Saturday Funnies: NFL Draft Edition

I could show some clips of Brian Bosworth, Tony Mandrich or Troy Williamson but instead I'll just show the sickingly talented and shockingly funny Payton Manning.

BEST THREAT EVER courtesy of 30 Rock

I WILL CUT YOU OPEN LIKE A TAUNTAUN!

Looking Back on the New Shows of 2006

Ahh spring…birds chirping, flowers growing, and season finales. Is there any better season then spring? As I prepare to say goodbye to my favorite TV shows for the summer (and others for good…Veronica Mars I’m looking suspiciously at you), I took a look at my Fall TV Preview from last September and at the new shows that I was pimping. Some have disappeared and others have flourished; so without further ado, let’s take a look back at my top new shows of 2006 (as predicted in September 2006):

Jericho- About the best thing I can say about this show is that it’s still on my TiVo season pass. Week to week the show bores me to tears but the premise of a small town fighting for survival in a post nuclear world still holds my attention somewhat. Last night’s episode had about 15 minutes worth of watchable developments while the rest was fast forward material. Instead of focusing on who launched the attacks and what was behind it the show has chosen to focus on the boring ass lives of the one dimensional characters that populate the town. The season finale appears to be heading towards a mini war with a neighboring city and while I’ll probably record and fast forward through much of it, unless there is some kind of truly interesting cliff hanger, I’m afraid it’s sayonara for Jericho.

The Nine- Take a group of people forced into an extraordinary situation and see how it affects their lives afterwards. Hmm sounds good on paper. Cast a bunch of recognizable TV actors from shows like 24, Wings, and Party of Five. That sounds like a good way to launch a show. Have the network decided your show is a sure fire hit and schedule it after on of their established big hits Lost. Well my god we’ve got a formula for the number one new show of the year right? Not so fast my friends. The extraordinary situation was a bank robbery gone awry but instead of revealing the details all at once the show instead revealed them in 30 second flashbacks each week. This show made Lost look like a sitcom in terms of it’s story telling pace. The cast seemed to not care that much that they were on a new show and instead seemed to be channeling their old characters especially Audrey from 24 and Scott Wolf from POF. As for the scheduling, the first six Losts of the season (arguably the worst stretch in the history of the show) certainly didn’t help The Nine. In fact I’m guessing the last thing people who were fed up with the lack of answers on Lost wanted to do was watch another show where things were going to be revealed verrrrrrrrrrrrrry sloooooooooowly. The masses spoke and the Nine was done after 6 eps or so.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip- Here’s a show I was screaming for people to watch almost 6 months before its premiere. I love Aaron Sorkin and the shows he’s created prior to this one, Sports Night, and The West Wing. I loved the cast from Amanda Peet, to Matthew Perry to the other guy from Wings. Then the show premiered and I liked it…a lot…but I didn’t love it. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I found the show almost too preachy and liberal. It tried much too hard to seem balanced and as such came off as a bit fake and elitist. Still it was damn entertaining TV and while I might have some complaints; it is a show I pray gets renewed from for a second chance. However those hopes seem to be dimming as we still haven’t heard when the last 4 eps of this season will air.

30 Rock- I thought this show held promise and for the first 2 or 3 eps that’s all it was…promise. Flash forward to the present and 30 Rock has surpassed The Office as the best comedy on TV. Tina Fey’s neurotic but strangley sexy lead character keeps the show just barely grounded in reality and allows the rest of the cast to take some truly outrageous risks. NBC has shown it’s faith by renewing the show for a second season but then the news hit this week that entertainer of the year Alec Baldwin is asking out of his contract so he can leave the show. Come on Alec just because you called your 11 or 12 year old an ignorant pig doesn’t mean you should hide your face in shame…she probably had it coming anyway.

Kidnapped- I already talked this show up last month when I talked about it’s DVD release but this quality show with a superb cast was cut short way before it’s time. I kind of felt like it already had its work cut out for it when NBC failed to promote it and stuck it in a lousy time slot.

Notes From the Underbelly- This show finally premiered a few weeks ago and honestly I haven’t seen two minutes. From what I hear it’s mostly dreadful but that the genius that is Rachel Harris is almost worth suffering through 30 minutes of inane pregnancy send ups.

Heroes- Aha! Finally a show that is both commercially and critically successful. I was intrigued by the idea but put off by the early previews of Heroes so I was heavily skeptic when I started watching. Skepticism be gone! Heroes is a perfect mix of complex character development, and engrossing plot lines. They’ve done an amazing job hyping their show through the online comics and the catch phrases (save the cheerleader save the world, are you on the list, etc). The cast seems large at times but when any of them bite the dust you truly are saddened. The mysteries are still mostly shrouded in secrecy but we’ve been given enough of a peak that we can make some general statements about what lies ahead (and behind). This is called balance my friends and it’s the superpower that Heroes possesses.

Friday Night Lights- I didn’t even talk up Friday Night Lights in my preview last fall and wouldn’t you know, in the end it became my favorite new drama. You’d think that a story going through it’s third medium (non fiction bestseller, major studio pic) would lose some of it’s shine but instead the TV show plucked new depths by changing some of the facts from the previous incarnations and introducing us to some of the most human characters in recent memory. Each week you feel like you’re looking through a peep hole at the real city of Dillon Texas. There’s no crazy plot twists (except for maybe the train explosion) and even the football games that you know they’re going to win, are done with a realism that truly matches high school football play. The coach and his wife are the most well adjusted healthy couple on TV and the rest of the cast truly disappear into their roles in hands down the best new drama of 2006.

Drive- Ok here’s another show that wasn’t on my fall preview mostly because it wasn’t to premiere until this summer or even next year. That being said, when it premiered two weeks ago I fell in love with one of the most preposterous premises of all time…a secret cross country road race where the winner gets $32 million. Once I got wind of the shows pedigree with creators and actors from such shows as Wonderfalls, Angel, and Firefly I begged and pleaded for people to give this show a chance. Turns out it didn’t matter. Fox pulled the plug on Wednesday once again proving that they have the most clueless execs in the business. When crap like Prison Break, American Dad, and I’m Brad Garrett Kick Me in the Balls are still on the air, I find it hard to believe that Fox can even turn a profit. If they lost American Idol I think we’d soon see a network that would be closer to the CW then CBS. I hate to agree with Rosie O’Donell but Rupert Murdoch is one stupid, ignorant, koala hide wearing, kangaroo eating, coral reef snorting bastard and so is his network!

Whew...I feel much better now getting that out.

Wii Have Come A Long Way

I’m not what you would call a video game junkie. I don’t play for hours on end, I don’t buy the most groundbreaking games and I certainly have never bought the most popular system. Yet I think that may have changed when I purchased a Nintendo Wii this past Saturday.

My prime childhood video game years were spent in the gap between Nintendo and Atari. The first system I had was around 1982 and it was an Atari Dirt Bike console. Yes that’s right it was a one game console that featured handle bars for controllers, one for speed and the other to pop a wheelie. There were variations but pretty much the goal of the game was to race what appeared to be a motorcycle across 4 lines on the screen while occasionally jumping squares that I believe represented buses. The system was given to me by a friend/coworker of my father, who was really still a big kid himself and despite the fact that most of my friends had Ataris or Intellvisions, I was so excited to have something that was mine that I could play on the black and white TV in the guest room.

About a year later, I had progressed to the point where I needed a new system of my own and for some reason my parents were willing to humor me. I had read up on what the hot new system was going to be and decided on the Colecovision. The system had the most advanced controls at the time and by far the best graphics. It also had a pair of flagship arcade titles in Donkey Kong and Zaxxon. Best of all, and I think this is why my parents agreed to it for me, there was a computer add on promised called the Adam. Sadly by the time the Adam came out the Smurfs (see above) and my Pole Position games were gathering dust as most kids I knew had already upgraded to games on real computers and a few had even picked up something called a Nintendo Entertainment System.

The next few years really saw my gaming habits become non-existent. My family eventually got a PC and that led to some games like Blades of Steel, and Double Dragon but that was about it until I went off to college. Somehow I had made it through high school playing on the NES only a handful of times, so when I got to college and everyone’s dorm room had either a SuperNintendo, Nintendo or Sega Genesis, it was quite a shock. This was the first real period of video game fandom for me. Between Super Tecmo Bowl and the EA NHL series this sports fanatic soon became a video game fanatic. While I never owned my own system during this time, I always had a roommate that had at least one if not two systems.

After college however, I went right back to being a casual fan. I found that work took up more time then school did so I really only had time for TV and drinking as opposed to the college recreation of TV, drinking and video games. Still my second video game renaissance occurred around 1997 when my favorite fake sport of wrestling finally found its niche on the Nintendo 64. The advent of the 4 player Battle Royal made for the perfect late night weekend party game and I was enthralled. It was also around this time the Madden franchise really improved and being the football fan I am that intrigued me as well. However, when it came time to buy my own video game system I decided to be different and cutting edge, and went with the Sega Dreamcast. The system itself was awesome and the few games that were made were really the best around. Sega’s 2K sports franchises were actually equal if not better then EA’s and Virtua Tennis was one of the best party games ever. However the Dreamcast was the biggest failure of the next gen consoles and the game supply ended sooner rather then later.

Ever since the Dreamcast I’ve had a system but not a thriving video game habit. The Dreamcast was put in storage shortly after I made the poor choice of shacking up with my eventual ex-wife and by the time it came out of mothballs it was obsolete. For a while I went retro and bought a Nintendo 64 but eventually I settled on a Nintendo GameCube even though everybody and their mothers had Playstations or even X-Boxes. For me Nintendo has always had the best games, the best controllers, and the best look so even though it was the lesser system I cubed up. My diet has consisted of Madden, NHL and the occasional soccer or MLB game over the last few years however in the last 10 months I think I played a grand total of 3 times. Around that time I started telling people that this was it for me and video games. No more systems, no more games. Then we saw the Wii.

Considering the buzz on the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 were deafening, I was surprised when I started reading positive spin on the Wii. Even though I was going to give up gaming once and for all I decided to keep up to date on the development of the system. When I first read about the remote controllers and their motion sensing technology I was intrigued. When I read about the ability to download old games right to the console, I was excited. When I read that it was hands to down the best new system, I was sold. Truthfully I think if the reviews on the Wii had been negative or if the price was equal to that of the PS3 or Xbox, I might have packed it in but instead all these attributes have led to Elliot’s 3rd Age of Gaming.

The 3rd Age started with a whimper. Friday afternoon I got an email from a friend who informed me that he could pick up a Wii for me at his local Target yet I turned him down. It just seemed too frivolous for a guy who really doesn’t play games that often and who doesn’t have a savings account. Yet after turning it down I spent much of Friday night beating myself up. By the time Saturday rolled around I was in a car with 2 friends searching for any remaining systems. I kept thinking positively (SECRET alert) and found one Saturday around noon. Ladies and gentlemen the Wii is the culmination of everything I’ve ever wanted in a video game system. First off the controls are interactive to the point where you actually feel like you’re truly in control. Second it’s the best party system I’ve ever seen, however I might make some friends wear double wrist bands when playing after a few drinks. Third all the games I enjoy are actually being released on the system I own. In coming months they’ll be a karaoke game, Dance Dance Revolution, all the EA sports titles, and even Guitar Hero 3. I spent 5 hours playing on Saturday and another 4 on Sunday. Last night was a night off but today I’m planning on getting a few hours in on the Wii golf course or maybe spending some time in Little Italy roughing up The Godfather’s enemies. I just have to remember to stretch out first because the Wii actually makes you a bit sore in the morning.

More Alec...Now With Audio

Man of the Year?

I know the following is supposed to be negative but somehow I think this just makes me man crush on Alec Baldwin a little bit more.

A voice mail recording was circulated online Thursday in which the 30 Rock star insults his 11-year-old daughter, Ireland, after the child purportedly missed her dad's scheduled phone call, in which he calls her a "rude, thoughtless pig."

"Once again, I have made an ass of myself trying to get to a phone. You have insulted me for the last time!" Baldwin said accusingly in the recording, reportedly made Apr. 11 and obtained by TMZ.

Baldwin added: "I don't give a damn that you're 12-year-old or 11-year-old, or a child, or that your mother is a thoughtless pain in the ass who doesn't care about what you do as far as I'm concerned...The crap you pull on me with this goddamn phone situation that you would never dream of doing to your mother, and you do it to me constantly over and over again!"
The Golden Globe winner then threatens/offers to fly from New York to Los Angeles "for the day just to straighten you out on the issue."

American Idol Almost Had Me

Despite my questionable taste in both music and TV, readers of the blog have known that I’ve managed to avoid the American Idol phenomena over the past five years. Sure I see clips on The Soup and Best Week Ever. Sure I’ve enjoyed a Kelly Clarkson song here or there but really that’s been the extent of my Idolatry. This year I was beginning to feel a change. The success of super freak Sanjaya actually had me thinking about sitting down and watching the season finale as long as he was in it. I would love nothing better then to see the machine that is American Idol be brought down by its own massive ego. Unfortunately Sanjaya got the boot last night so we’ll be treated to quotes and articles about how America always get’s it right. On the bright side I’ll be able to go another year without watching a single episode of Idol.

Geek Test

Yesterday’s tragic events at Virginia Tech affected us all but paraphrasing Jon Stewart, “I’m going to do what I always do when faced with tragedy, I’m going to repress it deep down to the point that when I’m 80 and someone spills a pop on the carpet I’m going to freak the fuck out.”

Paraphrasing is actually the word of the day as yesterday I came across a column in my Entertainment Weekly by Dalton Ross. Ross is mostly a TV/feature writer for the mag but recently he’s been sharing the back page column with Stephen King. This week he wrote a column on being a geek and how he’s proud and embarrassed about it at the same time. In the column he gave some examples ala Jeff Foxworthy on how to recognize your geekiness and since I know many a geek or geek in denial read this blog I thought I’d paraphrase and pass on a few of his points along with some of my own.

You might be a geek…
…if you own the Buffy musical CD and can reenact the entire episode with or without a video backdrop.
…if you spend your Thursday mornings analyzing every frame of the previous nights LOST.
…if you find yourself singing the Ewoks celebration song from the end of Return of the Jedi.
…if you’ve gone on message boards and created a user name based on a character from the show.
…if you’ve bought a book, or comic book that takes place out of the continuity of a show or movie.
…if you ever put food coloring into your drinks to make them look like the funky space cocktails served at Quark’s bar. Hell, if you even know what Quark’s bar is you might be a geek.
…if you own both V miniseries and the short lived TV show on DVD.
…if you’ve ever discussed how George Lucas ruined the Force by introducing midichlorians.
…if you’ve ever wrote fan fiction.
…if you’ve ever even thought about wearing Spock ears.
…if you’ve ever argued about the virtues of hyperdrive versus warp drive.
…if you know what the following acronyms stand for BSG, HRG, TARDIS, TNG, CSM and ESB (I’m having trouble with that last one myself).
…if you ever used frak (from Battlestar) instead of fuck in a sentence.
…if you ever waved your hand at a bouncer and said “these aren’t the IDs you’re looking for” as you attempt to get into a club.
…if you get excited when alumni from your favorite shows appear on new shows (ie. Captain Malcolm Reynolds, Jubal Early, and Fred all showing up on Drive; which by the way is off to a great start Monday’s at 7pm CST on Fox).
…if you spend an inordinate amount of time trying to convince people to watch a new TV show so that it doesn’t get an early pink slip.

I had to answer yes to a handful of these but I owned up to my geekiness years ago. Just don’t call me a nerd cause that’s a whole other ball of wax.

El Dog's Super Amazing Donkey iMix

Since I haven't posted on my latest musical highlights in a while we'll
go with a Top 15 on my iPod this week:

15. Girlfriend- Avril Lavigne
Despite a shoddy performance on this past weekend's SNL (stage presence
anyone), this track still get's me going and with the release of the
album today I'm sure to be adding a few new ones as well. Line of the
week goes to Entertainment Weekly which gave the album a B+, "You're SAT
score will probably go down retroactively if you're an adult listening
to this."

14. Release- Timberland f/Justin Timberlake
The first of 3 tracks on my countdown, this probably is the best vocal
performance that Timberland gives. I mean the guy is not a rapper or
singer by trade so something like this track where he mostly bellows is
perfect. Justin is solid and what more do you need when you've got
Timberland's beats.

13. Jackie Will Save Me- Shiny Toy Guns
12. Rainy Monday- Shiny Toy Guns
When Apple introduced the whole complete an album tool to iTunes last
month, this was the first one I downloaded. A mix of 80's new wave, rock
and current dance pop, STG's music has truly made an impact on me. Great
for blaring out of your car on the first 60 degree day or for background
music at a pre or after bar, I'm all over these guys...and girl.

11. Never Stop- Hilary Duff
10. With Love- Hilary Duff
For whatever reason I've been listening to a lot of dance music lately.
It's not like I've been hanging out at the clubs or anything, just
gravitating to it for some reason. Duff's new album is pure dance pop
and leaves her teen pop ballads behind. The girl's voice is nothing
special so music like this is actually more up her alley.

9. Love Today- Mika
Pure Brit pop at its finest. Mika has a voice that evokes the late great
Freddy Mercury and his tracks like this one are pure bubblegum fluff at
its finest.

8. Bounce- Timberland f/Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott, and Justin Timberlake
Holy crap there's a Dre sighting! Unfortunately it's a Dre rapping
appearance which would be akin to a Timberland rapping appearance. Wait
a second...I'm listening to a track with two non talented
rapper/producers? Well yes mostly because Missy's verse if fierce as
hell and JT's chorus is spectacular over (repeat with me now)
Timberland's beats of glory.

7. Party, Party, Party- Andrew WK
Anyone who's ever seen the Aqua Teen Hunger Force ep with this track has
been waiting for this to be available for what has seemed like an
eternity. Thankfully it pops up on the soundtrack for the new movie and
we're treated to slightly less then 2 minutes of the typical WK mayhem.

6. Don't Cry Out- Shiny Toy Guns
This song embodies everything I said before about this band. Get your
grove on while singing along and also rocking a bit. My favorite song in
the car right now.

5. Dignity- Hilary Duff
Seriously I don't know when this affection for dance music developed in
me but I think it might be a problem.

4. Bjork- Earth Intruders
Speaking of dance, here's someone who has certainly made a number of
dance tracks that I've always enjoyed. After slowing things down on the
last few albums this first single is supposedly a preview of what will
be a dance beat heavy album. Oh and guess who did the beats on this one,
who else but mister omnipresent Timberland.

3. What I've Done- Linkin Park
No rap breakdown and no scratches, this comes across as straight rock
and or roll. The opening bars grab you out of the shoot and don't let
go. These guys continue to grow on me.

2. Never Again- Kelly Clarkson
Avril might have the latest chick rock album but guess who's warming up
to take back her crown, yes its Miss Independent herself, Kelly
Clarkson. This first single features Kelly doing what she does
best...being pissed at some dude who screwed her over.

1. Give It to Me- Timberland f/Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake
I'm declaring this the song of the summer or at least the spring. Sure
Timberland can't really rap or sing but I'm willing to put up with that
when he continues to drive home the best beats in the business and make
both these artists sound better then they ever have.

Saturday Funnies

I'm sure you've all seen this but screw it I love it.

Mid Week Thoughts

Sorry for the lack of posts but between work, play, and a general lack of pop culture items demanding attention, I just haven’t had much to say. As such here’s a mid week hodge podge of thoughts:

This morning my hometown ball club, the Minnesota Twins, unveiled designs for their new stadium. Seems a bit plain to me but I do like the stone façade that mimics the walls of the Mississippi river valley. Of course tt would make more sense if the stadium was next to the river but if they chose something to mimic in the vicinity of the new stadium the front would mimic burning garbage. I’m not a big fan of mandatory taxes for building new stadiums (I tend to think volunteer donations on tax forms or lottery tickets are the way to go if the state is to have any involvement) but now that the construction looks to be starting on time I must admit these pics got me excited about outdoor baseball…in the snow.

Lost continues its recent renaissance with another excellent episode last night. Again it was very reminiscent to the first season as it really took the time to connect the audience with the characters. However I was shocked not only by the small answers they gave throughout the ep but by the giant reveal at the end. Usually something like that would be dragged out for weeks and while I expected some note of ambiguity at the end, I sure as hell was not expecting that.

RIP Andy Barker. Yep that’s right yet another Andy Richter series is in the tank. The latest, created by Conan O’Brien, had Andy playing an accountant who moonlights as a PI. I thought there was potential in the show from the 3 episodes I saw but it certainly hadn’t found its voice yet. I’d lambaste NBC for the quick cancellation but they get a free pass for a while longer due to renewing 30 Rock.

MTV unveiled its latest installment of The Real World/Road Rules Challenge on Tuesday night and it started out with a bang. (Yes this is the same blog writer who railed against this type of crap on Monday, but again just because I think it’s a low form of entertainment doesn’t mean I won’t compulsively watch it.) Everyone’s favorite sexy dirt bag CT got sent home on the first night after bringing his fist of fury down upon challenge newbie Davis from the current Denver Real World. The self loathing part of me loves that the producers somehow didn’t have a camera present for this to take place. You know they’d give anything to have captured it on film so they could slo-mo the replay about a million times. The Real World fanatic in me is pissed however because quite simply CT makes for great TV. Also I’m curious as to why MTV rushed this installment to the air. Denver is still airing and usually cast members don’t appear on a challenge until after their season has finished. There is a lot of talk that with the recent change in MTV’s head programmer that the Real World team might be on their way out. They are contracted for two more seasons of Real World (Sydney and ??) and one more of Road Rules. However with the earlier news of the reunited Las Vegas cast show perhaps rumors of Bunim/Murray’s demise are exaggerated.

Kudos to Apple and iTunes for once again finding a way to keep their strangle hold on digital music. The latest is their option that allows customers to buy a complete album they may have already partially downloaded. I have often lamented some ill choices to purchase single upon single only to realize I could have saved money if I had just bought the album (see Barkley, Gnarls). This is a shot at redemption for serial purchasers like myself and another example of how Apple anticipates their customer’s needs and desires better then any tech company in the market today.

MTV: The Two Faced Monster

Tonight MTV premiered the 3rd season of Run’s House and proved that every once in a while the network can still provide worthwhile moments. Run’s House follows the lives of RUN DMC’s Rev Run and his family. It’s very much the anti-Osbournes. Sure they’re richer then all the readers of this blog combined but the Rev’s family seems more down to Earth then any other on reality TV. For someone such as myself who is put off by religion, Run manages to preach without being preachy. His family seems to have no problem opening up their lives with all its blemishes and pains. Tonight’s episode was gut wrenching to watch. At the end of last season Run and his wife were preparing for a new baby and within 5 minutes of the premiere after a typically entertaining exchange about the Rev burning in hell for going to Hooters, we find out that they lost the baby in child birth. Furthermore, the family actually lets the cameras in as mom and dad share the news with their 5 other children. To say it was engrossing TV would be a disservice. Yet it wasn’t the kind of TV that grabbed you because you wanted to see human misery, no it was engrossing because of the fact that you saw a real family dealing with real tragedy and trying to heal themselves. Moments like these are few and far between on a network that airs shows like Exposed, NeXt and The Hills but thanks to a handful of shows like Run’s House and True Life, MTV proves that it is still a worthy network. That is until you hear of a stunt like…reuniting the entire cast of the Real World Las Vegas and moving them back into their Palms Hotel suite for a month. Is this what you’ve been reduced to MTV literally recycling the exact same old shows? Arguably the most dysfunctional season of the Real World ever, this cast was the exact opposite of Run’s House because they made you watch because you knew these 7 people would be a gigantic train wreck. Of course I don’t mean to sound too high and mighty because as much as I appreciated Run’s House I know I’ll be lining up to watch the Real World reunion and that’s why MTV might actually be the devil.

Twin Peaks Week: Day 4- Season 2 DVD Review

Let me be honest up front and say that I haven’t made it through the complete set yet. You really can’t rush yourself thru 22 of the best hours in TV history. However, after getting a look at the first 7 eps and a handful of extras, I think I’m ready to give my review on the DVD set of Twin Peaks Season 2. If you haven’t been able to tell from the fact that I devoted a whole week of the blog to this release, I’ve been anticipating this set ever since season 1 came out 5 years ago. I scoured the net for any news about the release at least once a month over that time and when I was finally able to purchase this set on Tuesday, I actually felt a joy in my heart that I haven’t felt since you were first able to buy Star Wars on VHS. I’m saying all this because obviously I come into this review with rose colored glasses on, so while I can’t be completely objective I’ll do my best.

Packaging
The set comes in a box that echoes the season 1 set. This is a nice touch considering this is a completely different studio releasing these discs so the synergy is greatly appreciated. There is no slip cover ala Laura Palmer on season 1 but I’m not really sure what they could have done here to match that. Inside there are 3 of the ever popular slim cases. These are the super thin cases that have become all the rage in DVD sets over the last couple of years. Personally I’m a big fan of the larger boxes that fold out, like season 1 or all the Buffy sets. Each case has a different picture on the front and feature The Giant, Windom Earl, and TMFAP (aka the midget), and the back features episode info. Overall the packaging isn’t as great as season 1 but again the fact that CBS/Paramount made an effort to match the exteriors lends me to give these 3 out of 5 stars.

Video and Sound
The only way most of us have seen a season 2 episode in the last few years has been on grainy VHS tape, so it’s impossible not to be happy with this transfer. However, once again this set falls short of the season 1 release. Each disc contains 3 to 4 episodes on this set where as season 1 only had 2 on a disc. The result is that they had to knock down the video quality a tad. Don’t get me wrong it still looks better then it did even on TV but the blacks seem a little crushed in spots and the amazing crispness of the season 1 transfers is just not there. Still when compared to other sets of modern shows, like Lost for example, it certainly matches that quality. The sound on the set also suffers from the amount of eps crammed into a disc. On season 1 there was a DTS and a Dolby mix to choose from and here we only have the DTS. This doesn’t really bother me as I’m not a sound techie but I’m sure it will rankle some feathers out there. I really have no complaints about the sound as it all sounds fantastic but those of you out there who really care might be disappointed. Video and sound earn another 3 out of 5 stars.

Extras and Menus
Season 2 rivals season 1 in this category. The big negative is that there are no commentaries on any of the eps which I found very disappointing. Instead we get various sets of interviews. The first by Lynch’s daughter Jennifer features her discussing The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, a tie in book she authored during the show. It’s a fine interview except for the fact that Jennifer still seems tight lipped about the series as if we’re watching this before the season 3 premiere. The second features director Todd Holland this is a very engaging interview but at roughly 5 minutes is far too short and makes you wonder why they couldn’t have done a commentary track instead. On the rest of the discs there are more one on one interviews but it is the final disc that has the most to enjoy. Disc 6 features interviews with some of the cast members such as Cooper himself Kyle MacLachlan. These interviews are a nice touch because some of the cast has been MIA for some time. We also get the Log Lady intros that were featured on Bravo and the season 1 set. For some reason the transfer of these wasn’t cleaned up so the video and audio are quite horrible but that’s a minor quibble as it’s always nice to listen to what Margaret has to say. I wasn’t expecting Lynch himself to make an appearance but some new stuff with Mark Frost would have been nice. The one place I’ll say season 2 definitly exceeds season 1 are the menus. Each disc has you zooming over what turns out to be a map of Twin Peaks . The extras are easy to navigate which is something season 1 faltered at. Oddly there aren’t any chapter points in the episodes but if I remember correctly that’s Lynch throwing in his two cents again as I seem to remember him discussing his hatred for a tool that allows audiences to skip ahead in a film. Again I’ll give this area 4 out of 5 stars.



Overall
The rumor going around these days is that is this set sells well; CBS will release a box set of the entire series including the long lost pilot late this year. On the off chance that doesn’t happen I strongly recommend you pick up this set. Could it be better? Yes and maybe a box set would allow Lynch and CBS to give us more extras like commentaries or a documentary on the Twin Peaks festival that’s still going strong. I know I’d drop $150 bucks for a complete set and a Twin Peaks Sherriff’s department coffee mug. In the meantime though this set does satisfy my quench for season 2 because at the end of the day the extras, packaging, video and sound are all secondary to the true star of this set and that’s the episodes themselves. Season 2 of Twin Peaks is TV101 and should be required viewing for any child, studio exec and gosh darn it any decent human being. Because of that I’m going ahead and giving the whole set 6 out of 5 stars. Now if we can just get those 40 minutes of cut scenes from Fire Walk with Me released….

Twin Peaks Week: Day 3- Early Saturday Funnies

Ok so I'm still working on the season 2 DVD review so instead of posting nothing I'm flip flopping and putting up today, Friday, what I meant to finish out the week. I'm particularly fond of this clip as the language barrier makes it even more Twin Peaks-ian. Enjoy!

Extra! Extra! Live Every Week Next Year Like It's Shark Week!

We interrupt Twin Peaks week for an important announcement: NBC has wisely renewed the growing comic genius of 30 Rock. Cheers to NBC for sticking with another show that's ratings challenged much like The Office was it's first year. Congrats to Tina, Tracey, and of course my entertainer of the year, Alec Baldwin.

Twin Peaks Week: Day 2- The Lost Legacy

As I watched season one I was struck by how similar and how much Lost owes to Twin Peaks. This is not groundbreaking stuff, many TV scholars are quick to credit Peaks for creating a world in which X Files and Buffy would excel, thus paving the way for current shows like Heroes and Lost. However upon closer inspection of season one I must say that the Lost parallels really hit me. Here are 4 that jumped out at me the most.

Secrets
Both shows take their own sweet time in answering questions. For those of you that can remember, Peaks faced much of the same outrage from fans that Lost does now, over the fact that it wasn't until mid season 2 that the murder of Laura Palmer was solved. Then there were all the dangling plot lines such as Cooper's past, the Indian glyphs, the aliens in the woods just to name a few. For every one question answered many more were created...sound familiar.

Reality Bites?
Both shows play quite openly with the reality the characters and as such the audience are experiencing. Characters see things they shouldn't be seeing, visions if you will, and of course they keep it themselves which then makes the audience question its place in the show. Take Laura's cousin Maddie who in the first ep of season two see's a blood soaked carpet and really is that it much different from Kate seeing a horse she encountered before the plane crash.

Pacing
It's amazing sometimes to think that while Lost has been on the air for almost 3 full seasons, the characters have only lived on the island for some 80 odd days. Well the Oceanic 815 folks got nothing on the people of Twin Peaks. Much like a daily soap opera, some days on Twin Peaks seemed to last multiple eps. In fact season one seems to only stretch out to maybe a week.

Bad Boys Who Aren't Really Bad
On Lost, Sawyer is a guy who's done some horrible horrible things in his life but as an audience we want him to be good in fact we even believe it despite everything we've seen. This is not your typical character but it was one that Twin Peaks played to perfection. Bobby Briggs is introduced in season 1 as the coke dealing star quarterback who cheated on Laura Palmer and seems to be an ass in general. As the first season progressed we saw just how vulnerable this bad boy was as he broke down during a session with Dr. Jacoby. By the time the second season rolls about he's almost a reluctant hero. Take the even more extreme example of Leo Johnson. In season one Leo is evil as evil is but after he become a bit...well...challenged you actually find yourself pulling for the guy.

Twin Peaks Week: Day 1- DVD Review Season 1

As promised I’ll have a review of the new season 2 Twin Peaks DVD set up later this week, but in preparing for the release, I sat down this weekend and watched season 1 for the umpteenth time. I must admit that I don’t think I’ve watched all 7 episodes in a row for at least two years and it left me with a bevy of new observations. Today I’ll share my thoughts on the season 1 DVD release which while out of print can still be found quite easily on the net. Tomorrow I’ll discuss the many parraells to Lost that I discovered while watching the first season. Finally on Thursday or Friday I’ll have a review of the season 2 DVD.



First and foremost, this is a great TV show. If you’re still reading this I’ll assume you’re familiar but on the off chance you’re not, Twin Peaks is the story of a small upper Northwest town that is full of secrets. The show was famous for the “who killed Laura Palmer” storyline but in truth the show was very much a cross between a nighttime soap and a 50’s melodrama. There were only 8 episodes produced in the first season as ABC introduced the show in midseason with trepidation. The show itself was groundbreaking in the way it told its stories but I’ll talk more on that tomorrow.



The DVDs of the first season themselves are some of the best ever produced when it comes to a TV show. Considering Twin Peaks originally aired at a time when cable television wasn’t in every house or even every room in the house many of us watched a grainy picture to begin with. Then there was the VHS release of the series which is quite possibly the worst looking VHS transfer I’ve ever seen. Still for those of us that loved the show, it’s all we had until the DVD of season 1 came out 5 years ago. The season 1 set comes in a beautiful package that features a slip cover with Laura Palmer’s prom picture on it that slides over a picture of her dead, wrapped in plastic. Each disc features two episodes and the picture transfer is breathtaking. Seriously, I don’t think the show ever looked this good when it aired. There is a Dolby and DTS sound mix, both of which allow you to hear the series in a new light. Then there are the extras. First you’ve got the Log Lady intros to each episode that David Lynch filmed and aired when the show ran in repeats on Bravo. Then, there are script notes that can pop up as you view the eps which feature nuggets on deleted or alternate scenes. Of course there are commentaries too but none from Lynch, who is notorious for hating DVD commentaries. Lastly there are a gaggle of interviews on the final disc. There is a pretty insightful interview with series co-creator Mark Frost and then a series of interviews with some of the cast that get increasingly bizarre. For example the interview with Sheryl Lynn, aka Laura Palmer, is very revealing…when it comes to her trip to Africa after the failed show LA Doctors. The interviews are so weird that they belong on a DVD set for Twin Peaks . Some of the menus are hard to navigate but that’s really a minor complaint. The biggest complaint comes from the fact that the pilot episode of the show is not included. Because Lynch and Frost sought to avoid the censorship and creative drains of financing the show through a US studio they entered into a very complicated contract that eventually tied up the rights to the pilot. Word on the street is that those issues have finally been cleared up and if the new season 2 set sells well we’ll get either a series box set or a re-released season 1 with pilot later this year. Until then, I still believe that this really is the standard bearer for TV show sets and it sets a high standard for season 2.