NEW DVDS THIS WEEK
Okay, so there isn’t much coming out on DVD this week that you have to own, except for M*A*S*H if you are a fan, but that’s okay! THE SIMPSONS SEASON 2 is due next Tuesday. But if you MUST spend money, here are the “big” new titles due on DVD and video tomorrow.
DINOTOPIA- This miniseries – which also served as the most expensive pilot in TV history – is coming out at a commendably low price just in time to promote the series launch Thursdays at 8 on ABC in the fall. (Opposite “Friends” and “Survivor”? Dinosaurs will probably be extinct again sooner than they wish.) The setup is the same – young men who look like models are stranded on an island where dinosaurs and humans live in harmony. But don’t get too attached to any of the actors. While I found Wentworth Miller perfectly watchable in a square-jawed, soap-opera sort of way, he and almost everyone else have been replaced for the show. That’s no big deal, since the real stars are the dinosaurs: this may be really, really, really lacking in the drama department, but the effects here are top-notch.
M*A*S*H SEASON 2- NBC’s sitcom “Scrubs,” which I love, is in exactly the same position “M*A*S*H” was in 1973. Both are critically acclaimed shows with low ratings, an unusual mix of comedy and pathos that keep viewers off balance and have uncertain futures. In its second season, “M*A*S*H,” starring Alan Alda, was moved to Saturday nights right behind the smash hit “All in the Family.” Its humor no longer shocks the way that classic still can, but they certainly didn’t pull any punches. The accidental shelling of a village followed by a cover-up; Amerasian babies; a soldier beaten to a pulp by his buddies because they think he’s gay – “M*A*S*H” certainly wore its (bleeding) heart on its sleeve. They wisely crafted the first episode of the season to serve as a second pilot that reintroduced the characters to all the new viewers that would be tuning in to the 4077th for the first time. Undoubtedly, “Scrubs” will do the same now that it’s being moved to Thursdays at 8:30 right behind “Friends.”
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