BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!! XIII!! ALLY McBEAL!! PARTY DOWN!! MYTHBUSTERS!! THE UNUSUALS!! HercVault!!...

I am – Hercules!!

Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Second Season in Blu-ray offers HD versions of the series I picked as the best series of 2005. A total of 23 episodes were colorcast by the SciFi Channel in 2005. The first 13 of these (plus the original 4-hour miniseries) is collected on Battlestar Galactica: The Complete First Season. The balance, which comprises the first 10 episodes of the second season, was collected at the end of 2005 on the oddly-named Battlestar Galactica 2.0. Episodes 2.1 through 2.10 takes us from the attempt on Adama’s life to the attempted rescue of Boomer’s boys, Tyrol and Helo, from the rape-happy crew of the Pegasus. That’s right. The rape-happy crew of the Pegasus. You don’t hear about that many rape-happy crews on “Stargate” “Enterprise” or “Lexx,” do ya? (You did hear about a fair number of rape-happy crews on “Firefly,” though, now that I think about it!) Seven of the first ten second-season episodes – all but 2.3 (“Fragged”), 2.9 (“Flight of the Phoenix”) and, most frustratingly, 2.10 (“The Pegasus”) - are graced with the podcast commentaries from showrunner Moore, and he’s joined on 2.6 and 2.7 (the “Home” 2-parter) by producer David Eick, who made his scripting debut on “Home.” The commentaries demonstrate that Moore regards 2.7 as the true first-season finale. 2.8 (“Final Cut,” with Lucy Lawless) and 2.9 (“Flight of the Phoenix”), he implies, are stand-alone installments that presage a new arc. By my count, the season’s first nine episodes alone contain a whopping 47 deleted scenes, comprising almost 69 minutes spread over the season. The episode that changed the most in the editing room, apparently, was “Scattered,” the second-season premiere. Viewers who remember the snippets of flashback that punctuated that episode might be interested to discover those flashbacks were actually lifted from much longer (and heretofore unseen) scenes depicting Bill Adama and Saul Tigh’s (violence-soaked) first meeting and some of their other early adventures. These flashbacks, moreover, were originally spread over both 2.1 and 2.2 (“Valley of Darkness”). There are almost 17 minutes of deleted and extended scenes from 2.1 and more than 10 from 2.2. Other highlights among the deletions throughout the first 10 season-two episodes include: … * Lee “Apollo” Adama and Col. Tigh arguing (as Bill “Husker” Adama remains comatose), about who is to lead a shipbound detail; … * an extended scene on Kobol featuring Six telling Vice President Baltar that Baltar alone will live to see Earth; … * a bit of exposition regarding Kara “Starbuck” Thrace’s Caprica dwelling; … * a frosty encounter between Balter and Adama as the latter returns to duty; … * some key encounters between CPO Galen Tyrol and specialist Cally following her Rubyesque assassination of Sharon “Boomer” Valerii; … * a creepy dream sequence featuring President Laura Roslin and aide Billy Keikeya discussing scripture; … * Apollo explaining why a meat locker is so heavily guarded; … * Kara getting a pelvic exam from a seemingly friendly Caprican physician; … * A cool bit with Kara observing two Sixes conversing as they walk down a hospital corridor; … * Tom Zarek (Richard Hatch) sharing a moment with henchman Meier (James Remar) on Kobol; … * Billy admitting to his boss something about his religious beliefs; … * Tyrol mending a garment; and … * a funny comment from Starbuck on Tyrol and Karl “Helo” Agathon following their dustup over Sharon. 2.11 picks up with the arrival of the long-thought-destroyed Pegasus and the season ends a year later with Galactica and Pegasus fleeing New Caprica with only a small percentage of the 12 colonies’ survivors. The biggest extra is probably the expanded version of 2.10, “Pegasus.”

Also out today is another edition of Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series, which differs from the earlier edition in that in that it includes “The Plan,” which had not yet aired when that earlier edition was issued. It also doesn’t contain the collectable Cylon. That new complete-series set comes in both DVD and Blu-ray. The new DVD version is a cheaper at $141.49 than the old complete series set with the collectable Cylon, which is $155.99. The new Blu-ray version, at $209.99, is considerably more expensive than the old Blu-ray edition with the collectable Cylon, which is only $149.99.

“Ally McBeal” ran five seasons, but only the first two worked brilliantly. This is the first opportunity Americans have been given to purchase the second season separately, and boy is it worth the purchase. This is the season that introduced narcissistic lawyering bad girls Ling Woo (Lucy Liu) and Nell Porter (Portia de Rossi) to torment Cage, Fish and Ally.

The Starz sitcom from Rob Thomas (who earlier created “Cupid” and “Veronica Mars”), “Party Down” follows a group of caterers who aspire to jobs at which they won’t have to wear humiliating pink bowties for $14 a night. It stars actors who had recurring roles on “Veronica Mars” (Ryan Hanson, Ken Marino) and actors who worked on Judd Apatow projects (Adam Scott, Lizzy Caplan, Jane Lynch and Martin Starr). Thomas wrote the pilot alongside fellow “Mars” vets John Enbom, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd. Yes, that Paul Rudd; the “I Love You, Man” star played a rocker on the final season of “Mars.” The “Party Down” pilot, if I remember correctly, was shot on the cheap in Thomas’ home. The new series does not start anywhere near as strongly as did “Cupid” and “Mars.” While watching the pilot I warmed to the Scott and Caplan characters but found the other regulars – all played by actors I hugely admire – mostly an annoyance. But I grew to enjoy all the regulars as the series wore on. Entertainment Weekly says:

… has some great lines and a wicked streak even if, like catering food, the concept feels a little warmed-over. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… a smart, affable, mostly unpredictable ensemble comedy that reminds us that in the 500-channel universe, fine things can happen in unlikely places, as long as you are clever about budget, commit to a sensible number of episodes -- in this case 10 -- write well and cast right, and that what matters ultimately to heaven is not the eminence of the venue but the quality of the work. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… part of the charm of this frequently deft series about the employees of an L.A. catering firm is that some of the characters are too dense or too innately optimistic to understand that they’re probably never going to make it. There is bitterness aplenty, but “Party Down” didn’t create these characters simply to mock them. There is also bittersweet sadness lurking behind these droll, incisive portraits of failure and self-deception. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… only intermittently inspires a good time. … "Party Down" can't decide if it wants to be smart-funny or dumb-funny. Maybe if it does, the party will truly begin.

Variety says:

… a warmed-over buffet of bite-sized moments, mostly devoid of flavor. … There's no shortage of comedy with a semi-improvised flair trafficking in detached irony, but by the end of three catered affairs, I felt every bit as bored and blase about life as Henry.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Lurking behind the surface of this raucous comedy is an astute meditation on the promise and peril of leading an unconventional life, something about which aspiring actors know a thing or two.

“The Unusuals,” which launched in April 2009, starred Jeremy Renner, who became a much bigger deal when this year’s Oscar winner, “The Hurt Locker,” hit U.S. cinemas two months later. An NYPD homicide dramedy from writer-producer Noah Hawley (“Bones”), “Unusuals” stars other actors of whom I’m quite fond: Amber Tamblyn (“Joan of Arcadia”), Adam Goldberg (“The Hebrew Hammer”), and “Oz” vets Harrold Perrineau (“Lost”) and Terry Kinney (“Canterbury’s Law”). Tamblyn looks great in the first act as an undercover faux hooker, but the pilot’s numerous broad grasps at comedy elicited nothing approaching a laugh, at least in the room in which I was seated. Like too many ABC dramedies, “The Unusuals” fails at funny. USA Today give it two and a half stars (out of four) and says:

… The Unusuals garners some rooting interest simply for hosting the welcome TV return of Joan of Arcadia's Amber Tamblyn. Here she's a tart-tongued, newly elevated detective with a rich-girl past, a role she imbues with her usual charm and intelligence. If only the show were equally smart and charming. …

Entertainment Weekly says:

… The oddball overload bugs at first, but the incredibly likable cast makes The Unusuals unusually promising. …

The Associated Press says:

… With its quirky characters, droll sense of humor and oddball cases (a serial killer targeting cats), "The Unusuals" feels a bit like "Rescue Me," only with a little less grit and with cops instead of firefighters. (Peter Tolan is an executive producer on both shows). And in an era of cookie-cutter procedurals, you have to appreciate its attempt to bring something fresh to the genre. But that doesn't mean "The Unusuals" gets everything right. Like "Rescue Me," it sometimes careens awkwardly between serious drama and comedic moments that feel forced and/or just plain dumb. For example, the cocky and self-absorbed detective Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox) is so buffoonishly drawn that he'd probably be more at home on "Reno 911!"…

The New York Times says:

… invests a little too much of its energy in attempted humor, including an unseen dispatcher who blurts out bulletins in a nasal Queens accent … Tamblyn has an appealingly aloof, brooding manner that wipes some of the silliness off her character. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… closer to "Barney Miller" than to, say, "Kojak," though not as good as either. … The cast is excellent, and there's potential here, even though tonight's opening episode, as pilots will, tries a little too hard. Wisecracks fall flat (references to chlamydia, juvenile cross-dressing and sluttiness); a secondary story line about a cat killer is weak and unpleasant; and the craziness is somewhat over-stressed. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… tries a little too hard to be quirky. "Hill Street Blues" had its share of offbeat moments, but it strived to get the atmosphere of the station house and police work right. "The Unusuals" doesn't have the balance between the comedy and the serious stuff right yet …

The Washington Post says:

… it careens from genre to genre, scrambling to please everybody, putting us on a treadmill that speeds up, slows down and subjects us to bumpy terrain until we're ready to pull the red emergency-stop cord attached to our sweat pants. This description may suggest "The Unusuals" is thrilling. It is not. It is spastic. … Is "The Unusuals" carving out new territory in prime time? Or is it just buckling under the weight of its seesawing ambitions? If ABC leaves it on long enough, the show may solve its own case, which is not so much a whodunit as a whatisit.

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… the series is flat-out tone deaf; a limp drama and a grating, messy misfire as a comedy. And yes, it tries to do both. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… too often it comes off as forced and unrealistic … offers an odd combo platter of tones that don't allow the show to jell in its premiere episode.

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… What "The Unusuals" lacks in cinematic sheen, it compensates with humor … Occasionally, the quirkiness piles on too high -- Renner's character not only played for the Yankees, he now owns a diner where he makes inedible dishes like "pork chops with a Skittles reduction" -- but that's something creator Noah Hawley ought to be able to dial in correctly given time.…

The Boston Herald says:

… what could have been a pleasant diversion into a chore. It will be out of the ordinary, to say the least, if this show gets a second season. …

The Boston Globe says:

… if not pitched just right, dramedies can short-shrift both the drama and the comedy, as one undermines the other, and that's what happens on "The Unusuals." The show is neither here nor there, neither amusing nor affecting. It doesn't really call out for further viewing, which is not so unusual at all. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… a rapid-fire, clever mix of style and content -- with the bonus of having one of TV's best collection of actor orphans …

Variety says:

… while the show does qualify as slightly unusual, its ability to be consistently interesting is another matter. …

An English-language Canadian-French co-production based on a 1984 Belgian funnybook, “XIII” is about an amnesic superagent trying to figure out his own identity following a presidential assassination. Directed by Duane Clark (“Crusoe”), it stars Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer. I never saw it since NBC apparently sent screeners only to select outlets, none of which seemed impressed: USA Today give it one star (out of four) and says:

… dreadful, derivative, cynically silly …

Entertainment Weekly gives it an “C-plus” and says:

… Intrigued by The Bourne Identity, but turned off by the cogent plotlines and pesky nuances? Rejoice, then, in XIII …

The New York Times says:

… What is obvious to viewers after only a few minutes is not obvious to the supposedly crack investigators dispatched to untangle the conspiracy, whose Ludlumesque layers they fail to see. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… I imagine that there is some sort of mathematical correctness to the plot, but as a viewing experience it is vague, confusing and preposterous to the point that by the time all was revealed -- or nearly all, since the film ends on an unresolved note -- I had long ceased to care. …

The Boston Globe says:

… as uncompelling as its leading man. … a hollow piece of work, with only a tad more character and spirit than a video game. … It's the kind of story that asks you to either take off your thinking cap or be bored and indifferent. …

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