New Poll - What Show Rated Badly By The PTC Do You Watch Most?

Again I'll be asking you which of five shows in the PTC's infamous list you watch, but this time it isn't their list of "good" shows but their list of "bad" shows. Not "bad" as in bad production values or bad writing and acting, but "bad" in that if the FCC weren't such a bunch of whimps they'd be run off of TV for offenses to the PTC's sensibilities. Oh well there's always the boycott route.

As usual, feel free to comment here.

Poll Results - What Show Recommended By The PTC Do You Watch Most?

We had a very interesting - not to mention impressive - response for this week's poll. There were 16 votes cast, which may be a record for one of my poles. In a tie for fifth place with no votes are Ghost Whisperer and Three Wishes. In fourth place, with one vote and 6% of support is Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. In third place with two votes or 12% of the support is Everybody hates Chris. In second place, with three votes (18%) is American Idol. But the clear and indisputable winner is None of them with a whopping ten votes and 62% of support.

In one of my earlier reviews for this season I panned Ghost Whisperer and I stick by it. The pilot episode was a pretty pat creation with only the presence of Wentworth Miller as the ghost to liven it up. I haven't watched it since then and it may have improved a bit but I doubt it. As for Three Wishes I have yet to see that series so I can't really judge it. When I reviewed Extreme Makeover: Home Edition I mentioned that it could be fun at times but there was always the underlying feeling that the show presented the people they "helped" with what amounted to a palace they couldn't afford to keep. It may be a "feel good" program but I at least would like to see some follow-up. American Idol (and its Canadian cousin Canadian Idol) is not a show that I watch. I was never crazy about Star Search either, but I can't disagree with its success.

That leaves us with Everybody Hates Chris. I've seen the show once but haven't reviewed it. What I saw I really liked. The show is tremendously funny and the characters are really likeable. Of all the PTC recommendations from their list of "Nine Best Shows on TV" (because they couldn't find a tenth) this for me is a gem, and one which I wouldn't hesitate to tell people to actively seek out. Sometimes event he PTC gets something right.

Later today, the PTC's worst shows.

Fight For Nip/Tuck Even If You Hate It

WKRP In Cincinnati has always been one of my favourite series. Most of the time the series was incredibly funny - one of the funniest series ever on TV - but from time to time they'd do an episode that made you think. One of those episodes from the third season was call "Clean Up Radio Everywhere", about an organization that was determined to pressure Cincinnati radio stations to play "clean" songs. Richard Paul was cast as Reverend Bob Halyers - largely because of his resemblance to Jerry Falwell - while Ralph Manza was cast as a small business man who was facing a boycott if he didn't pull his ads off of WKRP after Mr. Carlson refused to give in to the organizations continued pressure. Flash forward 20 years, change the name from CURE to PTC and the target from rock music to television decency and you see the situation today, all centred at the moment on a series called Nip/Tuck. While I am a Canadian, and broadcasters in Canada have far more leeway as to what they broadcast - in terms of nudity and language - both in terms or regulation and public response (Canadian broadcast networks show Nip/Tuck, The Shield and The Sopranos uncut with nudity language and violence intact), this issue affects me and anyone who watches television no matter where they live because so much programming originates in the United States.

Now I've never seen Nip/Tuck - I could have seen an episode on Saturday night but I got busy with something else - but from descriptions I've seen I don't think I'd particularly like it. The point is that it's my choice whether or not I watch it. At least it is for right now. The Parents Television Council wants to take that choice away from me and from everyone else and they're using that favourite tactic of the pressure group, the threat of a boycott. Here's what the PTC says about Nip/Tuck, taken from their e-mail "E-Alert" (some material is edited as indicated by elipses - while I can't find the text of the "E-Alert" online, this link takes you to the "Warning To Sponsors" that the PTC wants you to send to the show's advertisers; it gives you the basics):

Without question, Nip/Tuck is one of the most sexually explicit, profane, and violent television programs in the history of American television - and it's about to get worse.

We need your immediate help to send a loud-and-clear message to the sponsors who are paying to bring this salacious material into our homes.

The FX network and the series creator are on a mission to obliterate every remaining taboo for television, and they don't care how many young minds they harm in the process.

Series creator Ryan Murphy has said "I wanted to do something so violent it will shock even me." And "It's tough to get that sexual point of view across on television. Hopefully I have made it possible for somebody on broadcast television to do a rear-entry scene in three years. Maybe that will be my legacy."...

Remember, this isn't some pay-per-view porn channel or even a premium cable network like HBO. FX is part of the basic cable package, which means it spills into most homes in America. If you want Disney Channel or ESPN or Animal Planet or History Channel for your family, you are forced to pay every month for programs like Nip/Tuck. In fact, this horrific content is available to nearly 48 million children nationwide!

In their warning to advertisers they make their methods clear:

As a consumer, I am taking part in this grassroots campaign organized by the Parents Television Council (PTC) in order to:

- Urge you to STOP USING YOUR ADVERTISING DOLLARS TO UNDERWRITE THE FILTH AND VIOLENCE THAT IS POISONING THE MINDS OF IMPRESSIONABLE YOUNGSTERS.

- Inform you that I support the PTC's efforts to ensure that the Management, Board and Stockholders of your company are made fully aware of the TV content that your advertising decisions are paying for.

- Assure you that - until I am notified by the PTC of your favorable response to this WARNING - when my family considers our decisions on products and services to purchase, WE WILL CAREFULLY CONSIDER the content of the television shows that are paid for by the companies offering those products and services.

There are a few facts that the PTC neglects to mention of course. If you check the FX Network schedule you will discover that the show airs at 10 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific), so while it's true that the FX Network is available to "nearly 48 million children nationwide" the program is on at such a time that those 48 million children are - or should be - in their beds. Furthermore, the network provides ratings compatible with the V-chip as they are required to. So it's not as though the network is going out of its way to put the show in front of children's eyes.

Because I have a nephew who is almost three years old, I am patently aware that there are shows that he shouldn't see just yet but his parents, his grandparents and his aunt and uncles (including me) are aware of this and try very hard to make sure he doesn't see them. It's our job. But I don't need to be protected, I'm an adult and I can make my own choices. By taking action against Nip/Tuck and other shows the PTC is treating me and everyone else like a child incapable of making our own choices because by my reading they're saying is that everyone needs to be protected from this material and since they can't use the FCC to protect you from cable programs - at least not yet - they resort to the boycott. But if you and I have to be protected from Nip/Tuck - and they win that battle through boycotts - what gets boycotted next?

On the "Clean Up Radio Everywhere" episode of WKRP, Mr. Carlson gave in on the first list of music that CURE sent him, they awarded him a commendation ... and another list, this time of music that even he found inoffensive, including John Lennon's "Imagine". When he refused to ban the music on this list CURE implemented a boycott not of his station but of his advertisers. If Nip/Tuck is the top of slippery slope, where does it end? What's next on the PTC's list? Other cable shows? The "Red Light" shows on their Family Guide to TV Viewing? Or maybe The Simpsons for the "Yellow Light" sins of ridiculing "entrepreneurs, religion, educators, and law enforcement officials." I for one want more choice than what the PTC determines is good for me, and if it means fighting for something I don't want to watch, so be it.

Remembrance

I am Canadian. I wear the poppy. In Canada November 11 is perhaps the second most important national commemoration of all. It is Remembrance Day, the anniversary of the end of the First World War. At 11 a.m. local time, in ceremonies across the country in communities big and small a bugler will blow the Last Post signifying the beginning of two minutes of silence. Despite the best efforts of veterans groups such as the Royal Canadian Legion, stores will be open, but in many if not most of them the two minutes of silence will also be marked. On this day we commemorate the dead in Canada's wars and peace keeping missions and the veterans who survived.

South Africa - 1899-1902: 244 dead
World War I - 1914-1918: 60,661 dead
World War II - 1939-1945: 42,042 dead
Korea - 1950-1953: 312 dead
Gulf War - 1991: No dead
Afghanistan - 2001-present: 4 dead
Peacekeeping missions from Suez in 1956 through the Congo, Cyprus, Croatia, Bosnia, Haiti and Rwanda.

Based on the Statistics Canada estimate of the Canadian population in 1914 (7,879,000), the number of dead during World War I represents slightly under 1% of the total population of the country and a significantly higher percentage of males between the ages of 18 and 50. It was a Canadian, Colonel John McCrae of the Canadian Medical Corps who wrote the most famous poem about the First World War.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

I am Canadian. I wear the poppy, and I wear it with pride and considerable emotion.

A New STD?

I couldn't let this pass without posting it. Former CBS producer Mary Mapes, who was at the center of the 60 Minutes II story about George W. Bush's military record that cost her her job and forced the premature removal of Dan Rather as anchorman of the CBS Evening News has a new book out called Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power. She's extremely mad at some people at CBS including Les Moonves of whom she says "He doesn't know journalism from dirt farming." But here's the quote about Moonves (who is married to Morning Show host Julie Chen) that prompted this posting:

I used to say everything Les knows about journalism had been sexually transmitted. Now I know even that hasn't taught him much.

What The Hell Are We Going To Phoenix Arizona For?

The title of this post was part of a quote from Marion Paolo, one of the competitors in this season's Amazing Race: Family Edition. The full quote was "What the hell are we going to Phoenix Arizona for? I want to go to New Zealand." It's a statement which basically sums up one of my reasons for not liking the Family Edition quite as much as I have previous seasons.

I'm a big Amazing Race fan; in fact I'm such a fan that I write recaps of each episode which are posted in the Amazing Race Usenet newsgroup. In fact I should be writing that right now instead of this, but this is probably going to take me less time. I've watched every season and have been almost and evangelist for the show since the beginning. You might call me hard core, although based on the behaviour of some of the self-described hard core fans when they heard about the Family Edition I think I would probably disavow that description. The show for me has always had multiple attractions for me. There was the travel to foreign places that you rarely saw; places that got more exotic as The Race went on. There was the fact that there wasn't really the backstabbing that you saw in virtually every Reality-Competition show. On The Amazing Race alliances don't really matter, popularity don't matter; all that counts is crossing the finish line of each stage in first place - or at least not in last place. What was often the most attractive were the personalities. Although everyone started The Race as a blank slate, as time went on you not only knew who the individuals were - something that usually happened in the first one or two hour episode since each team only had two members - but you also began to identify teams by their personality, developing favourites and identifying villains. Best of all, unlike Survivor this really did seem like something anyone could do, and unlike Big Brother it was a real adventure.

The hard core (the ones who I don't identify with) hated the Family Edition almost from the time it was announced that people as young as 12 (later lowered to 8) would be allowed to be on the show. They harumphed about teams with annoying kids and dumbing down the tasks. The expectation of some was that they'd be going from theme park to theme park doing things that little kids would be comfortable with. Things weren't made much better when there were leaks about places the show went. There were leaks about Huntsville Alabama in particular (NASA wasn't going to play the show's secrecy game), and the CN Tower in Toronto. The hard core were not happy, vowed not to watch, believed no one would watch, and uttered the words "jumping the shark" on occasion. Even the fact that when the teams were actually announced there were only four kids under 12 and only five more under 18 didn't help. The hard core was determined to hate the show.

I wasn't. I intended to give it a shot. The first episode wasn't entirely promising. They didn't leave the United States and the challenges in the first episode weren't particularly exciting. The first team eliminated had two kids under 12. The next few episodes weren't too hopeful either. Admittedly there were some interesting situations - like a civil war re-enactment where players had to carry "wounded" soldiers from the field to a hospital tent - but there were also challenges which involved climbing to the top of the biggest office chair in the world (in Alabama) or playing Blackjack at a Louisiana riverboat casino (probably gone now). Even so, some of the basic elements I liked survived. We cheered for the Gaghan family with plucky little Carissa (she's 9, runs a mile in 7 minutes and does 5K races while her parents run marathons). Villains also emerged. The battling Paolo family seemed like a team you wanted to get rid of fast - the two boys were always yelling at their mom and their father never seemed to want to correct them - but the real heels were the Weaver family, who most people were probably willing to sympathize with at least initially (Linda Weaver's husband was hit by a car and killed during a NASCAR race where he was an official). Initial stresses were seemingly benign (the Weavers weren't experienced at travel particularly by plane) but increasingly they showed why many of the teams disliked them almost from the start. It wasn't so much the fact that they were always praying but more that they seemed to think they were better than everyone else. In a recent episode they mentioned that they "don't trust other people, trust Family and God" and later that "We're responsible to a higher authority." At the same time, they ridiculed other teams - they called the Paolos "retards" because their team photo showed them in front of a garbage truck (Tony Paolo is a New York garbage man) - and in this Tuesday's episode threw trash at the car carrying the Godlewski sisters as they drove past. And they call themselves Christians.

Still I have problems with the show and they come down to two points. Despite the two episode interval in Panama and Costa Rica, the show has come across more as a family vacation across America rather than the sort of adventure that The Amazing Race usually gives us. In fact the show really came to life when they were in countries where teams struggled with language customs and the exotic. Moreover I'm convinced that the teams expected The Family Edition to be more like the previous seasons of the show. Like Marion Paolo I'm sure most other teams were expecting more international travel and were prepared for it (well maybe not the Weavers, who would probably be complaining about having to go out of the country). Some of the families had travelled extensively - Carissa Gaghan and her family had been to South Korea. Of course moving ten teams of four from the United States to Europe would have involved considerable logistics and once the free-for-all phase of air travel started (in most seasons the flight out of the U.S. usually is done on two or three specified flights) the number of players would have made it hard to keep teams relatively close together.

The other problem I have with the current season is bigger for me. I am having trouble identifying individuals and it is sort of becoming more difficult as the number of teams decreases. I can name - and even picture - teams from virtually every season of the race. They were memorable and they were individuals. For the Family Edition the four member teams means that it is harder to distinguish between players on a team. It's easiest when there are age and gender differences - it was easiest with the Gaghans who had father, mother, daughter, and son - and virtually impossible for teams with lookalikes - I can't tell one Godlewski sister from another and it's almost as bad with the three Linz brothers or the three Bransen sisters. It really is a case sometimes of "you can't tell the players without a score card." And yet these are supposed to be the focus of our attention.

The Amazing Race: Family Edition is pushing it's way towards its final showdown. There are four teams left: the Godlewski sisters, the Linz siblings, Walter Bransen and his daughters, and Linda Weaver and her kids. The show probably has two more Tuesdays left before a winner is crowned. Drama demands that the hated Weavers will probably be in the final three teams, and justice and drama probably require that they finish second. Still I for one will be happy when this season ends and the next season of The Amazing Race begins. Not because there haven't been enjoyable things in this season but because, for this experiment the producers have strayed too far from what made The Amazing Race great television - exotic locales and teams we can both identify and identify with.

New Poll - What PTC Recommended Show Do You Watch?

The PTC put out a list of shows that they recommend and I want to know which of them you watch, so I've listed the top five of their top nine (because they couldn't find a tenth) for your consideration. Actually, unlike previous years, it isn't a horrible list - possibly because PAX isn't making new shows. There are actually one or two watchable programs this time around.

Comments of course can be added here.

Poll Results - Scariest Classic Show

Results are in for the poll on scariest classic show and there's a bit of a split here. Five votes were cast, and they were pretty much spread about. In a tie for fourth place with no votes are Rod Serling's Night Gallery and Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I really find this somewhat puzzling. While Night Gallery was never first rate Serling I remember it as frequently quite chilling - and that was just the intros. As for Kolchak: The Night Stalker, I was under the impression that the show had such a tremendous cult following which was why ABC decided to try their rather weak revival.

Tied for second are Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Twilight Zone, and The X-Files. Each got 1 vote or 20% of the rather anemic total. I confess that Alfred Hitchcock Presents was never really a horror based show or even a particularly frightening show. What Hitch had going for him was a reputation for building suspenseful stories around basically ordinary people. The Twilight Zone extended the concept a bit further so that you had basically ordinary people but this time dealing with extraordinary situations like the vision of a mythical beast like a gremlin pulling apart an airplane which only one passenger can see. As for The X-Files, they traded on a variety of fears beyond simply monsters and unexplained or unexplainable phenomena; that paranoia might be valid ("Trust No One"), that shadowy men are really running things, and that the people we are supposed to trust - be it government, colleagues, or our own parents - may be more than they seem, usually in a bad way.

But the winner for the Scariest Classic Show - albeit with a small sample - is The Outer Limits and it's not really a show I feel qualified to comment on since I only saw the most recent remake. On the other hand just reading the episode description on TV.com is enough to convince me that this show goes beyond the ordinary.

Next poll, something really scary - the Parents Television Council's listings of the best and worst shows on TV!

TCM In Canada - A Few Thoughts

As I mentioned earlier, Shaw Cable has added Turner Classic Movies to their cable lineup. It's an analog channel, largely because the original license approval by the CRTC required that the network be on the same tier of services as The Family Channel. As a side effect, it's probably available to a larger audience than it would be if it were on digital cable. The station was activated in Saskatoon today and I have to say that for the most part I was highly impressed. There were a couple of minor things I wasn't entirely happy with, the biggest being that the promos were for the American service but a couple of movies weren't cleared for the station to air in Canada. Thus, instead of seeing Joel McCrea in These Three (with Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon) and Dead End (with McCrea, Sylvia Sidney and Humphrey Bogart) the Canadian feed showed McCrea in Stars In My Crown followed by Primrose Path. At least they stuck with the theme of the night. An extensive comparison of the US and Canadian schedules shows that on most days between two and four movies are substituted, most for rights issues but some for unknown reasons but ones which I'm not crazy about. The Friday night foreign films like Kameradschaft and Yojimbo won't be seen for unknown reasons. Nor will silent films (an interest of mine) on most nights other than Sunday - I won't be able to tape the 1923 Hunchback Of Notre Dame or The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Fortunately all of the Harold Lloyd festival on November 20 will be shown here. Making matters worse is that the only way I learned of any of this is by checking the TCM schedule on their website, which has a separate Canadian listing. They also don't seem to be airing some of the TCM documentaries. On the whole, I'm satisfied.

As far as my friends who use Rogers and Bell ExpressVu, it appears as if their providers won't be following suit. According to a poster in the Digital Home Canada forums, "The third level customer support manager indicated to me that Bell had no interest in TCM or (Turner Movies Classic he referred to it). He said that not enough or any customers had requested the channel and that as of right now BELL is not negotiating the addition of TCM. Bell had no interest in TCM or (Turner Movies Classic he referred to it). He said that not enough or any customers had requested the channel and that as of right now BELL is not negotiating the addition of TCM." Presumably the same is true of Rogers Cable, but certainly the Bell Expressvu attitude must be annoying to people who enjoy old movies and are being served by inferior channels - like Silver Screen Classics, which apparently shows only Public Domain material - when other Canadians are seeing a channel with a huge film library and a sterling reputation for using it.

TV On DVD - November 1, 2005

I'm still waiting for TCM although the channel has appeared on other Shaw Cable systems Tuesday and Wednesday - I can hardly wait but I have to. So I guess I should finish up this TV on DVD post. Not a bad lineup this week, with very little Kidvid, and some underrated material from the past. And yes there are a couple of items that I can't believe they've wasted time and resources releasing, but which obviously have a market.

21 Jump Street: The Complete Fourth Season
- Since I never watched this series I can't tell you much. This was Johnny Depp's last season, and the show would really suffer in terms of ratings without him.

The Adventures of Pete & Pete - Season 2
- I get the impression that this Nickelodeon series from 1993 was a lot quirkier than I gave it credit for. I wouldn't know since I never saw it, but the more I read about it the more I'd like to at least try it. Surreal huh? The plate in Mom's head picks up radio signals?

Alvin and the Chipmunks: A Chipmunk Christmas
- I'm old enough to remember Ross Bagdasarian Sr. when he created the Alvin and the Chipmunks. Back around 1961 there was the Alvin Show and ran for about a season. They were annoying then. Ross Jr. revived the characters back in 1980 and in 1981 produced the Chipmunks Christmas Special which eventually led to the Chipmunks to return to network TV in 1983. Still annoying.

American Chopper: The Series - Third Season
- A third season with the feuding Teutuls. I have to admit that there's a certain charm to watching Paul, Paulie and Mike yelling at each other, and let's admit that the bikes are amazingly artistic creations. But even though creating the motorcycles is the reason why the show is on Discovery, it's the Teutuls who make the show worth watching.

Backstairs at the White House
- I remember at the time this appeared that this was largely seen as a gimmick. There are some extremely good actors playing both Presidents and their ladies - Victor Buono, Robert Vaughan, Celeste Holm, Ed Flanders, and Harry Morgan among many others - and the men and women who worked at the White House. In their day the mainly black servants at the White House like the characters played by Louis Gossett Jr, Leslie Uggams and Olivia Cole were a privileged group within Washington's African-American community. The key to the miniseries was that while Presidents come and go, the staff was always there. While not entirely well regarded at the time, over the years it has come to be remembered very fondly.

Brady Bunch - Complete Fourth Season
- This season marked a couple of important points in the series' history. The family went to Hawaii for the first three episodes, and the musical aspect was becoming a bit more important - there were two or three musical episodes - probably inspired by the success of The Partridge Family. Plus this was the season in which Marcia's nose got broken. Other than that (and both Florence Henderson and Maureen McCormick appearing increasingly hot, and Eve Plumb growing into her hair) what you have are the usual antics from the kids and the clueless parents. At least Cousin Oliver hasn't arrived.

Best of Cheaters, Vol. 1: Uncensored
- I had to look this up. Apparently this is uncensored material from a series about real-life private investigators tracking down cheating spouses and filming them in the act and then showing the footage to the "client" and confronting the cheaters. I can't believe anyone would watch a show this smarmy, and the only people I appreciate less are the ones who sign the release forms so they can be on this steaming pile of crap.

Dick Cavett Show: John and Yoko Collection
- The release of these Dick Cavett episodes has been a very interesting journey. There isn't much music and as you might expect, Lennon's music in the post Beatles period isn't that great. For that, the Rock Icons and Ray Charles sets are far better choices. On the other hand Cavett's conversations with Lennon and Yoko Ono are worth watching because Lennon was a witty man and Cavett was always erudite. A good combination.

Fame: The Complete First Season
- Another series I never watched when it was on. The subject matter and what little I saw of the characters never appealed to me, and again it was a case of always being able to find something on that I'd rather watch.

Hearts Afire: Season 2
- I've always preferred the first season of Hearts Afire to the second season, when the show abandoned the congressional office of a Republican senator as a setting and moved to a Missouri newspaper office. I am apparently the only one who feels this way. The show was never a huge success despite a great cast which included Markie Post, John Ritter, Billy Bob Thornton and (in the second and third seasons), Conchata Ferrell. I loved the first season but grew increasingly indifferent once the show moved to its new setting.

Just for Laughs: Stand Up, Vol. 1 - Best of the Uptown Comics
- Just For Laughs aka Juste Pour Rire is the Montreal International Comedy Festival. It's also the title of a series featuring performances from the Festival which airs on CBC and on the Comedy Network in Canada, and probably other places as well. I'm not sure, but what Image Entertainment seems to have done here is to repackage material from the Festival thematically with this DVD featuring "urban" comedians including Dave Chappelle, David Allan Greer, and Wanda Sykes. I love the folks at Image (mainly for their contributions to film restoration, specifically silent films) but something they do seems to make it difficult for their product to be sold in Canada. The US release for this set is November 1, but the Canadian release is December 6.

Just for Laughs: Gags, Vol. 1
- Just For Laughs Gags is another offshoot from the Montreal Comedy Festival. This one is not actual performances from the Festival but rather Candid Camera style practical jokes shot in the streets of Montreal. There's some fun stuff here.

Monster Garage: Season Three
- I've said nice things about American Chopper but for reasons I can't explain, I feel absolutely no love for Monster Garage. I can only surmise that I like the way the Teutuls fight better than I like the people on Monster Garage.

Outer Limits: Season 1
- The 1995 version of The Outer Limits might possibly be criticized for not being as true to the spirit of the original series as purist might have preferred, but it is hard to argue with the show's success. For one thing it outlasted the original series and for another, unlike attempts to revive anthology series like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone it developed its own material. This was the rare case of a revival which, if it didn't do better than the original was at least worthy of standing beside it.

Sex and the City: The Complete Series (Collector's Giftset)
- My usual warning applies here: if you haven't bought the seasons of Sex And The City you might consider this otherwise give it a pass unless you're an absolute completist who has to have everything.

Star Trek Enterprise: The Complete Fourth Season
- Excepting the final episode which was written by Berman and Braga, the fourth season of Star Trek Enterprise was the best because of the absence of Breman and Braga. There was finally some movement towards the founding of the Federation, and the stories were generally better than what had been seen in the first two and a half seasons, despite budget cuts and a Friday time slot. Plus several episodes with Jeffrey Combs as Shran, which is always good. It was a shame that UPN decided to cancel the show just as it was getting good.

Tales of Tomorrow, Collection 2
- I want to confess that I've never even heard of this 1951 anthology series before this, but already it fascinates me. It's probably because of the cast list for some of the episodes - there were 45 half hour episodes in the first season from which this set is drawn. Among the actors in that first season (but, I hasten to add not necessarily on this set) were Paul Newman, Darren McGavin, Brian Keith, Jack Warden, James Doohan, and Eva Gabor. If the episodes were anywhere near to being worthy of the people who appeared in them, this series would be a winner, and even if they aren't it's still interesting as a curiosity.

Ultimate Fighter: Season 1
- I don't like Pro Wrestling and I can barely stand Boxing, and this has always seemed like low rent versions of both. If you happen to like Wrestling and Boxing you might like this better than I possibly could.

War of the Worlds: The Complete First Season
- I've been told that the first season of War Of The Worlds is the best, largely because it represents a logical follow-up to the legendary 1953 film version of the H.G. Wells story and was one of the highest rated syndicated programs that Paramount ever made. Worthy of special note are the three appearances by Ann Robinson reprising her role as Sylvia Van Buren from the 1953 movie.

World Poker Tour: The Best of Season 3
- I haven't been able to see as much of the World Poker Tour as I'd like since the show is on a Canadian network, CityTV, which which doesn't broadcast in Saskatchewan and isn't carried by cable here. The series attracts some of the best Poker players in the world and represents both the best and worst of Poker broadcasting. In a previous article I mentioned that I'm not a fan of the show's main commentator Vince Van Patten. As well its easy to learn bad habits by watching play at a tournament final table - players tend to take bigger risks there than they would earlier in the game because there are fewer players and hands which would otherwise be marginal become more powerful with fewer players. You see evidence of this all the time in online tournaments. Of interest is that this four DVD set is labelled "The Best of Season 3" - Season 1 had a four disk release and Season 2 was a six disk set, but both were complete seasons.

Turner Classic Movies Coming To Canada!!!!

At least to my part of Canada. Shaw Cable (which is the cable company that serves Saskatoon and most of western Canada) and its satellite subsidiary Starchoice will be adding Turner Classic Movies to their lineups starting today (November 1). They're the first Canadian services to add the American channel.

I've been a big fan of the network since I first saw it on my brother's satellite system (he used to be a pirate and is now grey-market), but once the station is added to my cable system I'll be able to watch it without him coming in the room and switching it to just about anything else he could find.

I'm so happy!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Three quick images for Halloween.


First we have the great Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster, hard working family man, who does throw the occasional temper tantrum.















Next up John Astin in his signature role as Gomez Adams, scion of the fabulously wealthy Addams Family (that's the two "D" Addamses - remember they hated those one "D" Adamses from Massachusetts; something about the Revolutionary War).







And finally, because homemade costumes are often the best, Lucy gives us here interpretation of Superman from the I Love Lucy episode featuring George Reeves.






Happy Halloween and may all your tricks be treats.

New Poll - Which Classic TV Series Was Scariest?

As usual, feel free to comment here.

Poll Results (such as they were) - Which Of These New Shows Do You Find Scariest?

Well that was a bit of a poor choice of poll questions. There were only three responses so scarcely representative of anything. There were two votes for Threshold and one vote for Supernatural. No other show, including my little "joke" entry of Martha Stewart's Apprentice got any support. I sort of think that's disappointing considering the reaction that a lot of people have to Martha and her show.Also not registering any support was Nightstalker which I suppose indicates that there was no real reason for reviving the series, or at least for reviving the series in the current form. I am reminded of Dick Law And Order Wolf's attempt to revive Dragnet. Good cast, good stories, but people didn't watch in droves

I think in a way that the new WB series Supernatural is the real successor to Darren McGavin's series. They're facing things that people wouldn't believe in even if they saw them themselves (and managed to survive) and are doing it outside the law because the law wouldn't understand. Kolchak - the real Kolchak - always had to deal with skeptical editors, police and just about anyone else. It doesn't hurt that these are the sort of urban legends and campfire ghost stories everyone has heard of, but with a frighteningly real spin put to them. No wonder the series is doing well (at least by WB standards).

I can definitely see the appeal of Threshold as well. Invasion often seems to drag and tends to be more focused on the family elements, while having little in the way of the sort of dramatic tension that its ancestor, Invasion of the Body Snatchers had. Surface which seems to be more about the government conspiracy than about any real threat that the sea creatures present. But Threshold gives us a real, authentic danger, a danger made all the more frightening by its nature. Without intervention anyone could be changed. The next one could be you. It's the real successor to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.

I think I'll do classic TV horrors for the poll I'll post sometime Sunday.

Smallville Spins Buffy

It's nearly Hallowe'en and I got to thinking about the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Mainly I got to thinking about them after a show last night, but I'll get to that in a minute. It seems to me that most of the cast - who were supposedly doomed to not working ever again according to a lot of people - are particularly active on TV this season. Allison "Willow" Hannigan is co-starring in How I Met Your Mother. Nicholas "Xander" Brendon has a supporting role on Kitchen Confidential. Charisma "Cordy" Carpenter has a role on Veronica Mars as a horny trophy wife and will be doing at least one episode with Allison Hannigan at the end of November. David "Angel" Boreanaz is starring in Bones, and Anthony Stewart "Rupert Giles" Head is seen in the British series Little Britain as the Prime Minister. He'll also be doing a second season episode of the new Doctor Who next spring. And while Sarah Michelle Gellar is apparently too good for TV (she's got a lot of films in production or post-production) "Buffy's" husband Freddie Prinze Jr. is in the truly dreadful Freddy so that's sort of guilt by association. And then there's "Spike" but I'll get into that in a moment.

With Hallowe'en becoming increasingly important in terms of merchandising and sales (apparently it is second only to Christmas in terms of retail in the United States and Canada) the networks have jumped on the bandwagon and are producing Hallowe'en episodes as well as Christmas episodes. In fact Hallowe'en episodes are easier for most show than Christmas episodes because you can schedule them closer to the actual day - Christmas comes in the post-November sweeps dead period - although this year the only network showing new episodes this Monday is Fox and they aren't showing Kitchen Confidential but rather two hours of Prison Break, and that place is scary enough without a Hallowe'en episode. Buffy The Vampire Slayer didn't always do Hallowe'en episodes but when t hey did they were memorable. There was the one where Ethan Raine sold cursed costumes to most of the kids in Sunnydale which made them - including Buffy who dressed as an 18th century beauty - take on the characteristics of their costume and forget who they really were. Then there was the episode where the gang goes to a party at a frat house and have to confront a fear demon (although the best thing about that episode was Anya dressed in a bunny costume because she was told to dress as something that really frightened her). With Buffy long gone from the air, other shows have to pick up the slack in this fun scary type of episode. For the past two seasons it's been Smallville which has done a couple of fun TV parodies.

Last year, Smallville took advantage of an ongoing story line which featured Lana possessed by the spirit of a 17th century witch to take a poke at another WB series, Charmed, with Lana inserting the spirits of two other witches into the bodies of Lois and Chloe. This season, with James "Spike" Marsters as part of the cast, the target was obvious - vampires with a Buffy The Vampire Slayer spin, - with a few shots at Batman Begins thrown in for flavour. In the episode called Thirst Lana decides to pledge a sorority at Metropolis University, but of course it isn't just any sorority, it's the most exclusive one on campus, which only allows one girl in per year. That's because the Psi Psi Psi Sorority is made up of vampires. They think Lana is "special" enough to join, so they initiate her in the old fashioned Buffy way - they drink her blood and then she drinks some of theirs. This actually isn't surprising since the head of the sorority is none other than Buffy - Buffy Saunders that is. The character is played by Brooke Nevin, but her appearance and attitude in this episode bears a strong resemblance to Mercedes McNab's character "Harmony" in both Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. There are some fun scenes - in one, Chloe tried to stop Lana with a cross only to be told "That only works in the movies." In another, Professor Milton Fine (played by Marsters) tells Clark "There's no such thing as vampires." In and of itself it's not funny but said by "Spike" it's the sort of in joke that this sort of episode thrives on as is the line delivered at the end of the episode by Daily Planet Editor in Chief Pauline Kahn (played by Carrie Fisher and a tribute to former DC Comics Publisher Jeanette Kahn) about "Slaying Buffy the Vampire." Even the way in which Lana is cured - being "staked" through the heart but with a hypodermic full of antidote rather than a piece of wood - refers to the Buffy The Vampire Slayer series. In the final scenes Chloe mentions that the events of the story were so strange that her room mate moved out and she was able to move under the same roof with her best friend - Lana. In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Buffy's roommate moved out and she was able to live under the same roof with her best friend, Willow.

There are other interesting references as well. Going to the sorority costume party, Clark tells Chloe that he "hates costumes." Clark is dressed as Zorro, which might be seen as a reference to the new Columbia Pictures movie The Legend of Zorro but actually has a much deeper reference to Batman. Bob Kane once state that his creation of Batman was at least partially influenced by watching Douglas Fairbanks in the 1920 Mark of Zorro (Robin was supposedly inspired by another Fairbanks film - Robin Hood - while The Joker was inspired by Conrad Veidt's appearance in the film The Man Who Laughs). Moreover Clark makes a comment about not liking masks because they're hard to see out of - odd for someone who can see through things - while Batman is famous for not only wearing a cape but also a mask.

This was scarcely the best episode of Smallville this year let alone of all time, but I don't think it was nearly as bad as the hardcore fans fo the show seem to think it was (of course the hardcore fans all seem to hate most episodes of the show). Moreover I think it's exactly the sort of show that a series like Smallville should do if they're going to do a Hallowe'en episode. They can't do straight horror or suspense and if the fans were outraged with this I can only imagine how they'd feel about an episode which dealt with all the characters hanging out at a costume party. So what's left for them is satire and why not do a satire which goes after well known series which approach the form with tongue at least partially in cheek, like Buffy and Charmed? As for the performances, most of the actors seemed to be having fun with it and it gave Kristin Kreuk another chance to play "Evil Lana", a character who is more wanton and assertive and generally wickedly fun than the normal version of Lana. Wisely they restricted James Marsters primarily to the B storyline which focused on the current season long arc and only linking it to the main plotline as needed. Making him a major player in the main story could have destroyed the character's credibility by reminding us more of the actor's previous part and leaving us with that memory. It wasn't a truly great episode but I at least had fun with it.

TV On DVD - October 25, 2005 - Late Again

Vote in the Poll!!! Please?!

Another late list. I had a few things on my plate and I managed to injure my knee on Sunday which has been causing me a lot of pain and made it hard to sit down for extended periods of time. In addition it's a long list , and a lot of it is stuff that I've had to look up since it's for shows I don't watch or haven't watched. There are a handful of gems and at least one warning.

3rd Rock from the Sun - Season 2
- I'm not a big 3rd Rock From The Sun fan. In fact by the second season I wasn't watching it at all - probably as part of my withdrawal from sitcoms. I think what turned me off of it was probably what other people found so appealing - John Lithgow's perpetual pomposity, and French Stewart on general principle. The idea of aliens living as humans and discovering what it means is similar to Mork And Mindy which I mostly liked, even though I think this series did it much better because it could explore a wider range of experiences. Still I just never got into it.

Alias: Season 4
- Another current show I don't watch, mostly because it coincided with stuff I did like and because the premise - a college girl spy who turns out to be working for the wrong people - just seemed too out there for me. Still you can't argue with success and the series has survived despite - or perhaps because of - the far out nature of the plots.

The Ambassador
- I've never heard of this one, but IMDB tells me it's a 12 part series about the new British ambassador to Ireland and the obstacles she faces in trying to make the Anglo-Irish relationship less adversarial. The big attraction here isn't the show so much as the star, the always good Pauline Collins.

American Gothic - The Complete Series
- This show is something of a cult classic, just perfect for Hallowe'en. I never joined the cult but that has a lot more to do with the fact that I'm not really a horror movie fan than it does with the show itself. Certainly the show has the appropriate pedigree with both Sam Raimi and his partner Rob Tapert - the creators of The Evil Dead - as Executive producers, as well as series creator Shaun Cassidy. Cassidy has stated that this show and his current hit series Invasion are really about families, which causes us to wonder what things were really like at the home of Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones.

Bewitched: The Complete Second Season [Color]
Bewitched: The Complete Second Season (B&W)
- I don't suppose I need to tell you to buy the Black & White edition do I? Colorization is the bane of human existence. Season two was mainly focussed on Samantha's pregnancy (Elizabeth Montgomery was herself pregnant with her second child) and the complications that arise with a pregnant witch. There's some very funny stuff here. Bernard Fox appears in one episode but not as Dr. Bombay, and the season marks the first appearances of Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur and "Pandora Spocks" as Sam's identical cousin Serena. (Ivan has pointed out that he preferred I Dream of Jeannie. Well different strokes for different folks. I've always preferred Bewitched because Liz Montgomery was the better actress and it was always fun seeing Sam's relatives. Only in later days have I realized a reason that my prepubescent self wouldn't have understood - I wanted to sleep with Samantha a lot more than I wanted to sleep with Jeannie. Actually I'd rather sleep with Serena - in latter days she seems like she'd be more...inventive and fun.)

Looney Tunes: Golden Collection, Volume Three
- Strictly speaking not a TV show, although the two previous volumes of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection have included material made for TV, mostly interval scenes from the old Bugs Bunny Show. The big thing though is that as much as possible these cartoons are as they were when they were released in the theaters (in Volume Two there were a number of older cartoons without their original credit sequences - presumably lost after the pre-1947 cartoon library was sold), which as we'll see isn't always the case. It has to do with which part of Warner Brothers Home Video is releasing it. What is absolutely clear is that this set is a must have for anyone with even a passing interest in animation.

Danger Mouse: The Complete Seasons 3 & 4
- Can't comment since I've never actually seen this British animated series.

Degrassi Junior High: The Complete Collection
- All three seasons collected in one box. If you don't have any of the previous releases this might be a way to go, otherwise you're probably safe to pass on it.

Doris Day Show: Season 2
- The first season of the show hadn't exactly set the world on fire - it was #30 for the year - so the producers decided to revive the premise. Doris went to work as a secretary at a magazine in San Francisco while still commuting back to her father's ranch. This meant that she was not only interacting with her father (Denver Pyle) and kids but also a new cast in the city - Maclean Stevenson and Rose Marie. This seemed to perk up the ratings, bringing the show up to 10th for the year. Still there's nothing that really stands out about the show in any of its seasons beyond the fact that Doris Day is very nice looking 40ish woman.

Hamish MacBeth: The Complete First Season
- I've tried to watch this series on occasion but I've never really stuck with it. Too bad since it sounds like the sort of show I'd like. Set in an isolated Scottish village it is the story of the local constable, played by Robert Carlyle, and is full of eccentric characters giving full vent to their eccentricities. One day maybe I'll make the effort.

Hart to Hart: The Complete First Season
- Hart To Hart can best be described as an attempt to take Nick and Nora Charles and update them for the 1970s - which is to say with all the love but none of the booze. Sometimes it seemed like only half the wit too but that's another issue. The two principal stars, Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers were incredibly attractive and had a considerable amount of chemistry between them. The show also had a comic relief element in the form or Lionel Stander as Max. The show was proof positive that you don't need unresolved sexual tension for this sort of show - the Harts were resolving their tension at every possible moment. Not as good as Remington Steele would be, but still enjoyable.

In Living Color: Season 4
- The fourth season of the Wayans family sketch comedy show. In fact this is the last season in which any of the Wayans family participated in the show after Keenan Ivory Wayans left the series in a dispute with Fox over censorship. It was on and gone before I was ever able to see the Fox Network.

Invasion: Earth
- A BBC mini-series produced in cooperation with the American Sci-Fi Channel, this was the forerunner of the current spate of alien invasion series. A mysterious group of aliens is attempting to take over the Earth and use it as a breeding ground. This series also aired on Space: The Imagination Station here in Canada and while I saw parts of a number of episodes and even tried to watch more than once it was just too convoluted and confusing for me to follow.

The Kids in the Hall: The Complete Season 3
- Kids In The Hall is yet another example of the sketch comedy tradition in Canada that goes back to at least Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster. The name comes from Jack Benny's mythical replacement writers, the kids in the hall who were waiting for one of his current writers to be fired. The show was an acquired taste which I never managed to acquire. But Dave Foley certainly looked good in a dress. Actually, so did most of the cast.

The L Word: Season Two
- There are shows that I think I should see, but can never make time for so I usually only see snippets of them and as a result wonder what all the fuss is about. The L Word is one of those. I mean I know that the show, which is shot in Vancouver, is about the lives of a number of lesbians who live in West Hollywood and their various relationships, personalities and attitudes. The trouble is that it's hard to become involved in in a series like this which emphasises relationships if you haven't been able to see it from the beginning so eventually you end up saying forget about it.

Little House on the Prairie: Season 9
- The final season of this classic family series rested almost entirely on Melissa Gilbert and Dean Butler. In fact it even had a revived name: Little House on the Prairie: A New Beginning. Charles and Caroline Ingalls have been written out of the series as major characters although Michael Landon made a couple of appearances, and even Allison Arngrim - the notorious Nellie Olsen - makes an appearance. It wasn't enough to save the show although there were three TV movies made later, including the last one in which all of the sets were blown up.

MADtv: The Best of Seasons 8-10
- I have to say that I've only ever really seen the first season of MADTV and while there were some good cast members in that season, notably Nicole Sullivan (who I remember fondly as the Vancome Lady) and Phil LaMarr, if you had bet me it was going to last ten seasons I would have been happy to put up most of my savings. Amazingly it has not only lasted but prospered. Indeed some people are willing to argue that it's been better than Saturday Night Live for much of its run. It's hard to know if this is based on how good MADTV is or how bad SNL has become.

Beverly Hillbillies/Petticoat Junction: Ultimate Christmas Collection
- This is scarcely the "Ultimate" Christmas Collection of the Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction. It's a single DVD with three episodes, two of them from The Beverly Hillbillies and there isn't much in the way of extras. Disappointing is putting it mildly.

The Munsters: The Complete Second Season
- It's hard to remember that both The Munsters and The Addams Family only lasted two seasons each. The shows are both icons of their time. I've seen The Munsters far more and I'm far more familiar with the cast. Indeed they always seemed to function more as a complete ensemble than the cast of The Addams Family. The set included four documentaries, three of which focus on the major performers; Fred Gwynne, Al Lewis, and Yvonne DeCarlo. Both series were great and I'd say were cut down way before their time, but The Munsters were always closer to my heart.

Planet's Funniest Animals, Vol. 1
- Think America's Funniest Home Videos - complete with a Tom Bergeron type host spouting corny gags - but with clips of animals instead of people. If this is the sort of thing you like or you like animals this is for you, otherwise stay away.

Point Pleasant: The Complete Series
- I sometimes get the feeling that the Fox network tests TV shows like people test spaghetti, throw something against a wall and see if it sticks, except in the case of TV shows the wall is the audience. If the show is immediately popular it stays, if not it goes. This one didn't, probably predictably since one of the creators - Marti Noxon - worked on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and we all know how Fox treats shows created by people who worked on Buffy, including Joss Whedon himself. Another one I missed because I was too wedded to another series on the same night. The DVD set had all 13 episodes which were shot, although only eight aired.

Puppets Who Kill: The Complete Second Season
- I've seen bits and pieces of this series, which is made in Canada and stars Dan Redican from the old comedy troupe "The Frantics". Most of the stars are puppets, who are actually beings with their own personalities - usually at odds with their supposed personalities on TV and the movies - which have gotten them in trouble with the law. They live in a halfway house as a last ditch attempt at rehabilitation. From what little I've seen, it isn't working but like Drawn Together it's the divergence in personalities from what we see to what's real which makes the show funny.

Tales from the Crypt: The Complete Second Season
- More scary stuff for Hallowe'en courtesy of the animatronic Cryptkeeper. Horror in the EC manner, but with a requisite dose of profanity and nudity thanks to having been on HBO.

Tom and Jerry: Spotlight Collection, Volume 2
- This is what I was referring to in the comments on the Looney Tunes collection. In an article in Jaime Weinman's blog Something Old, Nothing New Jerry Beck explains that all of the Warner Brothers Animation releases except the Looney Tunes Golden Collection material falls under Warner Home Video's "family entertainment" division rather than the "library product" area where the Looney Tunes fall. I guess the big difference is that for the Tom and Jerry releases, Beck - who is a well known animation expert - can advise but didn't get to consent about the material on the final release. In this set there are three cartoons where the voice of the "Mammy Two-Shoes" character (the black maid who is usually only seen from the knees down) is not the original but a version used for British audiences. This is a step up from the first set in this series, where the character was almost completely cut out, but not the way the cartoons were originally presented, which for the most part is what you have in the Looney Tunes set. Apparently there's a fight going on for a Tex Avery set (probably the old MGM material) to be released by the "library product" team. One can only hope.

Tripping the Rift: Season One
- In their assessment of the worst TV shows for family viewing, the Parents Television Council attacked several of the animated series on Fox, making the incorrect assumption that anything animated is "for kids" (the animators at Warners in the 1940s said that they didn't make cartoons for kids or adults, they made them for themselves). It's clear that if the PTC were willing to attack American Dad and Family Guy as being "smutty cartoons" they never say Tripping The Rift on the American Sci-Fi Channel. The cartoon is produced in Canada by Cine Group and Film Roman using CGI techniques, and features the voice of Stephen Root as Chode, the captain of the smuggling ship Jupiter 42 and - in the first season - Gina Gershon as his Science Officer android 6 of 1. 6 of 1was designed to have a lot of sex, and Chode is perpetually horny (and stupid). The PTC would have a collective if they saw this - let's send them a copy. Muahahaha