This Week in DVD

Angels and Demons: If there weren't a new Dan Brown book on bulky cardboard endcaps everywhere right now, would anyone even remember this movie came out this year? You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say this sequel was a...I hesitate to even mention this...a bit of a cash grab.

Funny People: First, let me say I did not see this movie. But the two-disc has a 153-minute extended cut to complement the 146-minute cut of a film even many of its defenders thought was way too long. This, folks, is why DVD sales are down. (Not really the case at all, but I don't mind taking a shot at this Judd Apatow movie when I can).

2009 World Series Highlights: In case you thought Major League Baseball might deliver a Director's Cut to fix the mistakes it made in the postseason, nope, in this DVD, the Yankees still play the Phillies.

Four Christmases: I respect the discipline in holding off on the DVD of this 2008 comedy until now and ensuring a natural holiday shopping hook. Of course, it also provided time for everyone to forget how terrible it looked.

The Golden Age of Television: I know what you're thinking: How can any Age be considered Golden if it did not encompass the glorious reign of "What's Happenin'?" Excellent question, but you just have to take History's word for it, and not just History but TV History, no less. It's cool that Criterion is getting into fifties television here, but it is releasing some already out there material with apparently zero restoration work, so this looks like more of a rental than the must-buy it could have been.

Life on Mars Season 2: The good news I can stop waiting in vain for BBC America to rerun Season 2. The bad news is that now I can barely remember what the heck happened in Season 1.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 4: This is a pivotal season because, as far as I knew, my RTV affiliate never ran any episodes after Season 3. The Master of Suspense had nothing on RTV, which keeps thousands of viewers waiting anxiously each day for which episode of a given series it'll pluck out of the pile and put on the air.