Thursday, September 17, 2009

This Week in DVD

(The Top 50 Reasons to Turn Off Your TV resume tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy this brief look at this week's new releases)

Bonanza Season 1 Volume 1 and 2:
Paramount, if you think releasing both volumes of a split-season set on the same day is going to get us to stop bitching about the tactic, you're wrong! So, uh...bitch bitch bitch! There! That oughta learn you. But at least "Bonanza" fans have the privilege of overpaying for twice as many episodes this week, and maybe that IS progress.

The IT Crowd Season 3: Awesome show. One of the funniest things I've seen in TV the past few years, and I saw it on IFC, of all places. If you don't buy this DVD, you--well, you likely have your own legitimate reasons. I kind of started in like I was gonna make a threat, but I was just gonna say you'd be missing out.


Wolverine: There are only two things you need to know about this movie: If Wolverine says "Bub" a bunch of times, and if it's better than the last "X-Men" feature. I can't answer either of those questions, unfortunately, because I didn't see this. Yet eventually I will, even though I tend to be let down by Marvel Comics movies, and even though Wolverine was never one of my favorite characters (but IS one of the best things about those X-movies). Maybe then I'll get you those answers.

Wagon Master: I am including this because I jumped the gun and listed it a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I still have nothing to say other than I'm surprised it took so long for such an acclaimed John Ford film to hit the format. But, hey, I'm admitting a mistake, and doesn't that count for something?


One Step Beyond Season 1: Paramount is releasing spiffed-up versions of this old-school show. This is a good thing, but we still must show 'nuff respect for the Mill Creek cheapo collection.

Winter Soldier: Vintage documentary that got some notoriety a while back for starring a young John Kerry...who of course was thought dead after fighting with the Red Skull on an exploding plane, then was reprogrammed by the Russians as a cold war assassin before returning and eventually taking over the Captain America persona from the deceased Steve Rogers. Unless I'm getting my Winter Soldiers mixed up.

2 comments:

Ivan G Shreve Jr said...

If you haven't seen this one already, here's TVShowsOnDVD.com's reply to a fan who thinks Paramount's "split-season" ca-ca is as bogus as we think it is:

"[E]ach of these half-season sets comes on 4 DVDs, for $39.98 SRP per set. That's 8 discs for $80, at list price...or $10 a disc. And each disc has 4 hour-long episodes on it, plus the extras we report about today.

Most people would easily spent $10-$15, perhaps more, for a 1.5-2 hour film on a single DVD, with or without extras. So $10 per 4-episode disc seems pretty cost effective...where's the cheating?

If you go to the story we posted and click on the Amazon button link, you'll see listings for S1V1, and for S1V2, and for a combo pack (shrinkwrapped together, no special packaging) of both V1 and V2 together, giving you the entire season for $69.98 SRP...a $10 savings on the list price.

At the time of this writing, Amazon's selling that bundle for $49.99 after discount, which comes to $6.25 a disc (and $1.56 per hour-long episode, if you want to break it down that way). Hardly a rip-off, if you ask me!"

"More Kool-Aid, Reverend Jim!"

Oh, and if you want to give props to Mill Creek on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Minneapolis-MN/Mill-Creek-Entertainment/109666014772?v=wall

Rick Brooks said...

LOL, Ivan. I'm glad you pointed this out because I would have missed it otherwise.

You gotta love the generosity of their reply: Not only do they create a justification for Paramount's scheme, they helpfully point to you a website where you can buy some of those very same DVDs. This is the difference between merely providing news and serving the public interest.