| The big chain video stores cater to the middle-of-the-road market. Want proof? Just look at their selection of TV-on-DVD titles. They carry much-publicized Emmy-winning fare from HBO like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under and they are almost guaranteed to have the first seasons of current ratings darlings Lost and Desperate Housewives. But for somebody who wants to rent some quality TV that’s not being talked about on Entertainment Tonight, you’re likely out of luck.
Fortunately, there are eclectic independents like the two Calgary locations of Casablanca Video. They’ve taken their reputation for stocking plenty of off-the-beaten-track movie titles into the realm of TV. Aaron Brown, who until recently handled the ordering responsibilities for Casablanca’s Marda Loop location, notes that offbeat TV titles like Freaks and Geeks have done really well as rentals. That show, which debuted back in 1999 and lasted less than one season on NBC, was executive-produced by Judd Apatow, a rapidly rising star in Hollywood who directed this year’s biggest cinema comedy hit, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Serving as a writer and occasional director on Freaks and Geeks, Apatow’s trademark brand of comic subtlety and brilliance can be found throughout this high school comedy set in the early ’80s.
Running down more vintage TV-on-DVD attractions, Brown says Casablanca has classic cult-TV shows like Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-1975) and the first two seasons of Green Acres (1965-1971). "I also wanted to order I Love Lucy and stuff like that, but they tend to be kind of expensive. I also totally wanted to get the original Star Trek series, but those are really pricey, too, and it’s hard to justify the cost sometimes."
The beauty of the current explosion of TV titles on DVD is that, even if there isn’t a rental store that carries your personal fave, you can always get it on amazon.ca, or swing by the local Future Shop or Best Buy and purchase the show you want.
Brown says the other popular DVD rentals are the cartoon TV shows, such as South Park, The Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy.
Brown is big on the longest-running prime-time animated show of all time. "With The Simpsons, (series creator and driving force) Matt Groening does the commentary on all the seasons," he says. "They’re worth watching over and over again just to listen to what he and whoever else worked on the episode has to say." (Commentary tracks from Groening are indeed a prized possession, since he’s notoriously press-shy and has previously divulged very few secrets about his landmark show.)
There’s lots of quality TV to rent this holiday season as you and yours laze around the living room, bloated on turkey and stuffing. Hey, and if you play your cards right, there might even be a small-screen wonder like Freaks and Geeks or a season of The Simpsons tucked into your stocking, you lucky SOB.
The best wrestling DVD there ever will be
"If I don’t do it, they’ll go ahead and do their own thing." That’s how Calgary’s Bret "The Hitman" Hart explains his involvement in a new DVD bio set devoted to his professional wrestling career. Hart temporarily put aside long-standing animosity between himself and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) mogul Vince McMahon to be part of the project. It’s a good thing for him that he did, because there were indeed plans in place for the WWE to release their own Hart video package.
It was going to be called Screwed and concentrate heavily on Hart’s tumultuous exit from McMahon’s wrestling organization back in November of 1997. Those events, which included McMahon successfully conspiring to humiliate Hart in his last WWE match and a furious Hart striking the wrestling overlord, have already been well-chronicled in the documentary film Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows (1998).
Hart wanted something entirely different in a bio release. "I was always very proud of my wrestling career and it was always important to me to have my greatest matches remembered," he says.
McMahon and Hart eventually collaborated on the project, with The Hitman supplying many intriguing and frank interview segments for a three-disc set entitled The Best There Is – The Best There Was – The Best There Ever Will Be.
The set not only includes a 150-minute comprehensive documentary feature, but also 18 complete matches. They graphically demonstrate Hart to be one of the best athletic storytellers the wrestling business has ever seen. For someone with even a passing curiosity about the often shadowy and mysterious realm of pro wrestling, this package delivers the eye-opening goods. |
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