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The Odd Couple: The Fourth Season brings us another 22 episodes of the best damn sitcom that wasn’t overplayed in syndication. The set up is simple with two roommates clashing over their lifestyle choices. Felix (Tony Randall) is an anal retentive, neatfreak. Oscar (Jack Klugman) is a blissful slob. Can they survive in a single Manhattan apartment or is the set up for a True Crime special. This fourth season brings quite a few guest stars. My childhood idol Wolfman Jack appears in “The Songwriter” while Oscar is giving his mallet to The Gong Show’s Jaye P. Morgan. “The Exorcists” has Felix swearing their air conditioner is possessed by a trapped spirit. Victor Buono (King Tut from Batman) has to help them release the ghost. “The Pig Who Came to Dinner” brings us Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs during their tennis match hype. “One for the Bunny” has Hugh Hefner playing himself when he was merely middle-aged. Felix is hired to photograph the Playboy Centerfold. The Fourth Season proves that The Odd Couple wasn’t even close to jumping the shark. Bring on the fifth and final season boxset.

Hawaii Five-O: The Fourth Season shows us how Steve McGarrett kept the law in the tropical paradise. Mostly by intimidating them with his bold haircut. This was the final season of the original Five-O crew since Det. Kono Kalakaua (played by Zulu) was “transfered out” of the unit. This might be the worst career move in showbiz. Hawaii Five-0 continued for eight more seasons and Zulu didn’t have to do too much heavy lifting to pick up that paycheck. His final shift proved to be exciting with plenty of major crimes mixed with a few outlandish investigations. There’s a major science fiction storyline in the two-part “The Ninety-Second War.” The evil Wo Fat has made a “clone” McGarrett as part of a fiendish plan. The guest cast includes Roger C. Carmel (Star Trek’s Harvey Mudd), Tim O’Connor (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century’s Dr. Huer) and Donald Pleasence (You Only Live Twice’s Blofeld). McGarrett also keeps the mob out of Hawaii in “No Bottles....No Cans....No People.” You just don’t mess with the Five-O.

The Fugitive: Season Two, Volume One continues the greatest man hunt in television history. Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) stays one step ahead of Lt. Gerard (Barry Morse). Kimble isn’t merely fleeing from the law, but searching for the one-armed man who really killed Kimble’s wife. The highlight of the 15 episodes on this collection is “Escape Into Black.” The recently departed Ivan Dixon (Kinch on Hogan’s Heroes) plays a doctor treating Kimble. He recognizes Kimble and thinks his fellow physician is guilty. A social worker at the hospital thinks he’s innocent. They battle over the fate of the woozy-headed Kimble. The One-Armed Man also appears in the story.

7th Heaven: The Sixth Season is perfect viewing for when Ned Flanders drops by the estate. The only reason I even remember this show is Jessica Biel. Judging from my encounters with minister’s daughters, I was expecting this show to have been a Showtime sensation. But she’s not nearly as hedonistic as my realities. For Season Six of the 7th, she moves back with her preaching father (Stephen Collins).

Holocaust was a major mini-series and now its out with a 30th Anniversary edition. The nearly 8 hour long show follows the Weiss family from their happy lives in Berlin to the concentration camps. The miniseries brought the Holocaust into the national dialogue when people spoke about World War II. A very young Meryle Streep and James Woods bring this chilling time to celluloid.

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets is better than the original for only one reason: Helen Mirren. What is it about Helen Mirren that makes me think she could lure me into a cave beneath Mount Rushmore? Nicolas Cage has to prove his great grandfather didn’t help kill Abraham Lincoln. He must find the mythical city of gold that supposedly the presidents have been hiding from us. Helen Mirren plays his mom who can read an ancient language.

Indiana Jones: The Adventure Collection is a new boxset of the first three films that’s out just in time for the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie. You can get each of the films separately. This means you can skip over Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Even after all these years, the film is such an amazing letdown. Raiders of the Lost Ark rocks. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is fun by merely having Sean Connery play Indy’s dad. They produced new documentaries for the DVDs. The best is an examination of the melting faces from Raiders.

Ringside Rivalries takes you back to that time when boxing was bigger than mixed martial arts. I can’t get into the whole UFC business because the two guys in the cage wearing those baggy swim suits remind me of drunk guys at the beach rough housing. Every time I turn on the UFC show on Spike, it’s two guys dry humping each other into submission. When I tune in for bloodsport, there’s no need to show me hardcore cuddling. Give me nostalgic boxing for power, pounding and personality. That’s what this DVD set does. Ringside Rivalries contains bouts featuring Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Graziano, Muhamad Ali and Joe Fraizer. Burt Randolph Sugar and his crew of experts establish the context and breakdown the various fights. Fans of Raging Bull should rejoice at the complete Jake LaMotta vs. Sugar Ray Robinson in Chicago fight. Admire what Martin Scorsese recreated. There’s even vintage footage of Rocky Graziano breaking down the fight. For fans of Ali, there’s the complete Thrilla in Manila battle against Joe Fraizer.

Strange Wilderness would have been a really great SciFi Channel original movie. A nature show is about to get canceled so the stoner crew pursue Bigfoot to capture ratings gold. The film gets bonus points for starring Ernest Borgnine and Joe Don Baker. McHale and Mitchell are a dynamic duo. You know what this film is missing? Pauly Shore. The comedy comes up a little short unless you get as stoned as the guy from the “I’m a Mac” commercials. This reminds me of MTV’s Wild Boyz. This one will be competing with Shrimp on the Barbie for time slots on Comedy Central.

Mission: Impossible: The Fourth TV Season has Leonard Nimoy replacing Martin Landau as the master of disguise and magic tricks. Straight off the set of Star Trek, Nimoy attempts to overcome his old Spock haircut. They also had to replace Landau’s wife, Barbara Bain. Shame they didn’t use Lee Meriwether more in their revolving cast of female agents. The producers attempted to twist around the series by not having everything go according to Mr. Phelps’ plans. They even have a three part adventure. No matter what you think of the writing quality, this fourth season is better than all three of Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible movies.

Ballroom Bootcamp is TLC’s Dancing Without The Stars. Three couples intensively train to fancy dance for a competition. The bonus features include lessons on how to Jive, Cha-Cha, Waltz, Tango and Rhumba. It’s a sweet gift for your partner if they just can’t stop watching those dancing shows. Get off the couch and show me your Passa Doble!

Muppet Show: The Complete Third Season has Liberace!!!! Can there be any greater reason to rush out and embrace this boxset? The greatest variety show of the ‘70s hit its stride on these discs. Major stars were begging for a chance to show off their song and dance skills with the felt and furry. The big names include Sylvester Stallone, Roy Rogers, Loretta Lynn, Alice Cooper, Roy Clark and Gilda Radner. Raquel Welch’s opening number may inflict drooling. She is in her prime and slinking around in a very revealing outfit. Fozzie Bear won’t be the only one tongue-tied.

Kenny the Shark, Volume 3: Catch a Wave sets a dangerous mindset that somehow a tiger shark can make a sweet family pet. This is an animated kids show that wants you to forget the lessons of Jaws. Remind your children that this is only a cartoon and they should never bring back stray sharks from the beach. Even if they don’t eat your family, they’ll cost a fortune in meat for their lunch. Does Purina make a Shark Chow?

Walk All Over Me promises Leelee Sobieski in a corset. Sold! Grandma knows what she’ll be getting for Christmas this year. Unfortunately this is not merely Leelee strutting around in fetish latex for two hours. There’s a crime and double crossed loot. Poor Leelee finds herself in the middle of this chaos. Everyone thinks she’s holding the bag. The movie could have been so much better if it just focused Leelee becoming a full-time domme. What’s wrong with an old fashioned Education of Mistress Leelee flick? If you can stomach the crime plot, you’ll be pleased with her time in heels.

Gomer Pyle USMC The Fourth Season is the year Duke went AWOL. But when Gomer loses a barracks buddy, he gains a girlfriend in crappy voiced Lou Ann. Will this woman bust up the unspoken bond between Gomer and Sgt. Carter? This season is best known for when Gomer goes to Washington D.C. to deliver a knock out performance of The Impossible Dream in his dress blues. Grandma loved that episode. There’s only one more season of Gomer left to be released. So get too watching, maggots!

The Invaders: The First Season revives this cult show that never got any syndication action in my neighborhood. After reading about Invaders hype in SciFi books for decades, I feared the major letdown that came after watching Land of the Giants and Time Tunnel on DVD. However all the gushing of The Invaders fanatics is true. This is an engrossing series. David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) is an architect who sees a UFO landing one night. He quickly discovers that aliens are in the process of taking over the Earth. He tries his hardest to expose this fact without being written off as a nutjob by the mainstream media - which is controlled by aliens. Thinnes makes the show. He looks good when he’s extra paranoid. This is a tense drama that doesn’t rely on special effects. “Vikor” has Jack Lord as an industrialist who has made a deal with the aliens.

Gunsmoke The Second Season, Volume 2 takes us back to Dodge City when it was only twenty six minutes in black and white. Here’s the final 19 episodes of the sophomore outing. “Bloody Hands” has Russell Johnson (the Professor from Gilligan’s Island) threaten Matt Dillon (James Arness) to a gunfight. This is still the time when Miss Kitty’s Saloon had an unspoken brothel upstairs. You don’t think those girls are hired to merely have drinks with the customers? The bonus features include the old cigarette promos with Arness saying, “Live Modern. Smoke L&Ms.”

Rawhide The Third Season, Volume 1 returns us to the unending cattle drive. Clint Eastwood knows how to punch them doggies. Each week the drovers ran into another adventure along the trail. “Incident at Rojo Canyon” has Julie London and Bobby Troup pop up. Guess this is how they made their way west to work on Emergency! Woody Strode (Spartacus) rides high in “Incident of the Buffalo Soldier.” Proving that hard drugs at work are not a recent phenomenon, “Incident at the Top of the World” has a new drover that’s hooked on morphine. Robert Culp (I Spy) gets extraordinarily serious in his role. Another fine batch of tails from the trail.

Cheers Season 9 has finally arrived. It’s been two years since season 8 came out. Season 9 was the year that Sam Malone regained his bar from the evil corporation. No more ferns in the best little booze joint in Beantown. “Cheers Foul Out” is my favorite of this batch. In order to win a basketball game against a rival bar, Sam suckers Kevin McHale to be a ringer on the Cheers team. The Boston Celtic great looks good and loose while exchanging lines with the cast. There’s also the whole business of Rebecca getting married to her old boss. But what about her feelings toward Sam?
Beverly Hills 90210: The Fourth Season lets the world’s oldest teenagers go to college. Brandon (Jason Priestly) turns out to be a big man on the new campus. Dylan (Luke Perry) is still a little bit troubled. This is best known for being the last full season with Brenda (Shannen Doherty). The Peach Pit gets expanded into a nightclub. Luke and Dylan’s sideburns are still sharp and impressive.
The 4400: The Fourth Season is unfortunately also the final season. In the middle of the writer’s strike, USA network canceled the show. Luckily the final episode of this season works as a finale. We’re not left completely hanging about the future with these people with super powers in control. The nice part about this boxset is plenty of Summer Glau. The wife will watch anything with Summer on the screen. It’s a shame they couldn’t just move this series over to the Sci-Fi channel, but at least it didn’t completely gas out by going a season too far.
Romulus, My Father has Eric Bana trying his best to prove Hollywood hasn’t destroyed his soul. He returns to Australia to take on the heavy role of a dad trying raise his son around his wife’s new boyfriend. Bana’s a cuckolded man. This isn’t quite a return to his master performance of Chopper. Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) doesn’t quite have enough of a devious streak for her wayward wife. This isn’t a happy film. Bana needs to do a project that lets him show his comic chops.
The Adventures of the Young Indiana Jones: Volume Three, The Years of Change arrives just in time for the fourth film. This boxset contains the final batch of TV movies elaborating on the education and experiences of Indiana Jones. There’s plenty of World War I action along with early treasure hunts. Sean Patrick Flanery shines as the young Harrison Ford during these prequels. The bonus features are as entertaining as the films. For folks who aren’t quite sure about the historic characters and events, you’ll get educated fast. Documentaries that accompany “Hollywood Follies” will appeal to fans of early films. “Erich von Stroheim - The Profligate Genius” should have been a bonus feature on Sunset Boulevard. This is a gold standard for how a TV show DVD need to be presented.
Sick Nurses brings a fetish dose of Asian nurses to the world of horror. Turns out a hospital in Thailand is doing evil things with the bodies. The young nurses on staff must pay a harsh deductible to an evil spirit. For those with a fetish for an Asian nurse on the toilet using a pregnancy test wand, you get your dream. It is nice to see that the folks in Thailand are closing the Gore-cinema gap with Japan and South Korea.

ROGER WILKOS

The Steve Wilkos Show is the best damn talkshow on TV. You might know him best as the bald head of security on The Jerry Springer Show. But he’s better than his boss when it comes to tearing into a screwed up guest. Wilkos is an ex-Chicago cop. He brings all his badge badgering skills to the show. He’s not going to take crap from any of his guests. He doesn’t back off when he senses that he can break a guest. He’s not there to make everything look pretty. He’s not Dr. Phil trying to spread cute Texan sayings as a balm for problems. “You’re damned right, I’m judging you!” Steve says. He’s a pitbull holding his own chain.

There’s no need for security lurking around the set. Although half the time it seems like a guard might be needed to keep Steve from attacking his guests. During “I Burned My Baby,” a father is accused of abusing his child including burning her with a cigarette. Steve offers a Marlboro to the father. The father acts like he’s going to burn his own arm to understand what his daughter felt. Steve extends his arm and demands the father burn his arm. It’s a fierce moment. Think Oprah would stick her arm out to prove a point? Who can top Wilkos’ intensity? How about a matching of wills between Steve and Judge Mathis?

The one thing this show lacks is a proper set. Why the post-industrial factory decay decor? Steve ought to be interviewing his guests in a confining interrogation room. We need to see these people cornered and sweating in a hotbox as Steve tears apart their denials. Forget saying that this is the best talkshow, now that The Wire is off that air: The Steve Wilkos Show is the best cop show on TV.

Steve ought to be working in the White House press corp. “You’re getting back to me, now!” he’d scream at Dana Perino’s dodge. He ought to at least get to moderate a Presidential debate. Bet we’d get some truth out of those beauty contests with Wilkos between the candidates.

TALKING IT TO NIPPON

The Japanese version of Iron Chef is now running on the Fine Living Network. I enjoy this version since they had to make meals with shark fin, eel scrotums and oyster rectums. The American version on the Food Network is too easy with secret ingredients such as Milk, hamburger and Farmer’s Market. What could Bobby Flay possibly make using hamburger? Flay needs to see if he can make walrus noses into an ice cream worthy of Joel McHale.

BLAH COMES IN PAIRS

What’s the point of the cam-mob following Paris Hilton since her hook up with the other putz from Good Charlotte? He’s unleashed her inner-snore. Of all the upward screwing she’s done over the years, she settles for a guy whose band’s rise was linked directly to a major payola scandal. Couldn’t she scrogg it up with the singer from Ugly Kid Joe?

I pride myself of only experiencing The Hills through clips shown on Best Week Ever and The Soup. But I can’t escape the faux-ality stars at the Supermarket checkout counter. Why are their million Can some explain to me why the tabloid media cares about following the exploits of this Heidi and Spencer? You could pick two random people on a subway car and turn them into more compelling celebrities than this skank duo. They’re degraded the concept of “fame whores.” The Party Favors has contacted Bob Barker to see if he’ll pay to have Heidi and Spencer spade and neutered. We’re hoping Bob will just do the job himself.

RAREST HEADLINE EVER

Man collects millions of dollars from unsolicited foreign email!

SET A COURSE TO LOVE

Congratulations goes out to Brad Altman as winner of the biggest Star Trek geek of all time. How geeky is he? He’s marrying Sulu. Are they registered at Klingon and Barrel? Only way you’re going to top Brad is to find a bigamy town that will allow you to legally hook up with Kirk and Mr. Spock with a Romulian speaking minister. You’d have to be like that gal that almost “married” Tom Arnold and Roseanne. Why did I have to bring up that image? I’m sorry - especially for those who just puked up their lunch at the vision of a threesome with Tom and Roseanne. I’ve been assured that this is a ring of Hell.

DINO DAZED

Normally I avoid watching infomercials past the three minute mark. But I’m always in it for the long haul when they run The Best of the Dean Martin Variety Show DVD offer. I’d even consider buying these DVDs if they were complete season sets and didn’t cost a small fortune after you bought each volume for $29.99. I can get the entire three seasons of Gilligan’s Island for that price if I hunt around. So these highlights from the greatest hits package will suffice for now. Any clips of Raquel Welch are welcome on my TV. But like any infomercial, there’s got to be a completely annoying element. In this case it is Regis Philbin inflicting a “from the grave duet” with Dean. Does anyone really need to be reminded that Regis sings? Must he stamp on Dean’s “Babyface?”