Mini-DVD Review: The New Adventures of Batman (June 26); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Cable TV

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Mini-DVD Review: The New Adventures of Batman (June 26); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Cable TV

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. This week we take a look at Warner Home Video's The New Adventures of Batman. The New Adventures of Batman is the short-lived 1977 animated series that reunited Adam West and Burt Ward (from the original live action 60s Batman series) as Batman and Robin, but this time in animation, rather than live action. See my mini-DVD review of The New Adventures of Batman:

The New Adventures of Batman (Warner, $26.99) brings all 16 episodes from the short-lived classic animated series reuniting the Caped Crusader (Adam West as Batman) and The Boy Wonder (Burt Ward as Robin)!
In this series, we see Batgirl from time to time and a new sidekick called Bat-Mite. Some of the villains they will battle include The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman, and Mr. Freeze. Can they save Gotham City from these dangerous masterminds? You'll have to watch the episodes to find out! Each episode runs approx. 22:50. The lowest one is 22:14, which is the first of a 2-part episode. There are NO chapter stops, which is not good. The video is OK, not great, but not bad either. There are some white flashing dots from time to time, but that is to be expected. This series is also available on AOL's In2TV for free view, if you have never watched it. The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it. Packaging has a nice slim outer box with Batman and Robin running on the front cover...the back cover has tons of information a picture of Batman and Robin in the Batmobile. Inside the box is the very slim digipak case. All two discs are inside. There are two panels, the first panel gives a breakdown of each disc, which episodes, and if any extras. The second panel holds the discs...overlapping each other. The second disc is double-sided, so there is no art on it. The first disc's art has the villains, The Joker, Penguin, etc.
The menu screen has Play and Episodes. The main menu has a nice blue background with Batman. The selector is cool, when we point to an option, it is the Bat sign.
Moving on to the extras. The only extra is on disc two side B. A featurette called Dark Knight Revisited. It is very interesting and packed with lots of information on Batman. It runs 18:45 and any fan of any type of Batman series, movie or comic strip will enjoy it.
I highly do recommend any fan of Batman to pick up this set, especially fans of the classic '60s Batman. And if you never have watched the show, give it a try on In2TV for free then pick this set up! Holy DVDs Batman!
-- Reviewed by Pavan

(4/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
New Adventures of Batman TV.com Page

Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, June 16, 2007
"Cable Companies Making It Hard To Enjoy Television"
By Solomon Davis

It now seems like cable companies are competing with one another in coming up with creative ways to suck money out of cable customers. This really seems unfair to customers who pay their bills on time and are never late with a payment. But Comcast has made TV watching very expensive these days and it appears they will continue to jack up cable fees because they know true cable fans will always pay the increase. I guess this means that DirecTV is currently winning the battle and Comcast has made up for it by turning into "Jack the Increaser." I swear the President of Comcast should just put on a mask the way Comcast has sneakily drained money from us cable lovers.
First of all, I cannot believe I'm being charged to watch reruns of the NBC sitcom, The Office on Demand when it is completely free to watch on NBC from September to May. But once again Comcast is so money hungry and sneaky that they had to charge its customers 99 cents to watch a network TV program and didn't even tell customers there was a fee. We didn't find out until the bill came in the mail and saw that it is a dollar to watch NBC or CBS shows through Comcast OnDemand. When you first clicked on The Office you never saw that it was 99 cents, it was just recently put there now because of angry calls from cable customers. At least TubeTime is FREE!
Now I just found out that my grandmother who is a huge fan of Gunsmoke will have to upgrade her cable service in 2008 because Comcast is getting rid of basic cable. So now it is going to be all digital cable and that is not fair to a 79 year old woman who is on a fixed income and can't afford to pay more money to see a 1955 TV show. I haven't told my grandma this horrible news because I know she will be forced to pay the increase because she is so used to having cable. But Comcast can care less and they know my grandmother will find a way to pay the bill because of her cable TV addiction. My grandmother has gotten used to paying $33.00 a month for basic cable and now will have to pay a $15.00 increase for a TV show that started way before there was even cable television. Now it's looking relaxing and enjoying TV at home will be a costly experience and since Comcast MUST pull in more money than satellite rivals like DirecTV. With all the fees like maintenance, payment over the phone fee, and sales tax fee, everything will seem like PAY-PER-VIEW TV soon and we will all feel like putting a quarter in back of the cable box every time we turn on the television. I just want to know should I be furious with Comcast for finding ways to steal money from me or mad at myself for being a fan of cable television?

Agree or disagree with Solomon? Discuss it here.

DISCLAIMER: Remember, Solomon is not the voice of SitcomsOnline. He is just stating his opinions and does not reflect what SitcomsOnline says or thinks. It is just his 'View' but it is always quite entertaining.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Wednesday, February 26

The Goldbergs - "Body Swap" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Adam is torn between following Beverly’s rules when it comes to off-campus lunch or going to the mall food court with his friends. Meanwhile, after using Barry’s college ID to get food at the dorm, Geoff goes overboard and becomes the “student” Barry wishes he could be.

The Goldbergs - "WrestleMania" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Murray decides to buy WrestleMania tickets to spend time with Barry and Adam, but he buys fake tickets so they can’t get in. Meanwhile, Beverly forms her own neighborhood watch group when the Frentas decide neighbor Jane Bales will be the Watch Captain and not her.

Modern Family - "The Prescott" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Alex’s new company is putting her up at a new luxury apartment with full amenities and a list of high-profile residents that the family is eager to take advantage of, without her knowing. Phil is on a mission to review the restaurant’s famous sliders for his food blog, while Mitch and Cam sneak in separately to meet its most famous resident, David Beckham. Meanwhile, Luke and Manny head straight for the gym to try and pick up on older women and end up in some hot water with a few of the residents.

Single Parents - "Untz, Untz, Untz" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT)
Angie uses Sophie as bait to get time with her crush Colin by setting up Sophie and Percy, Colin’s son, on a playdate at Angie’s house. Meanwhile, Poppy and Douglas navigate Douglas’ first night sleeping at Poppy’s house, which doesn’t go as expected; and Graham and Will go on a bro-date of their own to the pizza parlor.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of February 24)

Wednesday, February 26

Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother/Undeclared) - Watch Jason on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Nick Jonas (Jonas) - Nick appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Finesse Mitchell (Outmatched/A.N.T. Farm) - Finesse stops by Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. He will also be on The Wendy Williams Show, so check your local listings.
Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood/The Soul Man/The Steve Harvey Show) - Cedric visits The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Beth Behrs (The Neighborhood/2 Broke Girls) and Tichina Arnold (The Neighborhood/Survivor's Remorse/Happily Divorced/Everybody Hates Chris/Martin) - Beth and Tichina are guests on A Little Late with Lilly Singh at 1:35am on NBC.
Wanda Sykes (The New Adventures of Old Christine/Wanda at Large) - Wanda drops by Conan at 11pm on TBS.
Michael Rapaport (Atypical/The War at Home) - Michael stops by Watch What Happens: Live at 11pm on Bravo.
William Shatner ($h*! My Dad Says) - William appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Kristen Bell (The Good Place) - Kristen is a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly/Samantha Who?) - Melissa drops by The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster/Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) - Soleil appears on Access Daily, so check your local listings.
Bobby Cannavale (Angie Tribeca/Nurse Jackie) - Bobby talks about The Jesus Rolls on NBC's Today in the 9am hour and on the BUILD Series at 12pm.
Mark Addy (Still Standing) - Mark talks about Hangmen on New York Live on WNBC in New York at 11:30am ET.
Jason Ritter (The Class) - Jason is a guest on Home & Family on Hallmark Channel at 10am ET/PT.