This month's TV highlights featuring Arrested Development: Season Three, Surface: The Complete Series, The Tick Vs. Season One and The Wierd Al Show: The Complete Series
August TV Highlights: Arrested Development: Season Three, Surface: The Complete Series, The Tick Vs. Season One, The Wierd Al Show: The Complete Series
Directors: Various
Producers: Various
Writers: Various
Features: * Commentaries * Interviews * Deleted Scenes * Featurettes * Unaired Sketches
Characters:
Various
Genre: Comedy
Review:
Hello again avid DVDFuture readers. The format here won’t be the same as typical DVDFuture style; it will be similar to the lump review style I've worked with in the past. We will be making this the standard for TV reviews. If you have any comments about this new format, please let me know. Enjoy!
BELATED AUGUST TV HIGHLIGHTS:
Arrested Development: Season Three
For those unaware, Arrested Development is one of the wittiest, funniest shows that has ever aired on television. There’s something for everyone. But, like with most clever shows, it was canceled because no one watched it, which is particularly sad given how funny the show’s third and final season was. Each episode is a classic, woven with hundreds of jokes.
If you’ve never watched an episode of this awesome show, you should defiantly pick it up and check it out. It takes a little while to get used to all the characters, but once you do, you’ll never stop laughing.
The third season contains thirteen episodes. There are commentaries on three of the thirteen episodes from the cast and crew. These commentaries are the very definition of light and fluffy. Nothing is really said that holds any meaning. It’s just the cast having one last laugh before they part ways. We are also treated to several deleted scenes, a blooper reel and a short featurette.
Show Scorecard:
As entertainment: * * * *
As a show: * * * *
Overall: * * * *
DVD Scorecard:
Video: 8
Audio: 7
Extras: 7.5
Overall: 8
Unrated.
* Running Time: 285 Minutes
* List Price: $29.98
* Available on DVD: August 29th 2006.
Surface: The Complete Series
Surface is a show that baffles me. Why would a show about a mysterious sea monster be greenlit by NBC studio executives? This should never have been a show, it should have been a miniseries or a TV movie. Surface starts out promising, but drags on and on, and unlike Lost (the show that probably inspired Surface’s greenlight), it doesn’t seem like it could go more than ten or twelve more episodes.
It also doesn’t help that none of the characters feel very real. The lead actress is okay at best. Her character is sloppily written as are most of the other characters. Holes are apparent at every corner and the mysterious monster sort of looks like the 1998 American version of Godzilla, particularly when it’s swimming around underwater in the darkness. The story also bares an enormously, almost lawsuit-like resemblance to Steve Alten’s shark novel, Meg and Peter Benchley’s shark novel, White Shark.
Sadly, we’re not given any resolution to the plot on the show or in the special features. There are no commentaries, and very few added goodies. We essentially get a few deleted scenes and a short special effects featurette. It would have been nice to hear from the producers on what would have happened had the show continued. Disappointing.
Show Scorecard:
As entertainment: * * 1/2
As a show: * *
Overall: * *
DVD Scorecard:
Video: 7.5
Audio: 7.5
Extras: 4
Overall: 6
Unrated.
* Running Time: 634 Minutes
* List Price: $49.98
* Available on DVD: August 15th 2006.
The Tick Vs. Season One
One of the best and funniest cartoons to ever grace this planet, The Tick is a wonderful show to watch with friends. Its wit and style is always a welcome friend. Had The Tick aired just a few years later when cartoons like it flourished, it probably would have survived a bit longer than it did.
Sadly, only three seasons of the show exist, and this DVD is the first of those. There are no special features on this two-disc set and, due to rights issues, the eleventh episodes of this first season, is nowhere to be seen. Hopefully future seasons will hold more bonus material than this lackluster premiere.
Show Scorecard:
As entertainment: * * *
As a show: * * *
Overall: * * *
DVD Scorecard:
Video: 6
Audio: 6
Extras: 0
Overall: 6.5
Unrated.
* Running Time: 252 Minutes
* List Price: $34.99
* Available on DVD: August 29th 2006.
The Weird Al Show: The Complete Series
Weird Al was a huge musical sensation in the mid-to-late eighties, but he went back to being a cult fave in the nineties. Sadly, Al’s show aired during that time. Even worse, is that he was forced, by network executives, to axe a lot of his very creative and funny ideas from the show.
The result is a horribly uneven waste of time. The show isn’t very funny, nor is it a good kids show. It’s boring and, well, weird, but not in a good way. Thankfully, Al offers up several commentaries with cast and crew at his side where they discuss the horridness of the show. It’s nice that Shout Factory allowed Al to get away with this.
If nothing else, the show is worth a rent, just to listen to the commentaries and watch some of the clever cartoons that do exist within the confines of this terrible show. Also, fans of the Barenaked Ladies, will enjoy the first episode.
Show Scorecard:
As entertainment: * *
As a show: * *
Overall: * *
DVD Scorecard:
Video: 6
Audio: 6
Extras: 8.5
Overall: 6.5
Unrated.
* Running Time: 600 Minutes
* List Price: $34.98
* Available on DVD: August 15th 2006.
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----R. L. Shaffer