tv on dvd

If you thought there was nothing new to be found in the Superman story, think again. This powerful reimagining of the tale of the alien child adopted by human parents who becomes the Man of Steel steps us back in time to explore Clark Kent’s teenage years, and the metaphor — discovering superpowers as the … more…

Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner: Daredevil) thought she was working for a black-ops arm of the CIA. She thought her estranged father (Victor Garber: Home Room) sold airplane parts. She thought she was going to marry her true love and live happily ever after. She thought wrong. After her fiancé is murdered and her father is … more…

Four high school buddies go to college, and all of a sudden everything’s changed. Nitz (the normal one), Cal (the gay one), Gimpy (the geek), and Rocko (the meatball) suddenly find themselves dealing with frat rushes, making new friends, trying to get laid, living away from home for the first time, and all the attendant … more…

It comes across as just slightly dated in a few spots today, but this 1980s sitcom broke new ground with its blunt feminism and independent heroines. Four Southern women run an interior design business, but, as in most sitcoms, they rarely do any work — instead, outspoken dame Dixie Carter, uncertain divorced mother Annie Potts, … more…

Clearly inspired by The X-Files — think, “Hey, let’s do moody FBI stuff without all the aliens and monsters!” — this late 90s NBC series pits the too-astonishingly genius criminal psychologist Dr. Sam Waters against all manner of insane madmen out to taunt and tease her with their bizarre murders. Alas, the gloomy stylishness gets … more…

Fans of offbeat actors have known the appealingly quirky Tony Shalhoub for years, and now he’s finally garnering well-deserved widespread acclaim (a Golden Globe win, an Emmy nomination) for his portrayal of “defective detective” Adrian Monk, a former San Francisco cop turned private eye in USA Network’s hit show. The crime of the moment in … more…

The realm of action-adventure fantasy is replete with reluctant heroes, but La Femme Nikita, the cult favorite USA Networks series, broke welcome new ground with its reluctant heroine, a comparative rarity in fiction. Nikita — played by Peta Wilson with a flair for endearing abrasiveness — is a hardened street kid convicted of a brutal … more…

Based on an actual open-air drug market on a corner in a rundown section of Baltimore, this harrowing HBO miniseries uses real stories and real names to depict how drug abuse and poverty ravage inner-city families and neighborhoods, and how those in their grip still manage to maintain a sense of humor and hope for … more…

Steve Harvey and Cedric the Entertainer may be two of the hottest comedians working today, but you’d never know it from this obvious, tired showcase for the two of them. Continuing in the long, undistinguished tradition of TV shows built around “personalities,” Harvey stars as “Steve” and Cedric as “Cedric,” teachers at a pretend-tough urban … more…

Snarksters have been heckling bad movies forever, but it took Joel Hodgson, Generation X’s own Ernie Kovacs, to bring it to TV. The MST3K gang sniped its way through a bounty of awful movies — and were so consistently brilliant over the series’ eleven years — that the phrase “Mystery Science Theater” has passed into … more…