Top Ten Reasons to Revisit The West Wing

In honor of President’s Day, I thought we should take a moment and honor one of the best fictional shows about our government. So here now, my Top Ten Reasons to Revisit The West Wing.

10. The library has seven seasons and many of these discs are ready and waiting for you to check them out today!
9. Lisa Cuddy was a call-girl extraodinaire who dated Sam before moving to Princeton Plainsboro to corral Dr. House.
8. Toby and Sam and Will, oh my!
7. Agent Gibbs (pre-NCIS) shows up in season 2 as a Secret Service agent for CJ.
6. White House tours are free!!!  Oh wait, that’s the real West Wing…  
5. Dear Danny Concannon – congrats on the Pulitzer.  Good to see you grew out of that nerdy phase.
4. For seven seasons, Martin Sheen really thought he was president and I was ok with that.
3. Allison Janney and her 4 Emmy’s.  We love you, CJ, oh yes we do.  We love you, CJ, and will be true…ummm, sorry.  Little Bye Bye Birdie for you.  Sometimes it happens, what can I say?
2. Josh and Donna – will they, won’t they, will they, won’t they…wouldn’t you? 
Annnnnd…a drum roll please……..
1. This is some of the best writing for television, bar none.  Thanks Aaron Sorkin!

Pushing Daisies
Series created by Bryan Fuller

The 2000 – 2010 decade in American Network Television was full of crime scene investigations, court dramas, and way too much reality TV.  There were a handful of shows who dared to eschew those tired formulas.  Pushing Daisies was one of those shows.  Alas, it was canceled after just two short seasons, but you can treasure every episode on DVD.

Created by Bryan Fuller (who first cut his writing teeth on Star Trek Voyager), Pushing Daisies is a charming fantastical mystery series with timeless appeal.  Watch this show with your kids or your grandparents and everyone will find entertainment value.   The cast is amazing, especially the lovely and talented Kristen Chenoweth, who often steals the show!  The writing is clever, and full of biting wit.  Perhaps best of all, the show is narrated by Jim Dale, voice of the Harry Potter audio books.  The story behind the show is this: owner of the Pie Hole dessert restaurant Ned possesses the unique talent of being able to bring the dead back to life merely by touching them. However, the person or other living thing may remain alive only for one minute, or someone else dies in their place. A second touch will render the person dead again, unable to be revived. Through his connections with private investigator Emerson Cod, Ned revives his childhood sweetheart Charlotte (nicknamed “Chuck”) who was strangled while on a vacation cruise.  Now that Chuck is alive again, Ned must never touch her, or she will be gone forever.  Emerson, Ned, and Chuck, aided by Pie-Hole waitress Olive Snook, solve a quirky and unique murder mystery during each episode, by briefly bringing back to life the murder victim to ask for clues.     As the series progresses, the characters own pasts are slowly revealed, adding more layers to the intrigue and drama.  So grab a slice of your favorite pie (Pecan or Derby pie for me!) and enter the world of Pushing Daisies.

If you don’t enjoy the British or American version of  mockumentary sitcom The Office, read no further.  Stop reading! I’m not talking to you! If you are a fan of one or both versions of The Office, you should definitely check out the BBC sitcom The IT Crowd.

Computer nerds and social outcasts Roy and Moss work for Denholm Industries, as the IT department. They work from the basement (why are most IT departments located in the basement?), and their office consists of the stereotypical décor one might expect from computer nerds – collectibles, action figures, books, computer parts, and unhealthy snack foods. Roy’s stock answer when the phone rings is “Hello, IT, have you tried turning it off and on again?” Roy’s and Moss’s comfortable work life is turned upside down when an attractive woman is hired to run the department. Roy and Moss quickly find out new boss Jen knows absolutely nothing about computers!

The actors who make up the IT Crowd have great comedic chemistry, and company president Denholm is disturbingly hilarious. Why are workplace comedies like this so funny? If you’ve ever worked in a corporate setting, or office of any kind, you can identify with the characters and situations they find themselves in. Misery loves company, as the saying goes. Or at the very least misery loves a good satire now and again.

- Crystal

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

I need a t-shirt that says, “Joss is my King.” Why, you ask? Because I love Joss Whedon. That’s right, I heart him very much. I especially heart him when he does wonderfully witty things like Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

For those of you uninitiated with the Whedonverse, Joss produced the cult TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and then Angel, of course, as well as a little known gem entitled Firefly which made it to the big screen as Serenity. Last year when the television writers went on strike, Joss got together with his equally zany brothers and created Dr. Horrible. Part satire, part musical, but all genius, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog tres enjoyable.

Striking out in the new world of free online video, Joss and crew released Dr. Horrible in the summer of 2008 in three different installments spread over a week’s time. When the first act was posted, Whedonites flocked to view the show en masse and the site crashed almost immediately – even though they’d taken special precautions to use a very large server to prevent this from happening. Once they got all the bugs worked out, everyone got to view Dr. Horrible to their heart’s content. I, myself, came into work on my day off just so I could see how it ended on the third day. Amazing, right?

Not so much, when you consider that the featurette stars Neil Patrick Harris in his second outing playing a doctor as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion also in his second role as a captain, playing NPH’s nemesis Captain Hammer, and Felicia Day as the third member of their love triangle, playing do-gooder Penny (most likely for the first time). Our story begins with Dr. Horrible trying to get into the Evil League of Evil and from there wackiness ensues. Together with his sidekick, Moist (played by Howard from The Big Bang Theory), you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you may even sing along. Whatever you do, don’t skip the extras on the DVD, including Commentary: the Musical, featuring Nathan singing, “I’m Better than Neil.” If you miss this, it’ll be curtains for you. Gently wafting curtains. Uh…sorry, you’ll just have to watch to catch that last one. Ok, I’m off to go watch it myself for the gazillionth time. AaaaAAAAAaaa (evil laugh and exit stage left)…

View the first episode on Hulu.

- Amanda

The Larry Sanders Show – Season One

5 of 5 Stars

I never appreciated Garry Shandling until I caught up with this show on DVD. Shandling stars as Larry Sanders a popular late night talk show host whose love life and work life are in a constant state of maintanence due to his addiction to objective gratification through laughter. Much to detriment of those around him, the only thing that matters to Larry is the his show. Ancipipating many shows to come, ultra realism equates stinging satire as the in-and-outs of the late night talk show circuit are exposed. The DVDs are worth it just to see the celebrity guest stars knowingly(?) making fun of themselves. Rip Torn steals most scenes as Arty, the show’s old school Hollywood producer. Largely based on real life Tonight Show producer Fred de Cordova, Arty is one of my all time favorite TV characters. “Larry Sanders” is obviously based on the real life Shandling and his obsessiveness over this show paid off in hardcore laughs and a wallop of pathos. For fans of the British The Office and Curb Your Enthusiam.

- Bryan

Dexter: The First Season

‘Tis the season to be macabre. Out of all the gory crime dramas on TV, along with films like Sweeney Todd in theaters, this Showtime series is by far and away the most bloody (yes it’s bloodier than Johnny Depp’s portrayal of the demon barber of Fleet Street). Adapted from Jeff Lindsay’s novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter, this show follows Dexter Morgan through his day to day life as a criminologist, whose specialty is analyzing blood spatters at crime scenes in order to determine how someone was murdered. The twist is that Dexter himself is an admitted monster – a psychotic killer who chooses to hunt down other serial killers (he never targets “innocent” victims), then murders them in his own calm, methodical fashion.

There is something about this show that intrigues me, but I can’t put my finger on what exactly. I’m not a huge fan of homicidal maniacs – maybe it’s just me – and I don’t really enjoy seeing mutilated, dead bodies in such graphic detail. But it’s morbidly fascinating, I must admit. I guess it also might be the layers of complexity that Dexter, portrayed by Six Feet Under’s Michael C. Hall, displays. His parents are dead (no, he didn’t kill them), but he has a sister and a family of sorts with his girlfriend (Julie Benz of Angel fame) and her two children. It is interesting to me how a man who professes to have no feelings can function so normally in society.

I do take comfort in the fact that, since I, myself, am not a serial killer, I don’t have to worry about Dexter coming after me. Plus, he is a fictional character, so that helps me sleep at night. If you have a morbid and warped sense of humor, then this show’s for you.

- Amanda

Big Love: Complete Seasons 1 & 2

5 Stars

I never thought I would enjoy a show about polygamists, but Big Love has captured my attention. The acting is great, the characters are complex and the storyline could not be more complicated. This show has made me really appreciate Chloe Sevigny as an actress, but it’s Grace Zabriskie, who plays the crazy grandmother, that steals every scene she’s in.

- Kyle

Jekyll

Jekyll is a recent BBC television drama that takes the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson and reinvents the tale in modern day England. This cutting edge horror show has a complicated structure that takes you on a wickedly funny thrill ride. The show is filled with fresh original characters. But it’s Jekyll and Hyde, both played by the brilliant James Nesbitt, that hold the show together. Nesbitt’s portrayal of Hyde is astonishing because he creates the character using no prosthetics. So grab yourself a bag of popcorn, sit back with your favorite beverage, and enjoy!

- Bill

Six Feet Under: The Complete Series

5 stars

I think this show is even better than The Sopranos. Not for the squeamish or prudish, this show explores love and death of all types. Excellent writing, characters, and acting.

- Jessica

SCTV: Disc 1

SCTV is a television series that aired in the early 1980’s. Its cast was formed with comedians out of the original Second City comedy troupe of Chicago, as well as Toronto Second City troupe members. Many comedy greats of the 70’s and 80’s came through the Second City organization, some going to the SCTV series and others graduating on to Saturday Night Live. SCTV cast members included Dave Thomas, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy, and Andrea Martin, John Belushi and Dan Akroyd. The many sketches in this collection hold up rather well despite their early 80’s time frame. Many politicians, TV stars, TV shows, and various celebrities were spoofed, which is what sketch comedy is all about. Some skits were truly inspired, such as a takeoff on Chariots of Fire which they renamed “Chariots of Eggs” and starred the pop duo Hall and Oates.

- Ric

Shades of Darkness

4 stars

Looking to watch something a little spooky, and Masterpiece Theatre is your bag? The Granada Television series Shades of Darkness is just the thing for you! This collection contains six mysterious tales based on the writing of Edith Wharton, CHB Kitchin, May Sinclair, and Elizabeth Bowen. Originally produced in the 1980’s, the creepiness still holds up. The acting is superb, and the locales totally add to the mystique. My favorite of this collection is “Bewitched.” Based on an Edith Wharton story, the tale takes place in part on the seaside, where a ghostly girl calls her former lover to come to her.

- Crystal

Flight of the Conchords: Season 1

3 stars

I just finished watching the first season of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, and I think that I liked it. It’s kind of hard to tell because this pseudo-reality show is definitely an acquired taste – falling somewhere between Tenacious D and Napoleon Dynamite. Since I really like Jack Black, but am fairly annoyed by Pedro’s buddy, you can see my dilemma.

The show follows two guys from New Zealand named Bret and Jemaine (played by two guys from New Zealand named Bret and Jemaine), as they try to find success in the world of digi-folk music. Even if there were some weird “is this supposed to be funny?” moments, there were still some laugh out loud funny parts. For instance, in one of the episodes the duo gets mugged, but instead of giving up their bike, they morph into the Rhymnoceros and the Hippopotamus and start rapping in the bad guy’s face. That probably wouldn’t be my first response, but hey, they didn’t loose their bike. And not since Kevin Bacon have I so enjoyed the pointless angry dance break. I’m not saying which episode it’s in, you’re just going to have to watch and see for yourself.

If you like novelty musical acts like Tenacious D or are fond of awkwardly funny TV shows a la The Office then this series is for you. Bret and Jemaine are currently out on tour now as The Flight of the Conchords, but it looks like the show was picked up for a second season. Can I handle more zany New Zealand fun? Only time will tell, but I have a feeling that I’ll probably at least try.

- Amanda