SNLV!! MST3KXVI!! BETTER OFF TED!! PALE FORCE!! BREAKING BAD! JUSTICE LEAGUE!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

For its fifth season, “Saturday Night Live” had to make do without John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, but their departure served to make Bill Murray the powerhouse star of the show, and Murray found substantially funny co-stars in the show’s writers, among them Al Franken, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Don Novello, Paul Shaffer and Peter Aykroyd. They all stepped up admirably, and I’ll contend forever that season five marks a real high-point for the franchise. No other DVD set out this year, I believe, features Jane Curtain having a live bona fide freak-out as future U.S. senator Al Franken dismembers and otherwise torments actual live cockroaches. (This is also the season, by the way, that introduced The Al Franken Decade.) Burt Reynolds calls himself a “Hollywood nigger” and plays himself in a sketch about Burt Reynolds arranging a statutory rape with the permission of a 15-year-old girl’s excited parents. The set also contains the series’ 100th show, which brought back John Belushi, Michael O’Donoghue, Michael Palin, Paul Simon, James Taylor and Ralph Nader, and features the franchise’s first use of the working “fucking.” Buck Henry contributes audio commentaries for his two episodes, including the all-important season finale. Elliot Gould provides commentary for the Feb. 16, 1980 episode he hosted. Hosts that season included Bea Arthur, Richard Benjamin, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Kirk Douglas, Teri Garr (never dreamier), Elliott Gould, Buck Henry (twice), Howard Hesseman, Eric Idle, Ted Knight, Steve Martin (twice), Strother Martin, Bob Newhart, Paula Prentiss, Bill Russell and Martin Sheen. In the middle of the Martin Sheen show David Bowie contributes perhaps his most memorable televised appearances ever. Other standout musical guests that season included the Amazing Rhythm Aces (with Bill Murray on backing vocals and maracas), Blondie, The B-52s, Chicago, Bob Dylan, Marianne Faithfull, The J. Giels Band, Grateful Dead, Randy Newman, Gary Numan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Roches, Sam & Dave and The Specials. Some of my favorite sketches from the 1979-1980 season: * “The Vandals.” In 419 AD, an uptight Roman magistrate (Steve Martin) is tormented by a persistent East Germanic prankster (Al Franken). * “Banshee.” The personal solid-state electronic mourning surrogate comes in Irish, Italian, Protestant, Black and Jewish. * “The Black Shadow.” A black high-school coach impregnates students and bets against his all-white basketball team to support his drug habit. * “First He Cries.” A grieving husband has to cope after a mastectomy transforms his wife into “half a woman.” Bill Murray should have won an Emmy for this one. * “Fine With Me.” America is enslaved by the Soviets after a sarcastic dad (Murray) announces his teen son’s plan to shirk his responsibilities and take the day off is a good one. * “Afraid of the Dark.” A little girl (Gilda Radner) tries to convince her impatient dad (Martin Sheen) that something untoward is going on in her room. * “What If?” Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) proves a not-formidable opponent as he tries to defeat his Roman oppressors with the help of a small, weaponless airplane. * “Project Stop Apocalypse Now.” A studio exec (Martin Sheen) is dispatched to Manila to terminate Francis Coppola’s (Murray) new production with extreme prejudice. * “Camp Beau Soleil.” Strother Martin’s character from “Cool Hand Luke” is depicted running a summer camp for Anglophones learning French. * “Invasion of the Brain Snatchers.” Ronald Reagan campaign volunteers inexplicably begin dropping off beanpods the size of Labradors. * “The Incredible Man.” A low-rent Canadian knock-off of “The Wizard of Oz,” written by Franken, Davis, Shaffer and band director Howard Shore, about a grizzly who needs some sleep (Gould), a pro hockey player who needs some fame (Peter Aykroyd) and a lonely Mountie (Murray) who needs a wife. * “The Homonids.” Steve Martin plays a forward-thinking caveman dealing with his dim tribal leader (Bill Murray, looking oddly like Michael Madsen in his homonid makeup). * “The Douchebags.” Buck Henry plays Lord Douchebag, an inventor and contemporary of the Earl of Sandwich.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 XVI comes with a tiny Tom Servo and four feature-length episodes: 1.5 “The Corpse Vanishes” (1942) A plucky young news hen stumbles upon a mad scientist (Bela Lugosi) who has taken to poisoning young women to death and using their hormones to keep his wife forever youthful. Another relic of Time Warner’s old Comedy Channel before it merged with Viacom’s HA! Joel introduces the Chiro-Gyro, Tom peruses Tiger Bot Magazine and Crow gives Joel a hair-cut. 5.1 “Warrior of the Lost World” (1983) In a post-apocalyptic California, a biker must rescue a hot girl’s dad from an evil bald overlord. Joel, Crow and Tom place a call to Megaweapon, now living in Tampa with his sister. 5.21 “Santa Claus” (1959) The wizard Merlin frees a cloud-dwelling Kringle, who has been trapped in a tree by an agent of Satan. Mike spills his hot beverage on Crow, the heavy metal band Santa Klaws performs, and Satan’s demonic minion Pitch visits the mad scientists. 7.1 “Night of the Blood Beast” (1958) A Roger Corman production about a dead, male astronaut impregnated by an extraterrestrial. A stranger than usual installment with two sets of sketch segments, both included here. The original ran during a Thanksgiving Day 1995 cablecast. The non-Thanksgiving sketches didn’t arrive till Feb. 3 the following year. In that version, Dr. Forrester’s trombone recital does not go at all well.

EXTRAS: * “Santa Claus Conquers The Devil: A 50-Year Retrospective” (20:55) A quite good documentary by Daniel Griffith exploring the surreal and ambitious 1959 Mexican kiddie film “Santa Claus.” Learn that Mexican kids in the 1950s got their Chistmas presents from the three magical kings, not this gringo Kringle character. Learn that Mexican director Rene Cardona was actually Cuban, and worked in Mexican cinema as an actor in the 1930s before directing the likes of “Pulgarcito” (aka 1957’s “Tom Thumb”), “Samson Vs. The Vampire Women” (1962) and “Wrestling Women Vs. The Aztec Mummy” (1964). Learn Jose Elias Moreno, who plays the title role in “Santa Claus,” played Pancho Villa in several movies. Learn a scene depicting the damned in Hell was excised for the U.S. version. Be reminded that the MST3K version of Pitch, played by writer Paul Chaplin, proved so popular he was brought back for several more MST3K episodes. * “Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray in Colorscope” (3:27) A long, dialogue-free trailer for a look at the producer behind “Santa Claus” and numerous other Mexican productions. * “Turkey Day ’95 Intros” (11:42) Jack Perkins helps launch a Comedy Central marathon of MST3K episodes with “The Crawling Hand.” Mr. B Natural helps with “Manos The Hands of Fate.” Pitch helps with “Mitchell.” Michael Feinstein helps with “The Skydivers.” Kitten With A Whip helps with “Starfighters.” * A new interview with “Warrior of the Lost World” writer-director David Worth (10:23) Learn Worth served as director of photography on “Bronco Billy” and “Any Which Way You Can.” Learn Worth pitched “Warrior” as “High Plains Drifter on a motorcycle. Learn the budget was less than $750,000. Learn “Warrior” was shot in Rome. Learn a screenplay was never written for the movie, only 40-page treatment. Learn that Worth contests IMDb’s assertion that Fred Williamson is the uncredited co-director of “Warrior.” Learn Worth is an MST3K fan. Learn Worth has never been contacted by his fellow MST3K fans, but encourages them to do so at davidworthfilm.com or davidworthfilm@gmail.com. Learn Worth recently rewatched the “Warriors” and “cringed all the way through it.” * Original theatrical trailers.

“Better Off Ted,” from “Andy Richter Controls The Universe” mastermind Victor Fresco, follows the employees of highly diversified industrial conglomerate Veridian Dynamics, which appears to be the comedy version of “Fringe’s” Massive Dynamic. It is by far the best sitcom ABC has launched in years, winging out sharp gags and instantly engendering affection for a number of its characters. I can’t imagine that fans of “Arrested Development” won’t love this series, and not just because Portia de Rossi is given the Nina Sharp role. Entertainment Weekly gives it an “B-plus” and says:

… certainly the most original sitcom to come along in a while. …

USA Today give it three stars (out of four) and says:

… Amusing lines fly back and forth, delivered with skill by a first-rate cast. And after tonight's good-enough start, things improve. Next week's second episode is better. The third — as the company installs motion sensors that can't detect black people — is the best of all. …

The New York Times says:

… charmingly offbeat …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… "Better Off Ted" is funny, it's just not as funny as it might be, or should be, or, with any luck, will be. Absurdity-satire is difficult to establish and takes time to find its rhythm, especially when it only has a half-hour to work with. In the first two episodes, there is a self-consciousness about the various setups and relationships that even the lightest comedic touch cannot smooth away. While Anders' Laura is hilarious when caught with a drawer full of stolen coffee creamer, the stolen creamer itself is not. When Slavin's researcher allows himself to be frozen because Veronica wants to see "if it's possible," the actors carry out their various tasks of outrage, complacency and nerviness perfectly, but still the freezing, even with its nods to "Sleeper," isn't funny. The banter, however, is terrific, with a nail-gun-staccato precision that brings to mind the exalted "His Girl Friday," and both De Rossi and Harrington are masters of the modern micro-double take, that slight pause (hitched eyebrow optional) mid-joke that acknowledges the absurdity of the situation, the audience's awareness of it and the actor's awareness of the audience. It's a dangerous stunt to pull on TV, but De Rossi in particular elevates it to an art form. …

The Washington Post says:

… it isn't great, it isn't brilliant, it isn't even uncontrollably funny. But it also isn't about what a terrifying shambles the economy has become, and by default it offers a half-hour's respite from otherwise incessant worry. … sly, dry and very stylized. Fresco tried to cut away anything that seemed the least bit extraneous. The frequent interruptions for comments to the camera disrupt the flow and make "Ted" sometimes seem like scraps of a show rather than the real thing. But if it isn't pure gold, it still has bright, shiny moments …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… more funny than not, rushing into absurdity with abandon and playing at stylized comedy in a completely fearless way. The pacing doesn't allow for regret.…

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… the funniest show ABC has birthed in quite some time. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… For the seven of you who remember "Andy Richter" (which finally comes out on DVD on Tuesday), "Better Off Ted" isn't quite as good -- in part because star Jay Harrington isn't as innately funny as Richter (and he's mainly used as a straight man), and also because Fresco ditched the fantasy scenes that were often the most memorable part of the earlier series -- but it's still a breath of fresh air in the present stale environment for TV comedy … Slavin, the one cast holdover from "Andy Richter," brings his usual nervous energy and gets most of the premiere's biggest laughs while displaying the side effects from Phil's brief cryogenic freeze. …

The Boston Herald says:

… Breezy, slightly demented, this comedy is the perfect tonic after a hard day at work. “Better Off Ted”? We certainly are.

The Boston Globe says:

The writing has some of the gonzo wit that fuels the General Electric sendups on "30 Rock." And there are glimmers of the cubicle-culture surrealism that has flourished on "The Office" and on one of Fresco's earlier series, the excellent "Andy Richter Controls the Universe." … would be sharper if it were a little meaner - something like what we glimpse next week, when we see how Veridian's day care center is actually doubling as a child labor outfit, and how Rose actually has a flair for some rather unappealing business tasks. Small glimmers of the show's forces of good, rather than bright rays of virtue, would better serve the comedy. …

Variety says:

… Based on the promos I wanted to like "Better Off Ted" significantly more than I did. … a promising concept inconsistently executed, and perhaps a trifle miscast. That isn't to say the very big corporation behind it with the mouse ears has a complete lemon on its gloved mitts, but "Ted" would have been better off being sent back to the lab for a little extra R&D.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… has an instant comfort level and chemistry one so rarely sees. … It's the clever satire for which we've all been waiting.

“Mental” A snoozy, slow-moving and thoroughly unconvincing Fox hourlong from writer-producers Deborah Joy LeVine & Dan Levine (“Lois & Clark,” “The Division”), “Mental” follows Dr. Jack Gallagher, the maverick new British director of psychiatric services at a Los Angeles hospital. It co-stars a beefier-than-remembered (but still plenty hot) Annabella Sciorra (Gloria Trillo from the later “Sopranos” episodes) and Jacqueline McKenzie (the Homeland Security agent with the Canadian accent from “The 4400”). An international co-production in the tradition of NBC’s “Crusoe” and “The Last Templar,” it was apparently shot on the cheap in the South American city of Bogota! Gallagher likes to ride a bicycle around town and illustrate his not very illuminating points with card tricks during staff meetings. He likes to send his residents out on fact-finding field trips. He gets arrested climbing through second-story windows looking for clues. In the pilot we get one patient who sees “V”-like CGI lizard people everywhere and another who keeps his dead cats in his freezer. Both plotlines turn out to be a lot more familiar than compelling. You’ll find few reviews that do not (unfavorably) compare “Mental” to “House.” Even its theme music sounds just like that of Fox’s Hugh Laurie series. Entertainment Weekly says:

… Mental's plots are trite and secondary to establishing Gallagher as a policy-defying Brit who says ''Bang on!'' to express enthusiasm. … Mental's creators, Deborah Joy LeVine and Dan Levine (both once of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), probably didn't intend for me to side with Hotsy Redheaded Psychiatrist in feeling Sciorra's administrator has made a terrible mistake hiring this genial lout. But I do.

USA Today says:

… this one is hideously tired. It's not just that you've seen the same show done better — that's true of much of TV. It's that you've seen the same show done adequately, and this one isn't. …

The New York Times says:

… The only difference is that unlike the sarcastic misanthrope played by Hugh Laurie, Gallagher is a handsome, cocky do-gooder with a deep, intuitive empathy for his patients. In short, he is insufferable. … The creators of “Mental” couldn’t take Gallagher any further up the mean-spirited scale, so instead they went too far in the other direction and ran smack into cliché. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… All of these inanities we could live with if the show turned out to have even a small understanding of the difference between edgy and derivative or unorthodox and ridiculous, which, alas, it does not. …

The Chicago Sun-Times says:

… He's played by Chris Vance ("Prison Break"), who tries to overcome the cheesy script with a British accent and a little dignity. He fails. … I'm rooting for him to lose his license.

The Washington Post says:

… The parts of the show that don't seem recycled from previous medical dramas seem recycled from previous crime dramas, with just a few changes of vernacular and gadgetry. Life is much too short to endure cliches like these more than twice, much less, depending on one's age, two or three dozen times. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… The medical cases, all mental illnesses, are sometimes interesting (a hysterical pregnancy in an upcoming episode takes an unexpected turn) but the combination of tired characters -- especially the tightly-wound Dr. Veronica Hayden-Jones (Jacqueline McKenzie, "The 4400") -- and relationships makes "Mental" a dull summer entry.

The Boston Herald says:

… works from the playbook of the network’s more successful “House,” only with a perpetually perky Pollyanna instead of a sourpuss. … for a network show, the sets look cheap, and the guest casting looks as if it just got off the first flight from Vancouver community theater. …

The Boston Globe says:

… a stubbornly mediocre product that really, really, really wants to be "House" in a hospital psych ward. …

Variety says:

… Unless audiences go ga-ga over British lead Chris Vance -- and while he's kinda cute, there's no reason they should -- this ought to be a short-lived ride aboard the crazy train. … after screening two episodes of "Mental," a critic might easily feel his own tenuous hold on sanity is being tested by unwelcome visions of clones.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Dr. Jack Gallagher, the newly hired director of psychiatric services at L.A.'s Wharton Memorial Hospital, is one of the most deeply irritating television characters ever conceived. … Ultimately, the problem is that while someone's used considerable brain power to put all these pieces together, they clearly just haven't thought things through.

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