Defunct TV series heating up the DVD market
By Terry Lawson
Knight Ridder News Service
An industry trade journal reports television on DVD is now the fastest-growing segment of the home video market, but we could have told you that. At least 75 percent of the inquiries we receive concern the availability of favorite series.
The rush to cash in means distributors find themselves waiting for windows of opportunity so potentially popular titles don't get overlooked or go head to head with another pricey set that appeals to the same fans. It's a boxed-set jungle out there.
More than a dozen sets line up this week, with the parade headed by "Boomtown — Season One" (Artisan), all 18 episodes from the 2002-03 season. The crime show examined each case caught by L.A. detectives, played by Donnie Wahlberg and Mykelti Williamson, from multiple points of view, including those of the cops, the district attorney, the victim, and even the perpetrator.
Commentary tracks featuring producers Graham Yost and Jon Avnet and various cast members look at how the show was created. Better yet is to just watch and wonder if there is any place left for creative continuing drama on the networks.
Also failing to attract more than a cult audience was Fox's "Millennium," whose "Complete First Season" from 1996-97 is collected on six discs (Fox). Created by "X-Files" boss Chris Carter, it starred Lance Henriksen as a former FBI profiler afflicted with a mind-rattling ability to see through the eyes of the sadistic killers he chases every week.
Though it may have been the most bleak show to last three seasons, it is more than occasionally riveting and always spooky. Extras include Carter's commentary, a making-of doc and interviews with real profilers.
More episodes of two groundbreaking '70s sitcoms are served up by Columbia-Tristar this week. The 24 episodes of "All In The Family — The Complete Third Season" hail from 1972-73, and are extremely time-specific: the Nixon-McGovern presidential race gives Archie (Carroll O'Connor) and his son-in-law lots to argue about and gives us another look at what writers got away with before PC-TV.
"Soap — The Complete Second Season" was not as consistently funny, but these episodes, broadcast in 1978-79, are even more daring as they explore the lives of a family on which all manner of crises are visited, including a gay stepson getting his girlfriend pregnant and an alien visitation.
"K Street — The Complete Series" (HBO) was an inside-politics comedy produced by pals George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh (who directed) with one of the most adventurous and ambitious concepts ever. Sunday morning spinmeisters James Carville and Mary Matalin played themselves, reborn as lobbyists employed by a fictional moneybags. Every week they dealt with actual news and actual newsmakers; when Howard Dean appeared as Howard Dean, he liked his dialogue so much he repeated it in a campaign speech.
It lasted only 10 episodes (and ended with a great twist), and is at least partly improvised.
The humor goes even deeper in two two-disc collections (Warner) of series from Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" block.
Both lose something in attempting to explain them, but "Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Volume 2" continues the adventures of human-sized fast-food characters Meatwad, Master Shake and Frylock, who manage to accomplish very little, very amusingly, while dealing with mad robots, supermodels, and rappers Sir Loin and MC Pee Pants.
"Sealab 2021 — Season 1" is a revival of a cartoon from the '70s in which the crew of an underwater lab are involved in ridiculous adventures. The animation makes "South Park" look like "Finding Nemo," which is part of the charm.
The release of "Starsky & Hutch — The Complete Second Season" (Columbia-TriStar) continues the rehabilitation of another '70s series that was much lampooned for its period affectations — muscle cars, permed hair, tight pants — but which actually vied with "Kojak" (I know, where are those DVDs?) for the title of grittiest cop show of the era.
Many of the 25 episodes in this five-disc box are at least as good as a "Lethal Weapon" sequel; one of the best has Kristy McNichol as a street kid Hutch takes in, apparently hoping to have himself a Dickens-style Christmas.
From a bigger Screen
Which segues us nicely into the week's recent theatrical releases, beginning with "Starsky & Hutch" (Warner) with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as the seemingly mismatched team of San Francisco cops. Played for laughs, and way more entertaining than you have any right to expect.
Wilson also stars in a remake of "The Big Bounce" (Warner, filmed on O'ahu), but it's only marginally more entertaining than the original 1969 version, which had no idea what to do with Elmore Leonard's engaging crime novel.
