The long wait is over for MTV’s The State to hit DVD shelves, and the classic G.I. JOE Cartoon is getting life again on DVD which may be the one good thing to come out of the G.I. JOE: Rise of the Cobra film should it be as bad as the trailers indicate.
Pick of the Week
The State: The Complete Series
It has been a long time coming for this cult MTV sketch show which launched the careers of most of the Reno 911 cast and people like Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter. This set was made for hardcore fans with commentary on all the episodes, gag reels, unaired sketches, cast interviews, and the original Pilot sent to MTV.
The Haunting in Connecticut (Unrated Special Edition)
Based loosely on a true story The Haunting in Connecticut is a typical haunted house thriller that is enhanced by the inclusion of Virginia Madsen (Sideways). The DVD comes loaded with features covering the “real” events from 1987 with interviews with the family and some experts.
The Color of Magic
This is a TV movie fantasy based on the Discworld book series. They were able to wrangle in some top tier talent though including Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings), Jeremy Irons (Eragon), the immortal Tim Curry (It), Christopher Lee (Also in The Lord of the Rings), and Brian Cox (X2 – X-Men United).
Grey Gardens
Drew Barrymore (Charlie’s Angels) and Jessica Lange (Big Fish) play two eccentric hermits who were related to Jackie Kennedy in a bid to get an acting Emmy for HBO.
TV and Reissues
Mad Men: Season 2
Possibly the most critically acclaimed TV series in history next to The Sopranos, Mad Men returns to TV this summer still trying to grow an audience to go along with all the shiny awards. This set includes more features and has one on the rise of Feminism in the 60’s as well as one on the fashion of the era and we get an audio commentary for every episode. As much as I respect the show I am more excited about a career in comedy for Jon Hamm who was perfect on 30 Rock and as the host of SNL and can be found in many comedy circles in LA.
Leverage: The First Season
A modern Robin Hood team steals from evil corporations with clever high-tech heists. The Timothy Hutton led show was picked up for a second season so you can catch up with this set which comes with a few good features and a ton of commentaries.
G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Season 1.1
This is the first half of the lengthy first season which has been released before but at a higher price point. This set also comes with some special features including many of the PSAs that kept us all out of trouble when we were kids.
Tracey Takes On… Complete Seasons 3 & 4
The show hasn’t been selling as well on DVD so they packed the last two seasons together to finish out the set. The show includes some notable guest stars including Hugh Laurie (House), Michael McKean (This Is Spinal Tap), Cheech Marin and long time friend Julie Kavner (Marge on The Simpsons).
American Gladiators (The Original Series): The Battle Begins
Enjoy the campy first season with Zap, Nitro, Gemini, Lace, Malibu, and Sunny. I remember watching this when I got home from school, but I can’t imagine how weird it would be to watch this now.
Shark Week: The Great Bites Collection
This is a two disc set full of some of the better features from Discovery Channels’ Shark Week. It may be worth grabbing on Blu-ray to make the sharks even more menacing on the big screen.
Men Behaving Badly – The Complete Series
Rob Schneider’s wild foray into TV after his time on SNL was for this sitcom adapted from the popular BBC comedy. It only lasted 35 episodes, 7 of which were never aired. Justine Bateman and Ron Eldard were in for the first season and then fled to be replaced for the short second season. The show has a small cult following for its content which was rather crude for the time period especially when its main competitor was The Cosby Show.
