Saturday, May 31, 2008
Mini-DVD Review: Boondocks: The Complete Second Season (June 3)
The Boondocks: The Complete Second Season (Sony, $49.95) brings fans another season of the television version of Aaron McGruder's former newspaper comic strip. Much like the comic strip, the Adult Swim TV series takes on many controversial issues and handles them in a humorous manner. Except, of course, the TV series takes on the issues in an outlandish, crude, sometimes offensive, and always extremely controversial manner. The second season is no exception to this rule, and is in fact even more crude and offensive than the first season--but that is what makes the show so great.
In this season, we get to see what true jealousy is like when Sarah gets to meet Usher in "Tom, Sarah and Usher." We learn how Granddad reacts when a rapper moves in to the neighborhood in "The Story of Thugnificent." Granddad meets a hot woman that is a little bit (or a lot) crazy in "Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf-Bitch." The house becomes full of some of Granddad's relatives after Hurricane Katrina in "Invasion of the Katrinians." In "The S-Word," Riley gets called the n-word by a teacher and chaos ensues. Additionally, we even get two episodes that were so outrageous and controversial that they couldn't even be aired on cable television. In "The Hunger Strike," Huey takes a stand against BET based upon how he views the network as causing destruction to black people. In "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show," Uncle Ruckus discovers that he really is black after all, and BET decides to make a reality show about it. Obviously Aaron McGruder has a point to make about BET... and it doesn't look like Adult Swim will air that point of view! Additionally, the season contains many guest stars, including Snoop Dogg, Tichina Arnold, Lil' Wayne, Cedric the Entertainer, Fred Williard, Busta Rhymes, and Tavis Smiley.
The episodes are all presented in widescreen and they look and sound great, as one would expect. The episodes are totally uncensored, so don't be surprised to see the unexpected. As if the episodes aren't good enough, there are plenty of bonus features on the set too. There aren't quite as many as there were for the first season, but still plenty. The set contains audio commentaries on four of the episodes, and video introductions on the two banned episodes. There is a "Behind the Boondocks" featurette, which, as it sounds, goes behind the scenes of the series to show what it is like creating the series. In "Trouble in Woodcrest?," we get to see some "behind-the-scenes" trash-talking between cast members. Another special feature--one that I won't even mention the name of--talks about the n-word and the use of it on the show. Actually, it doesn't even talk about it, it is just a bunch of clips of the voice actors saying it while recording the script. You'll hear the n-word in it, a lot, as you do on the TV show. Next, there is a series of special features for the cast members, where we learn more about who they are. They have these for John Witherspoon, Cedric Yarbrough, Regina King, Gary Anthony Williams, Gabby Soleil, and Jill Talley. And what Sony DVD set would be complete without Minisodes? We have two, from Married... with Children and Spiderman.
Overall, this is a great set and fans are sure to enjoy it, as will those that just enjoy humorous and controversial TV. Sony seems to do a great job on this series in regards to quality and bonus features, and the DVDs are much more enjoyable to watch than the episodes as aired on TV.
-- Reviewed by skees53
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Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Thursday, May 8
Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "Ladies Love Brunch" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Georgie tries to juggle his mom, his mother-in-law and Mandy on Mother’s Day. Meanwhile, Audrey wants to meet Connor’s girlfriend.
Ghosts - "The Devil Went Down to Woodstone" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Sam and Jay host a big party for the launch of Sam and Isaac’s vampire book. Mary Holland (Patience), Punam Patel (Bela) and Matt Walsh (Elias Woodstone) return as guest stars.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of May 5)
Thursday, May 8
- Paula Poundstone (Home Movies) - Paula performs stand-up comedy on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll) - Natasha appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Michelle Buteau (Survival of the Thickest/Bless the Harts/Enlisted) - Michelle talks about Netflix's Survival of the Thickest on Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
- Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite/Benched) and Doug Benson (You're the Worst) - Maria and Doug are guests on After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- John Benjamin Hickey (HouseBroken/The Big C/It's All Relative) - John stops by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11:15pm on Bravo.
- Patricia Clarkson (Davis Rules) - Patricia is a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11:15pm on Bravo.
- Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - E! News has an interview with Kerry at 11pm on E!. Kerry and Omar Sy discuss their highly anticipated new film Shadow Force on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Rebel Wilson (Super Fun Night) - Rebel chats about Juliet & Romeo on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Café Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - In A Little Bit Extra Valerie and Ross Mathews are sharing more of their conversation with Al Roker in Charleston at the Food & Wine Classic on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) and Randall Park (Young Rock/Blockbuster/Fresh Off the Boat/Veep/Supah Ninjas) - Morris and Randall talk about Watson on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.
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