Television | Table for Five

Ally McBeal: The Complete Series and Season One now on DVD

October 16, 2009 By Elizabeth

Ally McBeal Complete

I didn’t realize how nostalgic I would get about Ally McBeal until Fox Home Entertainment sent me screeners with a sneak peek of The Complete Series, released on DVD October 6th. Ally McBeal: The Complete Series is an incredible THIRTY ONE discs plus you get the “Best of Ally McBeal” soundtrack by Vonda Shepard. Fox also released just the first season of the show on DVD.

Ally McBeal Season One

I received Disc One to review, which is these four episodes from Season One: “Pilot” “Compromising Positions” “The Kiss” “The Affair”. The cast of this show is like the Who’s Who of TV Actors- Calista Flockhart, Greg Germann, Gil Bellows, Portia de Rossi, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Peter MacNicol, Jane Krakowski, Lucy Liu, and Dyan Cannon. Plus the series was packed with special guest stars like Christina Ricci, Robert Downey Jr., Hayden Panettiere, Jesse L. Martin, Taye Diggs, and Jon Bon Jovi. Combine all of that talent with the writing of David E. Kelley and you have a TV series that was five seasons of awesome. And, it gave us The Dancing Baby!

If you aren’t familiar with Ally McBeal, this description tells you everything you need to know:

This original Comedy follows the trials and tribulations of an eccentric and neurotic single 28-year-old lawyer (Flockhart) fresh out of Harvard Law School, looking for love and fulfillment in life. Working in a Boston law firm with her ex-lover, his new wife, money loving boss and a nosy, gossiping secretary, the hilarious groundbreaking series featured amusing fantasy sequences, flashbacks and voiceovers to reveal Ally’s innermost thoughts and feelings. The show also had many offbeat running gags and themes, such as Ally’s tendency to immediately fall over whenever she met somebody she found attractive, and Richard Fish’s wattle fetish and humorous mottos, a.k.a “Fishisms.” The series was also known for its wide array of music from pop culture icons including Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Steppenwolf, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Mariah Carey and Jon Bon Jovi, as well as the heartfelt performances from artist Vonda Shepard.

I was also sent Disc 31 to review, which is the fab bonus features that you know are my favorite part of a DVD. And this is a good one, it’s 135 minutes long! The bonuses are:

Retrospective

Vintage Featurettes

Season 2: Fox Behind The Scenes

Season 2 TV Special: Life And Trials Of Ally McBeal

Season 3 Featurette

Behind The Scenes Of Season 5

Season 5: Goodbye, Ally

“The Practice” Season 2 – “Axe Murderer”(The Ally season one episode “The Inmates” was one hour of Ally and then it continued and wrapped up in the second hour on “The Practice”, another David E. Kelly production)

Did I Like It? Heck yes I did! After having seen those first four episodes, I have to at least get Season One on DVD. I’m hooked! Ally McBeal: The Complete First Season is $27.99 on Amazon, and the Complete Series is $129.99, both qualify for free shipping. Either one would make an excellent holiday gift!

Remember The Dancing Baby? If Not Ally McBeal On DVD Will Remind You October 6th (cinemablend.com)

Filed Under: DVD and Blu-Ray reviews Tagged With: Ally McBeal, Calista Flockhart, David E. Kelley, dvd reviews, Jon Bon Jovi, Television, Vonda Shepard

New TV on DVD Box Sets-Samantha Who? and Scrubs

September 7, 2009 By Elizabeth

I am WAY late on posting this, so please make my sponsor happy and promise you’ll check out these DVD box sets, okay? SAMANTHA WHO?: THE COMPLETE SECOND AND FINAL SEASON & SCRUBS: THE EIGHTH SEASON were released on August 25th, and after watching most of both of them for this review, I can confidently say that yes, they are worth buying.

The second season of Samantha find Sam continuing to struggle with remembering her past, and of course, falling in and out of love. Christina Applegate is absolutely delightful as always, with Jean Smart as her sassy Mom Regina, Kevin Dunn as her adoring but clueless Dad Howard, Jennifer Esposito as Sam’s party-girl (in her former life) friend Andrea, Melissa McCarthy as Sam’s best friend Dena, Tim Russ as her building doorman and comic partner Frank, and Barry Watson as her on-again, off-again boyfriend Todd.

It was absolutely criminal that Samantha Who? was cancelled. The first season aired right after Dancing with the Stars, received high praise from critics, and was the highest rated sitcom that season. Unfortunately, the second season saw the show put up against more successful shows and viewership dropped. Even though Christina Applegate was nominated for an Emmy for Best Actress in 2008, and publicly fought and recovered from breast cancer, ABC opted not to renew the show. If another network was smart, they would pick up this show and promote the heck out of it as a refreshing option to reality shows.

Bonus features: On Disc One, choose “Play All” to see a recap of Season One. On Disc Two, we get deleted scenes, bloopers, a set tour with Christina, a featurette on the episode “So I Think I Can Dance”, and Girl Chat, in which Christina, Jennifer and Melissa answer questions about their characters. Disc Three has three bonus episodes they call “More Sam”.

Bonus clip: “Tire Slashing”

Scrubs: The Complete Eighth Season is likely the final season for the show, at least in that format and with that cast. Creator Bill Lawrence is supposedly in talks with ABC about moving the show there, and re-formatting it to star the new crop of interns. According to IMDb, 6 episodes have been filmed of “Scrubs: Interns”, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If that doesn’t happen, Season Eight wrapped up all the main storylines very nicely and with plenty of signature humor. Without spoiling anything for anyone who hasn’t seen it, I’ll just say that old relationships are rekindled, new relationships are started, and a new crop of interns learn how to survive at Sacred Heart. The final episode, “My Finale”, is one of the best series ending episodes in my recent memory. Okay, one spoiler: Janitor gets married! Does he reveal his real name? Watch and find out!

In addition to the main cast of Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Judy Reyes, Donald Faison, John C. McGinley, Ken Jenkins, Christa Miller, Robert Maschio, and Sam Lloyd, Season Eight gives a three-episode arc to Courtney Cox as acting Chief of Medicine. Of the new interns, Eliza Coupe is a standout as snarky Dr. Denise – coincidentally, she also played Willow on two episodes of Samantha Who?: The Second Season.

Bonus Features: My Bahamas trip, Bill Lawrence answers fans’ questions, deleted scenes, bloopers alternate lines, webisodes. I highly, HIGHLY recommend you watch “My Bahamas Trip”, it’s very well done and you’ll drool over the incredible location.

Bonus clip: “My Intern Class”

BUY IT: Samantha Who?: The Second Season is available on Amazon.com for $27.49 and Scrubs: The Complete Eighth Season is $25.99, both qualify for free shipping. You’ll be glad you did!

Filed Under: DVD and Blu-Ray reviews Tagged With: Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?, scrubs, Television, Zach Braff

How Much TV Should Your Kids Watch?

September 3, 2009 By Elizabeth

In the middle sidebar you’ll see a widget that has a video you can click. I get the widget and video content from Jungle Ad Network and earn a share based on impressions, not per click, just so you know. The current video has parenting experts and parents talking about how much TV their children DO watch, and how much they “SHOULD” watch.

The video includes information from the American Academy of Pediatricians, who recommend NO TV for children under two. I’m not a child psychologist, and I certainly can’t say what’s right for anyone else’s children, but in thinking back to our own family’s experiences with TV watching, I realized that the AAP would probably shake their head in dismay at our willingness to turn on the TV for our kids.

All three of my children were very interested in TV before they were even one year old. In fact, as I was thinking back while writing this post, I realized just how young each of them were, and how I have a very specific memory for each of them.

Ryan was around 10 months old, and because we lived in an un-airconditioned house at the time, he and I were sleeping in our living room on our pull-out couch. We woke up early one morning, and in an attempt to get just a few more minutes’ sleep, I turned on the TV, figuring PBS would be showing something educational that I wouldn’t feel guilty about.

It was Barney. And Ryan’s eyes popped open and he sat straight up and didn’t look away. I could have decided he would never watch it again, but I’ll be honest- when my kids show an interest in something, I encourage it. Even if it’s a creepy purple dinosaur and a bunch of over-managed stage kids. I was, however, successful in my attempt to never, EVER have “Caillou” on my TV.

Nathan was 7 months old when he was hospitalized with bronchiolitis. After two very scary days of breathing treatments and him mostly sleeping, he woke up on the third day much more alert. The TV in his hospital room was on, I had been watching CNN or something. I picked up the remote and started flipping, and it was Teletubbies.

PBS had struck again. Seeing my tiny son, who had been practically grey for the last two days, perk up and smile at the TV made me feel like the Teletubbies were shooting magic beams at him through the TV set. I certainly didn’t think his development was being stunted by watching it.

Kaitlyn was about 7 months old as well when commercials started airing on Nickelodeon for the new Laurie Berkner DVD “We Are The Laurie Berkner Band”. Every time it came on, she would stop moving and put down whatever she was chewing on and watch. It happened again and again. At 7 months old she knew she liked that music! Chris’ Mom passed away that summer, and we went upstate to pack up her house along with Chris’ sister and her family. We all went to Meijers to pick up snacks and things, and saw the “We Are The Laurie Berkner Band” DVD in the checkout lane. I couldn’t resist buying it.

Kaitlyn watched that DVD every day for months. It came with a CD that we listened to in the car, and when she had her finger slammed in the door and needed stitches, I sang her those songs in the emergency room. Someone can try to tell me that TV is not good for kids under 2, but I say, that’s not always the case.

What do you think? Did your kids watch TV before they were two?