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Friday, November 10, 2007 - Volume 35 Issue 45

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posted Friday, November 10, 2007 - Volume 35 Issue 45

The Real Spin:Thank heaven for TV on DVD: outstanding entertainment without the commercials!

The Real Spin:Thank heaven for TV on DVD: outstanding entertainment without the commercials!
by Ron Anders - SGN A&E Writer Television, that great cultural wasteland, occasionally manages to supply some outstanding entertainment to the masses. For those of us able to fork over the cash, we can watch shows whose dramatic and comic rhythms are not dictated by commercial interruptions, which occupy an ever-increasing portion of broadcast time. If we wait a few months, we can enjoy these shows at our leisure on DVD - and can gobble up a whole season at a time. Here are some outstanding series that have been released on DVD recently. Acclaimed by many as the finest drama ever to grace the tube, HBO's The Sopranos made its highly publicized (and highly controversial) exit this season. The series has kept viewers riveted since its debut in 1999. The final episodes of this esteemed fusion of homicide, betrayal and Italian-American family values whipped fans into a frenzy of murderous anticipation. The producers have even supplied a mobster-in-the-closet subplot. We have always been fascinated by sociopaths - and the lure proves irresistible when given access to the everyday lives of a family whose livelihood depends on the suffering of others. (How many other shows have had its crime boss see a therapist?) The media's fascination with the mafia is confirmed by the presence of The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II near the top of virtually every ten-best list of American films. I have likewise been seduced by this eloquently brazen TV saga of the pursuit of the American dream via murder as business-as-usual. Great writing and superb performances by an ensemble cast (headed by James Gandolfini in the iconic role of Tony Soprano and Edie Falco as his ambivalent wife) have turned the series into a pop culture touchstone. The final episode, which this viewer found both thrilling and necessarily frustrating (don't worry - no spoilers here) has been the subject of many heated water-cooler conversations. Bloody, violent, and introspective, The Sopranos is near the top of my list of TV's best. While we're on the subject of sociopaths, take a look at the first season of Dexter, Showtime's sly, mocking answer to network TV's CSI franchise where, as in The Sopranos, our hero and villain are one and the same. Michael C. Hall (who portrayed the uptight Gay brother in the now-classic Six Feet Under) essays the title role, a blood spatter specialist who just happens do a little splattering of his own: he is TV's first sympathetic serial killer. A kind of murderous Robin Hood, seemingly born without empathy, Dexter Morgan preys only on those who have gotten away with murder. He also struggles to have a normal life, having become expert at faking emotion. ("If I had a heart," he reflects, "it might be breaking right now.") As we follow this charming avenging angel through his paces on his murder-saturated beat in Miami, we also learn about the childhood that begat a killer. Although his colleagues provide excellent foils for Dexter's emotional hollowness, I could do without yet another clichéd collection of gruff-but-soft-hearted co-workers (a conceit which reached its nadir in the numbing Grey's Anatomy). But that's a small quibble. I love the chillingly dark (and sometimes blackly comic) ambiance that Dexter creates, and eagerly await more tales of the man who is "fascinated by blood for all the wrong reasons." The series is adapted from Jeff Lindsay's novels. OK - let's lighten up a little! And what better way to do this than with Ugly Betty, the deliriously cartoonish series where a young Latina makes good in the comically cutthroat world of Mode, a top fashion magazine. A hilarious hybrid of Working Girl and The Devil Wears Prada, the show was inspired by a wildly popular Colombian telenovela. Betty, with her signature braces, clunky glasses and stringy hair, has a heart of gold - which her co-workers often attempt to tarnish. With the support of her family (ensconced in deepest Queens), Betty prevails amidst the hirings, firings and last-minute deadlines - all the while rescuing her lothario boss from crisis after crisis. Betty has something for everyone: high fashion, double-crossing divas, hot guys, gorgeous gals, sex addicts, Transgender transformations, illicit affairs, mysterious appearances and disappearances and - oh, yes - true love. With a huge, engaging cast, innumerable story lines, eye-popping sets, dizzying camerawork, and plot-turns that whiz by at warp speed, DVD is the ideal format in which to watch Ugly Betty - since a second viewing may be necessary to follow all the commotion. Standouts are America Ferrara who imbues Betty with a beleaguered sweetness that keeps us rooting for her, and the stunning Vanessa Williams who plays Mode's evil Creative Director, Wilhelmina, a woman who will do anything (and anyone) to get into the coveted Editor-in-Chief's chair. The series also gives us something we rarely see on television: a young Gay man in the making, Betty's precocious adolescent nephew, Justin (played by note-perfect Mark Indelicato) - a boy who loves fashion and musical theater. His struggle for his father's acceptance is beautifully and poignantly captured. To his parents' eventual delight, he performs the entire score of Hairspray in a New York subway car (don't ask - you just have to see it). Hilarious, heart-warming, jaw-dropping, and then some: Ugly Betty's got it all. If you're in the mood for some very funny, very un-PC humor, get hold of the first season of Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World. This stop-motion animated series, first broadcast on the Logo Channel, is the brainchild of writer/director Q. Allan Brocka, creator of the Eating Out movies. It follows the adventures of Rick and Steve, two pumped up Gay guys (played by dolls, literally) in West Lahunga Beach (the feyest of Gay ghettoes) as they become fathers via their mullet-toting, eco-friendly Lesbian friends, Kirsten and Dana. With episode titles including Save Our Seamen and It's Raining Pussy, the series pushed my envelope - right into my funny bone. The Gay love-child of The Simpsons and South Park, Rick & Steve gleefully skewers a host of politically correct institutions and has something to say about AIDS, the physically challenged, Gay parenting, May-December romances, steroid use, suicide and a host of other sacred cows. Voices of the characters are supplied by a stellar cast: Alan Cumming, Margaret Cho, Peter Paige (Queer As Folk) and Wilson Cruz (Coffee Date). DVD extras include featurettes showing the daunting process of animating the puppets - shot by painstaking shot.