TV On DVD - We're Back

After skipping the listing of new releases of TV shows on DVD last week for a variety of reasons (not the least of which being that last week's listing was weak, and late thank you very much TVGeekSpeak.com) I'm reviving the feature. From now on however the listings will come from TVShowsOnDVD.com because you might as well go right to the source.

All In The Family: Complete Fourth Season
- People do realize that you were supposed to sympathize with Meathead Mike rather than Archie, right? The problem is that there are a lot more Archies in this world (hard working guys trying to get along in life) than there are Mikes (overeducated guys who have a good theoretical game but aren't in the trenches), and they watch TV... a lot of TV.

The A-Team: Season 2
- I love it when a plan comes together. This was the season where Marla Heasley replaced Melinda Cullea as the female on the show until George Peppard let it be known that girls had cooties and didn't want them on his show. The show was so far away from reality anyway, given all the car crashes and automatic weapons fire which never gave anyone anything more than abrasions and contusions, that not having a regular cast member of the sex that makes up more than half the population manage not to make anyone look gay.

The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete First Season
- Some things are just perfect, and this is one of them. Everything just fit together perfectly, even better than the later Newhart. If you want a diagram for the perfect sitcom, this is it.

Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law, Volume 1
- I love this show...whenever I can remember that it's on that is. Full of topical references mingled with self-referencing to the Hanna-Barbera character library and a nearly surreal sense of humour. Fred Flintstone as Tony Soprano - classic.

The Hitchhiker: The Complete Seasons 1 and 2
- I refer you to this statement from TVNorth, the guide to Canadian TV series: "Dreadful, dreadful fantasy series that typified the worst of early pay television. Inane storylines, terrible direction, and overblown acting conspired to sink this to the bottom of the genre. Pointless introductions featured the laconic Hitchhiker, neither mysterious nor frightening, traipsing through an unnamed American desert, offering simple-minded moralizations about the show's goings-on." So of course its on DVD.

The Jeffersons: Complete Third Season
- I hate to admit this but I've always enjoyed The Jeffersons more than All In The Family, and certainly more than Maude (I never watched Good Times). I think that the big thing is that The Jeffersons has more of a timeless quality. Archie going on about Nixon and the war in Vietnam dates the show, but George going on about a business deal or pretending to be a descendant of Thomas Jefferson could be 30 years ago or today.

Knight Rider: Season 2
- The genius of the late Brandon Tartikoff is that he could make a dumb joke about creating a series with a hunky leading man who had six lines in each episode and the car does the rest of the talking and turn it into a series with a hunky leading man where the car does most of the talking. Granted David Hasselhof has more than six lines in an episode but the principle holds.

Invader Zim: Box Set
- Okay I've never heard of this one.

Magnum PI: Complete Second Season
- A completely marvellous melding of actors, location and producer. This is the series that Donald P. Bellisario and Tom Selleck are going to be remembered for. There's always talk about a reunion movie but I hope it never happens. I want to remember Magmum as a thirty-ish guy living high off Robin Masters' hog and doing some occassional detective work.

Sledge Hammer: Season 2
- A cult classic, but I never joined the cult. In fact I don't think I ever saw an episode.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast: Volume 3
- I know I haven't seen this and I'm not sure it's ever been seen in Canada. In fact I don't think that I've ever seen the original series that Space Ghost came from.

Teen Titans: Volume 2 Switched
- This does air in Canada but I've never seen it. I think the anime stylizations of the characters - who I know from the comic books of the 1980s - really turned me off so I don't watch. Not a comment on quality though.

Trailer Park Boys: Season 4
- Never watched it. They say it's quite good but from the commercials I've seen I just don't find the characters likeable enough to get me to watch.

There's also some Mr Rogers episodes and three episodes of Goosebumps coming out today as well as something called Viva La Bam that I not only have never heard of but undoubtedly don't want to know about.