Luke Perry by Barry King/Liaison/Getty
New releases announced today, July 28:Beverly Hills, 90210 - The Complete 6th Season will be coming out November 25 The Fairly Oddparents - Season 6, Volume 1 will be coming out November 18 Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. - The Final Season will be coming out November 25 Hawaii Five-O - The 5th Season will be coming out November 18 The Mod Squad - The 2nd Season, Volume 1 will be coming out November 25 The Odd Couple - The Final Season will be coming out November 18 Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Volume 2 will be coming out October 7 Route 66 - The Complete 2nd Season will be coming out October 21 SpongeBob SquarePants - Season 5, Volume 2 will be coming out November 18 Superman: Doomsday (Blu-ray) will be coming out November 25 Visit TVShowsOnDVD.com for the complete stories on these and other news items.
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Walker, Texas Ranger: The Complete Fourth Season courtesy Paramount
OK, there've been a ton of releases lately that we need to discuss, because quite honestly, they are a hoot. And not just "funny, ha-ha" hoots, but also the kind that you see on the shelf and think "Oh. my god... I kind of want that!" So sit back, tell your shame to take the day off and get in with these guilty-in-the-first-degree pleasures of plastic!Walker, Texas Ranger — The Complete Fourth Season Come for the "Eyes of a Ranger" theme song, stay for the very special Christmas episode about an Old West Ranger who saved the day, then feast on the two-part season finale that gave us the Sons of Thunder spin-off. And never forget, when the Boogeyman goes to bed, he checks under his bed for Chuck Norris.Soul Food — The Complete 3rd Season Before Showtime ever got any attention for Weeds or The Tudors or even The L Word (which we [i[love), there was this stellar NAACP-lauded adaptation of the fabulous Vivica A. Fox-Nia Long flick. Filled with grand performances by Vanessa A....
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Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody in The O.C. courtesy Fox Television/SOAPnet
SOAPnet is staging a seven-hour marathon of Summer-and-Seth-centric O.C. episodes on Labor Day, Sept. 3, starting at noon/ET with "The Heartbreak" (Seth beds Summer for the first time) and concluding with "Earth Girls Are Easy" (Summer tries to conceal her pregnancy scare).... An Aug. 28 DVD release has been set for The Odd Couple: Season 2 and A Night at the Roxbury: Special Collector's Edition.... The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this year will be broadcast by CBS on Dec. 4, and includes appearances by Heidi Klum, Adriana "Is She Still a Virgin?" Lima and Selita Ebanks.
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Jason Alexander (who got his start as a Broadway hoofer) recently seized the reigns of Los Angeles' Reprise! theater series. For his first offering, he's thinking of starring in a reading of The Odd Couple opposite Martin Short. "I want to do an absolute crowd-pleaser," Alexander told Playbill.com (which must be why he nixed the idea of a Bob Patterson adaptation).... A musicalization of 9 to 5 will enjoy a star-studded reading later this month, as West Wing's Allison Janney channels Lily Tomlin and Bebe Neuwirth takes on Roz, the office suck-up. The Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Dabney Coleman roles will be filled by stage vets Stephanie J. Block (Pirate Queen), Megan Hilty (Wicked) and Marc Kudisch.... Even in death, Law & Order's Lenny Briscoe gets justice: The Snapple Theater Center is rechristening its third-floor house as "The Jerry Orbach Theater." Snappleholic Michael Ausiello is green with envy. — Reporting by Raven Snook
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Hellboy: Sword of Storms
Former adolescents Michael Davis and Mark Nollinger can still summon their inner middle-schooler when they watch tween TV. They got together the other day to compare notes on the new season for kids who are approximately 5 feet tall, wear braces and inject the word "like" between words, like, all the time.
Michael Davis: Which new or returning shows will send parents screaming out of the room?
Nollinger: It's too early to tell with the new shows, although I can imagine that even some folks who loved Beavis and Butt-Head as college students might not welcome Mr. Meaty (premiering Sept. 22, on Nickelodeon) into their living rooms as parents. Personally, I can handle just about anything as long as I don't have to hear the Camp Lazlo theme song ever again. I do
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Jenna Elfman still believes in Dharma.
Hi-larious. That's the word coming out of Jenna Elfman's mouth, midconversation, as she picks up the phone for this TVGuide.com Q&A. What is the gifted comedienne in the midst of describing? That was the first topic at hand as we used the occasion of the DVD release of Dharma & Greg: Season One to chat up Elfman — fresh from Courting Alex's abbreviated run — about her sitcom hits, misses and lessons learned, the Dharma-
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Question: Hey, Matt, what was up with that worthless, homophobic B-story on Las Vegas on March 31, with Mike and Danny posing for a calendar they later are horrified to find out is popular with gay men? Is that a little Brokeback-lash? It really put me off the show, which I tape in favor of watching Close to Home. I'm not sure I'll be taping it anymore. Do you have any insight?
Answer: I have no great insight, because I'm not watching Vegas these days. (Not a judgement call. It was just never part of my weekly menu, and now that it's on Fridays, like most everything else on that night, it's out of sight, out of mind for me.) But this hardly surprises me. Gay jokes like this are still very easy punch lines, especially among macho characters like these. Which brings me to this sour reaction to my own recent attempt to make light of a male-bonding situation.
Sonia writes: "Matt, I am disappointed in your answer to the question about the relationship between House and Wilson on April 3.
...
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I nearly wept with relief when House returned Tuesday night (March 28) after a several-week absence. I hadn't yet recovered from sitting through one of the most miserable hours of American Idol — sorry, it was the worst hour I can remember. Is this century going to be the death of music as we know it? Horrid songs, rotten arrangements, and even the few singers I've liked were dull-to-dreadful.
Ugh.
Then House roared into gear with a gripping mystery leavened by some Odd Couple humor as House and Wilson (temporarily homeless thanks to his wrecked marriage) became roommates. Very Oscar and Felix, as House lay sleepless while Wilson clipped his toenails (off camera, thankfully) and blow-dried his hair. But
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Question: It seems like every other movie I see advertised is based on a TV show, like The Dukes of Hazzard. But what about the other way around? I know there was a series based on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but what other TV series have been based on a movie, and were any of them good?
Answer: There have been a handful of top-notch TV shows based on movies. The flop Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) was revived as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003); Robert Altman's acerbic M*A*S*H* (1970) became the long-running M*A*S*H (1972-1983); Neil Simon
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Question: Hi there, Televisionary! Say, what can you tell me about Tony Randall's short-lived Love, Sidney? All I really remember is the opening theme.
Answer: Short-lived it was, Sidney. However, while your TV counterpart, artist Sidney Shorr (The Odd Couple's Randall) enjoyed his own show from October 1981 to August 1983, that's a relatively long time compared with the truly here-and-gone life spans of modern shows, which aren't given much time to make a mark at all.
The setup of the show was that Sidney had befriended a single, pregnant young actress (Swoosie Kurtz years before and had talked her out of having an abortion. When the series began, Kurtz's character, Laurie, showed up with daughter Patti (Kaleena Kiff) in hand to live with him. Alan
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