Release of the Month:

The Prisoner
Complete Series
Blu-ray
A&E

“Where am I?”  “In the Village.”  “What do you want?” “Information.”   “Whose side are you on?”  “That would be telling. We want information. Information.” “You won’t get it.”

Not just one of the greatest television series of the 1960s, but one of the greatest ever. (You can have your convoluted Lost and all that.) The late Patrick McGoohan’s The Prisoner — which aired just one summer in the U.S. 41 years ago and then repeated the following year and has since aired on PBS (back in the ’70s) and on A&E — is a landmark creation — the stuff of legend for those who get it. Here you’ll find imagination, mystery, touches of action, intrigue and some of the most fascinating mind-F games ever worked up on a TV show. Its tone is very British in style, manners and more.  This latest Blu-ray edition is even more stunning than the 40th anniversary mega-set on DVD (which is still great if you don’t have a Blu-ray player or access to one). The premise is simple. A spy resigns (perhaps McGoohan’s John Drake of Secret Agent?) but doesn’t give reasons. He’s kidnapped (shown at the beginning of almost all episodes) and wakes to find himself in “The Village” run by….one never knows.  Both “sides”? (It was the Cold War then, after all.) Every citizen is only known by number. McGoohan is Number Six though defiantly cries, “I am not a number — I am a free man!” While long considered a cult series, this program remains superior to much TV fare, even today, and is not to be missed. Bonus material — and there’s plenty of it — includes Don’t Knock Yourself Out, a feature-length documentary on the creation and filming of the program; “The Pink Prisoner,” a cheeky tribute; a talk with music editor Eric Mival; a newly restored original edit of  the first episode, “Arrival”; the original edit of the episode “The Chimes of Big Ben,” considered one of the best chapters in the series; and production crew commentaries on seven episodes; an image archive and much more. There’s also preview of AMC’s new vision of the show, which looks damn excellent. And let’s note Ron Grainer’s dramatic opening and closing themes — as vital as the stories and forever enduring.  This a prize holiday gift item for those who will appreciate it, down to a nod of the head and salute of fingers, followed by “Be seeing you.”

Prime Pick:

Star Trek: The Original Series
Season Two
Paramount
Blu-ray

The Blu-ray release of the three seasons of the original Trek continues with its second volume.  In this season, the show saw the introduction of  Walter Koenig’s Ensign Chekov as the “cute” Beatle/Monkee type with his Russian accent and further development of the key Kirk-Spock-McCoy troika, though yes, Willam Shatner begins to overdo it at times, while Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is perfected and DeForest Kelly adds to the “I’m a doctor, not a…” lexicon.  As with the first season Blu-ray, there are options to watch episodes in their original incarnations or with upgraded special effects/visuals created in this decade. The best tales include “Amok Time,” as Spock is hit with a Vulcan mating drive; “Mirror Mirror,” which introduced an alternate universe, an evil Earth empire and bearded Spock (which led to bearded Cartman in a South Park ep); and “Journey to Babel” introduces Spock parents, his Vulcan ambassador father (the great Mark Lenard) and Earth mother (Father Knows Best’s Jane Wyatt).  Always wondered where they were in “Amok Time” — off-planet, one supposes.  Both would reprise their roles in Trek films, and Leonard several times on Star Trek: The Next Generation — the Vietnam parable “A Private Little War” and “Assignment Earth” — actually a backdoor pilot to launch the character of human-trained by aliens Gary 7 (sort of a sci-fi spy), though that show never happened.   And then, perhaps the most memorable of all Trek epidoes, “The Trouble With Tribbles,” and to compliment it, bonus material includes: “More Tribbles, More Troubles” from Star Trek: The Animated Series and the wonderful Star Trek: Deep Space Nine tribute to it, “Trials and Tribble-ations.”  There are loads of extra features to watch and enjoy — some of which are new, such as “Starfleet Access” with background and trivia, Tribble fun galore on disc four, plus retrospectives on various cast members and numerous other offerings. This is another super-gift for anyone you know who loves Trek, especially the original program that impacts pop culture and dreams more than 40 years later.

Numb3rs
5th Season
Paramount

The best thing about Numb3rs is it’s not another cerebral crime procedure drama in the CSI/NCIS mold — it has real brains coupled with heart, thanks to a cast that plays deep.  The 5th season continues to mix cases with the personal travails of FBI agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and younger brother, Cal Tech whiz Charlie (David Krumholtz) who consults with mathematics applied to patterns.  Rounding out to make a family trio, there’s father Alan (Judd Hirsch), as well as a fine supporting cast, especially Charlie’s pal, physicist Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol).  A good show that doesn’t forget touches of humor, despite the violence and nastiness that color stories about dealing with contemporary crime.

Medium
5th Season
Paramount

Patricia Arquette is one of the most real characters on TV, in terms of being a mom who also happens to be a psychic who works with the local police. After years on NBC, the show’s shift to CBS hasn’t hurt it in the least (NBC’s loss — and a big one, considering Leno every night at 10:00 is a big ‘who cares,’ sorry).  The 5^th season finds Arquette’s Allison and husband Joe watching their daughters get older as they try to balance their lives with her unique gift of vision.

Even the DA and police department side of things don’t fall into tough or grizzled copy cliches.  Again, they come off as real people with these jobs…and that’s part of what makes Medium work.

The Guardian
First Season
Paramount

Before his current series, The Mentalist, Simon Baker was the harder and even perhaps off-putting Guardian. He plays well off Dabney Coleman, with Alan Rosenberg also on hand. Baker’s character, Fallon, is an attorney who’s a children’s court-appointed advocate dealing with an estranged son and his own inability to express his emotional issues. The program isn’t utterly gripping, but has its moments.

Tales from the Darkside
Second Season
CBS/Paramount

Hey kids, wanna see something scary?  You will in the second season of Tales from the Darkside. There’s lots of creepy stuff to thrill here, with some familiar-face guest stars at times in episodes, and also some actors who went on to bigger things.  The tales include “The Impressionist,” “Ring Around the Redhead,” “Halloween Candy” (don’t watch this during Halloween time, though), “The Satanic Piano,” “The Trouble with Mary Jane,” “Monsters in My Room,” “Printer’s Devil,” and the eerie ” The Casavin Curse.” Anthology series are absent these days, so these stories fill that gap quite well.

Hawaii Five-O
Seventh Season
CBS/Paramount

You can see the sturdy cops-in-paradise on Hawaii Five-O running out of steam a bit in the seventh season, even though it would go on longer. Still, Jack Lord’s clenched-jaw Steve McGarrett is mighty iconic, and so is the mixed team on his squad. Ep highlights include “Steal Now – Pay Later” and “How To Steal a Masterpiece.” The Hawaii locale, of course, plays a great part, including a look at local culture and how it exists alongside a growing island metropolis.

Mannix
Third Season
Paramount

Mike Connors was the classic tough but tender-hearted detective in Mannix, with one of TV’s great themes by Lalo Schiffrin. The third season continues the Los Angeles-based tales of Joe Mannix, created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller (Mission: Impossible).  The show aired in its original run from 1967-1975 on CBS, and the first years were its best, including this season. Connors became iconic as Mannix, and Gail Fisher was one of the African-American breakthroughs at the time on TV, as his secretary, Peggy Fair — a single mom with a little boy.  The show was called violent in its day, but nothing like you’ll find on video games today, really.  It’s just that it’s more real, perhaps.  Mannix is a TV classic, that’s for sure.

Fugitive
Season 3, Volume 1
Paramount

The decision to split some TV on DVD into multiple volumes is somewhat puzzling, but that’s been the case with the semi-legendary Fugitive. The other issues aficionados have had is the replacement of musical scores (a problem since fixed, by the way). So now, here comes Season 3, Volume One of the series about a man falsely accused and on the run.  The tension is still there, as David Janssen seeks the one-armed man who really committed the murder he’s being chased for. Another well-remembered classic, even with the split-season approach.

Mission: Impossible
Final TV Season (Seventh Season)
Paramount
(November 7th)

Good day. Buzzine Reader:  This seventh season (1972-1973) was the end of TV’s often-enthralling Mission: Impossible, and yes, it is not quite as clever and involving as prior years, even predictable.  With series regular Lynda Day George out for almost half the season, there are guest-star women as Impossible Mission Force agents, such as Barbara Anderson (Ironside), Mimi Davis, Marlyn Mason and Elizabeth Ashley.  Again, there’s the mix of taking on the mob and enemy spy orgs, but overall, it was time for the show to bid farewell while it still has some style going for it. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to check it out for yourself. This column will self-destruct after the next few reviews. Good luck, Buzzine Reader.

Pat Paulsen’s Half a Comedy Hour
MPI

Pat Paulsen was an oddball actor/comedian of the ’60s. He turned up on shows that included Get Smart and Wild Wild West (as a resourceful though bookish secret service agent, actually), but was best-known for his appearances on the Smothers Brothers’ Comedy Hour. Then, in 1970, he had his own program, Pat Paulsen’s Half a Comedy Hour, briefly, and all 13 episodes are featured on this set. The deadpan comedy is dosed with stranger, wacky stuff.  Guest stars include former American VP Hubert Humphrey, ever-strange Tiny Tim and wife Miss Vickie, as well as sex kitten Joey Heatherton. It’s a quirky lift from an era of TV that seems, in a way, more risk-taking than today’s supposed anything-goes approach.

Vega$
First Season
Paramount

Ah, the young, studly Robert Urich as the so-’70s disco era Dan Tana, P.I. in Vega$ – The First Season, Volume 1. Again, it’s one of those two-volume things, when a single-season set would work.  The show was semi tongue-in-cheek Aaron Spelling action TV all the way (let’s not forget Urich was also in SWAT, short-lived Rhythm Heritage funky chuck-chucka theme and all).  Tana the cocky, flirty-cool detective in Sin City, goes sluggin’ and shootin’ and drivin’ (convertible, of course) his way around the Strip of the era, which sure looks different than mega-Vegas today. It’s almost quaint! You’ll go, “Oh, I remember that hotel” (if you’re old enough).  There’s chesty secretary and former showgirl Bea (Phyllis Davis), dorky klutz pal Binzer (Bart Braverman), Lt. Dave Nelson (Greg Morris from Mission: Impossible), and Vegas hotel owner Phillip Roth (Tony Curtis) to round out the cast, along with Judy Landers doing her hot-girl, dumb-blonde-in-bikinis-a-lot thing. Kinda silly, quite retro and guilty-pleasure fun.

Life on Mars
Complete Series
ABC Studios

It’s a ’70s flashback from a 2000s perspective in Life on Mars, based on the British show of the same title.  The cast includes forever-edgy Harvey Keitel, Michael Imperioli, Gretchen Mol and Jason O’Mara. The premise is sci-fi-ish, as NYPD detective Sam Tyler is hit by a car in 2008 and finds himself in 1973 when even New York was a whole lot different. It’s odd, it’s harrowing, and at times fascinating as well. The bonus features include various docs/behind-the-scenes pieces and mister once-bionic Lee Majors’ Six Million Dollar Man.

Top Chef: New York
Fifth Season
A&E

For me, food reality shows are much more appealing than the snipe, scheme and screw attitudes of Survivor (yawn, Gilligan’s evil island) or, say, Big Brother (backstab house party?). Even something like the swear and shout-fest of Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen.  Then there’s Top Chef, which comes off as more civil, hosted by the appealing Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio.  Season Five finds them in New York for a competition of cooks, along with New Orleans as well. Sure, there are personalities and bickering and more, but you get to watch them cook food. That’s much better than competing to build a tree-house in Borneo or wherever…or at least it is to me.

Expedition: Africa
A & E
DVD and Blu-ray

Available on DVD and in more vivid Blu-ray, Expedition: Africa finds modern-day famous-in-thier-field explorers following the original path taken by Henry Morton Stanley in his African quest for the missing Dr. David Livingstone. Despite having some very modern cities on its continent, Africa is still full of romantic mystery, from jungles to wide open lands and numerous distinct tribes and peoples.  Not to mention the threats of heat, disease, dangerous critters and other obstacles this troupe faces.  All quite fascinating.