced to ride home in her neighbor’s convertible car standing up. Her persistence pays off, however, when the housewife attires herself in a youthful-looking outfit and re-applying. This time, the ditzy store manager does in fact hire her, believing her to be a young gal.
(more…)

*Blu-ray Review* Futurama: Volume 5

Posted: 2 February, 2011 in TV
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Blu-ray Review: Futurama – Volume 5

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: Futurama – Volume 5 on Blogcritics.

Ah, how the annoying antics of brain-dead television executives amuse me so. Like several other animated and live-action shows that have aired on the Fox network, only to have the plug pulled on them by a roomful of business-savvy suits that had the misfortune of being born without a sense of humor, Futurama enjoyed a brief, four-season run on TV from ‘99 to ‘03 before going bye-bye. That, of course, did not stop animators like Futurama creator Matt Groening — or Family Guy’s Seth McFarlane, for that matter — from keeping their respective shows going via syndication and DVD sales — which made the folks at Fox take notice. But, whereas McFarlane’s series was renewed and kept alive on its original network, Groening’s Futurama moved to the world of Comedy Central after its cancellation.
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