March 2010 Archives

DVD UPDATE: 'Law & Order UK'

March 30, 2010 10:13 AM

America's been adapting British series for decades. All in the Family came from Til Death Do Us Part. Three's Company was originally Man About the House. NBC's The Office owes its existence to Ricky Gervais' BBC The Office. Dramas like Life on Mars, Cracker, Eleventh Hour and Queer as Folk started in England, too.

Now it's going the other way. Law & Order finally got British-ized last year, and now Law & Order UK has arrived on DVD on this side of the Atlantic (exclusive to Target at $30; you'll pay more elsewhere online).

Some of the faces are familiar in these first 13 episodes -- Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) is the younger cop, and Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who) is the Crown Prosecution Service freshman. The procedural format is, of course, its same split self, right down to the essential ka-chunk sound at scene changes. (New theme song, though.)

UK law has its own quirks, whether it's those wigs worn in court or the differently phrased Miranda-style rights readings. So it's interesting how the American series' scripts were adapted to match British legal procedures.

The new three-disc DVD set offers plenty of explanatory extras. L&O creator Dick Wolf is interviewed, and his UK counterparts expand upon their work in their own interviews, as well as three episode commentaries. Agyeman leads tours of the two main sets. Rounding out the bonus features are other cast interviews and deleted scenes.

Also out on DVD this week:

Enjoy two more of those lively globetrotting explanations of human creations from distributor Acorn's Athena line, which delivered Melvyn Bragg's must-see language history The Adventure of English. The new arrivals feature the same useful viewers-guide booklets to walk us through these docu-miniseries. They connect the past to today in personal and fascinating ways -- more crucial than ever now that our own "History" channel seems more interested in Ax Men and Pawn Stars.

Legacy: The Origins of Civilization -- Michael Wood from The Story of India traces the development of history's key societies, in China, India, Egypt, Iraq, Western Europe and Central America. Made in 1991.

The Story of Math -- Oxford's Marcus du Sautoy explores how the patterns of numbers figure into everything from daily life to art to philosophy. Made in 2008. Includes bonus documentary The Music of the Primes -- create your own music with prime numbers here.

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TRIBUTE: Robert Culp of 'I Spy' dies

March 24, 2010 10:06 PM

[SEE SECOND UPDATE BELOW]

[UPDATED BELOW WITH CURRENT TV LISTINGS]

Robert Culp might well be the poster boy for not knowing what we've got till it's gone. His blend of relaxed amiability, authority, smarts and relaxed wit have rarely been matched on TV. He could be an admirable hero, playing a '60s secret agent on I Spy, or a devious villain, matching wits with Peter Falk's sly sleuth in several memorable Columbo movies. He could be seriously funny, more recently, as the more urbanely fussy father-in-law on Everybody Loves Raymond.

And Culp could be culturally important, too. He was intended to be the single-lead star of NBC's I Spy, until his rapport with sidekick Bill Cosby proved so warm that he suggested they be co-leads of what now stands as a landmark series. Cosby became the first prominent black lead of a network drama, and was thus able to win three lead actor Emmys that otherwise might well have been Culp's.

(Culp died Wednesday at age 79 after a fall near his Hollywood home. Details here.)

I Spy hasn't been seen widely in years (how many homes have had access to FamilyNet or RTV Retro Television?), and that's too bad. Its deliberate rhythms can seem slow to modern viewers, but its casual buddy banter and genuine portrayal of deep friendship remain both fun and moving. Culp's cover as an international tennis player and Cosby's as his trainer/coach allow them access to social situations around the world, among all sorts of people, powerful, famous, ordinary. Unlike the '60s spy era's other spoofy or action-packed shows, this one carries a gravity that makes it resonate both culturally and emotionally.

Good thing you can see I Spy on DVD -- all three seasons out from Image, with informative commentary from Culp on several episodes. You can also watch Culp online -- not the ideal venue, but a superbly accessible resource. Hulu.com has all 82 episodes of I Spy, and another 42 from his supporting stint on the '80s spoof The Greatest American Hero; DVDs here. (Culp also starred in the 1957-59 Texas Ranger western half-hour Trackdown, not on DVD.)

Look, too, for his memorable guest shots on The Outer Limits, Zane Grey Theater, Lois & Clark, and those Columbo mysteries (shows in Seasons 1, 2, 3, and a 1990 TV movie).

Not to mention his critically lauded turn in the 1969 feature film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. And, of course, the 2004 holiday horror comedy Santa's Slay.

Here's an I Spy link from our informative friends at Fancast. Watch the first three minutes, at least, to get a taste of that Culp-Cosby rapport (and jazzy opening credits).

And here's a clip of Culp discussing I Spy in another of the priceless oral history interviews from our friends at the Archive of American Television.

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[UPDATED MARCH 26]

Here's where to watch Culp on TV this week (all times ET):

Hickey & Boggs (On Demand) -- Culp also directed this 1972 private eye feature reuniting him with I Spy costar Cosby.

Hannie Caulder (On Demand) -- Bounty hunter Culp teaches revenge-bent Raquel Welch how to shoot in this 1972 western.

Everybody Loves Raymond (Sunday, March 28 at 7 p.m., WWOR) -- Culp and Katherine Helmond as Debra's parents uncork a Thanksgiving surprise.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Thursday, April 1 at 10:50 a.m., TMC Xtra) -- Paul Mazursky's trendy 1969 wife-swapping comedy also stars Natalie Wood, Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon.

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[SECOND UPDATE, MARCH 30]

More Raymond episodes are added to Culp TV listings in coming days (all times ET):

Hickey & Boggs (On Demand) -- Culp also directed this 1972 private eye feature reuniting him with I Spy costar Cosby.

Hannie Caulder (On Demand) -- Bounty hunter Culp teaches revenge-bent Raquel Welch how to shoot in this 1972 western.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Thursday, April 1 at 10:50 a.m., TMC Xtra) -- Paul Mazursky's trendy 1969 wife-swapping comedy also stars Natalie Wood, Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon. Also airs Wednesday morning, April 7, at 3:30 a.m.

Everybody Loves Raymond (Wednesday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m., WWOR) -- Culp and Katherine Helmond make their first appearance as Debra's more moneyed parents.

Everybody Loves Raymond (Thursday, April 8 at 10:30 p.m., TV Land) -- Culp and Helmond join a Christmas celebration made memorable by Ray's gift to his parents: an inscribed toaster.

Everybody Loves Raymond (Friday, April 9 at 6 p.m., WWOR) -- Culp and Helmond are back as Debra's parents for a disastrous Thanksgiving dinner.

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FLICK PICKS: Ray Harryhausen's reign of special effects epics

March 24, 2010 1:33 PM

The god of special effects blesses us Friday night. Ray Harryhausen inspired generations of movie makers with his stop-motion mastery from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Three of his mythology epics unreel March 26 on Turner Classic Movies -- 1963's Jason and the Argonauts (8 p.m. ET), 1981's original Clash of the Titans (10 p.m. ET), and 1973's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (12:15 a.m. ET, all on TCM).

These may not be five-star films, but Harryhausen's work makes them legend. He's the star, rather than Todd Armstrong (Jason), John Phillip Law (Sinbad) or even Laurence Olivier (Titans).

Learn more about Harryhausen here. Click the links above for more on the movies.

Recent DVDs dive even deeper, offering extras like a sit-down chat with Tim Burton and/or featurettes on the films' animation process, marketing and more. Two five-film collections spotlight separate genres -- The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen - Legendary Monster Series and The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen - Legendary Science Fiction Series. There's also the four-film Blu-ray Ray Harryhausen Collection, and various gift sets.

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DVD UPDATE: 'T.A.M.I. Show,' 'Mad Men,' 'The Prisoner' reboot

March 22, 2010 6:54 PM

Mad music, mad design, mad remake -- this is one mad week on TV DVD.

Forty-six years later, we finally get The T.A.M.I. Show beautifully restored and annotated. It's a disc done right to honor this once-in-a-lifetime concert lineup of rock legends-to-be, ranging from The Rolling Stones to James Brown to The Supremes and Marvin Gaye to The Beach Boys (yes, indeed, their long-lost footage is here!).

We also get two of the most anticipated series of last year, both from AMC -- its miniseries "reboot" of the '60s classic The Prisoner, bringing the tale into the 21st century; and the retro drama Mad Men: Season Three, with its gorgeous visuals, moody atmosphere and wide-ranging bounty of extras.

First thing first is The T.A.M.I. Show release, from precisely the right folks, the pop culture devotees at Shout! Factory. They're masters at clearing music rights where others can't or won't (Freaks and Geeks, thirtysomething, et al). And they're experts at explaining the whys and hows behind their programs. This disc comes with a 20-page booklet outlining the little-known goals of this celebrated 1964 music event; the acronym is for Teen Age Music International, an intended series of benefit concerts.

The show itself gets put in smart perspective by director Steve Binder, whose other credits include Elvis Presley's 1968 "comeback" special of black leather and casual jamming. Binder knew how to make people look good. And he knows how to talk about it, too. His full-length running commentary is a relaxed give-and-take interview that lends insight into the performers' personalities and the show's technical challenges.

Binder fleshes out decisions like putting all the acts on stage at show's end to prove they were actually together in one landmark show. And he describes the show's "Electronovision" recording system as an early form of HD video, with additional lines of resolution. That means Binder did on-the-fly editing akin to live TV sports -- no do-overs. The black-and-white video was later duped onto 35mm film for distribution. The transfer back to video looks pretty good, but don't expect miracles. Don't even expect stereo. The audio is mono, and it's clean. And it's killer.

Other extras are limited to the original trailer and some radio spots, but the info is there in Binder's commentary and the liner notes. Now we'd like the 1966 follow-up T.N.T. Show, please (Ike and Tina Turner, The Byrds, The Lovin' Spoonful, Ray Charles, Roger Miller, The Ronettes) . . .

Also out this week:

Mad Men: Season Three -- Good thing The T.A.M.I. Show is such a bargain buy ($12 at Amazon). You'll need to pick up this new release, too. Mad Men's third season is considered an improvement by some fans, a disappointment by others, so decide for yourself.

You've got plenty to chew on, that's for sure. Series creator Matthew Weiner always does the discs right, providing at least one and often two commentaries for each episode, as well as a plethora of time-trip extras to put the story's time setting in historical context. This season's DVD set has documentaries about cigarette advertising and, to frame 1963's civil rights unrest, about activist Medgar Evers. There's also that year's March on Washington, highlighted by Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, heard here in its entirety. (No video, since the King Family maintains a tenacious hold on the rights to that.)

The Blu-ray release adds an interactive trivia flashback, where you can learn more via photos and text about 1963's consumer products, inventions, culture and more. If you've got a Blu-ray player, you'd want to go for high-def here anyway -- Mad Men is, if nothing else, a gorgeously textured piece of production design.

The Prisoner -- AMC's miniseries "reboot" looks great on DVD, too, with locations in South Africa serving as The Village that becomes kidnaped agent No. 6's pretty prison. But this update of Patrick McGoohan's cerebral '60s series was a lightning rod of its own, with some critics and fans fiercely defending the original, while others welcomed this more high-tech and character-driven retooling.

In this modernization, Ian McKellen's tortured No. 2 has a wife and son, whose own lives are integral to the story. Jim Caviezel's more laid-back No. 6 is depicted back home in New York pre-kidnap and also building fresh relationships after arriving in The Village. The overall scope is more information age, more corporate, yet more psychological, more humane, more detailed. While there's something to be said for that approach, the mind games that made McGoohan's take such a cult fave are much less compelling here. Caviezel too often seems a blank slate, where McGoohan was a canny counterpuncher whose mental wheels remain fascinating to watch turn. McKellen steals the show. He's the real Prisoner here.

DVD extras include deleted scenes, partial commentary, behind-the scenes featurettes/diaries/panels/interviews.

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FLICK PICKS: Akira Kurosawa (& Ginger Rogers)

March 10, 2010 4:41 PM

[SECOND UPDATE]

Film school is free this Tuesday (March 23) as Turner Classic Movies celebrates the films that vaulted director Akira Kurosawa to international fame. Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo -- these three titles made this Japanese filmmaker a global cinema god.

Rashomon has become a word of its own, signifying the viewing of a single event from different perspectives. The Seven Samurai would be morphed into The Magnificent Seven for American audiences, but it would also introduce samurai culture to the masses. And Yojimbo sealed the fame of Toshiro Mifune [photo above], a Kurosawa favorite who dominates the screen here as a reluctant warrior-for-hire with a wicked sense of humor, playing both sides against each other for his own feudal amusement. Made between 1950 and 1961 (and shown on TCM starting at 8 p.m. ET March 23), they were Kurosawa's crowning achievements until his late-career resurgence with the '80s epics Kagemusha and Ran. (TCM unreels those March 30.)

Read the original post below for more on this week's Ginger Rogers slate in TCM's Wednesday star of the month slot.

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[FIRST UPDATE]

Ginger Rogers is in the money for St. Patrick's Day. Turner Classic Movies' salute to this versatile actress continues with a double feature of her snappy Warner Bros. Depression musicals 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933 (Wednesday at 8 and 10 p.m. ET, TCM), made before her RKO pairing with Fred Astaire. After shuffling off to Buffalo in Busby Berkeley's geometric choreography, Rogers shows her acting range in four pre-code flicks spanning comedy, drama and war.

But first, on Tuesday night, TCM's March salute to Akira Kurosawa spotlights his crime thrillers -- a side of the director little known to Americans who think first of his period samurai epics. Kurosawa could get down and gritty, too, in contemporary dramas of post-war Japan like The Bad Sleep Well and High and Low (Tuesday, March 16 at 8 and 10 p.m. ET, TCM).

Read the original post below for further details on these two essential March collections.

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[ORIGINAL POST]

Tonight's marathon of all 10 musicals pairing Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire is just the beginning of a monthlong salute to Rogers on Turner Classic Movies. The channel's March lineup also boasts a celebration of Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, making this another bang-up month demonstrating why the commercial-free channel remains movie lovers' favorite.

Wednesday nights are devoted to Rogers, and though it's natural to start with those legendary Fred-and-Ginger musicals, the rest of the 43-film slate illustrates Rogers' decades of Hollywood versatility through comedy, drama and even westerns. TCM runs the F&G musicals in order tonight, except for holding until last their initial pairing as supporting players in 1933's Flying Down to Rio.

Here's the March 10-11 running order, all times ET -- The Gay Divorcee (Wednesday at 8 p.m.), Top Hat (10 p.m.), Swing Time (midnight), Roberta (2 a.m., with Irene Dunne), Follow the Fleet (4 a.m., with a young Lucille Ball), Shall We Dance (Thursday at 6 a.m.), Carefree (8 a.m.), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (9:30 a.m.), 1949's The Barkleys of Broadway (11:15 a.m.), and finally Flying Down to Rio (Thursday at 1:15 p.m., all on TCM).

Next Wednesday (March 17), TCM covers Rogers' early '30s career, starting with the classic Busby Berkeley musicals 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933 [photo at left], and also including rarities like 1931's Coney Island/U-boats early talkie Suicide Fleet.

On March 24, it's later '30s treats like Bachelor Mother and Stage Door (opposite Katharine Hepburn), while March 31 wraps things up with 11 films of wide range, from her Oscar-winning turn in 1940 drama Kitty Foyle to the 1943 war story Tender Comrade and her 1956 comedy western The First Traveling Saleslady.

Kurosawa gets his due Tuesdays on TCM, with 26 films this March honoring the 100th anniversary of the influential director's birth. Next Tuesday (March 16) features his contemporary dramas of '50s-'60s Japan, including the crime thrillers The Bad Sleep Well and High and Low.

Global-breakthrough period films like Rashomon, The Seven Samurai and Yojimbo [above] highlight a 13-film around-the clock marathon March 23-24.

Late-career epics Dersu Uzala, Kagemusha and Ran [at left] conclude the Kurosawa salute March 30.

TCM even throws in a bonus March 21 double feature of American films inspired by Kurosawa's -- The Outrage (based on Rashomon) and The Magnificent Seven (The Seven Samurai).

Click here for the complete lineups honoring Ginger Rogers and Akira Kurosawa.

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DVD UPDATE: How many episodes should a TV season have?

March 10, 2010 10:07 AM

The top TV DVD release out March 16 is Breaking Bad, and it's covered next door in the New and Recommended space. So please look over to the right on the home page. (Or click here.)

While you're there, take a look below that, at our Classics to Consider column, with its consideration of the DVD fate of The Amos 'n Andy Show. Still a political hot potato, this black-cast '50s hit may never see an official release.

Another DVD topic I've been meaning to address is something I've noticed in season sets for vintage series from 40-50 years back. They've got as many as 39 episodes per season, compared to today's 22-ish. (Or on cable, 13-ish.) The reasons behind the incredible shrinking TV season are dissected here by our thoughtful friend Jaime Weinman, whose must-read blog TV Guidance should be among your bookmarks. Jaime works for Canada's smart magazine Macleans, explaining everything from Jay Leno to the Metropolitan Opera's take on Tosca.

And they say tubeheads aren't literate.

More extensive DVD coverage here next week.

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WATCH THIS: You are there, except you're not

March 9, 2010 9:32 AM

Now you know how TV shows manage to afford the cinematic look of all that location shooting we've been seeing.

They don't.

They're using the cinematic trick of CGI, more and more, in shows ranging from 24 and Heroes to Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy.

It's well demonstrated in an amazing "virtual backlot" reel of work from the Stargate Studios computer-imaging folks, streaming here.

Where "green screen" work used to be fairly obvious (and before that, of course, it was cheesy to spot back-projection), the trick is now so seamlessly sneaky that it's stunning to discover when and how it's employed -- even in zooms and other kinds of camerawork that used to be dead-giveaways where the seams showed.

If you're think we're close to the time when an entire show could be produced on virtual sets this way, well, we're there already. That's how Syfy shoots Sanctuary. Before the aliens-among-us saga returns with new episodes this fall, you can watch previous outings online, on DVD, or in on-air repeats (Tuesday mornings at 3 a.m. ET, Friday mornings at 5 a.m. ET, Syfy).

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DVD THIS WEEK: Polyester cheese!

March 8, 2010 5:38 PM

Sometimes you just need to watch something awful. Shut down your brain. Let the recycled plots, banal dialogue and bad acting wash over you. Maybe even mock it madly, MST3K-style.

What you need is Matt Houston. The first season of ABC's 1982-85 private eye romp arrives on DVD this week as the ne plus ultra of the Aaron Spelling school of celeb-stuffed cheese.

Here it is in a nutshell: Mustachioed wisecracker Lee Horsley channels Smokey and the Bandit-era Burt Reynolds, playing a Texas oil gazillionaire moved to Hollywood to solve murders among his famous friends. He flies his own helicopter from his rodeo ranch, maintained by two dim-witted buckaroo buddies, to his in-town penthouse, replete with roof landing pad, living room hot tub, and a "state of the art" computer named Baby, employed as a fancy-schmancy slide projector to eyeball suspects.

Acting as sidekick is his big-hair babe Ivy League lawyer, played by Pamela Hensley with the kind of flouncy walk, hands-on-hips poses and linebacker shoulder pads that bring to mind nothing so much as a 1980s female impersonator. (Long live Divine!) Then there's George Wyner's nerdy in-house accountant-in-a-tizzy. And put-upon police pal John Aprea, whose oh-a-so-a-Italian mama runs a tacky restaurant that's Matt's home away from home.

In other words, Spelling & Co. regurgitate every cliche, stereotype, predictable plot and hackneyed line of dialogue they've ever encountered. Then they add sledgehammer musical/editing punctuation. Despite the clear implication that cute-named Houston operates in a glamorous world -- why, he drives a Luxxor! -- the sets are cheap, the costumes are tacky, and even Horsley's smirky jocularity feels cut-rate.

I mean, just look at his face in the photo. Don't you want to slap it?

And yet -- I can't stop watching. Set against today's TV dramas with all their would-be authenticity, Matt Houston's double knit polyester approach is mesmerizing. The plots don't even try to convey depth of character, and there's no textured B or C story, just the unbroken A-line of Matt following obvious leads in L.A.-L.A. Land. Thus does "eye candy" producer Spelling parade his latest Love Boat-ish guest list of old-time and not-quite-yet celebs with nothing better to do (Janet Leigh, Cesar Romero, Jill St. John, Sid Caesar, Troy Donahue, Sonny Bono and Zsa Zsa Gabor among the former; Heather Locklear and Tori Spelling among the latter).

And let's not forget all of his TV era's requisite bullet-dodging, random explosions, car/copter chases and other superfluous "action."

Matt Houston is so glossy and so stupid, it sometimes occurs to me this show might actually be arch self-parody.

And then I think, nah. That requires smarts. And if there's one thing Matt Houston ain't, it's smart.

Also out this week:

Scarecrow and Mrs. King: First Season -- By comparison, this is '80s sleuthing Shakespeare, pairing spy Bruce Boxleitner with dizzy housewife Kate Jackson.

Poldark -- Frankly, my dear, Robin Ellis doesn't give a damn as a British soldier returned from the American Revolution to all sorts of family/finance/romance adventure. Viewers of '70s Masterpiece Theatre loved the lush lust and period atmosphere.

Dalziel and Pascoe: Season One -- Hardboiled older cop and modern young partner play odd-couple investigators in well-sketched '90s Yorkshire.

The Beiderbecke Connection -- Britain's witty jazz-scored mystery/romance trilogy concludes: In this 1988 tale, teachers (and new parents) Jill and Trevor are asked to take in a mysterious refugee.

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READ THIS: Oscar mania accelerates

March 2, 2010 9:20 AM

Just like the Super Bowl, there's always overkill when it comes to the Oscars.

Which take place this coming Sunday (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC), in case you missed the 7,000 promos, ads, pre-shows and other assorted hype/hoopla.

But this story about the Oscars caught my eye because it seems even wackier than usual. Who knew they had rules about which celebs could be in even the commercials of the Academy Awards telecast?

Turns out, there is such a thing as too much Jeff Bridges . . .

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