McBEAL!! MARY!! MEDIUM!! ASTRO BOY!! RED DWARF!! STARGATE ATLANTIS! WEEDS!! SEINFELD!! HercVault!! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Published on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 2:15am

McBEAL!! MARY!! MEDIUM!! ASTRO BOY!! RED DWARF!! STARGATE ATLANTIS! WEEDS!! SEINFELD!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

It’s been a long dang wait for this one! I had issues aplenty with later seasons but I adore the the first year of “Ally McBeal,” which represents the best and funniest work of David E. Kelley’s career. Skinny, big-eyed 32-year-old Calista Flockhart was insanely hot and looked amazing in her closet full of minidresses; Greg Germann and Peter MacNichol were hilarious as her bosses. It picked up 10 Emmy nominations.

The second season, which added Lucy Liu (Ling Woo!) and Portia de Rossi as mean girls, was superb also, garnering 13 nominations itself. It took home three Emmy trophies, including the one for outstanding comedy. To get season two now you have to pony up for Ally McBeal: The Complete Series. The complete series price is only $99, which works out to less than $20 per season!

And while the final three of the series’ five seasons are shadows of the first two, I will say the last two seasons had their moments, and those moments were teaming with superheroes. Robert “Iron Man” Downey Jr. was plenty funny in 22 episodes as Ally’s season-four romantic interest while season five added as regulars both Hayden “The Cheerleader” Panettiere and James “Cyclops” Marsden. Anne Heche did seven episodes in the middle of season four. Impossibly sexy movie star Christina Ricci turned up and stripped down for the fifth season’s final seven episodes.

Extras on the complete-series set include:

* “Bygone Days: An Ally McBeal Retrospective” (38:44) Judging purely by the hairlines and wrinkles, this represents the only newly-shot material on the set. Learn John Cage was “not part of the original plan.” Learn that Lucy Liu and Portia de Rossi both came in for the same part on the same day, but they both auditioned so well both were hired. Learn that Flockhart misses “David Kelley’s imagination. (And having seen a few episodes of “Brothers & Sisters” I get why.) “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” is namechecked, and so is “Sex and the City.” Learn that Lara Flynn Boyle auditioned for the Ally part, which is how she came to Kelley’s attention for “The Practice.”

* “Season Two TV Special: Life and Trials of Ally McBeal” (45:33) A clip show hosted by then-“Politically Incorrect” host Bill Maher, designed to catch up viewers who may have missed all or part of season one.

* “The Practice/McBeal Crossover Episode ‘Axe Murderer’” (43:17) Lara Flynn Boyle! Steve Harris! Donna Murphy as the accused! Daniel Dae Kim as a lawman!

* “Vonda Shepard ‘I Know Bettter’ Music Video” (3:49)

The four other extras appear to be elaborate promos once run on Fox, gods know when.

* “Season Two Featurette” (2:06)

* “Season Three Featurette” (7:37)

& “Behind the Scenes of Season 5” (8:41)

* “Season 5: Goodbye, Ally” (7:06)

Ricci’s first two “Allys” were titled “Love Is All Around,” which brings us to another Emmy magnet, the fifth season of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. This antepenultimate year brought the series -- about crazy-hot and single local news producer Mary Richards -- six Emmy trophies, the most in the series’ Emmy-packed history. One Emmy was for film editing (“An Affair to Forget”), another for writing (“Mary Richards Goes To Jail”) and a third for outstanding comedy series. The other three that season went to Ed Asner, Betty White and Cloris Leachman. Writer David Lloyd, actor Ted Knight and Mary Tyler Moore were all nominated as well.

Mary goes to jail when she refuses to reveal a source. Lou picks Ted up and tosses him out the door for endorsing a candidate on the air. Lou dates a lounge singer and moves into Rhoda’s old apartment. WJM hires a consultant. Murray contemplates an affair then adopts a son. A snowstorm traps everyone at WJM. Mary tries out for a new anchor job. Phyllis seeks employment. Ted convinces everyone he’s having an affair with Mary, keeps winning the football pool, and proposes to Georgette.

As with the “Ally” sets, fans have been waiting a long time for this one. Season two came out in July 2005, season three January 2006, and season four June 2006.

Slow and steady wins the race! Glenn Gordon Caron’s consistently entertaining “Medium” doesn’t get a fraction of the attention Caron’s more chaotic “Moonlighting” got a quarter-century ago, but “Medium” just became the longer-running series. (As if to commemorate the event, Bruce Willis’ daughter Rumer guest stars in 5.16 and “Moonlighting” regular Allyse Beasley guest stars in 5.18 as Alison’s rival.)

Season four was the season of crisis. Pyschic Alison DuBois’ abilities suddenly became public knowledge, and she, husband Joe and district attorney Manuel Davalos all lost their jobs.

As season five kicks off, everybody is back to work, and Alison seems more powerful than ever. She can now read minds, travel through time and inhabit the bodies of others. As the season ends, she’s faced with a brain surgery that could save her life and/or wipe away her extraordinary abilities.

As always, it’s Caron’s happy talent for banter and the series’ strong comedic elements that keep the franchise cooking. (Now on CBS, it just overtook “The Ghost Whisperer” as primetime Friday’s top-rated series.)

Extras on the season-five set:

* “Script to Screen: Apocalypse … Now?” (7:56) Learn about the big earthquake-aftermath/bomb-shelter episode. Learn that the house that serves as the DuBois home exterior is located in Northridge, epicenter of a nasty and very memorable 1994 quake.

* “Curious Maria” (10:21) Chubby, precocious Maria Lark, who plays the middle daughter, interviews Caron, story editor Corey Reed, production accountant Marcus Canty, property assistant Michael Barnett, camera operator Paul Theriault, second assistant director Daniella Eisman, Patricia Arquette, executive producer Ronald Schwary, Learn a lot of cursing is undertaken within earshot of the child actors.

* “The Making of Medium: Season 5” (27:15) Learn that Patricia Arquette’s directorial debut was shot first so the actress would have adequate prep time. Learn that Miguel Sandoval is an old friend of guest star Blythe Danner. Be reminded that season five brought Kurtwood Smith’s third episode as special agent Edward Cooper. Learn that David Cubitt’s bout with flu caused him to lose about eight pounds just as he was called upon to play a five-years-younger Lee Scanlon. Learn that “corporate intuitionists” like the Tracy Pollan character really exist. Learn that the horseshoe-shaped scar on the back of Alison’s head in the season finale was modeled after that of the show’s “locations guy,” who just had a real brain tumor removed.

* “Jake and Patricia Q&A” (22:59) Jake Weber, doing something of a Charlie Rose impression, interviews his TV wife. They discuss her bizarre and mysterious laughing fits, her desire to direct, her desire to play the title role in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” her ability to hit people hard, her decision to forego old-woman prosthetics, her growing up the daughter of a struggling actor, her trick for fake crying, her early inability to realize boys were falling in love with her, her fang-like teeth and her massive breasts.

McBEAL!! MARY!! MEDIUM!! ASTRO BOY!! RED DWARF!! STARGATE ATLANTIS! WEEDS!! SEINFELD!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

Eleven months ago a season of “Seinfeld” sold for $38.99. Last week it sold for $27.99. Perhaps to commemorate the reunion on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” all seasons of “Seinfeld” are momentarily $17.49 each!!

Kubrick’s Masterpiece!! $8.99 Blu-ray!!

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Kubrick’s
Masterpiece!!
$8.99 Blu-ray!!