The Couch Potato Report - October 4th, 2008
This week The Couch Potato Report peels TV on DVD, we will forget Sarah Marshall and Iron Man!
It is a Special Sunday edition of the report, and on our weekend of stars, I have several box sets to tell you about, including some well known television stars.
Like Kenny and Spenny!
KENNY VS. SPENNY is a series that originally aired on CBC and in each episode the two best friends and roommates - Kenny and Spenny - face each other in different competitions...many of them quite idiotic!
In SEASON 4 of KENNY VS. SPENNY, as with the other three years, some of the competitions are funny, others are interesting, and there are also several that are so childish or stupid that you will just want to ignore.
Plus, Kenny is a bully who wins almost all of the competitions, and at times you will actually wonder why Spenny puts up with the things he does, including the weekly humiliations as he loses.
But there is something about those shows that makes you keep watching, long after you want to, but...if you are like me...you will be constantly asking yourself "Why am I watching this?!?!"
But I couldn't stop watching, and laughing, and I must admit, I was entertained!
Now due to it's language, anything goes attitude, and content, KENNY VS. SPENNY isn't a show for everyone, but if you are looking for something uniquly stupid, immature, childish and addictively fun..., check this show out, and maybe even have some fun!
Up next is a show that anyone can watch, and I think everyone will enjoy. Truth be told, this is one of my favourite shows of all time, and if you have never heard of it, it is my pleasure to tell you about SPORTS NIGHT.
SPORTS NIGHT was the show that Aaron Sorkin created and aired, before the more successful show THE WEST WING, and many of the things that show became famous for - including the acting walk and talk, devised to get more words into each script - were first developed on SPORTS NIGHT.
The show aired for two seasons from 1998 to 2000 and it is about a fictional sports news show - also called Sports Night - and the people who work there.
We share their friendships, trials, tribulations, love and even some of the ethical issues they face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure.
Now how is this for a cast, the show stars Robert Guillaume from BENSON, Felicity Huffman of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, Peter Krause from SIX FEET UNDER and DIRTY SEXY MONEY, and regular guest stars included William H. Macy from FARGO and Brenda Strong, also of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES.
It is a fantastic show, with a spectacular cast, full of people you actually care about.
I love this show, truly love it!
The writing and acting is so good that I am constantly amazed and I still say that even though I have seen every episode of the series at least a dozen times!
And now, the 8-DVD Box Set SPORTS NIGHT - THE COMPLETE SERIES 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION has given me the chance to tell you about this great show, and given the cast and crew - including creator Aaron Sorkin, and star Felicity Huffman - the chance to take a look back at their great show.
SPORTS NIGHT is a fantastic show, I highly recommend it and think you will enjoy it...even if you don't care for sports.
But, if you don't care for action adventure shows or movies, I doubt that you will like CHUCK.
Okay, maybe you will like the character of Chuck, but perhaps not the show with that name.
The television show CHUCK focusses on Charles Irving "Chuck" Bartowski. He is an average guy who is also a computer-whiz and one night he receives an e-mail from his old college nemesis who is now working for the CIA.
The message embeds the only remaining copy of the world's greatest spy secrets into Chuck's brain, and now, the average guy must be protected at all costs - by both the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency.
And they don't always all get along.
CHUCK is a show that has some interesting action scenes and stories, but a show like this lives or dies because of the characters. Most of them are likeable, but I stopped watching it every week because I didn't care for the guy who plays Chuck's best friend, and due to the fact that Chuck seems to have more chemistry with the actress who plays his sister than the potential love interest, Agent Agent "Sarah" Lisa Walker, whose job it also is to protect him.
But that said, I did like the show enough to sit and watch all 13 episodes on DVD, including the ones I had already seen.
If the premise of the show sounds interesting to you, I think that you should check out CHUCK - THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON on DVD.
Up next on this special Sunday edition of The Couch Potato Report os a show that I didn't expect to like at all, but it is just so charming and enjoyable that I did.
Yes, I did enjoy SAMANTHA WHO?
Christina Applegate from MARRIED WITH CHILDREN stars in this very entertaining show as that amnesia victim, a woman who is slowly remembering that she used to be mean, cold and calculating, and is now trying to nice.
Christina Applegate has proven many times in the past that she is a great commedienne, and this show puts her talents to great use.
THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON of SAMANTHA WHO? is witty and well written, and with only a couple of exceptions, I liked the entire cast.
It's a good show, and simply put, I liked it...at least the parts of it I can remember.
The television show SAMANTHA WHO? is about a woman trying to remember parts of her life.
The movie FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL - on the other hand - is about a man trying to forget parts of his...specifically the parts that include a woman named Sarah Marshall.
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is a comedy from some of the same people who gave us the films SUPERBAD, THE 40-YEAR-OLD-VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP.
Kristen Bell - one of the stars of HEROES is Sarah, a television star who breaks up with her musician boyfriend. Jason Segel from the television show HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER is the boyfriend, and he is devastated by the break-up, so he decides to head to Hawaii to try and forget her.
And she just happens to be staying at the exact same hotel, with her new boyrfriend.
The thing that I most enjoyed about FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is the fact that everyone, all the main cast members are likeable. They aren't perfect, but there is no villain here, and that made the movie better.
It is also very, very funny.
FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is a great film, and I highly recommend it, and the summer blockbuster IRON MAN.
IRON MAN is one of the most entertaining films of the year, but it is a movie that should not have even worked. Robert Downey Jr, who plays wealthy wealthy industrialist Tony Stark who is forced to build an armored suit after a life-threatening incident and then he ultimately decides to use its technology to fight against evil, Downey is not the go-to guy for Hollywood action blockbusters, or superhero films based on comic books, and director John Favreau is better known as an actor, and the films that he had directed before this one were comedies or family films...not anything like IRON MAN.
Yet it all works, well.
The filmmakers took a chance with their lead actor and director, and you and I reap all the cinematic rewards.
This is a great movie, with a superb cast that also includes Gwenyth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard, and I think that you will really enjoy it, even if you don't necessarily like movies based on comic books.
And if you hate comic superhero movies...c'mon...take a chance!
The character of Iron Man first appeared in Marvel Comics' "Tales of Suspense Number 39" in March of 1963 and the great movie it is based on is now available on DVD, along with the very funny FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, the first seasons of the entertaining television shows SAMANTHA WHO and CHUCK, the 10TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the spectacular Aaron Sorkin series SPORTS NIGHT, and the goofy fun that is SEASON 4 of KENNY VS. SPENNY.
Coming up on the next Couch Potato Report
I will talk about EVEREST 82, the film based on the true story of the first Canadians to ever make it to the top of the world's tallest and most historic peak; SEASON TWO of the fun TV show MEERKAT MANOR, the interesting movie THE VISITOR, and CHAPTER 27 is an independent film depicting the murder of John Lennon by Mark David Chapman.
I'm Dan Reynish. I'll have more on those, and some other releases, in six days, next Saturday at the regular time of 8:45!
For now, that's this week's COUCH POTATO REPORT.
Enjoy the movies and I'll see you back here next time on The Couch!
Roy Orbison 4-CD set traces his career
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Twenty years after he died, Roy Orbison still can touch people with his piercing tenor.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, responsible for evergreen hits like "Oh, Pretty Woman," "Only the Lonely" and "Crying," won six Grammys and sold millions of CDs before dying of a heart attack in 1988 at age 52. Now the singer is the subject of a new retrospective, a four-CD box set of his 107 recordings. "The Soul of Rock and Roll" was released this week, and contains all of his hits and 12 previously unreleased tracks.
Barbara Orbison, his widow, says the new project tells "the history of Roy Orbison. They let you know how he evolved to become the artist he was."
Orbison, whose distinctive persona included ever-present sunglasses, dark clothing and an ebony pompadour, had a string of hits in the 1960s. Some of his other hits included "Blue Bayou," "In Dreams," "Dream Baby," "Running Scared" and "Mean Woman Blues."
"Elvis had sensuality and rebellion, but Roy had the depth of emotion not many others had," Jen Gunderman, a senior lecturer at Vanderbilt University who teaches a course on the history of rock 'n' roll, said of the singer.
"There was a kind of mystery and fragility about him — his black leather jacket, and he stood still when he performed," Gunderman said. "There was a vulnerability you didn't see with others."
Gunderman credited Orbison with helping to invent the rock ballad.
"He always conveyed sweeping emotion," Gunderman said of Orbison. "Others had conveyed much emotion in opera, so Roy was called the Pavarotti of rock 'n' roll."
She also said his performances in Europe with the Beatles as they were on their way to becoming the Fab Four helped influence a generation of musicians.
"His tour with the Beatles in 1963 had a huge influence on all of the British invasion acts, and not just with his singing, but with his arrangements," Gunderman said. "He tied together pop and country and rockabilly and British invasion acts in a way that's really unique."
Orbison suffered a career decline and personal tragedies after achieving success: His wife Claudette died in a 1966 motorcycle crash and two sons died in a house fire in 1968.
Orbison's career rebounded in the 1980s. He joined the Eagles on tour, and Van Halen had a hit with his "Oh, Pretty Woman" in 1982. He and k.d. lang did a duet remake of "Crying," winning a Grammy in 1988. Earlier in the decade, the duet "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" with Emmylou Harris won a Grammy.
In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bruce Springsteen, a former opening act for Orbison, was the presenter, saying, "nobody sings like Roy Orbison." A year later, he performed with the Traveling Wilburys, joining Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison.
Dozens of Orbison compilation CDs are available online, but none trace his overall career like "The Soul of Rock and Roll." The 12 previously unreleased tracks include "It's All Over" from his final concert Dec. 4, 1988, in Cleveland, two days before he died.
Orbison also toured with the Rolling Stones, and the deference that Barbara Orbison said Roy was given reflects how many rock stars felt about him.
"Keith (Richards) said everyone called him `Keith' and they called Mick (Jagger) `Mick,' but they called him Mr. Orbison."
"Chihuahua" has paws on the box-office prize
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It's looking like a dog of a weekend at the box office. Disney's dog, to be exact, as the Burbank studio unspools its PG comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" amid expectations that the live-action with talking dogs feature could fetch up to $30 million during its opening weekend.
The film's canines are voiced by Drew Barrymore, Jamie Lee Curtis, Andy Garcia and George Lopez.
Family patrons form the target audience, but Disney executives hope the young-at-heart crowd also will come along for the four-legged romp.
"In all the screenings we've done, we have gotten nothing but wonderful marks from all the audiences who were on hand," Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said. "So there's no question that this is a commercial, family film, but I believe we can expand on that audience."
With "Chihuahua" sure to bow at No. 1, last weekend's top dog -- DreamWorks/Paramount's "Eagle Eye" -- could grab second place, if the Shia LaBeouf/Michelle Monaghan thriller rings up half its $29.2 million opening gross during its sophomore session.
But Sony's young-skewing PG-13 comedy "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" also will compete for the silver-medal position. The musically driven romantic comedy starring Michael Cera ("Superbad") and Kat Dennings ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin") appears safe to open in the teen millions, and a particularly robust weekend could help it soar a bit higher than "Eagle."
Whatever the precise pecking order of the top films, their combined grosses should power the industry to a second consecutive year-over-year weekend uptick after a sluggish start to the fall box-office season. Less than $85 million was registered during the comparable year-ago frame, whose biggest opener was the disappointing $14 million bow by a remake of "The Heartbreak Kid."
This weekend's four other wide openers look likely to max out in the upper single-digit millions.
Miramax's "Blindness" -- starring Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Gael Garcia Bernal and directed by Fernando Meirelles -- is getting a wide bow, but the atmospheric thriller likely will need positive word-of-mouth from its first frame to fuel a leggy run toward commercial success. MGM and After Dark's R-rated comedy "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People," starring Simon Pegg ("Hot Fuzz"), should skew a bit older than "Playlist" and gross much lower.
Vivendi's political spoof "An American Carol" skewers liberal sensitivities and is likely to play best with even older audiences. "Carol" represents the first film release for Vivendi, whose next scheduled film is the Mariah Carey-starring "Tennessee" in December.
Spyglass Entertainment's Universal-distributed drama "Flash of Genius" stars Greg Kinnear but has barely registered in prerelease tracking surveys. Based on the true story of Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, "Genius"might find its true road to decent returns in the DVD market.
Universal this weekend also will offer 750 sneak previews of its October 10 pigskin film "The Express," starring Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown.