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Mini-DVD Review: Popeye The Sailor - 1933-38, Volume 1; Solomon's Weekly Rant: TV Networks Playing Musical Timeslots

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. This week we take a look at Warner Home Video's Popeye The Sailor: 1933-38, Volume 1. Popeye is of course the classic TV sailor who eats his spinach and gets energy to save Olive Oyl from Bluto! See my mini-DVD review of Popeye The Sailor: 1933-38, Volume 1:

Popeye The Sailor: 1933-38, Volume 1 (Warner, $64.98) brings 60 classic unedited Popeye cartoons along with over five-hours of bonus features to DVD on a classic 4-disc set for the first time ever! The first 60 theatrical shorts (1933-38) come from the Max Fleischer Cartoon Studio and are remastered and uncut. Here you'll find Popeye with spindly Olive Oyl, burger opportunist Wimpy, lil' See'pea, and the brooding Bluto. Toot-Toot!
Each short is in black & white and runs anywhere between 5-8 minutes. Most are in the 6-7 minute range. However, two episodes are in full color and are much longer...one is on disc three (Popeye Meets Sindbad the Sailor)that runs 16:30 and the other ((Popeye Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves) is on disc four that runs 17:13. These are the Technicolor Two-Reeler episodes. There are no chapter stops, which is acceptable here because the episodes are very short. The video is remastered and it looks great! No editing of the episodes because of ethic reasons either...it is from the original masters. The audio is decent, nothing too bad about it.
Packaging has a nice yellow outer box with Popeye and his big fists on the front cover...the back cover has information on the set and has some screen shots of the shorts along with a big photo of Olive Oyl and Popeye. There is also a section detailing the special features, but it is more detailed inside the case. Inside the box is a digipak case. The front of the digipak has Popeye holding a can of spinach with the spinach about to go in his mouth. The back of the digipak has a photo of Olive Oyl yelling at Bluto. Opening the case once, we get a very nice disc by disc breakdown, which is has lots of screen shots. We get the episode number, title, if it has commentary and by who, and the list of special features per disc. Opening the case one last time, we get to the discs. They are all yellow, matching the color scheme of the set. Disc one's artwork has Popeye carrying Olive Oyl, disc two has Bluto beat-up, disc three has the Burger-meister himself...Wimpy, and disc four has lil' Swee'pea...whose baby is that anyway?? Did Popeye and Olive Oyl have him together? There is a nice special feature that talks about this! Also inside the case we get a little insert that has a coupon for 25 cents off of two cans of Popeye Spinach! Now you have no excuse to get strong. On that insert we also have some Popeye party recipes for Pizza and Dip.
The menu screen has Play, Episodes, Special Features, and Languages. But before the main menu screen comes, we get an ethic message, saying that these shorts were never intended to stereo-type, blah blah. The main menu the theme playing in the background (and it loops), with the same artwork as the box cover. Languages section has us in English only and subtitles can be added for English only. Special Features are on each disc, so they are spread out evenly. Episodes is where we can choose the classic shorts. If it has commentary or a popumentary, we can also select that from here, but we can also do that in the special features section.
Moving on to those special features. As I mentioned, they are evenly placed on each disc. So, here we go, we have a lot: disc one has a retrospective documentary titled, "I Yam What I Yam: The Story of Popeye the Sailor" that runs 43:23. Then we have 2 Popeye Popumentaries: "Mining the Strip: Elize Segar and Thimble Theatre" (8:39) and "Me Fickle Goyl, Olive Oyl: The World's Least Likely Sex Symbol" (4:20). Finally on this disc we have three items from the vault from Bray Productions/IFC Studio Shorts: "Colonel Heeza Liar at The Bat - 1915" (9:29), "Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing - 1916" (2:43), and "Domestic Difficulties - 1916" (8:17). 8 of the 15 episodes have audio commentaries on this disc, they include commentaries from Historians: Michael Barrier, Jerry Beck, and Glenn Mitchell; Animators: Dave Tendlar, Mark Kausler, Jorge Gutierrez, and Sandra Equihar; Filmmaker: Greg Ford; and Director: Eric Goldberg.
Moving on to disc two, it has a retrospective documentary titled, "Forging the Frame: The roots of Animation 1900-1920" that runs 31:01. Then we have 2 Popeye Popumentaries: "Wimpy the Moocher: Ode to the Burgermeister" (4:30) and "Sailor's Hornpipes: The Voices of Popeye" (9:29). Finally on this disc we have three items from the vault from Bray Productions/Sullivan Studio Shorts: "Bobby Bumps Puts A Beanery on the Bum - 1918" (4:36), "Feline Follies - 1919" (4:13), and "The Tantalizing Fly - 1919" (3:55). 7 of the 15 episodes have audio commentaries on this disc, they include commentaries from Historians: Michael Barrier, Jerry Beck, Daniel Goldmark, and Glenn Mitchell; Filmmaker: Greg Ford; and Actor: Jack Mercer.
Moving on to disc three, it has 2 Popeye Popumentaries: "Blow Me Down! The Music of Popeye" (10:02) and "Popeye in Living Color: A Look at the Color Two-Reelers" (5:46). Finally on this disc we have six items from the vault from Inkwell Shorts: "Modeling - 1921" (7:58), "Invisible Ink - 1921" (7:31), "Bubbles - 1922" (4:48), "Jumping Beans - 1922" (10:51), "Bedtime - 1923" (8:54), and "Trapped - 1923" (10:57). 4 of the 15 episodes have audio commentaries on this disc, they include commentaries from Writer: Paul Dini; Directors: John Kricfalusi and Eddie Fitzgerald; Cartoonist: Kali Fontecchio; and Animator: Mark Kausler.
Finally we move on to disc four, it has 2 Popeye Popumentaries: "Me Lil' Swee'pea: Whose Kid Is He Anyway?" (3:51) and "Et Tu, Bluto? Cartoondom's Heaviest Heavy" (4:40). Finally on this disc we have four items from the vault from Inkwell/Fleischer Studio Shorts: "A Trip to Mars - 1924" (6:46), "Koko Trains 'Em - 1925" (10:06), "Koko Back Tracks - 1927" (9:03), and "Let's Sing with Popeye - 1933" (2:10). 3 of the 15 episodes have audio commentaries on this disc, they include commentaries from Historian: Jerry Beck; Directors: John Kricfalusi and Eddie Fitzgerald; and Cartoonist: Kali Fontecchio.
I highly do recommend any fan of classic cartoons and Popeye to pick-up this set. This is the second set this summer that is amazing for classic cartoon fans...the other being Woody Woodpecker from Universal Home Video. This set is on par with that, but might be even better! Let's hope we get a volume two very soon and it is packed with special features just like this set. Warner did a very nice job indeed! Reward yourself with spinach and buy this set, who cares if you don't like spinach. you will by the time you finish with this set. So, head on to our link below to order this series because I'm Popeye the Sailor Man...Toot-Toot!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(5/5 stars)

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Related links:
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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, August 11, 2007
"TV Networks Playing Musical Timeslots"
By Solomon Davis

Has there ever been a time in your life when you attempted to record something while out of the house and then when you return, you then discover you recorded another show because of a new program schedule? When that happens that means the TV Station is playing a game of musical timeslots with the TV shows on their schedule. This is so annoying to us viewers who have it in our mind what we are going to watch once we get home and then find out the show we wanted to see was moved to a new time slot. And when this happens you are stuck with the options of watching that other show you had no idea was in the timeslot or just dealing with the lost opportunity of not seeing your show on that particular day. The Fox Reality Channel is the best when it comes to the game of musical timeslots because they can change the schedule of a show faster that a person going to the refrigerator during a commericial break.
Three weeks ago I programmed my VCR to record the show Manhattan Matchmaker at 10:30am and when I was all set to relax and watch the show after coming home from work, I discovered the show was not only moved but taken off the schedule completely. I guess that was a result of low ratings but shouldn't viewers receive some kind of notice? Maybe Fox Reality Channel can set up something on their website to email viewers when TV shows are replaced for good? The show I recorded that day instead of Manhattan Matchmaker was Blind Date which was not a big deal but it still left me wondering what happened to the show I wanted to record. Then when I tried to record Blind Date three weeks later, Fox Reality Channel moved that show to another timeslot which allowed me to record LAPD instead. And I was so disgusted by this game of musical timeslots that I just actually sat there and watched LAPD since that's what the station wanted me to do anyway. I guess that was Fox Reality's way of trying to get me into other shows on their morning schedule. All Fox channels seem to do this...Fox, Fox News Channel, etc...that Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. should be blamed.
By the way, I still have not found out any news as to why Manhattan Matchmaker was removed so I guess it will always be a Fox Reality Channel mystery.
So if anyone plans on watching this channel try not to get used to watching a show everyday at a certain time because the station will definitely surprise you at least once a month. To be honest this is kind of driving me away from watch the network because I really don't feel like checking their site everyday to see if the schedule is still the same. It would be nice if this network can just stick to one schedule for two months and not make any sudden moves with the schedule. I swear when I watch Fox Reality, it reminds me of going to my local supermarket and discovering that the food aisles were switched around so that certain ones can get more attention when customers walk inside the store. I wonder how the people who run the Fox Reality Channel would feel if cable companies all of a sudden started playing a game called Musical Channel Listings?

My Turn The Channel Moment of the Week: Wednesday, August 8, 2007 on LIVE! With Regis & Kelly - Kelly Ripa's story about the day she didn't wear any underwear. Way too much info, Kelly!

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.

The Full Updated TV Land September Schedule; More Details on TV Land Canada This Fall

It was just yesterday when we released the updated TV Land weekend schedule for September, now we have the fully updated schedule for the rest of the week! So continuing where we left off yesterday, the late night schedule in September will be the same for every night. Which means the schedule we gave yesterday from 12:05am-6am on weekends will ALSO be on weeknights. So we won't go over that. Let's start with weekday mornings, we are started off with Star Trek at 6am, followed by back to back M*A*S*H at 7am, then we have a sitcom block of Cheers, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son and All in the Family until 10am. Knight Rider joins the lineup and will air at 10am (it was previously slated for weekdays at 3pm in the original September schedule). Then on Mondays only, we have a TV Land Goes West Monday block with Bonanza from 11am-2pm and Gunsmoke from 2-6pm. Tues-Fri in this time period we get Gunsmoke at 11am, back-to-back I Love Lucy at noon, back-to-back Green Acres at 1pm, the horror hour with Munsters & Addams Family at 2, back-to-back Leave it to Beaver at 3, Bonanza at 4pm and Gunsmoke at 5pm. Weeknights at 6 will remain Little House on the Prairie followed by back-to-back Andy Griffith Show episodes at 7. In primetime on weeknights we get back-to-back The Cosby Show at 8, followed by back-to-back The Jeffersons at 9, back-to-back Sanford & Son at 10, and back-to-back M*A*S*H at 11. There are some days when things get pre-empted, so I suggest you view our seven day a week schedule for September by clicking HERE!
Hopefully TV Land doesn't edit the September line-up again. We will have the October highlights very soon, so come on back for that. What to expect that month is a 50th Anniversary Marathon of Leave it to Beaver and Designing Women joins the line-up.

Moving up north of the border, we have some additional details for TV Land Canada's Fall schedule. We gave you the shows and details last month, but now we have some more info!
Among the highlights: TV Land Canada has 24-hour marathons of Remington Steele and Happy Days, and spends the Christmas holidays with Lassie and Dallas. Several stand-up comedy series hosted by comedian Ben Guyatt are also coming to the Canadian network. For complete details, click HERE you Canadians!

TV Land September Weekends Update; Details on Upcoming I Love Lucy, Family Ties, and Bosom Buddies DVDs

TV Land has announced some changes to the September weekend line-up starting September 1. They have not announced the changes to the weekday line-up yet, but they have for weekends. New weekends will look like this: Gunsmoke starts it off with two back-to-back episodes from 6-8am, sitcom block of Green Acres, Addams Family and two Leave it to Beaver episodes follow until 10am. The I Love Lucy block will remain from 10am-1pm on Saturdays and 10am-12pm on Sundays. Movie encores will remain on Saturdays from 1-5pm, while Bonanza airs from 12-3pm and Gunsmoke from 3-6pm on Sundays. A Gunsmoke block airs from 5-8pm on Saturdays. while a Andy Griffith Show block airs 6-8pm on Sundays. In primetime from 8-10pm we get Andy Griffith on Saturdays and M*A*S*H on Sundays. After that, from 10pm-12:05am on Saturday nights we get more I Love Lucy! On Sundays we get back-to-back Sanford & Son and The Jeffersons until 12:05am. The rest of the late night is as follows: back-to-back The Andy Griffith Show starting at 12:05am, back-to-back Three's Company starting at 1:10am, an episode of The Jeffersons at 2:20am, back-to-back Good Times starting at 2:55am, single episodes of Sanford & Son, Three's Company, Leave it to Beaver, and I Love Lucy air from 4-6am.
That is just weekends in September. The revised weekday line-up will be in shortly and we will bring that to you when released! Come on back!

CBS/Paramount DVD will be releasing subsequent seasons of a few classic sitcoms this fall, including Bosom Buddies and Family Ties, along with a huge complete series set of I Love Lucy. We have some additional details of those sets not yet released anywhere else to share to you!
Bosom Buddies comes out with its second and final season on Sept. 4. We have a special feature even called "Sales Presentation." We also have that disclaimer on the back of the box saying "Some music has been changed for this home entertainment version. Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions." Bummer...hopefully it is nothing that huge.
Family Ties comes out with its second season on DVD on Oct. 9. For the first time, we will announce what the special features are! We get three featurettes: The Making of Family Ties, Michael J. Fox: The Best Gig in the World, and The Year of the Beard. That last one sounds hilarious, as this is the first season that Michael Gross had his trademark beard. We were supposed to get Episodic Promos, but no mention of that on the back of the box. Hopefully that is still there. Also on the back of the box we get the dreaded disclaimer: "Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions. Some music has been changed for this home entertainment version." Hopefully it is not as severe as the first season.
Finally, I Love Lucy's Complete Series release will come out Oct. 23. All 9 seasons with all 194 episodes! For the first time, we will announce the all-new special features! We get I Love Lucy: The Movie (1953), The First Colorized I Love Lucy episode ("Lucy Goes to Scotland"), I Love Lucy at the 6th Annual Emmy Awards (1954), Highlights of Lucy and Desi's First Joint TV Appearance (1949), and the lost pilot & all 35 first season episodes digitally restored! These extras are all in addition to the extras released in each individual season. So you will want to get this release!
As a bonus, to see the art of back of the box for all three sets click below:
Bosom Buddies: The Second Season
Family Ties: The Second Season
I Love Lucy: The Complete Series
As always with sitcoms on DVD, we will have reviews of those closer to the street dates.

Remembering Charles in Charge's James T. Callahan; Knights of Prosperity Returns TONIGHT!

James T. Callahan best known for playing Walter Powell on the sitcom Charles in Charge, has died according to the LA Times. Callahan, who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in February, died Friday at his Fallbrook home, said his wife, Peggy Cannon-Callahan. On the show, Callahan played Walter Powell, a retired Navy man he referred to as the "blustery old grandfather" in a 2000 People magazine interview. When CBS canceled Charles in Charge after one season in 1985, Callahan joined the cast for the syndicated version, which ran from 1987 to 1990. The role was a favorite that brought him wide recognition.
Scott Baio, who played Charles in Charles in Charge spoke to the LA Times yesterday: "As an actor, he was just an absolute pleasure. He wanted what was best for the team, and that's very rare. He loved hanging out with us and he loved, loved, loved working."
The youngest of three children, Callahan was born Oct. 4, 1930, in Grand Rapids, Mich., to William and Elenora Callahan. His father worked in sales. After serving in the Army in West Germany from 1951 to 1953, Callahan returned home to work at the post office. He discovered acting while attending school in the Midwest. On the advice of a teacher, he enrolled in the University of Washington to study drama and graduated in the late 1950s.
Between 1959 and 2007, Callahan appeared in more than 120 films and television shows. He got his start in guest starring stints on westerns such as The Californians, Two Faces West, and Have Gun Will Travel. His first sitcom appearance was in 1960 on an episode of Dennis the Menace. He co-starred in two short lived sitcoms Wendy and Me in 1964 and The Governor & J.J. in 1969. His long list of TV guest shots include Perry Mason, Combat!, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, My Favorite Martian, The Fugitive, The FBI, Adam-12, Marcus Welby MD, M*A*S*H, Love American Style, Barnaby Jones, Cannon, Police Story, The Rockford Files, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Dallas, The Ropers, Bosom Buddies, Lou Grant, Benson, Alice, Simon & Simon, Quincy ME, Remington Steele, Little House on the Prairie, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Newhart, Growing Pains, Doogie Howser MD, Highway to Heaven, Golden Girls, Nurses, Harry and the Hendersons, Picket Fences, Hope & Gloria, Caroline in the City, Cybil, The Practice, 7th Heaven, ER and Medium. Wow...what a list and that is just a partial one!
One of his favorite film roles was as the band leader in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), his wife said. He also portrayed a country-western singer in Outlaw Blues (1977) with Peter Fonda. He was in the TV-movie The Burning Bed with Farrah Fawcett in 1984 and Prison for Children with John Ritter in 1987. He co-starred in the Hallmark Channel movie Wild Hearts last year. Callahan's final film, a horror movie called Born, has not been released.
Mr. Callahan's vast TV work and his popularity on Charles in Charge will continue for many decades to come. He will be missed deeply and let's hope we get the second season (his first season) of Charles in Charge on DVD very soon! Mr. Callahan was 76.

Get those televisions on at 8:30pm ET and 9:30pm ET tonight as ABC brings back the fun sitcom The Knights of Prosperity! The sitcom is about a group of blue-collared workers trying to rob a celebrity. They failed doing so with Mick Jagger and now they have a new target...Everybody Loves Raymond's Ray Romano! Ray Romano will be guest starring on both episodes tonight. If you have never watched the show, it doesn't matter because a new chapter is about to begin with Romano. It is very fun and hilarious but it is too bad it was wasted and lost in the schedule. The two episodes tonight are the first two of four unaired episodes. The remaining two episodes air next Wednesday (Aug. 15) and the Wednesday after that (Aug. 22) at 8:30pm ET. Be sure to watch all four because you don't know what you're missing. If you're not home, record, DVR, TiVo it, or whatever.

We'll be back with more news, if anything.

ION Television September and ABC Family September; TVComedyClassics.com Launches

ION Television and ABC Family have announced its September line-ups, and both don't have any schedule changes really. I'm thinking both, or at least ION, will have changes in October, and that will be their fall line-up. Let;s start with ION September. There is one change, but it really isn't a change. They will add the 11PM hour on weekdays and air a show called Firebrand TV starting September 24. As we mentioned during their upfront release, it is a new interactive entertainment and marketing platform that features TV advertising as pop culture. A first-of-its-kind multi-platform experience that gives consumers interactive access to their favorite brands, products and promotions. Firebrand programs only the best TV commercials as a reflection of pop culture in an environment rich with consumer touch points. It will air weeknights at 11PM, except Tuesdays where it will air at 10PM. The popular primetime line-up of Mama's Family, Who's the Boss?, and The Wonder Years will continue on in September. Let's hope in October we get some expanded hours, say 3-6PM being added Mon-Thurs in addition to 6-11PM? If not, let's hope we get some new shows at least, like Perfect Strangers.
RHI on ION Movie Weekend in September includes movies such as Fatal Error with Robert Wagner and Bridge of Time with Susan Dey; mini-series such as the six-hour Larry McMurtry's The Streets of Laredo and four-hour ones such as Ford: Man & His Machine and Degree of Guilt. The 1996 documentary Titanic will also air...not to be confused by the 1997 blockbuster movie.
To discuss and to read more about ION September, click HERE.

As for ABC Family, as I mentioned there will be no schedule changes in September to the regular schedule. However, two of their original series will have season finales, while one will have its season premiere. Kyle XY will have its fall season finale on Labor Day at 8PM, with an all-day marathon before the finale. The series will return in January with 10 additional episodes. Greek will ends its first season a week after on September 10 at 9PM. Meanwhile, the second season of family drama Lincoln Heights will start Tuesday, September 4 for 10 more new episodes. New animated series Slacker Cats will continue on Mondays at 10PM. On Sunday, September 16 ABC Family premieres its new original movie Big Liar on Campus, Ryan Pinkston fibs his way into the school. The movie also stars Kate Mara, Teri Polo, Craig Kilborn, and Carmen Electra.
A to be determined marathon is on Sunday, September 21...all-day. It will probably be a marathon of Ugly Betty or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, or another ABC series premiereing its new season that week. We will let you know, when confirmed.

FremantleMedia will launch TVComedyClassics.com, a new web portal that will make a selection of comedy programming from its archives available to consumers for download to own or rent. TV series from the UK such as Tommy Cooper Half Hour, The Howerd Confessions, George and Mildred, Love Thy Neighbour and Bless This House, among others, with new content being added regularly. The website will host comedy selections from FME's archives from across the decades, featuring performers like Tommy Cooper, Frankie Howerd, Eric Sykes, Sid James, Penelope Keith and Jim Davidson. The company is currently exploring content opportunities with other independent production companies and is looking to extend the TVComedyClassics brand locally around the world.

If we have more news we will be back.

Schedule Updates for TV Land and Nick at Nite; Who's the Boss? Scores for ION!

Late on Friday both TV Land and Nick at Nite issued schedule changes. TV Land will make some changes effective Monday, August 20. The Summer Cocktail Party marathons will be ending. Changes include, M*A*S*H coming to mornings also now from 7-8am on weekdays but Wednesdays will be What's Happening Now!!, Cheers moves up a half-hour to 8am Tues-Fri, All in the Family at 8:30am Tues-Fri, The Jeffersons & Leave it to Beaver round out the morning schedule from 9-10am Tues-Fri. Mon-Thurs primetime will also change a bit: The Jeffersons from 9-10pm, Sanford & Son from 10-11pm, and M*A*S*H from 11p-12a (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition remains on Tues). Mon-Fri late night will now be Sanford & Son at 12:05am, back to back Three's Company, The Jeffersons, and Good Times from 12:35am-4am. On Tuesday nights, the times are on time, so the extra half-hour at 1:30am is The Munsters, its only slot now. Another Sanford & Son at 4am, All in the Family at 4:30am, and back to back I Love Lucy (Mon-Thurs, The Andy Griffith Show is on Fridays) from 5-6am. Weekend changes include Green Acres at 8am and back to back Leave it to Beaver episodes from 9-10am.
These changes are likely to spill over to September, but afternoons will be altered a bit as the Elvis movie will not be there in September. For now view these August 20 changes by clicking HERE!

Nick at Nite's change is for the week of Aug. 13. The wall to wall summer marathon that week is now The Cosby Show instead of Full House. We will have their September line-up shortly with new shows Home Improvement and George Lopez.

Tony Micelli and the gang have made their mark on ION Television...big time! ION Television scored a homerun for its launch of the 80s sitcom Who's the Boss? starring Tony Danza, Judith Light, and Alyssa Milano. Who cares about the Barry Bonds record, as Tony Micelli has been doing it longer than Barry.
Primetime airings of Who's the Boss? have delivered significant ratings increases among key adult demographics on ION Television. In the first two weeks following the popular program's July 9 debut, viewership in its 9-10 PM timeslot season-to-date increased 41 percent in women 25-54, and 33 percent in adults 25-54.
During the weeks of July 9 and 16, Who's the Boss? delivered 175,000 household impressions for women 25-54, and 259,000 impressions for adults 25-54, the highest weekly impressions performance in the 9-10 PM hour season-to-date.
Benefiting from a solid Who's the Boss? lead-in, Wonder Years enjoyed a six percent ratings increase in households and women 25-54 in its 10-11 PM timeslot during the weeks of July 9 and 16, representing a season-to-date increase of 22 percent.
We hope to have ION Television's September lineup this week...maybe by tomorrow. So come on back!

Mini-DVD Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 5 (Aug. 7)

Welcome to a special Sunday edition of mini-DVD reviews! Today we take a look at Lionsgate's Season 5 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (actually the eighth DVD release). Ninja Turtles is of course the hit animated series that caused kids and teens to go crazy for in the late '80s and early '90s. See my mini-DVD review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season 5:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Season Five (Lionsgate, $24.98) brings all 18 episodes from the series' fifth season on this wonderful three-disc DVD set. Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Splinter, April are all back to battle Shredder, Krang and other villains! Like we mentioned in our last review, Season 4 DVD was finally the best DVD set as that had all 39 season four episodes. Prior to that, we were getting volume releases. Volume 6 had the last 11 episodes from season three, plus the first episode of season four. The third season had a total of 47 episodes, so they decided to split up that season into volumes, so volumes 3, 4, 5, and 6 covered season three. Season one had only 5 episodes, so that was on Volume 1. For season 2 there were just 13 episodes, so Lionsgate released that for volume two.
Season five has a total of 18 episodes, and we get ALL of those on this set, plus a few great featurettes with a nice pizza box style packaging.
The packaging is very cool and even better than the last set! The first six volumes were single disc sets so the packaging was simple. Then for season four we got a 3-D plastic-molded packaging of Raphael's head! But this time we get a pizza box style packaging! It is by far the best of the series and maybe among the best packaging I have ever seen on a DVD set! First we have to remove a clear slip sleeve. When we do that we get a little cardboard holder that is red holding a little pizza box! The back of the red cardboard holder we have red and white checked boxes, that pizza places are famous for. We have a synopsis of the set, with Special Feature Facts (like we have Ingredients on boxes of your favorite foods), we have two cool photos of Raphael and Michaelangelo, and two screen shots. The pizza box cover is like a real pizza box. But of course it is much smaller. If you have ever ordered those Pizza Book It pizzas, the box is a bit smaller than that. It also has those red & white checkered boxes. It also says Cowabunga Pizza, with a picture of a pizza and Donatello. Net Wt. 3 discs...very creative!! The back of the pizza box has the same info as we had in the back of the red cardboard holder. OK, now let's open the pizza box! I'm getting hungry!! In fact, it smells like actual pizza...I'm serious. Inside we have to take out the little pizza box digipak. The same cover and back of the pizza box is present in this little digipak. When we open the case once, we see disc one on the top and a photo of Raphael with his fork and chef's hat. Opening it one final time we see disc two in the middle now and disc three on the bottom. Now since this is a pizza box, each disc is shaped in a pizza! Disc one is pepperoni pizza, disc two looks like sausage pizza, and disc three looks like anchovies...yuck. No cheese pizza?? Just kidding, but this is indeed very creative. I hope no one tries to eat these discs. Great packaging...maybe the best ever, but it is a bit hard to put back together. Now that the new movie (TMNT) came out in theaters and now is on DVD, let's hope Lionsgate doesn't cheapen these DVD sets again for this classic animated series.
The episodes run a little over 23:30, with the highest being 23:36 and the lowest at 23:32. The menu screen is like a pizza menu which is quite nice with the options of Play All Episodes (that will be $3.75) and Episode Selection (that will be $4.25), with the theme playing (loops) in the background and each Turtle rotating and a pizza moving clockwise. Each disc's menu has the famous pizza checkered boxes...disc one is red & white (like the packaging), disc two is blue & white, and disc three is green & white. When we go to episode selection, we have a screenshot of the episode in a pizza and we also have the title of the episode. There are napkins on the side, too. There are 5 chapter stops placed, like the last set. One gripe that I have with the menus again are, that there are auto-trailers before the main menu starts. Annoying! There is a Trailer Gallery section on the main menu on disc three, so why do we need auto-trailers? The extras are all on disc three, thus they are listed on that disc only...under "Today's Specials." Very creative!
The video is on par with the other volumes, with dust and debris here and there but I think it is much better than the previous releases. The audio is also on par with the previous releases, not bad...and listenable.
Season four we had extras for the first time...this season we ALSO have extras! We continue the "Under the Shell" featurettes from the last set and also have a historic look at the Turtles. We have "The Turtles: A Ninjatastic Look Back." It runs 17:54 and has interviews with the voices of all four Turtles from the series...Cam Clarke as Leonardo, Barry Gordon as Donatello, Rob Paulsen as Raphael, and Townsend Coleman as Michaelangelo. This is a must watch for any Turtles fan. The we continue the "Under the Shell" profiles from the last set. This time we have "Under the Shell: Usagi Yojimbo" and "Under the Shell: "Baxter Stockman." Usagi Yojimbo's featurette runs 2:53 and has an interview with Townsend Coleman, who voiced this character that appeared in a few episodes. Find out the history of this rabbit. Then we have Baxter Stockman, which features clips and runs 3:25. Stockman is of course the scientist that worked for Shredder and also turned into that huge fly.
I urge fans to buy this set because the packaging is unbelievable and of course this series is so cool! Do we have another full season set with cool packaging and extras because of the new TMNT CG-animated movie coming to DVD this month? Maybe, maybe not. We will see if the quality dips for season 6.
Anyway, this set will be released this Tuesday, click on the link below to purchase all the thrilling season five episodes and you'll just love the pizza box style packaging that will make you want to eat pizza! This set is certainly 'cheesy'...literally!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4.5/5 stars)

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Mini-DVD Review: Darkwing Duck - Volume 2 (Aug. 7)

Welcome to another edition of the Saturday mini-DVD reviews! Today we take a look at Walt Disney Home Entertainment's Darkwing Duck: Volume 2. The series was very popular in the early '90s on Disney's very popular syndicated block called The Disney Afternoon. Darkwing Duck was a crime-fighting duck who kept the city of St. Carnard safe. As with all of the shows in the Disney Afternoon, it was action and adventure filled! See my mini-DVD reviews of this wonderful cartoon:

Darkwing Duck: Volume 2 (Walt Disney, $34.99) brings the next 27 half hours on DVD on a 3-disc set in this second volume set. So we now have the first 54 episodes on DVD! I believe the series had 91 in total, so we are more than half way done now. Join Drake Mallard turn into Darkwing Duck, along with help from Launchpad (from DuckTales), and Darkwing's adopted nine-year old daughter Gosalyn keep the city of St. Canard safe from villains like Bushroot and Negaduck. Gizmoduck from DuckTales even pops in from time to time to help out. The packaging on this set is similar in style to volume one. We get an outer box holding three slim cases. The box art features Darkwing in a night background holding up two fingers. The back of the box has three screenshots along with a yellow box showcasing info on the series and set. A nice picture of Launchpad is also there. The slim case art is different for each three...first we get Gosalyn, Darkwing and Launchpad falling from a building it seems, the second slim case has Darkwing and Gosalyn on a pirate ship and the third slim case has Darkwing hanging from a rope. The back of each slim case we have an episode list for each disc, three screenshots, a feature photo, and some words describing the series. Inside the slim cases we have no art, just plain white, the discs are on the right side of each. Each disc is blue with an artwork featuring the same art as the cover of each respective slim case.
Like the first volume, the episodes are in airdate order starting with the episode "All's Fahrenheit in Love and War" and ending with "The Darkwing Squad." The episodes all run in the 22:40-45 range or so, give or take a second. The menu screen has Play All, Set Up, and Episode Selection, with the closing theme song with sound effects in the background. Disc one also has a Sneak Peeks option, where see sneak peeks at other Disney movies/DVDs. Also on disc one there are auto trailers before the main menu starts...don't you just hate that? When we go to episode selection, the episodes are listed with a square screenshot from the episode. The Set Up option has Audio Options and Subtitles...Audio can be English or French, and subtitles only in English. We have about 5 chapter stops per episode. The menu is designed quite well and is easy to navigate, like volume one. The video and audio are both very good and on par with volume one. I highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set, especially if you have Volume 1. If you never saw the show, pick it up because it is very fun and they certainly don't make cartoons like they used to! So buy this DVD and start saying, "I am the terror that flaps in the night...I am Darkwing Duck!" But you better hurry before that toy-maker Quackerjack takes all the DVDs!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)

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WPIX Fall 2007 Schedule; Fox Revamps Fall Schedule

WPIX, the CW affiliate in the #1 market (New York City), has announced its Fall schedule to us. They will be adding quite a lot of new shows this fall, compared to other New York local affiliates. They will add repeats of new syndicated entries Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, George Lopez, and Reno 911 to the weekday line-up. Also coming are new first-run series Steve Wilkos Show and Jury Duty to the weekday line-up. Joining the Daytime CW lineup will be repeats of sitcom All of Us at 3pm. On weekends, they will add repeats of Chappelle's Show on Saturday nights at 12-1am and Degrassi: The Next Generation on Sunday mornings from 10:30am-1pm.
Some changes include Judge Mathis at 9am and 2pm, while staples Maury and Jerry will air 10 & 11am, leading into new talk show Steve Wilkos Show, which means Judge Lopez will move to 1-2pm. Sitcoms My Wife & Kids and According to Jim will be moving to 5-6pm, Friends at 6pm and Everybody Loves Raymond moving to 6:30pm. New sitcoms Two and a Half Men and Family Guy takes over 7-8pm. The same duo returns for more episodes from 11p-12am, but the half-hours are switched. Moving to midnight, we get the secondary episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, followed by Sex and the City at its new time at 12:30am. The secondary Friends is now at 1am, followed by Will & Grace, Frasier, and George Lopez will debut at 2:30am. Back to back South Park at 3am, the debuts of Reno 911 and Jury Duty in the 4am hour round out the night.
So what happened to the late night classic TV sitcoms? You know The Jeffersons, Good Times, Cheers. They will lose rights to Cheers after August, but the others are still under contract and will return when needed. The Honeymooners and Green Acres are also under contract still.
To view the full seven day schedule, click HERE.

Fox has made some changes to its fall line-up. The biggest move is Bones moving from Wednesdays at 9 to Tuesdays at 8 as of Sept. 25. Now airing Wednesdays at 9 (effect. Sept 19) is the new reality series Kitchen Nightmares, which was slated for Thursdays at 9, which will now be Don't Forget the Lyrics as of Sept. 6. Fox will also air another night of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader episodes for four weeks on Fridays at 8, before new reality series The Search for the Next Great American Band premieres in early October on Fridays at 8. New drama New Amsterdam, which was slated for Tuesdays at 8 will now be held for mid-season.

TNT September 2007 Schedule; Boston Legal Premiere Date on ABC

TNT this September will make some minor schedule changes. But let's first talk about their original series. The megahit cable drama The Closer will have its season finale on Monday, September 10 at 9/8c. The series will return for a fourth season, TNT announced yesterday. Rookie hit Saving Grace will have its first season finale on Monday, September 17 at 10/9c.
Moving on to the actual schedule. On Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 3), TNT will present a marathon of The Closer from 10am-9pm, leading into a new episode from 9-10pm. Then starting September 4 a new schedule will start. Drama Las Vegas which airs Wednesdays at 12 midnight, will now also air 5 days week at 7am and 12 noon. A second episode of Angel was at 7am, but now that will be 5am, so the series will air 5am and 6am. Charmed, ER will remain with back to back episodes from 8am-12pm. At 12 noon before we had Without a Trace, now that moves to 1pm replacing Judging Amy, which will be leaving the line-up. The rest of the line-up will remain the same. No idea yet if October will have any changes or if this is indeed the fall schedule. We will let you know.
Stay tuned for more September/Fall line-ups in the coming days...we still have ION Television, Nick at Nite, WPIX in NY, and more!

Boston Legal fans take note! The ABC legal comedy-drama will have its season premiere on Tuesday, September 25 at a special time of 9:30pm, following a 90-minute Dancing with the Stars Performance Show. Boston Legal will also be a special 90-minute episode. Denny Crane!

Still early, so if we have more news we will post it. Come on back!

FX Fall 2007 Schedule, Malcolm Joins Line-Up; New Series Jury Duty Has Classic TV Stars

FX this September will have some changes. But first lets get some highlights out of the way. Original series Damages will get a Labor Day Marathon on Monday, Sepember 3 from 3pm–8pm. FX will air five hours featuring episodes 1 through 5 of the series.
Then on Monday, September 10 from 12pm-8pm, FX wil launch the newly acquired sitcom Malcolm in the Middle with an 8 hour marathon. The newly acquired series will air Monday-Friday in the daytime throughout the week.
FX doesn't really have a set schedule, as most of their series like That '70s Show and King of the Hill can jump around and air anytime. But for the most part, the new schedule will start on Tuesday, September 11, a day after the Malcolm launch marathon. The FX weekday schedule starts at 7am with back to back Malcolm in the Middle, followed by double shots of Dharma & Greg and Spin City. At 10am it will be the FX mid-morning movie. At noon we get a double take of Married with Children, followed by two episodes of King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle, King of the Hill, and That '70s Show. At 5pm a movie airs until 8pm, unless a movie is only 2 hours, then the movie starts at 6pm. If that is the case, then from 2-6pm we get an hour each of That '70s Show, Malcolm, King of the Hill, and more That '70s Show. At 8pm we get another movie. At 10pm we get original series such as Damages & Sunny in Philadelphia on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with That '70s Show on Mon, Wed, & Fri. 11pm will see a mix of original repeats. Midnight will have either movies or original encores. 1am sometimes will have filler programming such as Fear Factor and Married...with Children. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Practice will be relegated to weekends only from 7-9am. Movies will air the rest of the weekend with orginal encores late at night at times.

Jury Duty, the first-run court syndicated series from Radar Entertainment presided over by Judge Bruce Cutler and featuring three celebrity jurors coming this Fall, has signed on tons of classic stars to be jurors. Look for Ed Begley, Jr. (St. Elsewhere); Alexandra Paul & Traci Bingham (Baywatch); comedians Bruce Villanch, Elaine Boosler, Phyllis Diller and Paula Poundstone; Todd Bridges (Diff'rent Strokes), JM J. Bullock (Too Close For Comfort); Bernie Kopell (The Love Boat); Martin Kove (Cagney & Lacey); the legendary Debbie Reynolds; Tracy Scoggins (The Colbys); Charlene Tilton (Dallas); Jimmie Walker (Good Times); Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough); Dawn Wells (Gilligan's Island), Liz Sheridan (ALF), James Avery (Fresh Prince) and Growing Pains kids Tracey Gold and Jeremy Miller. For more on Jury Duty, which debuts on Sept. 17 go to juryduty.tv.
For those of you in the NYC market, you can catch the series on WPIX this September, but will have to set the VCR or TiVo as it will air 5 days a week at 4:30am!

TBS September 2007 Schedule, The Office on Tuesdays, 'Sex' All Week-Long; My Boys Scores on TBS

TBS has released its September 2007 schedule and it will feature some changes. The week of September 3 has some minor changes, which are just filler until the new line-up that starts on September 10. Let's start with the filler stuff. Sept. 4, 5, 6 and 7 NewsRadio returns for 4 days in the noon slot followed by The Cosby Show at 12:30pm. The other filler stuff is very minor, and you can take a look at that in our link at the end of this story.
Let's move on to the September 10 line-up. The Steve Harvey Show is moving from its afternoon slots to 6 & 6:30am, replacing The Cosby Show which will now move to the dreaded approx. 5:30am slot, where it will not air everyday. Saved by the Bell continues to air its two-hour block from 7-9am. The morning movie will move from 10am-12pm to 9am-11am now. Dawson's Creek which was at 9am will move to the dreaded approx. 4:30am slot, which like Cosby Show, will not be everyday. Home Improvement will get a two-hour block from 11am-1pm. Yes, Dear moves from late afternoon to early afternoon at 1-2pm. Just Shoot Me, which premieres August 6, will move from 1-2pm to 2-3pm. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air moves to an hour later at 3-4pm. The King of Queens will take over the 4-5pm slot followed by an hour of Seinfeld at 5-6pm. Friends will air at 6pm followed by a triple shot of Everybody Loves Raymond from 6:30pm-8pm.
Primetime will also be changing. Friends will kick-off Mondays and Thursdays with back-to-back episodes from 8-9pm. On Mondays it will lead into Family Guy from 9-11pm and on Thursdays a movie from 9-11pm. Tuesdays will see a Family Guy block from 8-10pm and then starting September 18 The Office will air Tuesdays 10-11pm. Wednesdays will see a House of Payne marathon from 8-10pm followed by back-to-back Family Guy episodes 10-11pm. Finally, Fridays will have Everybody Loves Raymond kick-off the night leading into Dinner and a Movie.
Effective week of September 17, you can now catch Sex and the City five nights a week on TBS at 11 & 11:30PM! Seinfeld will get the late Tuesday slot of 11:59PM and 12:30AM, while movies will air the rest of the week. Other notes: Parent'hood is missing from the schedule because its contract has expired. Drew Carey Show has also expired, as we noted in the August changes.
No word yet if this is indeed the Fall schedule or not, as usually TBS launches its fall schedule in October. We shall find out and when we do, we will let you know. So for now click HERE to view a list of these changes!

Sticking with TBS, the season premiere of original sitcom My Boys scored well for TBS last night. Continuing to ride a wave of comedy success, TBS has triumphed once again on the original comedy series front. Last night's return of the critically acclaimed sitcom My Boys scored extremely well with young adults, garnering a median age of 29. The show also outdelivered the series' November 2006 series premiere among adults 18-34 and scored an extraordinary 43% growth in that demographic when compared to the show's 2006 13-episode average. Last night's episodes averaged more than 1.6 million viewers, nearly half of them among the key adults 18-34 demographic. My Boys airs Mondays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), exclusively on TBS.
Other ratings highlights for the return of My Boys on TBS:
- Combined, last night’s back-to-back episodes averaged 801,000 adults 18-34, a 43% jump over last year's 559,000 premiere average for the first 13 episodes in that demographic. Last night's episodes also averaged 1,176,000 adults 18-49, up 12% vs. premiere telecasts of the show in 2006 (1,052,000).
- Demonstrating the successful strategy of stacking episodes to provide stronger flow, the 10:30 p.m. episode of My Boys last night showed growth over its lead-in 10 p.m. episode, with adults 18-34 up 4% and adults 18-49 up 6%.
- With My Boys joining the list, TBS now claims ad-supported cable's Top 8 sitcoms for the year to date among adults 18-49, with Tyler Perry's House of Payne ranking #1, The Bill Engvall Show ranking #2 and My Boys ranking #6. Rounding out the list are Friends (#3), Seinfeld (#4), Everybody Loves Raymond (#5), King of Queens (#7) and Sex and the City (#8).

TV One Schedule Change, September Highlights, Fall Preview

TV One has made a schedule change for August. Cedric the Entertainer Presents will rejoin the line-up on August 6, but first on Sunday, August 5 from 8-10pm, TV One kicks off Cedric with a special mini-marathon presentation of FOUR never before seen on television episodes of Cedric the Entertainer Presents, a sketch comedy variety show starring Cedric the Entertainer. This special premiere mini-marathon of 4 back-to-back episodes which were never shown on television during the show's initial network run has an encore play at 11pm. )Programming previously announced for this time period has been pre-empted.
Then the series comes to the TV One schedule full-time starting Monday, August 6 in the weeknights at 9pm time-slot. The sketch comedy series has an encore play in the overnight at 4:30am. Both slots will replace Wanda at Large.
But that's not all Cedric...turning to September now, laughter comes full force to close out the holiday weekend on Monday, September 3 from 12-9PM, as TV One presents a marathon of Cedric the Entertainer Presents. This all-day marathon, which includes two more episodes never before seen on television at 8pm, replays in late night beginning at 11pm.
Other September highlights:
On Friday, September 28; Saturday, September 29; and Sunday, September 30, TV One presents a ROOTS: The Next Generations marathon weekend as all seven parts are aired over the weekend with Parts 1-2 airing on Friday beginning at 8pm, Parts 3-4 airing on Saturday beginning at 6pm and parts 5-7 airing on Sunday beginning at 6pm. The seven part 14-hour mini-series stars Georg Stanford Brown, Lynn Moody, Irene Cara, Stan Shaw, Marlon Brando, Richard Thomas, Debbi Morgan, and James Earl Jones.
The TV One fall schedule beginning on Monday, October 1 and will be announced soon, but we can tell you All of Us will be headed to the weekday schedule, as now the series has been canceled by The CW, so repeats now can air 7 days a week on TV One.
Stay tuned this week for more September schedules, such as TBS, TNT and FX!

We will be back with more news in a bit.

TBS Original Sitcom My Boys Returns Tomorrow, Airing Mondays at 10PM

Viewers who may have missed out on TBS's critically acclaimed series My Boys when it premiered late last year have the chance to catch up before new episodes arrive Monday, July 30, at 10 p.m. (ET/PT). TBS's online broadband destination, tbs.com, is offering a four-minute, rapid-fire recap of everything that's happened up to now. In addition, viewers who have a little more time on their hands can catch up with the show by watching complete previous episodes on tbs.com or by watching a marathon of all 13 episodes today (Sunday, July 29), beginning at 10 a.m. (ET/PT).
Last year, My Boys saw PJ and her boys through some humorous, yet realistic, times including on-the-job romance, a dating slump, the value of honesty in friendship and uncovering secrets kept from close friends. This summer promises more poker nights at PJs, beers at Crowley's Bar and amusing situations from the whole gang. Andy (Jim Gaffigan) will struggle with his move to the suburbs and another big bombshell from Meredith. Mike (Jamie Kaler), having exhausted every means to kill time while unemployed, strikes ups an interesting business alliance. Kenny (Michael Bunin) continues to search for love in all the wrong places. Bobby (Kyle Howard), who has comfortably settled in as one of the gang, reveals a shocking secret of his own. Brendan (Reid Scott) goes through a disturbing personality change that requires the entire group to get him back on track. Stephanie (Kellee Stewart) runs into some financial trouble this year but has better luck with dating.
Casting a big shadow over this summer is that PJ and Stephanie have purchased two two-for-one tickets to Italy. The entire summer sends them on a quest to find boyfriends to bring along as their dates. Or in PJ's case, on a journey to determine whether or not she even wants to bring a boyfriend at all.
My Boys premiered on TBS in November 2006, quickly scoring strong ratings and critical acclaim. It ended the year as ad-supported cable's #1 original sitcom among key adult demos, households and viewers. The show is being executive-produced by creator Betsy Thomas, Jamie Tarses, Gavin Polone and Eric Gilliland. It comes to TBS from Pariah and 2 Out Rally Productions, Inc., in association with Sony Pictures Television.

Mini-DVD Review: Tales from the Crypt - The Complete 6th Season (July 24); Solomon's Weekly Rant: Summer Sucks on TV Land and Nick at Nite

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews! Today we take a look at Warner Home Video's Tales From The Crypt -- The Complete Sixth Season. Tales From The Crypt of course is the popular '90s HBO series...that was spooky but cool. See skees53's mini-DVD review of Tales From The Crypt -- The Complete Sixth Season:

Tales From The Crypt -- The Complete Sixth Season (Warner, $39.98) brings the Cryptkeeper back to tell fifteen more spine-tingling stories that are guaranteed to give you nightmares (well, if that kind of stuff actually scares you, that is). The set contains the 15 episodes of the series that aired on HBO in the 1994-1995 season on a three disc set. Among these episodes include tales of a predatory lawyer learning a rough lesson, psychiatric patients that are being treated unfairly getting their justice, wives getting a little bit of revenge, harvesting the souls of the dead, and more. And the guest stars are pretty impressive, including Catherine O'Hara, Rita Rudner, Isaac Hayes, Hal Williams, Debbe Dunning, Wayne Newton, Corey Feldman, Hank Azaria, Ben Stein, and John Lithgow. And if that isn't enough, Alfred Hitchock and Humphrey Bogart mysteriously come back to life to do an episode... well thanks to computers... in the episode "You, Murderer." I also love this episode because of the introduction to the episode, where the Cryptkeeper becomes "Fearest Gump" and offers Alfred Hitchcock a "shockalet" while sitting next to him at a bench!
The set comes in double slimcases and the video and audio quality are perfectly fine, with English subtitles to go along with the episodes. The runtimes for the episodes are all over the place, going as low as 20 minutes to as high as 27 minutes, but this kind of fluctuation is somewhat normal for premium cable programs. The set doesn't exactly go all out when it comes to the special features, but there is one: a Virtual Comic Book special feature of "Whirlpool." Basically, this is a 15 minute story from the original comic book that the series was based upon, which could have potentially been boring, but isn't because the Cryptkeeper actually reads the story and gives an introduction, just like an episode of the television series. It is actually kind of fun to watch. I think all of you boils and ghouls will just scream about this set!
-- Reviewed by skees53
(4/5 stars)

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Solomon's Weekly Rant
Saturday, July 28, 2007
"Summer Sucks on TV Land and Nick at Nite"
By Solomon Davis

I recently watched the latest episode of TV Land's new original series Back to the Grind this past Wednesday night featuring actors Marla Gibbs and Sherman Hemsley doing the actual job they did on the sitcom The Jeffersons.
Before the show started, I asked myself, "Why is Sherman Hemsley being featured?" I wondered that because he was never really seen working at his job on The Jeffersons and not only that he was the owner of the chain of dry cleaners and never worked at the cleaners. TV Land didn't know this before putting this program
together? Even with the goof of having Hemsley featured on this show, I found it to be flat out boring because once again people at TV Land can't think out the box and entertain its viewers. Wouldn't it have been FUNNIER if they featured Sherman and Marla Gibbs not being able to do their fictional jobs? At least that would have created some water cooler talk like, "wow I thought Sherman would do well working at a dry cleaners." So the fact that we know Marla Gibbs can do housekeeping and Sherman can work in a dry cleaners now what? TV Land needs to go back to the DRAWING BOARD and come up with another original programming idea because this show just didn't make sense.
Nick at Nite's Wall to Wall Summer Marathons are really a REPEAT-THON since the last half of the marathon is a repeat of the first half which means that if you start watching at 9pm make sure you grab the remote at 1am because it will be nothing new to see. Why does Nick at Nite have to repeat a 4-hour marathon when the network can just have a 9pm to 1am marathon and air regularly scheduled programming? Nick at Nite's marathon style is like going out to dinner and a movie with friends from 9pm to 1am and then turn back around and go to the same restaurant for dinner after having going there earlier in the evening. Are they thinking about the people in this country who work the 3pm to 11pm shift and feel that they would be more interested in watching TV from 1am to 5am? So maybe the first half of the marathon is for the viewers who work 9am to 5pm because they figure it's no way we would be awake after 1am. So if that is the case then what about Friday nights when the day shift viewers are OFF the following day? That's something else they didn't think about when coming up with the idea of this wall to wall "pointlessthon."
So basically both Nick at Nite and TV Land is not doing a good job this summer in pleasing the viewers and we will just have to see what happens in the fall because both networks have given us nothing to smile about this summer season.
TV Land's original programming was just the worst and fell a couple of notches down on the entertainment scale since airing the Mr. T self-help series, I Pity the Fool. That series kept viewers tuned in for 30 minutes unlike the TV Land's Back to the Grind which keeps viewers tuned out. And the Nick at Nite repeat-thon is something we will have to deal with the rest of the summer by just tuning in at 9pm or 1am so we won't see a repeat schedule. They should change the title of the marathon weeks to "Back-to-Back Marathon Week: The Repeat Edition." And TV Land should rename its original shows "Waiting for the Fall
Programming."

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.

AmericanLife TV August 2007 Highlights and Changes

AmericanLife TV Network, the cable network devoted to the Baby Boomer generation, debuts a new Saturday night Boomer Solutions lifestyle primetime programming line-up on August 4, 2007 featuring new shows This Food, That Wine (9pm) and Save Our House, Save Our Family (10pm), as well as recently relocated Fixing Dinner (9:30pm) and 'Til Debt Do Us Part (10:30pm). The block encores from 11pm-1am.
So what about the Saturday Comedy Block? It is before and after the new Boomer Solutions LifeStyle Block now. There is now only one episode of The Color Honeymooners (just at 7pm), followed by My Favorite Martian at 8pm and F Troop at 8:30pm. Chico and the Man is now at 1am (going into Sunday) and Welcome Back, Kotter is at 1:30am.

Other August highlights:
Thursday, August 2
* Combat!: Richardo Montalban, known for his role of Mr. Rourke in Fantasy Island, guests in "Gadjo" (7:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Saturday, August 4
* My Favorite Martian: Doris Packer guest stars in "We Love You, Miss Pringle" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Sunday, August 5
* I Spy: Carroll O'Connor guests in "It's All Done with Mirrors" (6:00 p.m. ET/PT).
* L.A. Law: Sela Ward guest stars in the first of two episodes, "The Venus Butterfly" (10:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "Fry Me To the Moon" (August 12).

Tuesday, August 7
* Combat!: Robert Duvall guests in two upcoming episodes, "Cry for Help" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "The Partisan" (August 21).

Thursday, August 9
* Kung Fu: Tim Matheson guest stars in "The Soldier" (8:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Tuesday, August 14
* China Beach: Don Cheadle guests in "Promised Land" (12:00 a.m. ET/PT).

Wednesday, August 15
* The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.: Ed Asner guest stars in two upcoming episodes, "The Double-O-Nothing" (10:00 p.m. ET/PT) and "The U.N.C.L.E. Samurai Affair" (August 22).

Sunday, August 19
* I Spy: Michael Conrad guests in "So Coldly Sweet" (6:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Friday, August 24
* The FBI: Martin Sheen guest stars in "The Condemned" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).

Tuesday, August 28
* China Beach: Megan Mullally guests in "The World, Part Two" (9:00 p.m. ET/PT).

WGN Fall 2007 Schedule; TCA 2007 Summer Tour: ABC Day 2

Well, now fall schedules for cable will be on the horizon. The first one we will take a look at is WGN. WGN will be adding some new programs this fall, returning a classic, and dropping a few shows. The new series they are adding to the weekday line-up are Nash Bridges, Sister Sister, Corner Gas, and The Steve Wilkos Show. Airing weekends will be Reno 911, Chappelle's Show and Whacked-Out Sports. The series that will make its way back on WGN is...Happy Days! They will air it late nights/early mornings at 4:30am and 5am ET. With all the new shows and the returning Happy Days, some shows will be leaving. The contracts have expired for Home Improvement, Magnum P.I., and Sex and the City, thus they can't air them anymore. Taking a leave of absence is Moesha, which is still under contract through fall 2009, but will be benched this fall on WGN. The Greg Behrendt Show has been canceled so of course it will not be returning on WGN.
To see the FULL 7-day Fall 2007 schedule, I urge you to click HERE!

Moving on to the final day of the 2007 Summer TCA Tour, it is ABC's second day. Up at the panel today are the cast & crew of: Nightline, i-Caught, GRΣΣK, Kyle XY, Samantha Who?, MEN IN TREES, Private Practice, and Big Shots. Basically they gave us some hints on what to expect and answered questions. MEN IN TREES had 5 episodes leftover from last season, since it hasn't aired since like February, a new episodes will be created to air before these 5 to remind people of the show.
The Lost panel at Comic-Con is at 5pm PT today, so no news yet!

TCA Summer 2007 Tour: ABC Day 1; Off-Network Syndication Series Premiering this Fall

We are now at the last network at the TCA Tour. After a day off yesterday for on set visits, the TCA tour is back for one last network...ABC. ABC will be up today and tomorrow. They just announced their premiere dates, and here they are:
Fall premiere dates for the 2007-2008 season were announced today for the ABC Television Network by Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment, including a three-night Dancing with the Stars premiere event, with two nights of performance shows leading into a special Wednesday night results show, and a slight change in the Friday line-up.

Monday, September 24
8:00-9:30 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (special 90-minute premiere)
9:30-11:00 p.m. The Bachelor (special 90-minute premiere)

Tuesday, September 25
8:00-9:30 p.m. Dancing with the Stars (performance show)

Wednesday, September 26
8:00-9:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Results Show Special (special day and time)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Private Practice
10:00-11:00 p.m. Dirty Sexy Money

Thursday, September 27
8:00-9:00 p.m. Ugly Betty
9:00-10:00 p.m. Grey's Anatomy
10:00-11:00 p.m. Big Shots

Sunday, September 30
7:00-9:00 p.m. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (two-hour season premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Desperate Housewives
10:00-11:00 p.m. Brothers & Sisters

Tuesday, October 2
8:00-8:30 p.m. Cavemen
8:30-9:00 p.m. Carpoolers
9:00-10:00 p.m. Dancing with the Stars Result Show (regular day and time period premiere)

Wednesday, October 3
8:00-9:00 p.m. Pushing Daisies

Sunday, October 7
7:00-8:00 p.m. America's Funniest Home Videos

Friday, October 12
8:00-9:00 p.m. 20/20 (new time period premiere)
9:00-10:00 p.m. Women's Murder Club
10:00-11:00 p.m. MEN IN TREES

Monday, October 15
9:30-10:00 p.m. Samantha Who?

Tuesday, November 27
10:00-11:00 p.m. Cashmere Mafia (special preview following the finale of Dancing with the Stars)

Tuesday, December 4
9:00-10:00 p.m. Cashmere Mafia (regular time period premiere)

Boston Legal will have its season premiere on its normal night and time, but ABC has not decided when yet. Could be during week 2 or 3 of the season, I think.
Panels and sessions today: Executive Session, Break/Writing Time, Pushing Daisies,
Women's Murder Club, Cavemen, Cashmere Mafia, Carpoolers, Dirty Sexy Money.
Other ABC press tour notes:
- Harold Perrineau (Michael) will return to Lost next season! Details will be announced at Comic-Con tomorrow.
- ABC confirms Football Wives will not be picked-up now, while Traveler has been officially canceled.
- ABC is shooting a new pilot for Cavemen, and the current pilot will be used as a later episode later in the season.
- ABC is looking to develop a spin-off of Dancing with the Stars titled Dance X. The series is a bit hit in the U.K. The spin-off features teams of dancers coached by two Dancing With the Stars judges. The two teams compete against each other, and dancers get eliminated as the show goes on.
- Some fans were not happy of the direction Grey's Anatomy went to for the second half of last season. ABC will assure to fix that.
- Dana Delaney and Nathan Fillion will join Desperate Housewives this fall! It's official!


The fall season is on the horizon. Here are a list of off-network series premiering in syndication this fall:
- All of Us (Daytime CW)
- Chappelle's Show (daily)
- Cold Case (weekends)
- Degrassi: The Next Generation (daily)
- Family Guy (daily)
- George Lopez (daily and on cable on Nick at Nite)
- Half & Half (daily)
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent (daily)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (weekends)
- Reno 911 (daily)
- The Dead Zone (weekends)
- The Surreal Life (daily)
- Two and a Half Men (daily)
Check your local listings to see what local channels will air these series in your market.
Classic series such as Baywatch (daily) and Saved by the Bell (weekends) return to local channels this fall as well.
For further updates and to discuss fall 2007 syndication, click HERE!

Nick at Nite August Highlights; CBS Schedule Change

Nick at Nite will continue the wall-to-wall summer marathons in August. Wall-to-Wall Marathons are marathons of one show all-night long (9:30pm-5am). Here are the marathons for August, always subject to change knowing Nick at Nite:
Week of August 6: Roseanne
Week of August 13: Full House (Mon-Fri), Fresh Prince (Sat-Sun)
Week of August 20: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
No word yet if August 27 will also have a marathon or not or if the marathons ends after August 26.
Home Improvement and George Lopez join the Nick at Nite family sitcom line-up this fall. More to come on those.

CBS has issued an urgent program advisory effective tonight. 48 Hours Mystery will replace Pirate Master, effective tonight (Tuesday, July 24) at 10:00 PM, ET/PT.
The remaining five episodes of Pirate Master will be streamed on CBS.com every Tuesday starting tomorrow beginning at 3:00 AM ET/12:00 AM PT. Pirate Master will also be made available to partners of the CBS Audience Network.

TCA 2007 Summer Tour: Fox Day 2; Hallmark Channel Brings Back Waltons; Carey New Price Host

Today was Day 2 for Fox at the TCA Summer Press Tour. Up at the panel today were Sarah Connor Chronicles, Nashville, Canterbury's Law, The Return of Jezbel James, and House. The themed meals were Cops for breakfast (donuts) and Family Guy lunch where they had a table read for the 100th episode.

The Hallmark Channel effective today brought back The Waltons to its old 8am & 9am weekday slot. Murder, She Wrote will be moved to 2 & 3pm. That series has done very well since joining the network. It will also remain in its 11pm and 12am slot. Due to The Waltons returning, some other series get minor time changes, like M*A*S*H goes from 4-6pm to 5-7pm. I urge you to click HERE to see what the rest are!

It is official! Drew Carey is the new host for The Price is Right. He announced it on tonight's taping of the Late Show with David Letterman.
"I actually had lunch with an AP reporter today, we had a big, long lunch," Carey told Letterman. "I couldn't tell him anything because we were negotiating the deal. And they approached me right after the pilot for Power of 10, and they called me, I said, 'No.' Then they called me a month later, they said, 'What if we really' — they called my agent: 'What if we really go after Drew.'
"This is like a month later after I did the pilot for Power of 10 and I said, 'Well, what does that mean?’ and he said, ‘Well, you know, I mean, maybe this kind of money.' I go, 'What kind of schedule?' He said, 'I don't know,' so I met with them and stuff and we've been negotiating ever since. Couldn't say anything, but during your 'Harry Potter' bit — honestly it was like 15 minutes ago — they called me. It's a done deal. I'm the new host of The Price Is Right.
Carey said that he's not sure when he's going to start working on The Price Is Right, which is expected to start taping new episodes in August, but did say that already "my girlfriend was on the phone with a personal shopper from Bergdorf's."
"Well, history says that this will be a nice long career for you as the host of The Price is Right," Letterman commented.