HULK!! BAA BAA!! AFRO SAM!! MST3K!! KIDNAPPED!! EXTRAS!! BIRDMAN!! HercVault!!

“We don’t discuss Virgil with guests.” I am – Hercules!!

After “Heroes” "Drive" and “Studio 60,” “Kidnapped,” which hits DVD today, is my favorite new show of this season. The highly serialized (and too-quickly-cancelled) drama was about a superrich and well-insulated Manhattan family that finds itself torn in all sorts of directions when its teen son, Leopold Caine (not to be confused “Veronica Mars” lead victim Lilly Kane), is abducted by a murderous individual who really knows what the fuck he’s doing. Writer-producer Jason Smilovic, who masterminded “Karen Sisco” (ABC’s way-too-good-for-TV TV version of Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight”) shepherds “Kidnapped” as well. “Kidnapped” stars Jeremy Sisto ("Six Feet Under"), Delroy Lindo ("Get Shorty"), Dana Delany ("China Beach"), Timothy Hutton ("Beautiful Girls"), Mykelti Williamson ("Boomtown"), Linus Roache ("Batman Begins"), Carmen Ejogo ("Lackawanna Blues"), Will Denton ("Palindromes") and Boris McGiver ("The Pink Panther"). And Mamet regular Ricky Jay! You know right away you’re in good hands as you notice the lack of pride world-weary Massive Private Bodyguard Virgil Hayes takes in correcting the elevator operator on a species of flora being transported. “We don’t discuss Virgil with guests,” Delany’s character reminds her preteen daughter (in French) as a “Times” writer lurks nearby. (If you’re a fan of Jack Bristow or Jack Bauer or Aaron Pierce, there’s an excellent chance you’re going to be way into Virgil Hayes. And I’m not even sure Virgil survives the pilot.) Jeremy Sisto (Brenda Chenoweth’s brother and incestuous love interest from “Six Feet Under”) plays a character so badass he’s charged with cleaning up Virgil’s mess. He has a very kissable British partner who does not get kissed in the pilot. Delroy Lindo demonstrates all manner of heretofore unnoticed nuance as an FBI shark. Hutton, again playing a guy named Conrad, kicks in some of the “Ordinary People” gravitas he pioneered more than a quarter century ago. Dana Delany is incredible, and today defines “milftastico.” But what matters Herc’s opinion? The Washington Post says:
… superior, high-tension serialized drama about the proverbial "parent's worst nightmare" -- and how it affects not just the parents but everyone involved. … Writer and executive producer Jason Smilovic, ably abetted by director Michael Dinner, crams the premiere with so many provocative complications that even a doubting Thomas can see how a drama about a single kidnapping -- wrapped up handily in such self-contained, two-hour movies as "Ransom" -- could sustain viewer interest over an entire season. … "Kidnapped" isn't the show to watch if you want your mind taken off your troubles (unless other people's troubles have a therapeutic effect). It reflects a trend toward the grim and even ghoulish in new fall dramas. But for what it is, it's an extremely accomplished piece of work -- unsettling in ways that few suspense thrillers manage to be.
The Chicago Tribune says:
… Several new dramas, including the apocalyptic "Jericho" and hostage drama "The Nine," attempt to mine entertainment from terrifying scenarios, but none does it with more style and panache than "Kidnapped." Thanks to a top-notch cast and unusually intelligent writing, "Kidnapped" is among the more promising of many new shows that pay homage to the granddaddy of the current suspense boom, "24." …
The Los Angeles Times says:
… There's also "Vanished," a similarly themed new series on Fox involving the disappearance of a senator's wife, but "Kidnapped" is easily better. … In a show like this, at a time like this, the story, the "trust no one" foreshadowing, is ultimately the star. But "Kidnapped" collaborators Jason Smilovic, the creator, and Michael Dinner, executive producer-director, tip you off that they're also looking for character. It's in details — the way, for instance, the Cain family conveys its class status by speaking French to one another when a stranger is present. As things pick up speed in the second hour (Day 3, in the timeline of the kidnapping) and build to the kind of standoff that will inevitably punctuate each episode, there is a scene in a bar involving Sisto, Lindo and Mosley, the two vets praising the rookie for his action in the field that day. It's actually a scene about the giving of mutual support, and it doesn't come off as hokum. "To our ships at sea," Knapp says, raising his whiskey, as the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" plays. There is action all over the place in "Kidnapped," but it's a scene like this — quieter and even refined — that conveys the sense that you're in capable hands.
Newsday says:
… Here are the three basic things you need to know about NBC's "Kidnapped": First, it's effective. Second, it's a serial. And third, but not least, Jeremy Sisto is the crusty, sour, dangerous and hairy (casually and coolly unkempt) Knapp. … Yes, there have been some valid questions about TV's recent embrace of the serial. (Too many? Will people stay tuned?) "Kidnapped" feels so fresh that viewers won't even care.
Entertainment Weekly gives a “B” and says:
… Consider the cast: Timothy Hutton, Dana Delany, Jeremy Sisto (pictured with Carmen Ejogo), and Delroy Lindo. No quartet is better suited to elevate this sleek drama …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… one of the best of the new crop of serialized dramas. … Jason Smilovic has written an engaging mystery filled with fascinating characters. Sisto brings his trademark intensity to the role of Knapp, a dogged investigator who says a lot with very few words. Lindo is equally heroic, though slightly more detached. When they are in the same scene, which happens regularly, the testosterone approaches flood levels.

A little history on Lt. Columbo, TV's favorite dogged, raincoat-loving Los Angeles homicide detective. The rumpled sleuth was first played by Bert Freed (who also played Sgt. Boulanger in “Paths of Glory”) in “Enough Rope,” a live 1960 episode of the NBC anthology series “The Chevy Mystery Show.” “Enough Rope” was based on a Columbo-free short story “May I Come In?” penned by creators Richard Levinson and William Link. Columbo was the last role ever played by Thomas Mitchell, who earlier played Uncle Billy in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Mitchell died while touring in a 1962 stage production of “Prescription Murder,” the play adapted from “Enough Rope.” Peter Falk first played the character in the 1968 TV-movie version of “Prescription: Murder.” The TV-movie role was offered first to both Lee J. Cobb (who was unavailable) and Bing Crosby (who turned it down). “Prescription” featured an atypical version of Columbo, who was depicted violently losing his temper, something never depicted in the many subsequent Columbo productions. A sequel, “Ransom For A Dead Man,” followed more than three years later, and spawned the following autumn an ongoing series of NBC TV movies that shared a timeslot with the likes of “McCloud,” “MacMillan and Wife” and “Hec Ramsey” for seven seasons. Forty-three “Columbo” movies ran on NBC over seven seasons. Sometimes there were as many as eight per season, sometimes as few as three. Peter Falk eventually decided to leave his signature role and the last NBC “Columbo” ran May 13, 1978. NBC tried to keep the franchise going with “Mrs. Columbo,” starring 24-year-old Kate Mulgrew (“Star Trek: Voyager”) as the detective’s oft-referenced (but to that point unseen) wife. The series only lasted thirteen episodes, but was aired under four different titles. In the five-episode first season, it was known as “Mrs. Columbo” then “Kate Columbo.” In the second season, the character was depicted as having divorced the lieutenant and reverted to her maiden name, Kate Callahan. During the second season the show was known as both “Kate the Detective” and “Kate Loves a Mystery.” Falk's Columbo remained offscreen for more than a decade, until the actor decided to return to the role in a series of ABC TV-movies. Twenty-four of these aired between 1989 and 2003, 14 between 1989 and 1991. The new “Columbo” set streeting today contains the five movies ABC aired in 1989. Leo Penn (father of Michael, Chris and Sean), who directed the last NBC “Columbo,” helmed also the first ABC “Columbo,” which stars Anthony Andrews (“Brideshead Revisited”) as a fake psychic. The second ABC “Columbo” stars Fisher Stevens as a blockbuster film director who looks a great deal like Steven Spielberg, who directed an episode of “Columbo” in 1971 (the same year he made “Duel”). The third ABC “Columbo” stars Mrs. David Mamet, Lindsay Crouse, as a lover-murdering sex therapist. The fourth has a “Few Good Men” flavor, with Robert Foxworth as a army colonel who murders an enlisted man who knows too much. The fifth stars Patirck Bauchau (the sinister Professor Lodz on “Carnivale”) as a famous artist who murders his wife.

Tony Randall was, is and will forever be a comedy god. Watch him work in the Rock Hudson-Doris Day comedy “Lover Come Back.” And, though I’m not holding my breath, Fox should give some thought to issuing some season-sets for “The Tony Randall Show,” the well-built courtroom sitcom MTM engineered for him immediately subsequent to “The Odd Couple’s” demise. Randall got a lot out of “The Odd Couple’s”. More than Jack Lemmon, I’d argue. The TV Felix was snug fit for Randall’s patented tightly wound East Coast WASP persona (never mind that Randall, a Jew born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg, was sired and reared in Tulsa). Today we can recognize that Randall’s Felix was a very sick man, obsessive-compulsive, wracked by debilitating mood swings and likely bipolar. But Randall’s brand of dementia was always plenty hilarious. Jack Klugman, for his part, is no Walter Matthau, but was adept enough to take home the Emmy for his version of slovenly sportwriter Oscar Madison. Season-one “Odd Couple” was a different animal from the show’s subsequent four seasons. All 24 episodes of its debut year were shot like movies, with one camera and no studio audience. The set was different, essentially duplicating the one we saw in the 1968 movie. The Pigeon sisters, played by the same actresses who played the sisters on Broadway (opposite Matthau and Art Carney) and in the movie (opposite Matthau and Lemmon), appeared in several episodes. Penny Marshall (sister of Garry) would not join the cast as Myrna Turner, Oscar’s secretary, until season two. As compensation, season one features Rudy, a recurring hipster character assayed by the great Albert Brooks. This was the first onscreen character the comedian ever played. The season-one DVD set comes stocked with extras aplenty. * The pilot features two separate commentaries, one with Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson, who wrote the episode, and one with Carole Shelley, who played one of the Pigeon sisters. * Marshall, who went on to direct blockbusters like “Pretty Woman,” “Runaway Bride” and “The Princess Diaries,” adds commentary to 1.14, "They Use Horseradish, Don't They?" which marked his television directorial debut. * Jack Klugman supplies commentary to 1.10, "It's All Over Now, Baby Bird," about the boys deciding what to do about Felix's ex-parrot, who had just joined the choir invisible. * In addition to his commenatires, Marshall created short audio intros for each episode. * 13 minutes of clips from the Mike Douglas show feature Randall and Klugman plugging the series. * A six-minute mini-doc, "Jack Klugman's Book Tour Home Videos," follows the actor promoting his book “Tony and Me.” * A three-minute mini-doc, "Tony & Jack On Stage In The Odd Couple," features footage of the duo’s 1993 stage performance of the Neil Simon play. * A minute-long clip of Klugman accepting his Emmy in 1971 features Klugman’s commentary. * There’s also two minute-long ABC promos and a minute-long gag reel. * The final disc in the set contains four bonus episodes said to be favorites of the title-role performers: 2.4 “Sleepwalker,” written by Mickey Rose (who previously wrote “Bananas,” “What’s Up Tiger Lily” and “Take the Money and Run” with Woody Allen); 3.11 “Password,” written by Frank Buxton (another of the seven people credited with the “Tiger Lily” screenplay); 4.2 “Last Tango in Newark,” written by Ron Friedman (who went on to script – get this - 1986’s “Transformers” animated feature); and 4.6 “The New Car,” co-written by Mark Rothman (“Happy Days”) and Lowell Ganz (who went on to co-write the big-screen comedy blockbusters “Splash,” “Parenthood,” “City Slickers,” “A League of Their Own,” “Kindergarten Cop” and “Robots”).

Keep this in mind if you purchase One Day At A Time: The Complete First Season for $20.99. Season one ran between 1975 and 1976, so anyone regarding 15-year-old Mackenzie Phillips or 15-year-old Valerie Bertinelli in a sexual way while watching this DVD is indisputably a monster. Unless that individual lives in Albania, Austria, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Equador, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, French Guiana, Greece, Guinea, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Liechenstein, Lithuania, Martinique, Moldavia, Monaco, Nigeria, Peru, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Tanzania, Togo, Uruguay, Vanuatu or parts of Japan. AND owns a Region 1 player.

A warning to those contemplating the purchase of WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete First Season : Mammoth chunks of the original music used in the series have apparently been replaced with generic faux rock. Further, the dialogue spoken over the replaced music was apparently redubbed by new actors, not the original cast. The memorable scene with Arthur Carlson talking to Johnny Fever about Pink Floyd is said not to be on the set. “This is the product that we can bring out,” Fox Home Entertainment marketing exec Peter Staddon tells the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “Is that better than not bringing anything out? In our estimation, it is.” (Happily, we’ve heard nothing about anyone excising footage of the relentlessly fabulous 29-year-old version of Jan Smithers.) Read more of "WKRP's" troubled road to DVD here.

60% Off NewsRadio!! In celebration, presumably, of the release of the final season of “Newsradio” last month, all previous extra-crammed sets of the series are available for less than $16 each! $15.99 NewsRadio Season One and Two $15.99 NewsRadio Season Three $15.99 NewsRadio Season Four