Cheapest Blu APES Ever!! BOARDWALK!! FRINGE!! SPARTACUS!! GLEE!! DIARIES!! SUPERNATURAL!! HUNG!!...

Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry

The five-film Blu-ray “Planet of the Apes” set is this week only selling at an all time low of $24.99!! $5 Per Blu-ray Movie!! (50% Off!!)

The complete-series set for “Stargate Atlantis,” $233.99 in 2009 and $86.99 last month, is this week only selling at an all time low of $39.99!! $8/Season!! (80% Off!!)

The complete-series set for “Stargate SG1” is this week only selling at an all time low of $54.99!! That works out to $5.50 Per 20-Hour Season!! (73% Off!!)

The complete Blu-ray series set for HBO’s crazy great “Rome,” $131.49 in 2010 and $100.99 in March, is for the moment at an all time low of $42.99 (69% Off!!)

Season four of “La Femme Nikita,” $86.49 in 2010 and $58.23 last week, is for the moment $16.99 (83% Off!!)

Season one of HBO’s “In Treatment,” (all 43 episodes), $59.99 in 2009 and $39.49 in last week, is at the moment $18.19!! (70% Off!!) Starring Michelle Forbes, Melissa George, Blair Underwood and Dianne Wiest!

Season one of NBC’s “Life,” $27.49 in June and $18.99 in March, is now $6.49!! (80% Off!!)

Every episode of NBC’s “Kings,” $53.99 in 2009 and $23.49 in January, is now $12.61!! (79% Off!!)

Season one of SciFi’s “The Invisible Man,” $59.98 in December and $30.99 in March, is for the moment $7.49!! (88% Off!!)

The complete-series set for “Land of the Lost,” $46.99 in 2010 and $31.99 in November, is for the moment $14.68!! (63% Off!!)

The complete series set for “Babylon 5” spinoff “Crusade” (starring Gary Cole and Daniel Dae Kim), $59.98 in June and $37.49 in March, has plummeted to $13.59!! (77% Off!!)

New This Week

Based on the Kim Gatlin novel "Good Christian Bitches," “GCB” was created for ABC by sixtysomething screenwriter Robert Harling (“Steel Magnolias,” “Soapdish,” “The First Wives Club,” “The Evening Star”). It’s executive produced by Darren Starr, who developed Candace Bushnell’s “Sex and the City” for HBO.

I will say I like “GCB” a good better than “Desperate Housewives,” the show it seemed destined to replace.

It’s about a Santa Barbara-based former mean girl named Amanda who has to move in with her rich mom in her old (shudder!) Dallas neighborhood after her Ponzi-scheming husband leaves her in financial ruin. Yes, it’s another series employing – like “Damages,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “Two Broke Girls” before it – a Bernie Madoff surrogate. TV writers love that guy.

Though Amanda’s mother is loaded and generous, Amanda ends up waitressing in a Hooters-esque establishment as the former objects of her torment look on.

The series stars a clutch of swell actresses, among them Leslie Bibb (“Zookeeper”), Annie Potts (“Designing Women”), Kristen Chenoweth (“Pushing Daisies”), Miriam Shor (“Swingtown”) and Marisol Nichols (“24”).

Potts’ character is the best thing about the pilot, and the real reason to watch. If every character on the series was as entertaining I could count myself a fan -- but too much of the enterprise is sillier than it is funny.

HuffPost TV says:

… supplies a tedious array of shrieky moments, dumb stereotypes and unearned sentiment. …

HitFix says:

… I'm still not sure how much I would enjoy those early "Housewives" episodes if I went back to watch them today, but I know that I cringed through nearly every minute of "GCB."

The New York Times says:

... there are some funny lines and a lot of designer shoes, décolletage and choir practice. ...

The Los Angeles Times says:

... A potentially funny setup, if the women were not such oddly antiquated sendups. ...

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

... a welcome heir to "Desperate Housewives" … The humor-impaired and those who are blind to hypocrisy should probably stay away. But for everyone else, "GCB" offers surprisingly clever dialogue and winning comedic performances. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… Really, ABC? Really? … one reason it's not good is that it's not really very bitchy - just annoying. …

The Washington Post says:

… Even as a work of harmless vapidity, “G.C.B.” has a difficult time enlivening its oversimplified premise. … The “Sex and the City” moment overstayed its welcome, and with any luck it accidentally offed itself with a dreadful 2010 movie sequel, which critic Lindy West, writing in Seattle’s Stranger newspaper, compared to watching “a home video of gay men playing with giant Barbie dolls.” … just another sorry exercise in watching allegedly adult women behave horribly toward one another. …

The Denver Post says:

... Truthfully, a little bit of this fun farce may go a long way. (As someone who hasn't been a "Desperate Housewives" regular for many seasons, I can predict my own short-term fascination with "GCB.") …

The Boston Herald says:

... Oh, there’s hugging. And life lessons learned. Ugh. Please, not on a Sunday night. Makes me want to watch a marathon of Starz’ bloody “Spartacus: Vengeance” On Demand to wash the treacle out of my eyes.…

The Boston Globe says:

… Alas, it doesn’t add up to the most entertaining result, given the promise of the cast and creative minds involved. …

USA Today says:

... the show pushes so hard to be wacky and fun, you end up feeling more bruised than entertained. ...

The Hollywood Reporter says:

... Yep, there’s not a whole lot of subtlety in GCB, but there isn’t supposed to be. Created and written by Robert Harling, the show mixes the Texas lifestyle, Christianity, sex, riches, envy, revenge and sass into a sprawling, larger-than-life drama. ... here’s nothing held back. The sex jokes are over the top, the Bible-quoting and church-related issues are prevalent, and every character but Amanda seems like a stereotype …

Variety says:

… will need a lot more meat on its bones if these 'horns are going to hook 'em.

“Missing” stars Ashley Judd as a MILF and former CIA superspy who finds herself chasing and beating up overseas bad guys in an effort to find her kidnapped teen. It was created by screenwriter Gregory Poirier (whose credits include “Gossip,” “See Spot Run,” “Tomcats,” “A Sound of Thunder,” and the 2010 Jackie Chan vehicle “The Spy Next Door”).

It plays like it was pitched as a distaff “Taken,” and it comes off a lot like “Alias,” only without the sci-fi, comedy, cool plot twists and interesting characters. (It also evokes slightly NBC’s short-lived Bad Robot effort “Undercovers” -- only with an ex-agent who owns a flower shop instead of a catering business.)

HitFix says:

... So what we have here is your basic Ashley Judd thriller grafted onto the plot of “Taken.” It's not deep, but it offers exactly what it promises: action, lots of fierce emoting by Judd, and frequent reminders that while Ashley Judd is an ex-spy looking for her son across various beautiful European landmarks, she's also a mother whom women 18-49 who enjoy "Modern Family" and "Grey's Anatomy" might enjoy having coffee with.…

The New York Times says:

... isn’t a particularly good show. The dialogue is mostly wooden, and the plot, through two episodes, is standard spy-story stuff. It doesn’t try for anything like the juicy excess of “Revenge,” and it has no sheerly enjoyable performance like Gabriel Mann’s as that show’s needy billionaire. But it has its pleasures and grace notes, like those practical yet impractical sandals, or Becca’s taking time out from grilling her son’s Italian girlfriend to lecture her about the evils of smoking. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

... Unfortunately, Ashley Judd is not Liam Neeson, nor is she Angelina Jolie, and the most promising aspect of the show — Sean Bean as her husband and CIA colleague, Paul — appears to get killed off quite early. … She can say, "I'm not a spy, I'm just a mother looking for her son" as often as she wants (and she does, with wearisome regularity), but since Judd makes it so difficult to engage with her character, Becca's quest becomes less, rather than more, emotionally evocative. What viewers are left with, then, are some excellent fight and chase scenes, an outstanding supporting cast (who, alas, only highlight the main character's deficiencies) and a lot of truly beautiful location work.

The Chicago Sun-Times says:

... I’m all for suspending my disbelief, but “Missing” wants me to take my disbelief, put it in a rocket and send it to Jupiter. Judd is a talented actress, but I just can’t buy this Muay Thai momster who goes around head-butting trained killers. … The acting is solid, the scenery is appealing and Becca’s quest to find her son provides a fair bit of dramatic tension. But what’s really missing is credibility.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

... Sloppy in its details and overwrought in its dialogue, ABC’s “Missing” is like a bad Lifetime movie blown up into a weekly series. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… somewhat preposterous, but not in the way you might expect … If U.S. and European intelligence is as inefficient as portrayed here, we're all in big trouble. But watching the show, you tend to go along with the story because Judd is so compelling and because director Stephen Shill paces the action like mini-"Bourne Identities" - lots of quick cuts, loud fight scenes and jerky camera angles. …

The Washington Post says:

... fairly stylish and almost gleefully trite … prefers action at points where it could really stand to slow down and build out a slightly more creative story. It’s the very definition of a guilty-pleasure series, which ABC is getting good at, but it’s also a reminder of how far we’ve fallen since the more complex “Alias” days. …

The Boston Herald says:

... Judd, who serves as series co-executive producer, makes for a surprisingly convincing action hero. It’s when she stops to emote in full mommy mode that the show drags. …

The Boston Globe says:

… It may not be groundbreaking, but for Judd fans, Missing isn't the worst way to lose an hour.…

USA Today says:

... a supremely silly series that takes itself incredibly seriously ... Let's just say that no matter how fast Becca runs, most of the time you'll still be ahead of her. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Eventually, Missing stops demanding that it be taken so seriously. Your eyes are in for a treat, and Judd grows on you. Some of the hokey plotting fades into the background after that. … If you want an hour of escapism and entertainment each week -- and why wouldn't you? -- credit ABC for making an hour disappear into thin air.

Variety says:

Put simply, "Missing" is a gender-swapping version of "Taken," the cathartic thriller in which a young girl's abduction unleashed her father, played by Liam Neeson, to kill everyone until she's rescued. Yet if the movie represented a 90-minute exercise in economy, the new ABC drama promises to stretch a mother's quest over 10 episodes, without much in the way of wit or surprises. Ashley Judd plays the former CIA operative seeking her son -- think "Alias" a couple of decades later -- but while the kid's lost, the first two hours make a poor case for the show being found. …

The latest ABC hourlong from writer-producer Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Private Practice,” “Off The Map” and the 2002 Britney Spears vehicle “Crossroads”), “Scandal” follows Olivia Pope, a former White House communications director whose D.C. firm manages crisis. It stars the gorgeous Kerry Washington (“For Colored Girls,” “The Details,” “A Thousand Words”) as well as Tony Goldwyn (“Ghost”), Henry Ian Cusack (“Lost”), Joshua Malina (“The West Wing”), Darby Stanchfield (“NCIS”), Bellamy Young (“Dirty Sexy Money”), Guillermo Diaz (“Weeds”) and Katie Lowes (“Super 8”).

The pilot features two storylines, both profoundly dopey. One involves a White House intern who may or may not have had an affair with the U.S. President and refuses to resign her position. The other involves a decorated soldier and Republican political hopeful who may or may not have killed his girlfriend.

Pope keeps telling people over and over again she got to be the best in her field because her “gut is never wrong.” But her gut is proven wrong IN THE VERY FIRST EPISODE. Her “gut,” in fact, nearly gets somebody killed (a somebody who in no way deserves to be killed), and five minutes later she’s bragging to a co-worker about how awesome her gut is. Yikes!

“Scandal” feels like a Shonda Rhimes show. It’s full of long, earnest, cliché-riddled speeches and soapy sexual shenanigans and fourth-rate banter. The acting is uneven. (Diaz does the best he can; Malina is wasted.) If you like Shonda Rhimes shows you may like this one. I assure you it is not for me.

HitFix says:

... formula doesn't always work (insert memories of your least favorite "Grey's" story arc here), but when it does, Rhimes is as successful at tugging for the heartstrings as anyone in the business. And because of her and Washington, I'll give "Scandal" some time …

The New York Times says:

... This is “The West Wing” as seen by Ms. Rhimes, not Aaron Sorkin. Instead of witty banter and wonky politics this drama offers meaningful monologues and lots of sex and romance. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

... The baby in the box tells you all you need to know about "Scandal" — realism will bend to the reveal every single time. … Everything in "Scandal" is perfect; the trench coat, the offices, the politically correct subplots, the baby in a box — and perfect quickly stops resonating with those of us who are not. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… There's a lot of Rhimes' "Grey's Anatomy" formula at work here, and that's not a bad thing. To enjoy the show, though, you really have to suspend disbelief at many points, just as you do with "Grey's." There are moments when the frenetic drive for cleverness prompts some rather silly decisions about plot points. …

The Washington Post says:

... deliciously dumb … stylish, hammy, sexy, dirty, devilish, laughably bad TV …

The Boston Herald says:

... the best new show of spring. …

USA Today says:

... The central character — Olivia Pope, a crisis management specialist treated here as Savior of the Western World — is as grating and ridiculous a creation as ever dragged down a TV show. Then add in a charm-free, strident star turn by Kerry Washington, who plugs into every self-important bit of congratulatory excess the other characters feed Olivia when she should be deflating or deflecting them. … There's another factor: The dialogue, from Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, amplifies past the point of tolerance everything people love and loathe about Grey's chatter, from jokey repetition ("I am the law, the law is me") to grandiose verbosity: "I'm a gladiator in a suit. That's what you are when you work for Olivia. You're a gladiator in a suit. Do you want to be a gladiator in a suit?" You feel compelled to shout "no." …

Variety says:

… While Shonda Rhimes' dramas seldom traffic in understatement, the "Grey's Anatomy" creator has traded a scalpel for a meat cleaver in "Scandal," which with its Washington, D.C. setting, exaggerated situations and overblown politics, feels like "'The West Wing' for Dummies." As usual, Rhimes' workplace characters talk very fast, but the manic visual style can't obscure a series flawed on most every level: The plot twists are predictable, when not ridiculous; the moralizing is heavy-handed; and star Kerry Washington -- while beautiful -- suffers from a serious gravitas deficit, in a show that too frequently lurches toward camp. …

TV-on-Disc Calendar

Last Week
Anthony Bourdain Collection
Arn The Knight Templar - The Complete Series
Arn The Knight Templar - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
Babar 1.x
Breaking Bad 4.x
Breaking Bad 4.x (Blu-ray)
Burn Notice 5.x
CatDog 2.x Vol. 1 Charlie's Angels: The Complete Series
Civilization: The West & The Rest
Curb Your Enthusiasm 8.x Dean Koontz' Intensity: The Complete Miniseries
Designing Women: 20 Episodes ($11.69)
Doc Martin 5.x
Fairly Legal 1.x
Falling Skies 1.x
Falling Skies 1.x (Blu-ray)
G.I. Joe Renegades 1.x Vol. 1
Heartland 2.x
Hell's Kitchen 7.x
In Plain Sight 4.x Jackie Chan Adventures 2.x Jumanji 1.x The Last Days of Pempeii: The Complete 1984 Miniseries
The Layover
Necessary Roughness 1.x
New Tricks 7.x
Phineas and Ferb: The Perry Files
Pretty Little Liars 2.x
Rags to Riches: The Complete Series Sheena 1.x
Teddy Ruxpin: Complete Adventures
Thundercats 1.x Vol. 2
Twilight Zone: The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
The Twilight Zone: Fan Favorites (Blu-ray)
White Collar 3.x
Workaholics 2.x
Workaholics 1.x/2.x (Blu-ray)

This Week