Saturday, December 15, 2012
Digital Digest: China Beach Headed to DVD; Mannix - The Final (Eighth) Season DVD Review; Quincy, M.E. - Season 4 DVD Review
This has been a rather slow and disappointing week for news, but we do have a few items of note. First, TVShowsOnDVD.com announced a big complete series release that many people have been waiting for over the past ten years that'll be coming soon from Time Life and Warner Home Video. The drama series China Beach will be released early next year from Time Life, with a wide retail release coming later. Music rights have held this series up for many years, but it is interesting to note that the press release indicates that "most" of the original music will be intact. This suggests that there will be a few things missing, but hopefully it won't be anything too noticeable.
CBS will be finishing up the crime drama Father Dowling Mysteries in early 2013 with Father Dowling Mysteries - The Third Season. The five disc set will be released on March 12 at a $59.98 MSRP.
BLOG FEATURE REVIEW
Mannix attempts to solve the murder of a photographer in "Picture of a Shadow." In "Desert Sun," a trip to Albuquerque to prove an Indian's accidental death was actually murder turns very ugly for Mannix. Mannix is on the case of solving a mystery involving a plane crash victim who undergoes plastic surgery in "The Survivor Who Wasn't." A bomb kills a starlet's husband in "A Choice of Victims," but was he the intended victim? A war vet is out to prove that anybody can give up military secrets under torture in "A Ward Called Courage." In "Man in a Trap," Joe discovers a fellow detective who was shot took a job for a syndicate boss. Peggy's cousin may be a target for murder in "Chance Meeting." In "Edge of the Web," the son of Mannix's friend is jailed for killing his PhD professor after being denied his degree (and being accused of sleeping with the professor's wife). Look for Gerald McRaney in the unusual role of a college professor in this episode... and as is common for any role played by McRaney, the professor is also a Vietnam vet.
A mother receives a ransom note for her son who has been missing for six years in "A Ransom for Yesterday." Thieves attempt to rob every office in a high-rise in "The Empty Tower." Mannix believes in the innocence of a hitchhiker accused of murder, and takes his case, in "Quartet for Blunt Instrument." In the two-part episode "Birds of Prey," a search for a hero who saved a client's son in South America results in another man's death. Tom Selleck guest stars in "Design for Dying," where a publisher with political ambitions hires Mannix to find out if his wife has committed adultery. A hitman kills a mob boss in "Search for a Dead Man," but the dead body vanishes and he has to hire Mannix to find the corpse to prove he did the job. The series ends with "Hardball," where a ruthless drug dealer takes hostages at a courthouse. John Ritter guest stars.
2. "Game Plan" (49:47)
3. "A Fine Day for Dying" (50:13)
4. "Walk on the Blind Side" (50:45)
6. "Death Has No Face" (50:44)
7. "A Small Favor for an Old Friend" (50:43)
8. "Enter Tami Okada" (50:44)
12. "A Choice of Victims" (50:43)
Disc 4:
13. "A Word Called Courage" (50:47)
14. "Man in a Trap" (50:45)
15. "Chance Meeting" (50:38)
16. "Edge of the Web" (50:44)
18. "The Empty Tower" (50:45)
19. "Quartet for Blunt Instrument" (50:43)
20. "Bird of Prey (Part 1)" (50:49)
22. "Design for Dying" (50:46)
23. "Search for a Dead Man" (50:46)
24. "Hardball" (50:45)
CBS has kept the packaging for this set consistent with previous releases. Once again, the set uses a Viva case. On the cover, there is a large head shot of Mannix, the series logo, and of course, there are eight bullets to indicate that this is the eighth season. You'll find a few episode snapshosts and a brief series description on the back. Inside, you'll find the six discs, each containing the standard CBS gray artwork with the series logo. Each disc contains four episodes. Episode titles, descriptions, and original airdates are printed inside the case.
It is always a time to celebrate when a long running series is completed on DVD, especially when we've gotten (mostly) flawless releases. What is even nicer about this series, though, is that we have about two and a half seasons worth of episodes (including this seasons) that have been withheld from syndication over the years, so owning these DVDs is really the only way to even see a lot of these episodes... and for the younger fans who are too young to remember when the series originally aired, that is like getting brand new episodes of the series. I'm still disappointed in the lack of special features that we got throughout the releases, but the important thing, I suppose, is that every episode is now available on DVD for everybody to enjoy. Fans of crime dramas are sure to enjoy this, and if you just want to see something that you'll probably never see on TV, this set in particular is definitely worth picking up.
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DVD Review: Quincy, M.E. - Season 4 (Shout!, $39.97)
by skees53
NBC was well-known for their Mystery Movie franchise that they had in the '70s. From this franchise, we got a lot of "series" (which were actually just a bunch of movies) including Columbo, McMillan and Wife, McCloud, and more. However, one of the movie series in this franchise ended up being turned into a regular weekly series... that was Jack Klugman's series, Quincy, M.E., the series about the "original crime scene investigator." Klugman played the role of Dr. Quincy (first name was never fully given), a Los Angeles Medical Examiner who would always get to the bottom of each and every crime. Now, Shout! Factory is releasing the fourth season (some would call it the third season, which is technically more correct, but we'll use the title that the studio uses to avoid confusion) on DVD for the very first time.
Quincy heads off for some rest and relaxation in "The Last Six Hours," but it seems that crime will follow him wherever he goes. A race-car driver is killed in "Speed Trap," so was it a homicide? Quincy tries to get a seven-year-old re-evaluated as autistic in "Test for Living." An Affirmative Action doctor is blamed when a patient dies after a surgical operation in "Death by Good Intention." In "Images," Quincy announces that well-known anchor woman (played by Jessica Walter) died in a fire... except she ends up mysteriously appearing at the press conference. Quincy becomes part of an investigation in his own office in "Even Odds." In "Dead and Alive," anonymous messages begin turning up informing a model that someone close to her is in danger of being murdered. Quincy's latest flame moves into a new apartment... and finds two mummified bodies already living there... in "No Way to Treat a Body."
In "A Night to Raise the Dead," Quincy's latest investigation has him trying to dig up an entire cemetery. A malpractice lawyer is after Quincy in "A Question of Death." In "House of No Return," Quincy poses as a murdered PI to find out why the man was killed. A star athlete dies from a drug-resistant strain of gonorrhea in "A Small Circle of Friends," leading Quincy to demand a round-up of prostitutes. In "Depth of Beauty," Quincy gets involved in the world of cosmetic surgery. Quincy investigates a doctor who will give any prescription for the right price in the two-part episode "Walk Softly Through the Night." Quincy has to perform autopsies on all of the bodies of the deceased in a plane crash in "Aftermath."
In "Dark Angel," two cops are accused of beating a suspect to death, and Quincy has to prove (or disprove) that. Quincy has to find out why a 17-year-old girl died after undergoing an abortion in "Physician, Heal Thyself." Quincy thinks a lot about life after a spat with his girlfriend in "Promises to Keep." In "Semper-Fidelis," Quincy autopsies the body of a Marine who died in an accident during training... or did he? An autopsy of a construction worker finds much more in "An Ounce of Prevention." In "The Death Challenge," a magician dies during a stunt, so was it an accident or murder? The season ends with "The Eye of the Needle," where Quincy clashes with a holistic medicine doctor after the death of one of her patients.
Disc 1:
1. "The Last Six Hours" (49:15)
Disc 2:
5. "Images" (49:48)
6. "Even Odds" (49:16)
7. "Dead and Alive" (49:14)
8. "No Way to Treat a Body" (49:15)
Disc 3:
9. "A Night to Raise the Dead" (49:45)
10. "A Question of Death" (49:02)
11. "House of No Return" (49:22)
12. "A Small Circle of Friends" (49:44)
Disc 4:
13. "The Depth of Beauty" (49:13)
14. "Walk Softly Through the Night (Part 1)" (49:54)
15. "Walk Softly Through the Night (Part 2)" (48:43)
16. "Aftermath" (49:47)
Disc 5:
17. "Dark Angel" (49:16)
18. "Physician, Heal Thyself" (49:53)
19. "Promises to Keep" (49:11)
20. "Semper-Fidelis" (49:13)
Disc 6:
21. "An Ounce of Prevention" (49:15)
22. "The Death Challenge" (49:18)
23. "The Eye of the Needle" (49:14)
As usual, Shout! kept the packaging style for this set in line with the packaging that Universal used for their releases (although Shout! did switch to Viva cases for their release). The cover art has two photos of Quincy with a blue background, and offers the tagline "The Original Crime Scene Investigator." On the back, there is a brief description of the season, along with a few episode snapshots. Inside, you'll find the six discs, each containing the series logo on a blue background. Episodes titles, descriptions, and airdates are printed inside of the case.
The menus for this set are very simple, but elegant. There is just one menu, the main menu, which has a photo of Quincy, and gives options of Play All and lists all of the episodes. Once you select an episode, it plays immediately. There are chapters throughout each episode.
The set looks fine in regards to video and audio quality. A lot of these older Universal series tend to look pretty good, even without a lot of restoration. There are still minor issues here and there, but nothing too big. The audio is presented in mono. And the episodes are all closed-captioned.
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FOLLOW ME
What It Is: Modern Seinfeld is one of the most unusual things we've seen pop up on Twitter. It first appeared on December 9... just a few days ago... and has gone viral in just the past few days, gaining attention from prominent national press and already gaining nearly 200,000 followers (perhaps it'll go past that by the time you read this) in that short period of time. Created by comedian Jack Moore, editor of BuzzFeed Sports, and also a self-professed Seinfeld addict, the Twitter feed brings back to the sitcom about "nothing" back to life, in the form of Tweets about episodes of the series that "could" happen in this modern era. Even if you aren't a fan of the series, it is still a fun Twitter feed to read, and the viral effect of it has shown how fast things can spread over the internet.
Pick of the Tweets: "Jerry breaks up with his gf (Jenna Fischer) because she over-identifies with Liz Lemon. George tries to pick up women on the subway." (December 11, 2012)
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Friday, December 8
CBS announced the new entertainment special Norman Lear: A Life on Television, to air tonight - Friday, Dec. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs). Presented by Entertainment Tonight, this one-hour special features new interviews with stars of the long-running comedies Lear created, including Jimmie Walker from Good Times and Mackenzie Phillips from One Day at a Time, in addition to never-before-seen interviews from the ET vault. Also included with this new footage and interviews is an in-depth sit-down interview with Lear that ET host Kevin Frazier conducted when Lear celebrated his 100th birthday, in which he reflected on his lengthy, groundbreaking career.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 4)
Friday, December 8
- Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Watch Eddie on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Da'Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building/High Fidelity/People of Earth/Selfie) - Da'Vine appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- John Caponera (The Good Life) - John is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
- Robert Smigel (Let's Be Real) - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog aka Robert Smigel chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Noah Galvin (The Real O'Neals) and Molly Gordon (Ramy) - Noah and Molly talk about Theater Camp on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
- Eric Stonestreet (The Santa Clauses/Modern Family) - Eric talks about The Santa Clauses on NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
- Kenan Thompson (Kenan/Kenan & Kel) - Kenan sits down with Sherri to talk about his new book, When I Was Your Age, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Sebastian Maniscalco (Bookie) - Sebastian appears on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)
09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
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