Jami Knows You Miss TV

Ah, the writers' strike, the horrors of nothing but reruns and the occasional reality TV series. If you are missing some new scripted stories, I'm going to recommend to you some series on DVDs to get you through this trying time. In a future post, I'll get to the ones you've probably heard of, but first let's start with the ones you may have missed: FIREFLY (of course, my favorite show) The Lowdown: This sci-fi space western action comedy series, created/written/etc by Joss Whedon may be the best show ever cancelled by Fox. A band of misfits collected on a mostly-broken down old (space) ship try to get by best they can. Snappy writing, clever plots, characters you'll really love and a great mix of drama and comedy will suck you in by the middle of disc 2. The first and only season is available on disc and watch it before you see the feature film Serenity, made after the show's cancellation. Don't Miss Moment: Hard to pick, but I'll have to go with the Ballad of Jayne, a folk song written about a crew member, on a planet he'd been on only long enough to steal stuff and blow town. Final Note: Check out the extras to get the full story of the battle of Serenity and the hilarious outtakes. BULLSH*T (four seasons now available) The Lowdown: Comedian-magicians Penn and Teller turn their offbeat charm to investigating urban myths, fads and "common knowledge", such as recycling, bottled water and reflexology. The language is rough, but the information is good. As Penn explains, you can be sued for calling someone a fraud, liar or charlatan, but it's totally legal to call someone an a**hole or motherf-r. Don't Miss Moment: Normally sarcastic Penn Jillette takes a minute to talk about his pain at losing his beloved mother and how people claiming to talk to the dead soil the memories we have of lost loved ones. Final Note: You might not agree with or believe what they say, but it'll at least give you a good laugh and something to think about. THE JOE SCHMO SHOW (2 seasons on DVD, but only watch the first) The Lowdown: A fake reality show "starring" the only person not in on the gag. Matt Kennedy Gould, possibly the nicest man alive, thinks he's in a mansion playing a reality TV game show to win $100K, blissfully unaware that the other "players" and the host are actors, given roles and plot lines to play. Matt's unpredictable behavior occasionally leaves the actors scrambling and the characters playing the assigned stereotypes (the Bitch, the Jerk, the Gay Guy . ..) display marvelous improv ability as the situations change. Don't Miss Moment: In the second game, check out the half-a-second of frozen panic the actors all have when Matt unwittingly completely foils the plan. Final Note: Stay away from the second season which was so terrible, it'll make you want to hunt down the writers/producers, thank them for the first season and then slap them silly for the second. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (three seasons) The Lowdown: Slyly funny, super-fast paced story of a family in turmoil. Jason Bateman heads up a stellar cast (Portia De Rossi, Jeffery Tambor, David Cross, Ron Howard and more) as Michael Bluth, who tries to do right for his teenage son, his jailed father, alcoholic mother, and bizarre collection of siblings while managing the family's business. Don't Miss Moment: With it's blink and you missed it gags and hilarious double-entendres, it's hard to pick, but David Cross's line "You're forgetting, Lindsay, that as a psychiatrist, I was a professional twice over - an analyst and a therapist. The world's first "ann-ahl-ripp-ist" and then showing the business card that says "Analrapist" had me in tears. Final Note: If you didn't find the above funny, you won't like this series. Thanks to EDW for the idea of blogging about TV on DVDs. I'll try to get more up later!