ZONE Blu!! FRINGE!! BANG!! GLEE!! WIFE!! US!! DESIGNING!! FRAGGLE!! SUNNY!! LEAGUE!! RULES!!...

I am – Hercules!!

The release of the week is unquestionably Twilight Zone’s first season in Blu-ray. I’ve not yet had the opportunity to examine a copy, but here’s the press release:

"There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man." - Rod Serling ON SEPTEMBER 14, IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT ENTERS THE FIFTH DIMENSION... IN HIGH DEFINITION! * THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SEASON 1 Blu-ray All 36 episodes of the first season of Rod Serling's classic, groundbreaking series, now presented in pristine high definition for the first time ever! Loaded with new and exclusive bonus features not available anywhere else including rare, never-before-released unofficial pilot "The Time Element" written by Rod Serling and hosted by Desi Arnaz! * Chatsworth, CA - In 1959, a ground-breaking television series premiered investigating the futuristic, the telepathic, the cryptic, and the metaphysical: The Twilight Zone. Every week, Rod Serling's masterwork of "fear noir" took viewers from the safety of their living rooms on amazing journeys of fantasy and imagination. On September 14th, Image Entertainment will release the complete first season of The Twilight Zone, fully remastered for Blu-ray(TM). All new 1080p high-definition transfers have been created from the original camera negatives, as well as uncompressed PCM audio, remastered from the original magnetic soundtracks. In addition, the set includes new and exclusive bonus features not available anywhere else, including the rarely seen, never-before-released unofficial pilot "The Time Element," written by Rod Serling and hosted by Desi Arnaz the episode that started a cultural phenomenon presented in glorious high definition! Also included are 19 new audio commentaries, 34 isolated music scores, 18 radio dramas, new and archival cast/crew and scholar interviews, a "Tales of Tomorrow" episode of "What You Need," the original unaired pilot version of "Where Is Everybody?" along with Rod Serling's network pitch, Rod Serling's audio lectures from Sherwood Oaks College, syndication promos, sponsor billboards, alternate opening and closing narrations, clips from the Emmy® Awards ceremony featuring wins for the series in Writing and Cinematography categories, and more! The 5-disc Blu-ray set has an SRP of $99.98, with pre-book on August 17th. In The Twilight Zone: Season 1 you'll see the debut of this seminal anthology which introduced the strange, the terrifying and the inexplicable to 1950's mainstream America. Esteemed writers such as Emmy®-winner Rod Serling and fantasy/science fiction legends Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont and George Clayton Johnson contributed teleplays that explored that murky nether region between fantasy and reality, between ironic destiny and poetic justice, between "the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge." The Twilight Zone: Season 1 included such stars as Anne Francis, Burgess Meredith (eventual veteran of numerous TZ episodes), Ida Lupino, Jack Klugman, Richard Conte, Gig Young, Nehemiah Persoff, Sebastian Cabot, Claude Akins, Earl Holliman, Roddy McDowall, Kevin McCarthy, Ed Wynn, Murray Hamilton, Vera Miles and Ron Howard, all featured in classic episodes. Before the season had even finished, it was hailed by the critics, named by Daily Variety as "the best that has ever been accomplished in half-hour filmed television," a new phrase had entered the pop-culture lexicon and its success and impact is still felt today fifty-one years after its debut. Season One Episodes 1. Where Is Everybody? 2. One for the Angels 3. Mr. Denton on Doomsday 4. The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine 5. Walking Distance 6. Escape Clause 7. The Lonely 8. Time Enough at Last 9. Perchance to Dream 10. Judgment Night 11. And When the Sky Was Opened 12. What You Need 13. The Four of Us Are Dying 14. Third from the Sun 15. I Shot an Arrow into the Air 16. The Hitch-Hiker 17. The Fever 18. The Last Flight 19. The Purple Testament 20. Elegy 21. Mirror Image 22. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street 23. A World of Difference 24. Long Live Walter Jameson 25. People Are Alike All Over 26. Execution 27. The Big Tall Wish 28. A Nice Place to Visit 29. Nightmare as a Child 30. A Stop at Willoughby 31. The Chaser 32. A Passage for Trumpet 33. Mr. Bevis 34. The After Hours 35. The Mighty Casey 36. A World of His Own. Exclusive Blu-ray Bonus Features: * Extremely rare, never-before-released unofficial Twilight Zone pilot, "The Time Element," written by Rod Serling and hosted by Desi Arnaz presented in glorious high definition! * 19 New Audio Commentaries, featuring The Twilight Zone Companion author Marc Scott Zicree, author and film historian Gary Gerani (Fantastic Television), author and music historian Steven C. Smith (A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann), music historians John Morgan and William T. Stromberg, writer/producer David Simkins (Lois & Clark, Dark Angel), writer Mark Fergus (Children of Men, Iron Man), actor William Reynolds and director Ted Post. * Interviews with actors Dana Dillaway, Suzanne Lloyd, Beverly Garland and Ron Masak. * "Tales of Tomorrow" episode "What You Need." * Vintage audio interview with Director of Photography George T. Clemens. * 1977 syndication promos for "A Stop at Willoughby" and "The After Hours." * 18 Radio Dramas * 34 Isolated Music Scores featuring the legendary Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith and others! Also includes: * Audio Commentaries by actors Earl Holliman, Martin Landau, Rod Taylor, Martin Milner, Kevin McCarthy, and CBS executive William Self. * Vintage Audio Recollections with actors Burgess Meredith and Anne Francis, directors Douglas Heyes and Richard L. Bare, producer Buck Houghton and writer Richard Matheson. * Rod Serling Audio Lectures from Sherwood Oaks College. * Rod Serling Promos for "Next Week's" Show. * Original Unaired Pilot Version of "Where is Everybody?" with Rod Serling's Network Pitch. * Footage of the Emmy® Award wins for the series. Image Entertainment, Inc. (OTCQB: DISK) is a leading independent licensee and distributor of entertainment programming in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 exclusive CD titles in domestic release and more than 450 programs internationally via sublicense agreements. For many of its titles, the Company has exclusive audio and broadcast rights and has digital download rights to over 2,100 video programs and approximately 400 audio titles containing more than 6,000 individual tracks. The Company is headquartered in Chatsworth, California. For more information about Image Entertainment, Inc., please go to www.image-entertainment.com . The Twilight Zone Season 1 Blu-ray Genre: Sci-Fi. Television, 60s Rating: Not Rated Languages: English Format: Black and white full-frame (1.33) Audio: PCM Mono Subtitles: English Year: 1959 SRP: $99.98 Street Date: September 14, 2010 Length: 928 minutes

“Fringe” made my list of top-ten hourlongs last year and season two was packed with great episodes as the series continued to move away from monsters of the week. Links to some second-season “Fringe” HercFAQs: 2.1 “A New Day in the Old Town” (Sept. 17, 2009) 2.6 “Earthling” (Nov. 5, 2009) 2.8 “August” (Nov. 19, 2009) 2.15 “Jacksonville” (Feb. 4, 2010) 2.16 “Peter” (April 1, 2010) COMMENTARIES: * 2.4 “Momentum Deferred.” Writer Matthew Pitts, script coordinator Justin Doble, writers’ assistant Danielle Dispaltro, assistant to the showrunner Jill Risk and music supervisor Charles Scott. * 2.16 “Peter.” Actors John Noble and Blair Brown and TV Guide’s Damian Holbrook. * 2.20 “Brown Betty.” Producer-editor Tanya Swerling, music supervisor Billy Gottlieb, composer Chris Tilton and visual effects supervisor Jay Worth. * 2.23 “Over There, Part 2.” Showrunners Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman and writer-director Akiva Goldsman. UNAIRED SCENES: * 2.2 “Night of Desirable Objects” Scene 25 (:46) Walter instructs Astrid to tend to his cow. * 2.2 “Night of Desirable Objects” Scene 47 (1:02) Peter finds a book written by someone he knows well. * 2.10 “Grey Matters” Scene 69 (1:48) Walter reassures a man about the girl in the red dress. * 2.17 “Olivia. In The Lab. With The Revolver” Scene 30 (1:59) Olivia recognizes a victim, but doesn’t know how. * 2.21 “Northwest Passage” Scenes 46-47 (1:09) Peter and Sheriff Ann Mathis discuss Peter’s lack of faith. * 2.23 “Over There, Part 2” (1:42) Peter and the Walternate discuss Violet Sedan Chair. ANALYZING THE SCENE: * 2.1 “A New Day in the Old Town” (4:16) Cast and crew discuss the scene in which Olivia violently re-emerges into our reality. Learn Anna Torv’s stunt double is not bad looking. * 2.4 “Momentum Deferred” (2:44) Cast and crew discuss the scene in which the shapeshifter melts, spewing blood and mercury. * 2.7 “Of Human Action” (3:58) Cast and crew discuss the scenes in which a mind-controlled cop plummets to his death and the scene in which a car nearly smooshes Olivia before it impacts a concrete wall. * 2.13 “What Lies Below” (3:18) Cast and crew discuss the scene in which an infected receptionist falls out a 20-story window onto a CDC van. * 2.20 “Brown Betty” (3:39) Cast and crew discuss the season’s big musical episode. * 2.23 “Over There, Part 2” (3:15) Cast and crew discuss the vehicular mayhem that attended the second season’s final moments. OTHER EXTRAS: * “Beyond The Pattern” (26:49) Cast and crew discuss the direction of the second season. J.J. Abrams sports a collectable “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” hat. Observe that “Superman Vs. Batman 2,” “Indiana Jones and the Hex of the Hydra,” “Mask Vs. Joker” and “Splash 7” are all on a cinema marquee in the season finale. * “In The Lab With John Noble and Prop Master Rob Smith” (6:36) Noble is in his Walternate wardrobe for this one. The Universe window is a highlight. * “The Unearthed Episode” (43:57) This is “Unearthed” (2.11), an episode left over from season one (featuring the real, living Charlie Francis) that for some reason wasn’t aired until Jan. 11 of this year. * “Unusual Side Effects” (3:22) An undistinguished blooper reel, teeming with blown takes aplenty, set to fiddle music. The “shits” and “fucks” are bleeped for our protection.

The second-season set comes in both DVD and Blu-ray

If I’m not mistaken “Glee” is the most popular scripted series on TV. I don’t get its enormous popularity any more than I get the enormous popularity of “American Idol,” Dane Cook or “Family Guy.” I thought the pilot lame. Then I watched the spring episode Joss Whedon directed and liked that even less. What I wrote of the pilot: A cliché-riddled if mostly watchable hourlong dramedy pilot from writer-producer Ryan Murphy (creator of “Popular” and “Nip/Tuck”), “Glee” follows what happens after a heterosexual Spanish teacher takes over a high school glee club from a recently fired homosexual pedophile. Under the new guy the club only attracts misfits and losers, so it’s sort of like “Revenge of the Nerds” meets “High School Musical,” except not as funny as “Revenge of the Nerds.” There’s also a Tracy Flick type who will remind many of Alexander Payne’s Reese Witherspoon vehicle “Election,” which is funnier than “Revenge of the Nerds” and “Glee” combined. "Glee's" comedy is cartoonish and most of the characters are alarmingly broad caricatures. “You think this is hard? Try being waterboarded, that’s hard,” relates the cheerleading coach played by the ubiquitous Jane Lynch. It was the first of the many jokes at which I did not laugh. Assuming it was intended as a joke. (Not that I have anything against waterboarding jokes, mind you; I’m sure I’ve heard lots of good ones on Letterman, Conan, Kimmel and Stewart over the years.) Another gag goes something like this: TEACHER: I want to take over the glee club. PRINCIPAL: You want to captain the Titanic too? Diablo Cody it’s not. The main thing the “Glee” pilot has going for it are a handful of expertly-staged song-and-dance sequences utilizing, among other popular tunes, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.” (The version of “Rehab” may sound a little muzak-y to those familiar with Winehouse’s recording, but that may be the point.) “Glee” could certainly find an audience with some fraction of the colossal “American Idol” and “High School Musical” demos, but I’m not sure I’m likely to enjoy more than two hours of this sort of thing. (We’ll find out this autumn, after that second episode airs.) USA Today says:

… Promise abounds here, but to fulfill it, Murphy needs to correct the abrupt tonal shifts and rein in his Nip/Tuck tendency to go too far. …

The New York Times says:

… blissfully unoriginal in a witty, imaginative way. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… gets by on attitude -- and stirring music -- in Tuesday's tryout, but the attitude could get old fast if that's all there really is.

The Los Angeles Times says:

… the first show in a long time that's just plain full-throttle, no guilty-pleasure-rationalizations-necessary fun. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… it would help, I think, if this audition for "Glee" weren't so sweaty and desperate to impress. Maybe there's a good show here, but the opener is trying way too hard just to make an impression. Then again, that's generally the MO of "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy. With both "Nip/Tuck" and his short-lived high school soap/parody "Popular," Murphy's first -- and often only -- goal has been to get your attention by any means necessary. If there happens to be actual characterization and themes mixed in with the "wowza" moments, that's swell, but they also can seem like accidents.…

The Washington Post says:

… ambitious and ebullient. … whatever the drawbacks and quixotic quirks, there's plenty of time to de-botch the show between now and the fall. … Dramatic tension isn't exactly plentiful, but pleasingly staged songs and a general aura of retro ingenuousness come through, and seem awfully if fitfully refreshing, especially compared with all the gloomy police and doctor procedurals that dominate prime time. …

The Boston Herald says:

… rather than sympathize with its misfits, “Glee” takes joy in mocking them. With the exception of high school jock Finn (Cory Montieth), blackmailed into the chorus, the other members are stereotypes or freaks, unlikable all. There’s the nelly kid, the boy in the wheelchair, the Asian girl who stutters and the sassy, overweight black girl who thinks she’s the next Beyonce. The way they are depicted, viewers will sympathize with the haters more than the kids, and that’s a problem for a show following a group of underdogs as they battle their way up the school caste system. … The musical numbers are energetic and feature some fun choreography. Some of the cast seem to have genuine talent. “Glee” already has the spirit and the sound. In the fall, when “Glee” returns, we need to see some heart.

The Boston Globe says:

… if you're a fan of "Fame," "Hairspray," or "High School Musical," this scripted dramatic take on glee club is totally for you. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… deftly combines this country's fascination with amateur singers and dancers ("Idol" and "Dancing With the Stars" are ratings powerhouses) with dead-on satire and an uplifting sweetness. You could call "Glee" something of a miracle for being able to manage the near impossible in balancing these strange tonal shifts. You can also call it the front-runner for next season's best fall show. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… Without the song-and-dance production numbers, this Fox pilot would be just another high school-set comedy-drama, albeit one with a tonal mish-mash that careens from dark humor to earnest drama. Take away the music and "Glee" isn't awful but it is ordinary. Thankfully, Tuesday's pilot episode bursts at the seams with musical performances …

Time Magazine says:

… a delight but a risk: a devilish, exuberant comedy that manages to capture and subvert the Idol aesthetic at the same time. …

Entertainment Weekly says:

… so good — so funny, so bulging with vibrant characters — that it blasts past any defenses you might put up against it. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… smart, fun and completely winning …

Variety says:

… ungainly at times with its drama but soars gracefully when it bursts into song. The dramatic tone is uneven, but the show gets by on talent and energy …

A CBS drama from screenwriter Robert King (“Clean Slate,” “Speechless,” “Cutthroat Island,” “Red Corner,” “Vertical Limit,” “In Justice”) and Michelle King about the wife of a disgraced Illinois state’s attorney, “The Good Wife” uses scandal-haunted former New York governor Elliot Spitzer’s hot lawyer wife Silda as a jumping-off point. Julianna Margulies, highly watchable as always, plays Alicia Florrick, who finds herself a fortysomething forced to revive her law career following a 13-year hiatus. The comely “ER” vet notwithstanding, the series feels to me like a pretty undistinguished network legal series, but I never got the big deal about “Law & Order” either. Man, do I miss me some David E. Kelley! USA Today says:

… if tonight's setup is more competent than thrilling, it does what a pilot needs to do. It establishes the main character — and reintroduces us to a totally winning TV star — while creating a multilayered world that gives that character room to maneuver and grow. …

The New York Times says:

… The opening scene, which times the pace and soundtrack to the pounding heartbeat of Alicia’s shock and her sense of surreal detachment, is as vivid a depiction of personal crisis as any on television. But after this cleverly written series deconstructs the exact moment when everything falls apart, it imaginatively explores how one scorned spouse struggles to get past a life-shattering scandal. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… hands-down the best new drama of the season. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… "ER" vet Margulies gives this classy drama presence, and her scenes with Chris Noth, who plays her husband, crackle. …

The Washington Post says:

… Everything feels exactly right in this drama, to an almost clinical degree, especially Julianna Margulies's tough-but-wounded portrayal … Assigned to pro bono defense work, Florrick is immediately thrown into CBS crimeworld, where shocking new evidence always saves the day.

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… there's nothing inherently wrong with "The Good Wife" other than it's a legal series with too many close-up shots of knowing glances and "attagirl Alicia" moments of empowerment that you saw coming 20 minutes prior. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… both a well-written legal drama and a terrific showcase for actress Julianna Margulies, who elevates the already-good material with her perceptive, open performance. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… confident and polished, and a much better showcase for Margulies than her last legal drama, Fox’s "Canterbury’s Law," which was mostly an excuse for viewers to ogle her legs. She can be equal parts tough and vulnerable, commanding the screen even in those moments when Alicia isn’t in command of much of anything. And the nature of her story means the show won’t just be a law procedural — though I’d be fine if that procedural featured David Paymer heckling Julianna Margulies every week. …

The Boston Herald says:

… In the lead role, Margulies has never seemed more luminous. …

The Boston Globe says:

… The problem I have with “The Good Wife’’ is something that mars too much TV: telegraphing. The obviousness that winds through tonight’s premiere is irritating and lazy. The script, by show creators Robert and Michelle King, practically screams its workplace issues at us, as Alicia encounters gender discrimination and ageism at her law firm. Whispering would be far more effective. Whenever Alicia deals with an arrogant younger male hotshot (Matt Czuchry), or when one of her female bosses (Christine Baranski) self-servingly urges “women helping women,’’ the writers’ points get all up in your face. That works in an op-ed cartoon, not on a TV drama. …

Variety says:

… Nothing about the trial is particularly distinguished (for all I know it's recycled from leftover "Shark" scripts), but watching Margulies -- stately, beautiful, but showing some signs of age and vulnerability since her "ER" days -- it holds together well enough. Moreover, her husband's imprisonment and his protestations of innocence provide a potential hook beyond the rather tired procedural milieu. … Granted, "The Good Wife" doesn't win many style points for originality, but nor does it seek to squeeze into unflattering hipster clothes. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… appealing -- even compelling -- in a variety of ways. There could not be a better choice for the title role of Alicia Florrick than Margulies. Through words spoken and unspoken, she paints a detailed, moving portrait of a woman whose largely private, well-ordered life is suddenly and publicly shattered. …

An FX sitcom about a fantasy football league (remember that secret Paul Rudd was keeping From Leslie Mann in “Knocked Up”?) created and written by Jeff Schaffer (“Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and his hot former d-girl wife Jackie Marcus Schaffer, “The League” stars Paul Scheer (one third of “Human Giant”), Nick Kroll (the funniest title character in ABC’s “Cavemen”) and Leslie Bibb (Carley Bobby from “Talledega Nights”). There’s a lot of chatter among some critics about how groundbreakingly offensive the show is, but if you’ve seen “South Park” or “Entourage” or “The Aristocrats” or a Judd Apatow movie or sat in a comedy club or watched a Comedy Central roast or listened to Howard Stern’s radio show or Adam Carolla’s podcast, this is going to seem like pretty well-trodden ground. As I recall, even FX’s (much funnier) “Testees” far eclipsed “The League” in terms of raunch. Is “The League” funny? Not so much. Elicited no laughter from myself, who seemed to see every joke marching up Fifth Avenue. I’d guess the male half of the Schaffers is not the magic ingredient over on HBO’s “Curb.” The Chicago Tribune says:

… All in all, it would be easier to give the macho, frat-house vibe a pass if the jokes were funny, but much of the humor in the first two episodes falls flat. …

The Washington Post says:

… How is it possible to screw up America's favorite two contact sports -- sex and football -- this badly? … In the hubbub to get to the next wee-wee gag, the script forgets to mention a reason why any of these people have the slightest interest in football …

The New York Times says:

… in its astonishingly raunchy way, “The League” is pretty funny whether or not you’re a fantasy geek, assuming you’re a TV-MA kind of person. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… There's nothing wrong with a show about lovable losers, but they have to be, you know, lovable. Here, the men seem to be products of their writers' contempt; they're such babies that even their profanity doesn't rise from the potty. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… ridiculously funny … traffics in shoulder-punching guy humor with an emphasis on lust and body parts. …

The Philadelphia Inquirer says:

… So much of the supposed humor involves coarse jokes about genitalia and sexuality that can't even be described in a newspaper. Sunny has plenty of that stuff, too, but it's almost always in service of broader, funny situations. …

The Cleveland Plain Dealer says:

… FX is more apt to slip on the proverbial banana peel when sliding into the comedy field. More depressing proof of this arrives at 10:30 tonight with the relentlessly crude, obvious and stilted "The League." …

The Kansas City Star says:

… So, is “The League” good reprehensible or bad reprehensible? Is it almost charming in its displays of loutish, self-centered, Peter Pan behavior, like the show it follows on FX, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” ... or is it simply despicable, like “Gossip Girl”? I would say the latter, with one caveat: At least “Gossip Girl” is funny. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… begins poorly with too much emphasis on the fantasy football league the guys on the show participate in. … is more accessible in its second episode when the focus is on friendship among the guys and their respective marital relationships. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… It's the worst of all possible worlds. It's a comedy about fantasy sports, which will turn off anyone who doesn't play. But it has precious little fantasy sports content, which will turn off anyone who's experienced the horror and silliness of fantasy and wants a comedy to try to capture it. …

The Boston Herald says:

… Grade: D … about as funny as the Patriots’ loss in Super Bowl XLII … A show like this could make you hate football. …

The Boston Globe says:

… There’s a place in the world for good crude comedy. But guy humor about porn and girl-on-girl action has been deployed in every other similarly themed comedy. With a few more original situational jokes and male dirty secrets, “The League’’ wouldn’t feel played-out so quickly.

Entertainment Weekly says:

… You know men who devote an absurd amount of time to mocking one another? I do, and I call them ''me and my friends.'' Maybe that's why I so enjoyed this sitcom about a group of thirtysomething pals and their fantasy football league …

Variety says:

… crude but consistently funny … The pressure to be as edgy as FX's dramas can become its own kind of trap -- being smutty is harder than it looks without sacrificing wit -- but "The League" comes close to the goal of creating a TV show with "The Hangover"-type appeal. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… In the end, the legacy of "League" will almost certainly have less to do with the overall quality of the series, which is a mixed bag, than with the basic-cable taboos it shatters into itsy-bitsy pieces. …

Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry