DVD Zone: December 2008
DVD Zone
The 2008 Holiday DVD Gift Guide
So the economy’s in the tank. Big deal. That shouldn’t keep you from treating those you hold near and dear to some great DVD sets this holiday season. Besides, you’d just spend the money foolishly on stuff like the mortgage, rent, food, or whatever. C’mon, anybody can do that.
The best stuff this year comes from the T.V. spectrum, with Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition (Shout Factory) leading the charge. Creator Aaron Sorkin’s criminally overlooked peek into the world of a 24-hour sports network ran for only two seasons, but provided a springboard for most involved to move on to greater success in future projects.
Peter Krause (Six Feet Under, Dirty Sexy Money), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), and Josh Charles (S.W.A.T.) head the cast, along with great supporting work from Robert Guillaume (“Benson”).
The eight-disc set contains commentary from Sorkin and various cast members on eight of the episodes, and a segment with ESPN’s on-air staff discussing the pros and cons of the fictional sports network.
The set will punch a $55 hole in your wallet, but it’s money well spent. Sorkin would of course go on to much greater success with The West Wing, also available with The West Wing: The Complete Series Collection (Warner Home Video) for about $120, and not-so-great success with the one-season-and-out Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, which you can pick up for about 45 bucks.
Of course, if you grew up in the ’80s, the sitcom that immediately springs to mind is The Cosby Show. Now, in perhaps the best bargain of the season, you can pick up The Cosby Show: 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition (First Look Home Entertainment), a 26-disc set for around $90.
Every episode of the show’s eight-season run is included, along with a hardcover book, an interview with Bill Cosby, and a blooper section. About the only thing missing is a 25th-anniversary commemorative sweater.
Tracey Ullman came to prominence in the late-’80s with The Tracey Ullman Show, but nowadays finds herself occupying her time with Tracey Ullman’s State Of The Union (Eagle Media). The British comedienne adopts the guises of characters from all over the pop culture landscape from entertainment figures such as Renee Zellweger and Helen Mirren, political names like Nancy Pelosi, and newscasters Campbell Brown and Andy Rooney. The single disc contains all five episodes, as well as bloopers, deleted scenes, and Ullman screen-testing various characters.
And finally on the TV front, you can’t go wrong with Shout! Factory’s Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition, still one of the funniest shows of the last 20 years. It’s four discs and four films featuring the MST3K goofballs’ trademark wise-ass comments hurled at the truly dreadful onscreen works. Special features include a cast reunion at the 2008 Comic-Con moderated by comedian Patton Oswalt, and trailers from the original films used in the set.
If music DVDs are what you’re looking for, ya gotta go with the classics.
Rush: Snakes & Arrows Live documents the Canadian threesome’s most recent marathon tour supporting their strongest album in years. The three-disc set has just about everything to excite both long-time fan and newcomer alike. A healthy mix of classics (“The Spirit Of Radio,” “Tom Sawer”) mix seamlessly with the newest tracks (“Workin’ Them Angels,” “The Larger Bowl”).
Also, check out Cheap Trick’s Budokan! (Epic/Legacy). The set contains four discs of both DVD and audio from the Rockford favorite’s star-making turn in the land of the rising sun. For an in-depth review, check out this month’s “Spins” section.
Last but not least is The Police: Certifiable (A&M). The two-disc set features a concert shot in Buenos Aires, along with bonus features. While I’m loathe to endorse products that are exclusively sold and marketed by one store, I’ll make an exception here. Certifiable promises to be the last time we get to see The Police on stage, as they’ve said that the two-year reunion/farewell tour was it. The End. Finito.
Or, if the history of rock reunions is any indication, until they decide to do it again.
— Timothy Hiatt
