The A-Team: The Complete Series DVD Box Set with Van Packaging

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know The A-Team remake premiers in theaters today. While the film’s trailer looks awesome, the film’s reviews have middle of the road at best. For instance, The A-Team currently has a score of 47% (and dropping) on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer. This is no surprise to The Blot, I’ve been expecting the worst from this movie from the very beginning! Instead of shilling out way too much money to watch this pathetic remake in theaters, I recommend checking out the limited edition The A-Team: The Complete Series DVD box set!


All you really need to know about The A-Team: The Complete Series limited edition box set is it comes in the freaking A-Team’s red and black van! How cool is that!?! While I’m not too sure about the extras included in the set, I do know it includes all 5 seasons and 98 episodes on 25 discs. Plus, this version actually stars ‘80s icon Mr. T. Can the movie version of The A-Team claim that?

The A-Team: The Complete Series DVD box set normally retails for $149.98, but can currently be purchased from Amazon.com for just $89.99 here.

Lost Tuesdays - Lost: The Complete Collection DVD & Blu-ray Box Set Release Date

The Blot has been anxiously awaiting for any and all information concerning the upcoming Lost: The Complete Collection DVD box set. Thankfully, Amazon.com has come to The Blot’s rescue by announcing the Lost: The Complete Series DVD and Blu-ray box sets will go on sale August 24th, 2010! How great is that!?! I had a feeling these probably wouldn’t go on sale until Christmas 2010, so this is a whole 4 months earlier than expected.


As of now, all we know is the Lost: The Complete Collection box set will include 38 disks and have a run time of 5,074 minutes. I can’t wait to see what kind of crazy extras Lindelof and Cuse cram into this one. I might even finally upgrade to Blu-ray so I can watch my favorite Losties in HD.

You can currently pre-order both versions of the Lost: The Complete Collection box sets at Amazon.com. Lost: The Complete Collection DVD box set retails for $229.99, but is on sale at Amazon.com for $148.99 here. Lost: The Complete Collection Blu-ray box set retails for $279.99, but it too is on sale at Amazon.com for $195.99 here.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan Television Movie Premieres on Syfy This Sunday, Jan 10th

Please excuse the following rant, but did anyone else NOT know that the made for television movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan was set to premiere this Sunday, January 9th, on Syfy!?! I know this “movie” was released on DVD months ago, but The Blot, like most BSG fans, chose to wait to watch it until the 2 hour special debuted on TV. Now that the series is over, The Blot isn’t really following Battlestar Galactica news or watching Syfy, but shouldn’t more fans have known The Plan was going to air THIS Sunday!? Seems like poor marketing by Syfy, doesn’t it?


Not only is it bad marketing, but it also seems like horrible scheduling to The Blot. The channel formerly known as Sci-Fi could have aired this BSG special anytime in the last three weeks without any competition while most shows were on hiatus, but they chose to air it the same night as the season premieres of Chuck and Big Love (not to mention new episodes from Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters). I know most of you are thinking so what, the show’s already ended and has a totally different audience than most of the aforementioned shows. But in reality this movie should be acting as a springboard to Syfy’s new show, Caprica.


Now I have to figure what show I’m actually going to watch live on Sunday, Chuck, Big Love or The Plan. Thankfully, the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan has made my decision a little easier by describing The Plan as feeling “like a two-hour ‘previously on Battlestar Galactica.’” (link) Ryan is as big of a BSG fan as they come, and if she’s underwhelmed by The Plan then I’ve got a feeling I will be too. It’s really too bad, because I had high hopes for a BSG project written by Jane Espenson and directed by Edward James Olmos (who also plays Admiral William Adama in the movie).

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan’s world television premiere is scheduled for Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 9/8c on Syfy.

The New Simpsons 20th Anniversary Poster

To commemorate the release of The Simpson’s landmark 20th season, FOX has released the incredibly comprehensive cast poster seen below. The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Poster builds upon a similar image in 2007’s The Simpsons Movie, and now encompasses even more characters from the series than ever before. (link) The Blot can still remember watching the very first episode of The Simpsons oh so many years ago, which makes it really scary that we’re currently in the show’s 20th season.

(click on the photo above for a more detailed look)

The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Celebration begins Sunday, January 10th at 8/7c on FOX.

Pineapple Express Character Movie Posters - Pineapple Express In Theaters Now

I love Judd Apatow movies like The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad as much as anyone, but I didn’t become a real convert to his unique brand of comedy until I finally watched the Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series DVD box set. Aly and I recently finished the six DVD set and it was well worth the time invested. I know people have strong feelings about this show (either loving it or hating it), but you at least have to give the short lived NBC comedy a shot.

The show does struggle to find its voice through the first few episodes, which is probably why Freaks and Geeks didn’t make it past season one, but once you get to the season’s midway point the show is pure dramedy gold. Plus, you just don’t find that kind of young A-list talent on TV anymore. Over half the cast has gone on to become either big time movie stars, like Seth Rogan and James Franco, or star in popular television series like Jason Segel on How I Met Your Mother, Linda Cardellini on ER, and Busy Philipps on Dawson’s Creek and a brief stay on ER.

I bring this all because the newest Apatow produce comedy, Pineapple Express, was written by and stars two Freaks and Geeks alumni, Apatow mainstay Seth Rogan and James Franco. While I haven’t seen it yet, the movie is supposed to be hilarious and is getting some great reviews. I really can’t wait to see it, so I imagine I’ll have to somehow pull myself away from the weekend's hundreds of hours of Olympic coverage.

I did hear the film is a lot more violent and bloody than one would expect from an Apatow produced stoner comedy, but I’m sure if it came from the minds of Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg the movie will live up to all of the hype surrounding it. Since I’m sure most of you will be seeing Pineapple Express over the weekend, I’ll stay away from discussing any of the movie’s plot. Instead I’ll just leave you with the Pineapple Express’ character movie posters.


What’s amazing about these character movie posters is how much of the movie’s marketing campaign centers around the movie’s stars, Rogen and Franco. The comedy good will Rogen has built up with the movie going public over the past few years is truly amazing. Could anyone have imagined just a few years ago that a huge summer comedy would open to big numbers based solely on Rogen’s name? It’s pretty impressive and just goes to show you how real comedy talent will always rise to the top, especially in this day and age when the comedy landscape looks as bleak as it ever has before.



You can see Pineapple Express in theaters now.

My Name Is Bruce Teaser Movie Poster

The Blot’s never been too shy about sharing my adoration for B-movie icon Bruce Campbell. From the first time I watched him play Ash in the Evil Dead trilogy (Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness) I was hooked. Whether he’s headlining B-movies like Bubba Ho-Tep (which if you haven’t seen yet you really need to rent) or playing bit parts in summer blockbuster movies like the Spider-Man trilogy, Campbell always exudes a “deadpan and somewhat sarcastic comic delivery” that The Blot can’t get enough of. (link) So, when I heard Campbell was making his directorial debut this fall with the release of his new film My Name is Bruce, written by Battlestar Galactica scribe Mark Verheiden,” I got really excited. (link)


Now I have no clue if My Name Is Bruce will be good, but I do know it’ll be one of a kind. The movie centers “around a group of fans who mistaken Campbell for his movie alter ego Ash and kidnap him to help them fight a Chinese war deity.” (link) It sounds like exactly the kind of crazy, “only in movies” type of plot that you can come to expect from a Bruce Campbell B-movie.

You can currently catch Campbell every Thursday night on USA’s Burn Notice or watch him on DVD in any number of television box sets including instant classics like The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess. He has also proven to be an excellent writer with his autobiographical NY Times best seller If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor and his fictional 2005 novel Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way. If all this hasn’t gotten you extremely pumped for the upcoming theatrical release of My Name Is Bruce, scheduled for October 2008 followed immediately by its DVD release in January 2009, then I don’t know what will.

Burn Notice: Season 1 DVD Out Today

Going on sale today is the Burn Notice Season 1 DVD box set. Burn Notice quickly became one of my favorite television shows when it debuted last summer on USA and I am eagerly awaiting the start of Season 2 on Thursday, July 10th at 10/9C. Even though I've already seen all of Season 1, I just couldn't resist adding it to my Netflix Queue...especially since Aly has never seen an episode.


I know I’ve spoken about Burn Notice before and I’m sure I will do it again before Season 2’s debut, but if you haven’t given this show a chance yet you really are missing out on some terrific television. The Season 1 Box Set is a great way to get caught up on all of Michael Westen’s adventures in Miami in a quest to find out who burned him from the spy game.

The Burn Notice: Season One DVD box set includes all 11 episodes, including the two-hour season finale, on four DVDs and has a whole slew of extras, like cast/crew commentaries, interviews and more. What’s even better is if you don’t mind watching TV on your computer, you can now watch the entire first season of Burn Notice for free on the NBC/FOX joint venture Hulu.com.

Hulu.com has its very own Burn Notice channel where you are able to watch individual episodes with limited commercial interruptions. Have no fear though, Hulu.com is pretty advanced and allows you to pause, fast forward and rewind its shows. Burn Notice and a ton of other NBC/Universe and FOX television shows are at your disposal, so check it out to watch some of your favorite network shows on the web.

Lost Wednesdays with Lost Season Four DVD News

We’re in the middle of what I like to call the Lost hump week right now. It’s the week long break between Part 1 of Lost’s season finale and Parts 2 and 3 of the Season Four finale, which will air a week from Thursday on May 29th, 2008. There’s not too much non-spoiler news circulating the net right now but I did find out that the date has been set for the release of the Lost Season Four DVD box set. Just in time for the holiday season, Lost - The Complete 4th Season: The Expanded Experience will hit stores on December 9, 2008. (link)


The five disk set with include all 14 episodes from this season including Lost bloopers, an Oceanic Airlines Safety Guide, audio commentaries and deleted scenes. There will also be five different documentaries including one on the Music of Lost and one on the Freighter Folk, which explores where “the folks on the freighter come from” and “what the show runners looked for in new cast members.” (link) Lost: The Complete Fourth Season DVD box set is available now for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Also, EW.com has a great article discussing Lost’s 17 Enduring Mysteries. It tackles everything from the big mysteries of “what is the monster” and “what are the numbers” to secondary/minor mysteries like what’s the deal with the Dharma polar bears. It’s an interesting, yet cursory look at all of the overarching questions still left unanswered as we enter the final homestretch and await the Lost’s final two seasons.

Reminder: The Season Premier of Battlestar Galactica Airs This Friday

After a year hiatus, one of the best shows of the past 5 years returns to television this Friday. Battlestar Galactica Season 4 premiers tomorrow, Friday, April 4th at 10/9C on the Sci-Fi Channel. I’m pretty pumped, not only for the new season but also because I just picked up a copy of the show’s television movie Battlestar Galactica: Razor, which I haven't seen yet. Hopefully I’ll have time to watch it tonight or tomorrow before the start of Season 4.


With the question of who is the final Cyclon on the tip of every BSG fan’s tongue, Battlestar Galactica’s fourth and final season should be a great one. Plus, after months of speculation and hypothesis as to the meaning of the Battlestar Galactica Last Supper promotional photo below, we should be finally getting some answers as to its real meaning coming our way soon. I also can’t wait to see what’s in store for the crew of the Battlestar Galactica if and when the Colonial fleet ever makes it to Earth.


If you need a quick refresher course in everything that’s happened on Battlestar Galactica to date, head over to Salon.com for “a complete primer on the smartest sci-fi TV show…maybe ever.” (link)

The Blot’s Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Update

As the start of Battlestar Galactica Season 4 quickly approaches (Friday, April 4th at 10/9c), I’m doing my best to watch all 6 discs of the newly released Battlestar Galactica Season 3 box set. I’ve done pretty good considering the NCAA basketball tournament has taken up most of my weekend television viewing and am about 2/3 done with Season 3. As I get closer and closer to Season 3’s season finale, I’m starting to wonder what it is everyone was complaining about.


After watching Seasons 1 and 2 of BSG I heard and read a lot of complaints by Battlestar fans that Season 3 was just not that good and that the show had really dragged on in certain parts. Now while I will say there have been a few slow episodes that I could have done without, what show can say that every episode is a great one? Not only that, but I really enjoyed the early episodes during the Cylon occupation of New Caprica. So I have to ask all the Battlestar Galactica fans out there, what was it about Season 3 that you disliked?

I have to add a caveat which is I think there is a big difference to watching a season on DVD as opposed to watching the show live. When you watch a show live you have a whole week (or months if they decide to split a season in half like the Sci-Fi Channel is talking about doing with Season 4 of BSG) to sit and think about/discuss the previous episode. When it’s a bad episode it makes it even worse. When you watch a complete season on DVD you don’t have the same time frame. If an episode is bad (or good) most people don’t sit around and dissect it the same way because you just move on to the next episode and then the next and the next.

By watching a season on DVD, the viewer is able to grade the series as one complete story as opposed to each individual episode, which in some ways is a much better way to evaluate a television show. But, this also skews from how most people watch and grade TV shows. So while my judgment on Season 3 is from looking at the overall season/storyline, most people who watched it live graded it on a week to week basis. I’d say this mean’s my judgment is a little off from most. So this brings us back to my main question, what was it that fans disliked? Or, have I just not gotten to the worst part yet? With 7-8 episodes left, a major chunk of Season 3 I might add, I reserve the right to change my opinion of Season 3 until I reach that final episode.

Bonus: Here is the video of last week's The Late Show with David Letterman's Battlestar Galactica Top Ten List:

Battlestar Galactica News - Season 3 DVD In Stores, Prequel In Development and Stars To Present Letterman Top 10 Tonight

The Blot has been waiting months for this day, the release of Battlestar Galactica Season 3 on DVD. I was admittedly behind on the whole Battlestar Galactica craze and jumped on the bandwagon last summer after being persuaded by a friend to finally give it a second try. You see I loved watching repeats of the campy original Battlestar as a kid, but after watching half an hour of the show’s original mini-series I had to turn it off. I just couldn’t watch a show that would desecrate the greatness that was Lt. Starbuck by turning him into a woman. How could you do that to the A-Team’s Faceman (a.k.a. Dirk Benedict)!?!?


After a second viewing of the mini-series I realized the error of my way and the greatness that is Katee Sackhoff’s Starbuck. There is so much more to this show than the hot, evil Cylon robots or the starship battles in space, the show has actually great storylines. While many people are probably turned off by the science fiction aspect of BSG, the show really is as much about politics, political intrigue and the same types of issues facing America as another one of The Blot’s favorite shows, The West Wing. Yes I know it’s hard to compare a show about the Oval Office to a show about a spaceship, but it really does work.

Once I finished the initial Battlestar Galactica mini-series I rushed out to purchase the Season 1 box set and haven’t looked back yet. What sucked was the fact that Season 3 was going on as I was still watching Season 2 & 2.5 on DVD. So I waited, and waited, and waited for almost an entire year for NBC/Universal and the Sci-Fi Channel to get their act together and finally release Season 3 on DVD. Now that I’ve purchased the third box set I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to find the time to watch the entire season before BSG’s fourth and final season debuts Friday, April 4th at 10/9 central on the Sci-Fi Channel. Damn you March Madness!

As the final season’s debut approaches the show is doing all it can to promote its fourth season. The first stop of their never ending PR tour for the show is The Late Show with David Letterman where The Daytona Beach News-Journal is reporting that tonight several of Battlestar Galactica’s stars will be presenting the daily Top Ten list. (link) The actors rumored to appear “include Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, Tricia Helfer and Lucy Lawless.” (link) While the article doesn’t say what the topic of the Top Ten list will be, I’m sure it’ll be pretty funny with the cast sure to be making fun of the science fiction/unrealistic aspects of the show.

Another bit of exciting news for fans of BSG came out yesterday in that the Sci-fi Channel finally announced at their upfront presentation Tuesday that “it has greenlighted a two-hour back-door pilot” Caprica, “which had been in development for two years.” (link) Finally! The much talked Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica seemed to have been in limbo forever, but the show seems set to finally see the light of day. Caprica, “which is set 50 years before the events in the departing Battlestar,” sounds to be following in the footsteps of primetime soap operas of the past. (link)

The television movie and subsequent series is set to “revolve around two families: the Adamas and the Graystones. Joseph Adama, father of future Battlestar commander William Adama, is a renowned civil liberties lawyer who becomes an opponent of the artificial intelligence/Cylon experiments wrought by the Graystones, owners of a large computer corporation that builds the first Cylons.” (link) While the story sounds interesting, I don’t know how it will translate to fans of the current Battlestar Galactica since there is something to a story in which the human race is all but extinct and fighting for its existence. Nevertheless I’m sure I’ll give Caprica a shot when it debuts next year.

You can purchase the two Battlestar Galactica propaganda posters seen here and other cool BSG merchandise (including official Battlestar Galactica dog tags and additional posters) at Quantum Mechanix. (link)

The Writers Strike Is Officially Over and a Scrubs Update

As of last night, Tuesday February 12th, the WGA “union members voted overwhelmingly to go back to work.” (link) This means that movie and TV writers will finally be going back to work and “programmers are busy getting back to business after a dry spell that deprived viewers of new episodes and networks of ratings.” (link) Unfortunately not all TV shows will be going back into production. The networks are holding back many of the year’s new shows so that they can be re-launched with full seasons next year. A few other shows that are on the brink of cancellation are also not going back into production until the networks decide if they are going to renew the show or not, or if it’s worth putting those shows back on the air for a very limited final run.


For all the Scrubs fans out there that were concerned that we’d never get a series finale since this was to be the show’s final season, you can now breathe a sigh of relief. Creator Bill Lawrence has assured us all that the final four episodes of the NBC comedy will be written and produced. (link) Lawrence stated to TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello that “worst-case scenario is that ABC/Disney lets me make the last four episodes as a DVD. And I say that's the worst-case scenario because I'm going to try as hard as I can to get NBC's support in finishing the show up on TV. I just don't have any definitive answer because I haven't been talking to them.” (link) To clarify, the NBC comedy is actually produced by ABC/Disney, so that in the case NBC does not want to air the final episodes on their network, ABC would like Scrubs to finish the production of the show’s final season in order to sell future DVD box sets either as an individual Season 7 box set or as a Complete Series box set.

LOST Returns!

As most people get excited for the impending holiday season, The Blot is ready for it to end already. Because once it does we're just a few weeks away from the start of The Blot's favorite TV show, LOST. Now if only the Writers' strike could somehow end early so we don't end up with only 8 new episodes this year!


In the meantime, here's something to get you through the next few months of reruns. It's the trailer for Season 4 of LOST.



Also, in case you missed last year's return to form season of LOST because Season 2 wasn't that good, LOST Season 3 came out on DVD this week.

A Love Story In Reverse

Yes, today is what The Blot likes to refer to as
How I Met Your Mother Tuesday at The Blot Says…

If last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother ends up being the final episode of the season due to the Writer’s strike then the show definitely ended on a high note. I’d go so far as to say last night’s episode, “The Platinum Rule,” was the best episode of the season. Not necessarily because of how funny it was, but because of how the story was executed …it was just classic HIMYM.


Basically, it was one long 30 minute Barney-ism, so what’s not to love!?! Plus it felt like Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, the creators and writers of HIMYM, tried to fit in each character’s little nuances that fans of the show have come to love. It really had a little bit of everything while finally centering around the show’s central theme, Ted going on a date and possibly finding his future wife. From there the episode turned into one giant story from Barney, where Barney explains to Ted the Platinum Rule and the gang begs him not to date someone he will have to see again (or as it was put in the show “you never poop where you eat.”)


Barney explains to Ted, through a series of flashbacks, the 8 stages of dating someone you will be forced to see again: Attraction, Bargaining, Submission, Perks, Tipping Point, Purgatory, Confrontation, and Fallout. While shifting through time during an episode of HIMYM has long been a staple of the show, this might be the first time there have actually been flashbacks within flashbacks, which proved to be a pretty funny mechanism to move the story along. It was also a great way to show all of the gang’s previous mistakes in dating and inability to follow the Platinum Rule.


I think the episode was so great because not only did it walk us through everyone’s past dating mistakes, it also showed us the history of Lily’s hair styles/colors on the show (every season Lily has a new hair style and every year her red locks get darker and darker), another funny bit on Robin being Canadian, how once again Robin always ends up as “the guy” in a relationship, finally a comment from the gang on all of Barney’s made-up rules, the fact that Marshall is always eating in almost every scene he's in, and my personal favorite...Ted’s butterfly tramp stamp, which if it was removed, as Lily puts it, “how’s everyone gonna know you’re a stripper from Reno with daddy issues?"


This episode was chock full of great one liners and funny banter between the cast, proving once again why How I Met Your Mother is the best ensemble comedy on TV. If you’ve never seen an episode or missed a few from earlier in the season, now’s your chance to catch up on the third season as the show goes into reruns due to the WGA strike.


Also, remember nothing makes better stocking stuffers than the Season 1 and Season 2 box sets of How I Met Your Mother. The holiday season is a perfect time to gather the family around the TV and watch both DVD sets before Ted, Barney, Lily, Marshall and Robin come back with new episodes in the spring. You can find Season 1 here and Season 2 here.