Extras - The Complete Second Season box art courtesy HBO Home Video
July 10th is a day many of you have been waiting for, not because there's a set you're dying to buy, but because it's a slow release day. That's right, July 10th is the slowest day you'll find for a very, very long time.Beauty and the Beast, one of the top shows on TVShowsOnDVD.com, has its second season released, and this time there are extras! Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman provide video introductions on select episodes. It doesn't sound like much, but at least it's something.We also see the third season release of Hustle, a BBC series about a group of con men (and woman). It's a great series, though the DVDs aren't as good as BBC's MI-5 (both shows are produced by Kudos). It's still one of my favorites, though the short seasons drive me crazy, but only because I like it so much.My "pick of the week" award goes to another British series, Extras from HBO Home Video. Ricky Gervais isn't quite as brilliant as he was in The Office, but the show is delightfully funny, and the DVD set c...
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Here we are between sweeps months, and you know what that means? Yes, a lot more repeats than many viewers would like. But also a spring awakening of new and returning shows on network and cable. As usual, it's a mixed bag of high-concept scripted drama and diverting reality TV, each hoping to find some mid-season traction before the May sweeps kick in with all of those high-profile stunts and season-ending cliff-hangers. Here's a look at the new batch of contenders, with some early first impressions (and one fond "welcome back"). Any keepers here? You'll be the ultimate judge of that.
Drive Mondays, 8 pm/ET, FoxWhy to watch: If you miss the good old days of junky drive-in B movies.Worth watching? Hard to tell after test-driving a partial pilot (and perusing some scripts). As fast-paced as it is preposterous,Drive follows a caravan of unamaz
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Question: Summer TV is always bad, but this year I find myself watching virtually nothing. OK, I have used the rerun schedule to catch a few eps of My Name Is Earl (but not if I already saw them), and I have rewatched some Grey's Anatomy episodes, but otherwise I watch nothing. I can't face Gilmore Girls reruns this year. Somehow Lost reruns don't cut it. I'd rather pull my fingernails out one by one than watch moronic reality shows. I don't have cable. Am I doomed until September? Is there anything out there on broadcast TV that is worth watching?
Answer: Oh, David, this is so sad. I'm actually having a pretty good TV summer, but only because of the variety of cable choices, from Rescue Me on FX and The Closer on TNT to Hustle on AMC to HBO's Deadwood-Entourage combo on Sundays, with a chaser of The 4400 the same night. And in July there's the delightful new comedy-mystery
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If you're looking for a match made in TV heaven, Monk and the new Psych (Fridays at 10 pm/ET on USA) fit the bill. As a Friday-night double feature of lighthearted mayhem (Psych follows Monk), they prove that few places are more fun than a crime scene, if you're in the right company.
"All guaranteed fun" is the operating principle behind Psych, a clever romp about charming slacker Shawn Spencer (James Roday, who should become an overnight star in this role
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Question: I have been enjoying the show Hustle on AMC a great deal, and I was wondering what you thought of it. It seems like the show NBC had hoped Heist might be. It is so smart and fun. It also does the "wink and nod" to the audience better than most shows on TV. I was wondering where Hustle is in its run: Is this the first season? Is it successful for AMC? Will there be another season? Is it coming out on DVD? Thanks!
Answer: I like Hustle quite a bit, too. (I reviewed it in the magazine's Jan. 30 issue.) Courtesy of AMC, here's the scoop on Hustle, which, being a British series, airs its seasons a little differently than we usually do. AMC has aired 18 episodes to date, which comprises two seasons of the series overseas. A third season is currently airing on BBC1, and these episodes will air on AMC beginning July 1. No word yet on a DVD release, though it seems like a natural. (And for the record, as I've said before, this column is not a good resource regarding DVD releases, o ...
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Question: Hi, Matt. Love this section of TVGuide.com. There's an awful lot of great British stuff out there: MI-5, Hustle and, most recently, Doctor Who. U.S. drama gets pretty well recognized in the U.K. — while the ratings are pretty measly, they get praised nonetheless. A lot of British stuff goes unrecognized in the U.S., like Dancing with the Stars being a deal made by the BBC and ABC following the BBC's hit of Strictly Come Dancing. Now the rumor mill is churning again, saying that David E. Kelley is penning a pilot for ABC based on the BBC's latest big hit Life on Mars. Do we care about any of this? What do you think of the latest U.K. shows to be sprinkled over the U.S.?
Answer: Most of them are fine, but I think they get plenty of respect, when deserved, in the U.S. critical press. (BBC America in particular gets glowing notices for many of its imports, from class acts like Viva Blackpool to guilty pleasures like Footballers' Wives.) AMC's Hustle and A&E's MI-5 (which the
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Fact: TV is oversaturated with crime dramas. But is the answer to suddenly make con artists the new action heroes?
At least the cocky crooks of AMC's Hustle ply their trade with charm. This month's arrivals are more problematic. NBC's glossy Heist, which premiered last week, annoys by being weightlessly glib, while FX's grittier Thief (Tuesdays at 10 pm/ET) bores by being relentlessly glum.
Set in New Orleans, Thief dishes up a surprisingly flavorless gumbo of guilt, grief and greed. A
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