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List Price: $39.98Price: $25.99You Save: $13.99 (35%)The Simpsons - The Complete Seventh Season
Actors: Harry Shearer, Nancy Cartwright
ASIN : B000BQPC42
Sales Rank : 1460
Brand : SIMPSONS
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : Animated, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543219064
UPC : 024543219064
Release Date : December 13, 2005
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 571
DescriptionSeason 7 of this beloved animated series includes the famous "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" episode and Tree House of Horror VI. Chock full of extras, this season is a tremendous asset to any DVD collection Amazon.com One of the hallmark seasons of The Simpsons, season 7 features some of the strongest episodes produced during the show’s run. Considering that this is The Simpsons we’re talking about here, that’s saying a lot, but this collection deserves the accolades. Broadcast in 1995, season seven features several signature episodes, including Part II of "Who Shot Mr. Burns," "Bart Sells His Soul," and "Two Bad Neighbors" where former President George Herbert Walker Bush moves into the neighborhood (an episode gamely playing on the former President’s open dislike for the show). One of The Simpsons’s most definitive episodes, "Treehouse of Horror VI" famously broke the third wall by using the then-groundbreaking CGI technology to render Homer first in a 3-D world, then in real life, (despite the evolution in his form, he naturally ends up in an erotic cake shop). As the producers openly note on the commentary, it was a big deal at the time, and super expensive, which is why they could only do a few minutes of footage in CGI (some fans will particularly enjoy the revealing commentary on this one, as the producers explain the many visual puns and math jokes appearing in the background of the 3-D world). It’s a great example of how The Simpsons continued to play with its visual style and take creative risks years into its run. In fact, one of the best episodes on this collection, "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" proves just how far the look and style of the show really came during that time. Hosted by actor Troy McClure (voiced by the late comic great Phil Hartman), it presents never-before-seen outtakes and original footage from the show’s debut days on The Tracey Ullman Show, while taking a few self-referential digs at show creators Matt Groening, James Brooks, and Sam Simon. Other gems include "Homerpalooza" where Homer thanks guests The Smashing Pumpkins for their gloomy music because it has made his kids "stop wishing for a future I can’t possibly provide," and "Bart the Fink" where Bart inadvertently gets Krusty the Klown busted for tax "avoision." Along with the 25 episodes there are extensive commentaries, featurettes, and deleted scenes all of which add immense value to the set and will give die-hard fans another excuse to spend more hours in front of the TV. It’s another benchmark collection from a show that, up to this point, doesn’t seem to know its own limits. --Dan Vancini
Reviews for the The Simpsons - The Complete Seventh Season
List Price: $59.99Price: $24.99You Save: $35 (58%)Brothers and Sisters - The Complete First Season
Actors: Calista Flockhart, Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin, Patricia Wettig
ASIN : B000R7HRRA
Sales Rank : 754
Brand : BROTHERS & SISTERS
Studio : Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Color, NTSC, Subtitled
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0786936722956
UPC : 786936722956
Release Date : December 18, 2007
Publisher : Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Manufacturer : Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Running Time : 988
Studio description Enter the complex world of the Walkers, and explore what it means to be an American family in the 21st century. Though they live very different and conflicting lives, the Walkers find unity under the family roof. Relationships bend but never break as they strive to find their own identities and embrace each other’s differences. It's "an encounter to look forward to," says The Wall Street Journal. Get caught up in one of television’s most reflective and sophisticated dramas. Calista Flockhart, Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin, Balthazar Getty and Patricia Wettig lead a stellar cast in ABC’s critically acclaimed hit Brothers & Sisters. Experience every episode of Season One, including exclusive, in-depth bonus material, in this six-disc DVD set. Stills from Brothers and Sisters (click for larger image) Amazon.com Just because you're all grown up doesn't mean your family dynamics get any easier. Luckily for TV fans, the first season of Brothers and Sisters makes for addictive watching while exploring the intricacies of a family, in crisis and in repose. First, let us give thanks for the amazing Sally Field, who has literally grown up on the small screen, and who now plays the matriarch of the Walker family, though not as a power-mad dowager, but as a well-meaning, slightly naive but fiercely loyal California girl gone ever-so-slightly gray. In fact, when this show debuted in the fall of 2006, it was known as the "new Calista Flockhart show," but Field quickly became the standout in a stellar ensemble cast. While the Walkers' problems of money and business deals may seem rarefied to some, the family pecking orders and feuds are universal and handled deftly by the writers and the actors, including Patricia Wettig, the icy former mistress of the dearly departed Walker pere (Tom Skerritt), and brothers Dave Annable and Balthazar Getty. Rachel Griffiths is a tart sisterly counterpoint to Flockhart's flighty Ann Coulter wannabe. In short, anyone with a family should be able to relate. And, perhaps, cringe a bit. --A.T. Hurley
Reviews for the Brothers and Sisters - The Complete First Season
List Price: $39.98Price: $34.99You Save: $4.99 (12%)The Honeymooners - Classic 39 Episodes
Actors: Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, Joyce Randolph, George Petrie
ASIN : B0000BV1XX
Sales Rank : 1367
Brand : Paramount
Studio : Paramount
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792190882
ISBN : 0792190882
UPC : 097368792043
Release Date : December 04, 2003
Publisher : Paramount
Manufacturer : Paramount
Availability : Usually ships in 7 to 13 days
Label : Paramount
Running Time : 1016
Product DescriptionStudio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 06/21/2005 Rating: Nr Amazon.comGet the bag. As The Honeymooners continues to get bumped from late-night TV schedules across the nation--by laughably unfunny shows such as Friends and Murphy Brown no less--legions of Honeymoonies will need to get their fix in other ways. This set--the Honeymoonie's Holy Grail--contains all 39 episodes from the legendary 1955-1956 season. There's no commentary from some "expert" who compares Ralph to gods from Greek mythology or memories from some assistant producer--it's just the meat, and that's enough to make any fan salivate. This was the only season that The Honeymooners had a life of its own apart from the Jackie Gleason Show, and as much as we tried to welcome the "Lost Episodes" into our family, they very rarely matched the high quality of the classic 39. Rather than sequence them in order, the producers have decided to group them by eight different themes including Ralph's jealous nature, his life at the Gotham Bus Company, his friendship with Norton, domestic troubles, and financial woes. Sometimes this approach is a bit forced, but it does illustrate why The Honeymooners is the ultimate situation comedy: You can show them out of order. No matter what happens to the Bensonhurst foursome, Ralph will still work for the bus company, Norton in the sewer. They'll be struggling to get by, passing the time bowling, shooting pool, arguing with the wives, and dreaming of a better day. And it's in the mundanity of everyday life that The Honeymooners finds boundless humor. Even when the events were anything but mundane--bank robbers, counterfeiters, TV commercials, game shows, golf dates with The Boss--the real story and the best jokes were about the reality of their lives and the realization that, because of marriage and friendship, they didn't really have it so bad after all. The chemistry between Jackie Gleason and Art Carney still amazes after all these years. Audrey Meadows's Alice is the perfect foil for Ralph, stern but sympathetic. And Joyce Randolph's Trixie? Well, let's just call her "earnest." Still, for all of Norton's frenetic energy and Alice's wisdom, the show belongs to Ralph Kramden. Somehow, Gleason took a chauvinistic, paranoid, insensitive, scheming, bitter, loudmouth, underachieving bus driver and made him a hero to millions. --Marc Greilsamer
Reviews for the The Honeymooners - Classic 39 Episodes
List Price: $39.98Price: $15.99You Save: $23.99 (60%)Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Fourth Season
Actors: Larry David, Cheryl Hines
ASIN : B0009WIE34
Sales Rank : 928
Director : Andy Ackerman, Larry Charles, Bryan Gordon, Dean Parisot, David Steinberg
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Hbo Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780783119304
ISBN : 0783119305
UPC : 026359242922
Release Date : December 30, 2005
Publisher : Hbo Home Video
Manufacturer : Hbo Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Hbo Home Video
Running Time : 330
DescriptionLarry David lives a charmed life-an understanding wife, famous friends, a supportive manager and an angelic singing voice so what's his problem? See Larry buy medical marijuana, take a hooker to a baseball game, steal a golf club from a corpse, ruin Ben Stiller's birthday part, attempt to cash in on his tenth anniversary present with Gina Gershon and trip the light fantastic in The Producers with Mel Brooks and David Schwimmer. DVD Features:
Episodic Previews
Episodic Recaps
Amazon.comHe never learns. In the fourth season of his award-winning HBO comedy series, the quasi-fictional character of Larry David continues to say--and do--whatever he wants whenever he wants. In the first episode alone ("Mel's Offer"), in which Mel Brooks offers him the role of Max Bialystock in The Producers, David offends a doctor, a lesbian couple, a wheelchair user, and Ben Stiller (by not shaking his hand after he sneezes). Then, in the second ("Ben's Birthday Party"), he offends a blind man--by telling him his girlfriend's not as hot as she claims--and pokes Stiller in the eye with a skewer while attempting to show agent Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin) his new golf move. Larry continues to offend Stiller until he drops out of The Producers and, in the fifth episode ("The 5 Wood"), David Schwimmer (Friends) steps in. The following episode ("The Car Pool Lane"), in which David attends a Dodgers game--with a prostitute, so he can use the carpool lane--made history when it set an innocent man free. Unused footage from the show, entered into evidence by the defense attorney, confirmed his client's alibi that he couldn't have committed a murder because he was at the game (alas, the Braves still trounced the Dodgers). Other guests include Ted Danson ("The Weatherman"), Russell Means ("Wandering Bear"), and Gina Gershon ("The Survivor") as a Hasidic hottie. In addition, the hour-long season finale ("Opening Night") boasts a bevy of stars, including David’s old colleague Jerry Seinfeld, Nathan Lane (Broadway's original Bialystock), and fellow Tony Award winner Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker). As they've done since the early days, Cheryl Hines (Cheryl David), Susie Essman (Susie Greene), and Richard Lewis and Wanda Sykes (as themselves) do what they can to keep one-man demolition derby David in check. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Reviews for the Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Fourth Season
List Price: $39.98Price: $31.99You Save: $7.99 (20%)Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Third Season
Actors: Larry David, Cheryl Hines
ASIN : B00067BCB8
Sales Rank : 2116
Director : Andy Ackerman, Larry Charles, Bryan Gordon, Dean Parisot, David Steinberg
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Hbo Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780783107318
ISBN : 0783107315
UPC : 026359114922
Release Date : December 18, 2005
Publisher : Hbo Home Video
Manufacturer : Hbo Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Hbo Home Video
Running Time : 300
Description(HBO Comedy Series) Larry David has a charmed life--success, famous friends, a patient wife, a dedicated manager and a trendy new restaurant...so what's his problem? See Larry spike some brownies, recommend a deranged nanny, thwart an Alanis Morissette concert, rob a grave and get a kid drunk. Along the way he encounters Martin Scorsese, Cheri Oteri, Richard Lewis, Krazee-Eyez Killa, and the Holy Family...and manages to piss them all off. Amazon.comThe third season of HBO's comedy sensation offers more of the same. "Not that there's anything wrong with that," to quote Larry David's other television series, a certain little sitcom called Seinfeld. Consequently, Curb Your Enthusiasm's junior year means more Larry (Larry David) and more of his hilariously embarrassing mishaps. It also means more of his patient spouse Cheryl (Cheryl Hines), avuncular manager Jeff (Jeff Garlin), Jeff’s foul-mouthed wife Susie (Susie Essman), and assorted celebrity pals, including Richard Lewis, Ted Danson, Wanda Sykes, Paul Reiser, and Martin Short, all playing themselves (or, like Larry, versions thereof). The theme that (loosely) ties these 10 episodes together is Larry's involvement in upscale eatery Bobo's, in which Danson and Michael York (yes, that Michael York) are co-investors. As expected, the restaurant will serve to complicate Larry's life in every conceivable way--and vice versa. But the funniest (and most profane) episode must surely be "Krazee-Eyez Killa," starring Chris Williams (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) as the fidelity-impaired gangster rapper to whom Wanda has become engaged. This riotous installment, which sends up Jewish, Italian, and African American gangsters alike, won an Emmy for Robert B. Weide's direction and features that old master-of-direction himself, Martin Scorsese, who first appeared in "The Special Section" (in which Larry bribes a gravedigger to relocate his mother’s gravesite). It's also the episode in which Larry gets a hair stuck in his throat. That hair, which once belonged to someone rather close to him, will remain lodged there for the next several episodes, until a "divine intervention" in "Mary, Joseph and Larry" dislodges it once and for all--along with the last of Larry's dignity. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Reviews for the Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Third Season
List Price: $24.96Price: $19.99You Save: $4.97 (20%)The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 2: 1937-1939
Actor: Three Stooges
ASIN : B00151QYYE
Sales Rank : 1264
Brand : Sony
Studio : Sony Pictures
Region Code : 99
Format : Black & White, Full Screen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0043396257993
UPC : 043396257993
Release Date : December 27, 2008
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Sony Pictures
Running Time : 415
Product DescriptionStudio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/27/2008 Run time: 412 minutes Amazon.comBy 1937, where Volume Two of this long overdue chronological collection picks up, Moe, Larry, and Curly had been performing together for over a decade, and appeared in several feature films and 19 short subjects for Columbia. They were just getting warmed up; there is nary a clunker among the 24 shorts on this two-disc set. Several rank in the Stooges pantheon, including "Grips, Grunts and Groans" (with Bustoff the wrestler), "Violent is the Word for Curly" (with "Swinging the Alphabet"), and "Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb" (the Stooges live the hotel high life after Curly wins a radio contest). These comedies must have been a great escape for Depression-era moviegoers, particularly the ones in which the rich are reduced to food-throwing goofs ("Three Sappy People"). For the Stooges, it’s not prosperity that’s around the corner, but more often, con men on the lookout for "suckers" to swindle ("A Ducking They Will Go," "Playing the Ponies"). Reflecting America’s can-do spirit, the Stooges are nothing if not resilient. These shorts may find them down, but they are never out. The boys are ungainfully employed as Calvary spies ("Goofs and Saddles"), janitors ("Three Missing Links"), dog washers ("Mutts to You"), firemen ("Flat Foot Stooges"), traveling salesmen ("Saved by the Belle"), and vets ("Calling all Curs"). Some of the best shorts turn on mistaken identity: They are confused for college professors in "Violent is the Word for Curly," high society escorts in "Termites of 1938," and famous decorators in "Tassels in the Air." For all the hair-tearing, eye-poking, and shovel-clobbering, the Stooges surprise with the odd musical grace note, such as their rendition of the silly "The Lollipop Song" in "Wee Wee Monsieur," and their music box-accompanied pas-de-trio with pilgrim lasses Faith, Hope, and Charity in "Back to the Woods." One also does not ordinarily look to the Stooges for pathos, or, for that matter, heartwarming happy endings, but "Cash and Carry" delivers both as the boys set out to raise $500 for a crippled boy's operation. "Flat Foot Stooges" is something of a milestone. It marks the debut of "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges new theme song, which would replace the twittering "Listen to the Mockingbird." The shorts are presented complete and uncut, which means the PC police are standing by to issue citations for such egregious stereotypes as the grunting, shrieking "savages" in the colonial comedy, "Back to the Woods," and the Stooges’ turn as Yiddish-speaking Chinese launderers in "Mutts to You." --Donald Liebenson
Reviews for the The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 2: 1937-1939
List Price: $29.98Price: $24.99You Save: $4.99 (17%)Will & Grace: Season Seven
Actors: Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, Sean Hayes, Leigh Allyn Baker
ASIN : B000VZADPQ
Sales Rank : 1903
Director : James Burrows
Brand : Lions Gate
Studio : Lions Gate
Format : AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0031398221784
UPC : 031398221784
Release Date : December 04, 2007
Publisher : Lions Gate
Manufacturer : Lions Gate
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Lions Gate
Running Time : 515
Product DescriptionStudio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 515 minutes Rating: Nr Amazon.com What is this; Seinfeld? Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer have nothing on Will, Grace, Karen, and Jack when it comes to acting self-absorbed, vain, and downright rude in this penultimate season. But unlike that other New York quartet, Will, Grace, and company are allowed the occasional, redemptive vulnerable moment, as in the season opener, when Grace must decide whether to forgive her cheating husband, Leo (Harry Connick Jr.). In this comparatively lackluster season (its 15 Emmy nominations notwithstanding), Will & Grace seems to be scratching its own seven-year itch. For gay Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and his lifelong straight best friend Grace Adler (Debra Messing), dealing with their self-diagnosed "toxic" codependent relationship has become stale even to them, as they tell their therapist in the episode "The Blonde Leading the Blonde": "Blah, blah dysfunctional, blah, blah, blah, psychologically crippled; we've been over it so many times, we have it on coasters." So why analyze? Will & Grace, this season, is gag-centric Family Guy-funny. We may not recognize the characters at times, but they make us laugh in their own inimitable style. Sean Hayes' in-your-face, get-used-to-it Jack, especially, has been reduced to "a moron," as Will so bluntly calls him at one point. But at least the writers finally found him a job that brilliantly serves his character. He is hired as an executive at a new gay network, Out TV, giving him license to create such shows as the Punk'd rip-off, Pink'd, with an unsuspecting Will as its first victim. Grace's love life is as lorn as ever. In "Partners," she is set up with the spank-happy husband (a gleefully demented Buck Henry) of Will's boss (Lily Tomlin). In the season cliffhanger, she is drawn to a former college boyfriend (Eric Stoltz) who, turns out, is married. Karen (Megan Mullaly), whose own marriage lasted all of 22 minutes, finds herself the target of a former high school classmate bent on ruining her life (Jeff Goldblum). Will, for once, has the most romantically stable relationship with sensitive lug of a cop Vince (Bobby Cannavale, honored with an Emmy this season), but more arresting is his late-season career change that happily (for viewers) finds him rather suspiciously employed by the mysterious Malcolm (Alec Baldwin in what was perhaps a dry run for 30 Rock). Season 7 is a typically star-studded one, but the personages who appear as themselves (Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson) do not fare as well as those who portray characters. Sharon Stone displays her comedic instincts as a no-nonsense therapist who sparks a rivalry between Will and Grace. Molly Shannon makes a welcome return as the unstable Val. Kristin Davis appears as Nadine, Vince's own "Grace," who hates Will until Grace sets her straight. Alan Arkin also appears as Grace's emotionally distant father. How much fun would cast commentary have been? The next best thing is the bonus outtake reel that captures the ensemble's genuine chemistry that redeems even the most obvious of jokes. --Donald Liebenson
Reviews for the Will & Grace: Season Seven
List Price: $24.96Price: $19.99You Save: $4.97 (20%)The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 4: 1943-1945
Actor: Three Stooges
ASIN : B001D7T6AO
Sales Rank : 1171
Brand : Sony
Studio : Sony Pictures
Region Code : 99
Format : AC-3, Black & White, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0043396271043
UPC : 043396271043
Release Date : December 07, 2008
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Sony Pictures
Running Time : 359
Product DescriptionThe hilarious slapstick antics of Larry, Moe and Curly are back in digitally re-mastered versions of The Three Stooges shorts originally created from 1943 - 1945. The set includes, in original release order, all 21 complete shorts filmed during these years. Amazon.comIn "Crash Goes the Hash," Moe, Larry and Curly offend a snooty butler's sensibilities. "Such levity," he sniffs. "You remind me of the Three Stooges." In a huff, Curly replies, "Hey, that's an insult." No, it's the highest compliment. The best of these 21 shorts (and even the worst have at least some redeeming bits of silliness) are essential for every Stooge-phile's library. This chronological collection is book-ended by two key shorts. Violent is the word for "They Stooge to Conga," jaw-dropping slapstick porn that features an excruciating bit wherein Moe's head, ear, and eye are punctured by Curly's spiked shoe. "Micro-Phonies" is arguably the Stooges' very best short, in which Curly is mistaken for an operatic singer. The lip-sync renditions of "Voices of Spring" and the sextet from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor are moments that even Stooge-haters love. Mistaken identity happens a lot to the boys. They are mistaken for doctors in "A Gem of a Jam," reporters in "Crash Goes the Hash," sweepstakes winners in "Three Pets in a Mess," and Japanese soldiers in "No Dough, Boys." In several of these wartime shorts it seems they can't turn around with uncovering a "rat's nest" of Japanese and German spies and saboteurs. Perhaps the stereotypical portrayals of the Axis villains in "They Stooge to Conga," "Back from the Front" and "Higher Than a Kite" can be forgiven today. However, as great a performer as African-American character actor Dudley Dickerson is, his cowardly, put-upon characters in "Conga" and "Gem" are a little more problematic in our more enlightened times. Other notable shorts are "Gents Without Cents," in which the Stooges return to their vaudeville roots with their performance of their signature "Niagara Falls" sketch ("Slowly I turn…."). "Busy Buddies," in which Curly enters a cow-milking contest, is another fan favorite. "Idle Roomers" marks the debut of the versatile Christine McIntyre, one of the great additions to the Stooges stock company. "If a Body Meets a Body" marks the first use of the swing version of the Stooges' "Three Blind Mice" theme. The first short produced following Curly Howard's mild stroke, it also marks the beginning of the end for the Curly era. But this thoughtfully produced collection ensures that the Stooges' legacy is secure. These shorts, to quote Curly in "Crash Goes the Hash," are mostly "colossal, stupendous, terrific…even superlative." --Donald Liebenson Amazon.com
Stooges fans may experience a sense of the bittersweet mixed with their elation over the arrival of Volume 4 in the digitally remastered Three Stooges Collection; although the new set continues to present the knucklehead's legendary comedy shorts in pristine condition and chronological order, it's also the beginning of the end in regards to the participation of Jerome "Curly" Howard, who arguably remains the most popular member of the trio. By 1943-44, a variety of debilitating health issues robbed Howard of his manic energy, which is more than evident in shorts like "If a Body Meets a Body" and "Micro-Phonies," both from 1945. Unfortunately, brother Moe Howard's requests to halt production was nixed by Columbia, which resulted in a further decline in Curly's health that would eventually lead to the stroke in 1946 that forced his retirement from the team. And while the knowledge of Howard's health issues casts something of a pall over the set, there are still plenty of laughs to be had over the course of the two-disc set. Chief among the highlights is "Dizzy Detectives," which pits the boys against a rampaging ape man; "Spook Louder," (Stooges vs. mad scientist with death ray machine; viewers should note that the short features some World War II-era anti-Japanese sentiment); "Gents Without Cents," which features their version of the "Niagara Falls" routine; and "Dizzy Pilots," which chronicles the Stooges' contributions to the aviation industry (all disastrous, of course). As with the previous Collection releases, seven of the 21 shorts included in the set are making their DVD debuts; the flawless quality of the DVD presentation, as well as the sheer amount of nyuks on hand, make Volume 4 a must-have for every self-respecting Stooge-phile. --Paul Gaita
Reviews for the The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 4: 1943-1945
List Price: $39.98Price: $25.49You Save: $14.49 (36%)The Simpsons - The Complete Fourth Season
Actors: Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Doris Grau, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith
ASIN : B0001Z3IPS
Sales Rank : 2047
Director : Carlos Baeza, David Silverman, Jeffrey Lynch, Jim Reardon, Mark Kirkland
Brand : SIMPSONS
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Animated, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543119173
UPC : 024543119173
Release Date : December 15, 2004
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 506
Product DescriptionStudio: Tcfhe Release Date: 11/30/2007 Amazon.comBy its fourth season, The Simpsons had come far enough where Lisa could make a self-referential joke about Dustin Hoffman and Michael Jackson's pseudonymous guest voice appearances in seasons 2 and 3, respectively. In this season, no less than Elizabeth Taylor (in two episodes), Bette Midler, and even the reclusive Johnny Carson blessed The Simpsons with their iconic presences. Awhile back, Entertainment Weekly ranked The Simpsons' Top 25 best episodes ever. Five gems from season 4 cracked the top 12, including the (debatable) choice for No. 1, "Last Exit to Springfield." Other episodes that loom large in the Simpsons legend are "Mr. Plow" (you know the jingle: "Call Mr. Plow / That's my name / That name again is Mr. Plow"), "Marge vs. the Monorail," featuring a Music Man-style extravaganza, and "A Streetcar Named Marge," the episode that outraged New Orleans residents, who heard their fair metropolis referred to as "a city that the damned call home." The Simpsons smartly subverts traditional family sitcom convention, but anyone who thinks the show doesn't have a heart is advised to watch "I Love Lisa" and "New Kid on the Block," two fourth-season gems that absolutely nail the agony and ecstasy of unrequited crushes ("You won't be needing this," a heartbroken Bart fantasizes his babysitter saying while dropkicking his heart into a wastebasket in "New Kid"). While the Simpsons' celebrated ensemble gets all the glory, we must pause now to praise the peerless writing staff, among them, George Meyer, Al Jean, Jon Vitti, John Swartzwelder, David Silverman, and Conan O'Brien. One can only marvel in astonishment at the alchemy that went into creating, week after week, such essential episodes as "Kamp Krusty," "Streetcar," the profane and profound "Homer the Heretic," and "Lisa the Beauty Queen" (And that's just disc 1!). The animators, too, rose to the occasion, particularly in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie," with its dead-on, ultra-violent sinking of the seminal Disney cartoon, "Steamboat Willie." And another benchmark in The Simpsons' rise to the TV pantheon: Its very first clip show. What Homer says about donuts in "Monorail" holds true as well for The Simpsons itself: Is there anything this show can't do? --Donald Liebenson
Reviews for the The Simpsons - The Complete Fourth Season
List Price: $27.98Price: $19.49You Save: $8.49 (30%)The Waltons - The Complete First Season
Actors: Jon Walmsley, Mary Beth McDonough, Eric Scott, Earl Hamner Jr., Judy Norton-Taylor
ASIN : B0001DMXEC
Sales Rank : 1071
Director : Alf Kjellin, Fielder Cook, Harry Harris, Jack Shea, Lee Philips
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780790789613
ISBN : 0790789612
UPC : 085393226220
Release Date : December 11, 2004
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 1249
DescriptionThey built their home on the timeless mountain that bears their name. They built their lives on even stronger stuff: the bedrock of family. This 5-disc set features all 24 Year-One episodes of the beloved series that ran 9 years and won 5 Emmy Awards its inaugural year, including Outstanding Drama Series. Richard Thomas plays the key role of John-Boy Walton, a youth on the verge of manhood during the Great Depression and a fledgling writer whose observations are filled with the growing-up lessons and love he receives from father John, mother Olivia, Grandma, Grandpa and all the rest of The Waltons. Amazon.comThe Waltons' nearly 10-year run on network television grew out of the popular, 1971 made-for-TV movie The Homecoming, which was derived from a Depression-era, rustic setting ("Walton's Mountain"), and characters based on Earl Hamner Jr.'s autobiographical novel Spencer's Mountain--itself the source for a very nice 1963 feature film starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. That's a lot of entertainment sprouting from Hamner's prose. But something about his seminal story of family values, rugged independence, and big dreams amidst a hardscrabble existence captured the hearts of American audiences, many of whom personally recalled severe economic adversity in the 1930s. The Waltons: The Complete First Season collects those initial episodes from the series building on the strengths of the Homecoming pilot, which introduced the extended Walton clan led by a strong-willed mill owner, John (Andrew Duggan), and his equally resolute wife, Olivia (Patricia Neal). The Waltons recast those key roles (as well as a few others) with Ralph Waite and Michael Learned (yup, a female), but Richard Thomas carried over as oldest child John-Boy Walton, an aspiring writer whose cusp-of-manhood view informs the series. Will Geer (Seconds) replaced Edgar Bergen as Grandpa Walton, Ellen Corby remained as Grandma, and John and Olivia's large brood (seven kids in all) were filled out by largely unknown, young actors. The episodes, still delightful and touching, strong on production values and unusually tight and polished for primetime drama, tended to focus on creator Hamner's pet themes of self-sacrifice and heroic effort when the going got tough. Year 1 highlights include "The Carnival," in which the impoverished Waltons, who can't pay for tickets to see a circus performance, end up sheltering stranded carney folk. "The Typewriter" is a classic about John-Boy "borrowing" a museum's antique typewriter, only to have his sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton) sell it as junk. "The Sinner" concerns the arrival of a fundamentalist minister on Walton's Mountain, finding comfort in the words of religious iconoclast John Walton after the clergyman makes a fool of himself with moonshine. That's Hamner himself providing touches of narration. During the long run of the multiple-award-winning The Waltons, there were many changes in casting and storylines. But this boxed set reveals a fine series in its pristine state. --Tom Keogh
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