The IT Crowd
The Complete Second Season
Written and Directed by Graham Linehan
Starring Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, Matt Berry
MPI Home Video
Available now

The second season of any TV show is usually a vital one (the difficult second album syndrome). If the first season was brilliant the pressure is on those involved to make it as good as, but hopefully better, for the second. The pressure is not felt as strongly however if a second season is commissioned on the basis that it must be better than the uncertain first. This is where The IT Crowd sits. The first season displayed a lot of promising signs but was ultimately shaky.

If Season 1 of this sitcom was a sign of the show finding its feet, then The IT Crowd Season 2 is proof that it has found them. This season immediately feels more confident and relaxed, as though Graham Linehan (who continues to write and direct) feels more assured in his characters and the series as a result.

It gets off to a tremendous start and the best episode yet in The Work Outing which features the funniest theatre show I have ever seen. A trip to the theatre is the first time we really see Roy (Chris O’Dowd), Moss (Richard Ayoade) and Jen (Katherine Parkinson) outside the office and we see how well (or not) they cope in the outside world. Roy and Moss are very socially difficult. Not just at the theatre but when Jen is forced to invite them to her dinner party. Jen spends the evening trying to make sure her colleagues don’t embarrass her in front of her friends and her boyfriend. Not easy when the man she is trying to impress is called Peter File [...]

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Season 5, EP 1-4
Starring Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, Danny DeVito
FX Network

On the eve of the fifth season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I am sitting here wondering how this show can still be on the air. I am not talking about the blatant irreverence. The question comes more from the curiosity behind how a show like this can survive as long as it has without becoming monotonous and boring. At its heart it is the very definition of a one-trick pony.

If you tried to tell someone who hasn’t seen the show what it was about, it wouldn’t sound like much. It’s a group of underachievers who run a dive bar in south Philly who try to scheme their way into their vision of success. What they are trying to succeed at differs with each episode but it usually comes from a part of their brain that is poorly lit and with little thought of consequence. The truth is they are unsuccessful at just about everything they are involved in, business, relationships, sobriety; pretty much life in general. The only people that seem oblivious to their limitations are each other. You can gussy it up all you want, but at its core that is pretty much what you have. They don’t tell jokes, they don’t have extravagant thematic elements or running storylines, it just is what it is. We are four years into the sport of watching these characters flail around their little fishbowl and there is only one reason anyone in their right mind would still watch it — it’s still funny [...]

Until the emergence of Adult Swim’s Squidbillies, never had there been an animated program that so eloquently embodied the life of an alcoholic talking squid and his illegitimate son in the rural foothills of Georgia.

Such is true of the voice acting for Squidbillies’s hillbilly squid Early Cuyler, who routinely provides a plethora of thought provoking philosophical quotes such as his dinner table prayer:

“Dear lord… please allow this dangerous combination of hair spray, bat slobber, and D.O.T. four automatic transmission fluid to excite my mind, occupy my spirits, and enrage my body, provoking me to kick any man or woman in the back of the head regardless of what he or she has or has not done unto me.”

Lines of dialog like that can only be delivered effectively by one man, Stuart Daniel Baker a.k.a. the legendary Unknown Hinson. And long before becoming the voice of Early Cuyler, Hinson made a name for himself as a Rockabilly musician who is still touring. His songs are exactly how you’d imagine them to be (ridiculous and offensive). Actually, the amount of ridiculous shit that comes out of this man’s mouth is pretty much exactly like his Squidbillies character.

For proof I’ve provided videos of Unknown Hinson’s performance at the Dragon*Con 2009 Squidbillies panel…

Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is the Burn Notice: Seasons 1-2 on DVD for only $39.99 (that’s 60% off the list price of $98.98).

This is the Season 1 and 2 DVD bundled together for the hit USA series starring Jeffrey Donovan as a Michael, a spy who was given a “burn notice,” which means that he’s been blacklisted from intelligence work and has lost his work history, money, and even identity. Michael lives in Miami, where he takes on freelance work while trying to find out who burned him. Helping Michael out is his pyro happy ex-girlfriend Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar), as well as another intelligence agent, Sam, (Bruce Campbell), Michael’s only connection with the spy world [...]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 comic book series (Dark Horse) will tentatively conclude at issue #41, according to editor Scott Allie, who sat on a Dark Horse Comics panel at Dragon*Con 2009 earlier this month.

While Allie kept mum on all future plot details, he did say the final story arc would be a four-issue run written by Brad Meltzer (DC’s Identity Crisis mini series, Justice League of America) with art by series regular Georges Jeanty.

Buffy head honcho Joss Whedon will follow up the Meltzer/Jeanty run to tie up loose ends and set the stage for Season 9.

“We will do a Season 9 but there will be a break after Season 8 [ends],” Allie said, with no indication of how long the duration of the break would be.

Allie also said Season 9 could have a different editorial approach, possibly having one creative team as opposed to the rotating crop of writers and artists that was done in Season 8 [...]

CBS News is reporting that Patrick Swayze, best known for his many works on screens big and small, has succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 57. His family was by his side when he passed on.

Swayze’s illness, much like the late Farrah Fawcett, was highly publicized and many people watched on as the actor made every effort to beat this impossible sickness. When it was first reported that he had the disease, he was only given an unbelievable two weeks to live — this was two years ago; proof positive that he fought tooth and nail with all his heart and soul overcome the odds, even continuing to work on shows like The Beast, which earned him a multitude of critical acclaim.

Patrick Swayze is perhaps best known for his many roles ’80s. He first made an impact with his roles in the gang fighting movie The Outsiders and the pre-World War III drama Red Dawn. His then moved onto movies like Dirty Dancing, Road House, and Ghost, which made the man a huge star in the business. Since then, he was seen in the action favorite Point Break, To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, Black Dog, and Donnie Darko. [...]

As you may have noticed, our video team on the scene (I just made that up — gold star for me), Doug E. Karate and Rob E. Danger did a fantastic job of finding interesting things and people at Dragon*Con ‘09 and showcasing them for all who didn’t attend to see.

This time around we have three pretty epic videos for you to enjoy — two interviews, and even an in-depth lesson in the Gothic culture. The first chat is with a woman talks about how she fell in love with The Green Lantern while watching the cartoons in Spanish growing up, and who even attended the convention dressed as a Lantern herself. Next up, you’ll meet a real, live inventor who brought along one of his creations. I can’t honestly tell you what it is or what it does, but it does throws a bunch of random phrases at you. The contraption is rather big and hangs around our new friend’s neck as he strolls. It actually kind of looks like an ’80s computer and a calculator had a romantic romp inside Jeff Goldblum’s The Fly machine, and then was teleported via the ship from Galaxy Quest, resulting in some form of inside-out electronic device. [...]

Disney has been making some big announcements lately: their acquisition of Marvel Studios; a partnership with the great Guillermo del Toro; the motion capture remake of Yellow Submarine; and now this, the officially announcement of the title for Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

The fourth movie in one of the biggest movie franchises of all time will now be called Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (click image for full title graphic). The flick is locked and loaded with crucial Johnny Depp set to return as Jack Sparrow. To lower the budget a bit, both Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley will not be returning, unless they appear in small cameos.

Also expected to return is Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa, but this is not confirmed yet. The high hopes is that the Fountain of Youth storyline set up at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End will be used here. It also appears that there is a book titled On Stranger Tides that does involve the Fountain, so questions have also arisen as to if this will be the source material for the fourth film. [...]

Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is Will & Grace: The Complete Series DVD box set for only $124.99 (that’s 50% off the list price of $249.98).

This 33-disc DVD collection contains all eight seasons of the NBC comedy about Will (Eric McCormack, a gay lawyer in NYC, and Grace (Debra Messing), his former girlfriend turned best friend and roommate. The roomies are always looking for love but can’t seem to find it, and we’re never sure if Grace really ever got over Will. Will is the ‘nice’ guy and always the subject of ridicule by not only Grace, but by their two friends Jack [just Jack!] (Sean Hayes), an over the top gay man who fancies himself an actor, and the squeaky-voiced Karen (Megan Mullally), a rich lush who works (just barely) as Grace’s receptionist at her design company. While meant to be supporting characters, oftentimes, Jack and Karen steal the spotlight. Together, the foursome make for genuine comedic excellence.

The DVD set, which is packaged in a collectible cube-shaped display box, has over 70 hours of programming with an exclusive episode booklet and bonus disc with brand new extra features, including newly recorded commentaries with cast and crew, a photo gallery, themed featurettes, a Will & Grace quiz and much more [...]

James Marsters gave details about the role his character will play in the upcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica in a fan panel at Dragon*Con 2009.

“I saw the pilot. All I have to say is I was disturbed and had to shut it off,” Marsters said, after explaining that he can’t go into too much detail since the show is months away from airing.

He did add that playing a role with darker, most serious tone was very exciting [...]

Just when you thought that Fox couldn’t enrage you any more than they already have, it has now been announced that Chuck producer Scott Rosenbaum is developing a new show for the television studio that will supposedly be an “epic Western with a sci-fi twist” about a gunslinger who is caught between two worlds. Rosenbaum will be producing the show with Warner Brothers TV and Terminator Salvation director McG’s Wonderland Sound and Vision studio. No title or further details are known as of this moment.

The big catch in all of this, is that it sounds an awful lot like the basic premise for another former Fox title that just so happens to have a massive cult following of fans dying for its revival: Joss Whedon’s Firefly. Granted, the whole “stuck between worlds” bit sounds like it won’t be identical to Firefly, but it is still enough to scratch your head, and for some, maybe even become more angry. [...]

Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is The King of Queens – The Complete Series DVD boxset for only $93.99 (that’s 60% off the list price of $232.95).

This 27-disc DVD set contains all nine seasons of the CBS television sitcom which ran from 1998 to 2007 and starred comedian Kevin James as Doug Heffernan, a ‘big & tall’ man from Queens, NY, who works as an IPS delivery man (supposed to be like UPS). He lives with his pretty, but brash wife Carrie (Leah Remini) and her quirky elderly dad Arthur (Jerry Stiller – who played George Costanza’s father on Seinfeld). The series was a spin-off from CBS’s mega-hit comedy Everybody Loves Raymond and the cast of that show has made appearances on King of Queens. King of Queens also had a great supporting cast, being the launching pad for comedian Patton Oswalt, who played Doug’s lonely nerd of a friend.

The discs are housed quite adorably in an IPS truck, with the DVDs coming out through the box, with Doug at the wheel [...]

Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is The West Wing – The Complete Series Collection DVD boxset for only $120.99 (60% off the list price of $299.98).

This 45-disc collection contains all seven seasons of the NBC political television drama which starred Martin Sheen as an American President and showed the inner workings of the White House. The set includes audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes features, gag reels, and other extras that were part of the individual season DVD releases. There’s also creator Aaron Sorkin’s teleplay for the pilot episode.

The packaging, according the the product’s description, houses the DVDs in a dossier file box, with a faux-leather navy blue exterior graced with an embossed silver-foil presidential seal and a magnet-sealing flap that neatly closes the lid with no visible latches or clasps [...]

Sons of Anarchy
Created by Kurt Sutter
Starring Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman, Maggie Siff, Kim Coates, Mark Boone Junior
Twentieth Century Fox
Season 1 DVD release date: August 18, 2009
Season 2 premiere date: Tuesday, September 8, 10 EST/9 CST on FX

The handiest and dandiest nutshell in which to describe the FX show Sons of Anarchy is “Hamlet with Bikers.” It’s not the least accurate metaphor in the world: You have a Claudius, you have a Gertrude, and even the hero of the show, Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), has blond hair and blue eyes, looking as Danish as Danish can be. Hamlet with Bikers isn’t the worst kind of thing for a show. There are a whole ton of shows that don’t have Shakespearean allusions or dirty, smelly bikers, so can’t we have one that does?

But the more cynical way to describe Sons of Anarchy is “The Sopranos with Bikers,” but it’s too early to call on that one. The show needs six more seasons to overextend itself and a ton of out-of-place dream sequences to live up to that. That show got so bored with itself that it ended in mid-sentence to go and do something else.

Sons of Anarchy is the latest, and arguably best, drama to come out of the basic cable network FX, beating out other shows like Rescue Me, Damages, and the recently concluded The Shield (which is that show poor people had to make do with when they couldn’t get The Wire on HBO). In fact, I would go so far as to call Sons of Anarchy last season’s best new show in all of television. It took a little while to get its groove on, but it veered quite close to great in its second half. That’s something even the best shows on TV rarely do [...]

Almost a year ago, we found out that Smokin’ Aces director Joe Carnahan would be directing the new adaptation of The A-Team. Around the same time, there were rumors swirling that former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson could possibly be playing the role made famous by Mr. T: B.A. Baracus. These rumors weren’t taken very seriously, of course, and eventually many other names were rumored, which moved Jackson slightly out of memory.

It appears that this story is back in sight, as it is being reported by the Vancouver Sun that Rampage has shown up in Vancouver to begin filming for the movie. The report basically states that the fighter is there, and has been seen signing autographs, so technically it’s not a 100% confirmation. Though it does seem that Rampage’s much-anticipated upcoming fight with Rashad Evans has been called off for a second time — the first being due to injury, and this time, it’s assumed, so that the movie can be filmed. [...]

Ianto Jones will not return in future episodes of the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood television show, should it return for a third season, according to actor Gareth David-Lloyd in a panel at Dragon*Con 2009.

“It looks very likely that they’ll get a full season, but all we know is that they’re in talks,” David-Lloyd said. “As far as Ianto is concerned, he won’t [be returning]…”

“But, there’s always a chance,” David-Lloyd said, perhaps giving fans a spark of hope. “I really don’t know.”

Ianto met his untimely demise in the Torchwood Children of Men special, which evoked outrage from fans of the series and several campaigns to rally the show’s writers to change their minds [...]

Today’s Goldbox spotlight item of the day over at Amazon is Seinfeld – The Complete Series on DVD for only $99.99 (that’s 60% off the list price of $250.95).

The long-running show infamously known to be about “nothing” starred comedian Jerry Seinfeld as himself, along with Jason Alexander as his conniving best friend George, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as his ex-girlfriend turned gal pal Elaine, Michael Richards as his eccentric next door neighbor Kramer, and Wayne Knight as his neighbor/nemesis Newman. Jerry and his pals live in New York City and somehow manage to turn the mundane into a laugh riot, making the show — created by Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Larry David one of the funniest in sitcom history.

This 32-disc two-volume DVD set contains all 180 episodes of the nine-season series along with The Official Coffee Table Book, a 226-page, bound anthology filled with photos, quotes, trivia from every episode, and personal reflections from Jerry Seinfeld. The collectible book comes with a bonus disc featuring “The Roundtable,” an hour-long feature that’s a reunion of the entire cast along with Larry David on the ninth anniversary of the series finale.

Note, this deal is only good for today until midnight PST or until supplies last before then, so grab this well you can. It’s absolutely a worthy investment. Check out the DVD bonus features [...]

It’s being reported that HBO has given the greenlight to a new series called Boardwalk Empire. Eleven episodes of the show have been ordered to start the ball rolling. This is another in a slew of new shows that HBO is bringing to the table — a table that features, or has featured, some of the best shows on TV. Empire will be joined by another drama called Treme, which is set in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina and is from the creators of The Wire. If the much-talked about fantasy show Game of Thrones — based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series — gets the full greenlight, then HBO will have one of the most exciting TV slates imaginable…if they don’t already have it.

Boardwalk Empire is a period show, which takes place in the roaring ’20s during prohibition. It follows Nucky Thompson (set to be played by Steve Buscemi), who acts as “equal parts politician and gangster,” while likely building a prosperous illegal alcohol selling empire. [...]

The clever folks over at io9 have put together a video montage of science fiction moments from the NBC hit comedy 30 Rock.

Fans of the show who know their scifi know that quite often the show’s leading lady, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), loves to spout out references to scifi and other items of geek culture, and even wore a Princess Leia costume to jury duty to get out of serving. One time she was so impressed with an apartment that she exclaimed, “By hammer of Thor!” You don’t hear much like that on TV sitcoms. The sitcom has also incorporated spoofs of popular scifi and has had some primo scifi alumni guests like Carrie Fisher and Adam West [...]

The spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is the Family Guy – The Total World Domination Collection (with Stewie Head Packaging) DVD box set for only $74.99 (that’s 56% off the list price of $169.98).

This 22-disc DVD collection is the ultimate for any Family Guy fan. The set includes all 100 episodes of the hit animated television series through Season 6, along with the movie Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin – The Untold Story, Star Wars spoof, Family Guy: Blue Harvest, and an entire disc for “Family Guy Off The Cutting Room Floor.” All of this comes complete in a packaging that looks like Stewie’s head [...]