Is it a deal?

Above: The conclusion of the "Deal Or No Deal" season finale with Celine Dion. It was the season finale for a good reason.

"Deal Or No Deal: The DVD Game" (Imagination Entertainment): Call it whatever names you want, but we're big fans of NBC's "Deal Or No Deal." It's simple, unbridled fun.
So when we saw this DVD game version in the store, we had to try it. And it's not perfect, but it's not bad, either.
The disc opens with several copyright screens. Gee, one is enough, guys!. The opening graphics do a good job of imitating the opening of the show. And, of course, there's Howie Mandel introducing the game and heading out to the stage where you see the audience (a real one) is seated. The 26 gorgeous models march down the stairs. (Some people will think this game might be worth it just for that alone!)
So let's get to the game. As in the TV show, you pick your case. But here's the biggest drawback. Instead of having all the numbers up on a wall or in the hands of the models, each case is shown one at a time and players must scroll to both the one they choose to hold onto and the ones they choose to eliminate using their DVD controller.
This becomes very time consuming and tedious. So don't expect a lightning round.
As in the TV show, after eliminating the cases Howie asks for, the banker calls and gives Howie his "deal or no deal" amount to get you to take the money and run.
This continues, of course, until you either take the deal or get down to the last two cases.
Howie's comments don't seem to vary much no matter whether you have a lot of money left on the board or just a little. Too bad. This would have made the game even better. Even at the end, his acknowledgement of how much you've won appears to have been written for whatever amount, big or small, you've made.
Another minor criticism: When the cases are opened, it's the same model that opens each one (who's seen from the shoulders down), but ...
But if you like the show, it's not a bad game. For one thing, it has a two-player option the TV show doesn't have. It could have been better, though.
Oh, by the way, the very first time we played the DVD game, we won the $1,000,000. There were no fireworks and special effects.

And here's something interesting. We've all seen the U.S. version. Below is a clip of an abbreviated version of the British version of "Deal Or No Deal." It's paced quite a bit differently.


An abbreviated look at the British edition of "Deal Or No Deal". Quite a bit different in pacing than the American version.

Just in time for spring training

For a just-announced new two-disc version of "The Natural: Director's Cut," streeting on April 15 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, director Barry Levinson has restored 15 minutes of never-before-seen footage. "I was able to not just simply add a few more scenes to the Director's Cut, but to actually re-cut the first act as it was originally conceived,” he said in a press release. “This version is much closer to what I envisioned and it was fantastic to finally bring it to fruition."

The Robert Redford film, one of our favorite movies, has new color mastering by the Oscar® nominated Director of Photography Caleb Deschanel, and was originally nominated for numerous awards, including four Academy Award® nominations: Best Supporting Actress (Glenn Close), Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Art Direction, as well as a Golden Globe® nomination for Kim Basinger as Best Supporting Actress.

In addition to the added footage, the bonus materials will include more than 10 featurettes, among them new interviews with Robert Redford and Glenn Close, as well as professionals from the sports broadcasting and baseball worlds.

And the street dates just keep coming

Some really interesting titles coming from Paramount. Here are some of them:
2/20: "Flushed Away"
4/3: "Frasier: The Ninth Season"
4/3: "The Untouchables: Season One"
4/3: "The Streets of San Francisco: Season One"
4/10: "Major League" (Wild Thing Edition)
4/10: "Twin Peaks: The Second Season"
4/13: "Love Story"
4/17: "Laverne and Shirley: The Complete Second Season"
4/24: "The Odd Couple: Season One"
5/15: "Wings: The Fourth Season"

Also:
2/6: "Eddie Murphy: Delirious" (Anchor Bay)
2/6: "Hollywoodland" (Universal)
2/13: "The Golden Girls: The Complete Seventh Season"
2/13: "Paul Robeson: Portrait of an Artist (Criterion)
2/20: "Pink Floyd: Atom Heart Mother"
2/20: "Rock Milestones: Pink Floyd: The Wall"



For advance ordering (or any ordering), please use the Amazon.com links at the right.

More street date announcements

More highlights, from Warner Bros.:
2/6: "A Summer Place"
2/13: "Hustle: The Complete Second Season"
2/13: "Performance"
2/20: "Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl"
2/20: "What's New Scooby-Doo: The Complete First Season"
3/13: "Without a Trace: The Complete Second Season"
3/20: "The Nativity Story"
3/27: "Happy Feet"

Universal Home Video:
1/30: "Murder She Wrote: Season Five"
1/30: "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"
2/13: "Emergency: Season Three"
2/20: "Alias Smith and Jones"
2/27: "The Rockford Files: Season Three"
2/27: "Magnum, P.I.: Season 6"


Also on Feb. 6: "Hollywoodland"

This week's featured DVD: "Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season" (Universal Home Video)

"Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season" (Universal Home Video): It was Oct. 11, 1975. NBC was debuting a comedy-variety series in its 11:30 p.m. Saturday time slot. Not much was expected. It was late in the evening, when many viewers had already gone to bed. The comedy regulars, dubbed the Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players, were pretty much unknown.
That opening show, hosted by George Carlin, was the beginning of "Saturday Night Live," still leaving them laughing after all these years. And after numerous comedy and music compilations of this show on DVD, someone finally came up with the idea of putting out the first season in a boxed seat.
IT'S ABOUT DAMNED TIME!
This is positively one of the top 10 TV releases of the past year. These shows were nothing short of brilliant. The roster of comedy stars that first season meant little then, but they are legendary now -- Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris and Jane Curtin. Collectively, they were known as "The Beatles of comedy." The hosts producer Lorne Michaels managed to gather for the first season weren't small potatoes -- Rob Reiner, Lily Tomlin, Richard Pryor (see the clip above), Elliott Gould and Candice Bergen. The musical talent wasn't bad either -- Simon and Garfunkel, ABBA, Carly Simon, Patti Smith Group and Jimmy Cliff, among them.
Several of the comedy bits have passed into legendary status and it's interesting to see them in their original context. For example, John Belushi's Joe Cocker imitation (though
Belushi's duet with Cocker didn't take place until the second season), Chevy Chase's bumbling President Ford (one can only guess what these guys would have done with Bush), Michael McDonough (undoubtably ahead of his time), Gilda Radner's charming Emily Litella and Belushi's Samurai Warrior.
The set is beautifully laid out and includes some special features with original screen tests, a 1975 TV interview with the cast and a book of photos.
But the box set itself -- with the first 24 shows -- is beyond enjoyable. This is classic stuff and an absolute must for any TV DVD buff.
Again, what the hell took them so long!

Upcoming on DVD

Highlights of upcoming releases:

Shout Factory
1/30: "Motown: The Early Years"
2/13: "Men Behaving Badly: The Complete Series"
2/20: "The Johnny Carson Show" (2-DVD collection includes ten half hour episodes of the 1955-56 CBS series, plus an episode of his "Who Do You Trust?" quiz show)
3/6: "The Electric Company: Greatest Hits and Bits"
3/20: "The Milton the Monster Show: The Complete Series:
3/27: "Sonic The Hedgehog: The Complete Series"

Paramount:

2/6: "Mad About You: The Complete Third Season"
2/20: "Babel"
2/27: "Reno 911: Reno's Most Unwanted: The First Season"
"Girlfriends: The First Season:
3/6: Several Triple Feature (3 on 1) discs, including Triple Feature: "Beverly Hills Cop," "Beverly Hills Cop II," "Beverly Hills Cop III," "Triple Feature: "Airplane," "Top Secret," "The Naked Gun" and "Triple Feature: "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Sabrina" and "Roman Holiday."
3/13: "Ghost" (Collector's Edition)
4/3: "The Streets of San Francisco: The Complete First Season" (one we've been waiting for ...)
"The Untouchables" (Season One) (another one we've been looking forward to)

Varese Vintage
3/20: "Petula" (1968 Petula Clark TV special)

Featured DVD: "Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Shows" (Image)

Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Shows (Image): When SOFA Entertainment released "The Four Historic Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring the Beatles" in 2003, not only was it a surprise, but it was almost unthinkable that a release of shows this historic and significant would be given the go ahead for the marketplace. That release was nothing short of amazing -- the four shows were released in complete form including commercials. It wouldn't be likely to happen again -- or would it?
Comes now "Elvis: The Ed Sullivan Shows," perhaps a more historic three disc set from Image Entertainment that features two complete shows from 1956 and another from 1957 -- again with commercials -- featuring the landmark performances from Elvis Presley on those shows.
What's more exciting about this release is that these shows occurred almost 8 years earlier than the Beatles' shows -- making their release even more unlikely.
The Elvis shows may be even more interesting historically than the Beatles' shows. Why? Anyone tuning in "The Ed Sullivan Show" each week knew they were in for a crap shoot. Variety was the key word and "variety" didn't always mean it would be worth wading through.
So in the Sept. 9, 1956, show, we see Charles Laughton, filling in for Sullivan, who was recovering from an auto accident, take charge of hosting the show and introducing Presley to the Sullivan audience. As rock critic Greil Marcus, who wrote the eight-page booklet that comes with the set describes it, it was basically a vaudeville show with something for everyone. Laughton starts with a fairly inane poetry bit, something we suspect he would have done on the show if Sullivan had hosted it. But such was the "variety" viewers saw every week -- nothing offensive, but generally entertaining.
Also on the show: the Vagabonds, trying to sing a hip version of "Up a Lazy River" that looks insipid when you know what's coming later in the show; comic magician Carl Ballentine, later of the "McHale's Navy" sitcom, acrobats the Brothers Amin and Toby the Dog.
But Elvis is far and away the star of the show and he knows it.
"Thank you, friends. Thank you, Mr. Laughton," he says somewhat shyly. But he hears the screaming girls in the audience loud and clear. Introducing "Love Me Tender," he jokes about it being "our new RCA Victor escape ... release," which, of course, sends the young audience into a frenzy.
The other two shows include other historic performances besides Presley. The Oct. 28, 1956, show features Senor Wences (s'awright ... s'awright), while the Jan. 6, 1957, show features a young Carol Burnett and boxer Sugar Ray Robinson.
Musically, Presley repeats three songs from the first show -- "Don't Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender" and "Hound Dog" -- on the second, with only "Ready Teddy" the first week changed to "Love Me" the the second.
His performances the third show in January of 1957, however, are nothing short of spectacular. He opens with a medley of "Hound Dog, "Love Me Tender" and "Heartbreak Hotel," then comes back with "Don't Be Cruel." His second spot finds him burning hot with "Too Much" and "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again." He closes the show features a spectacular version of "Peace in the Valley," backed by "the wonderful Jordinaires."
All-in-all, this one's a must have, if for no other reason than it shows the clips unadulterated by titles that all the previous Sullivan releases have included. But it also, like the Beatles release, returns the shows to their historical context. For TV history buffs, it doesn't get much better than this. (Rating on scale of 1-5: Five DVDs)

Bonus features: These include a rare color 8mm home movie shot in 1955 which is the first-ever recorded footage of a very young Elvis (age 20) who was not yet managed by Col. Tom Parker; special Elvis moments including an appearance by comedian John Byner; and home movies of Elvis and Priscilla with some of the earliest shots of their daughter Lisa Marie; interviews with producer Sam Phillips of Sun Records, Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires, Marlo Lewis, producer of the three Sullivan shows, television host Wink Martindale, who was a Memphis DJ when Elvis lived there; Elvis friend George Klein and Memphis Mafia member Jerry Schilling.

Just announced

Among titles just announced from Warner Bros., 2/27: New high-definition versions of "Bullitt" and "The Getaway" with Steve McQueen. List price is $28.99. The high-definition versions will include the same bonus materials as the regular releases.
4/24: "The James Cagney Signature Collection": "The Bride Came C.O.D.," "Captains of the Clouds," "The Fighting 69th," "Torrid Zone" and "The West Point Story." (The titles will also be available separately.
5/15: "ER: The Complete Seventh Season."

Our qualifications to write and review

We've been reviewing music and movies for over 15 years for major newspapers. We've also written much on the Internet, too.

What's coming in early 2007

A few highlights:

From Warner Bros.: 1/23 :"Robert Mitchum: The Signature Collection": Includes "Angel Face," "The Good Guys & the Bad Guys," "Home from the Hill," "Maceo," "The Sundowners" and "The Yakuza."
"The Waltons: The Complete Fourth Season"

1/30: "Dallas: The Complete Sixth Season"

Paramount: 2/6 "Best Picture Collection": With "Forrest Gump," "Braveheart," "The Godfather," "American Beauty," "Terms of Endearment," "Titanic" and "The Gladiator."
2/13: "Beauty and the Beast: The First Season" (this one should be exciting)
2/20: "Family Ties: The Complete First Season)
"Penn and Teller: Bullshit: The Fourth Season"
3/6: "Hawaii Five-O: The Complete First Season"
"Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Complete First Season"
"South Park: The Complete Ninth Season
"The Audrey Hepburn Triple Feature Collection"
3/13: "Bosom Buddies: The Complete First Season" (wondered how long it would take for that one to get out)
"I Love Lucy: The Complete 7th, 8th and 9th Season"
3/20: Comedy Central Roast With William Shatner"

Shout Factory: 1/30: "Motown: The Early Years"
2/13: "Men Behaving Badly: The Complete Series"

What we like and what we want to do...

Welcome to DVD Watch, a blog with information on new and upcoming DVDs. We are addicted to TV on DVDs, and we also love music-related ones as well. We'll have a lot to say about those, but we'll also comment on other DVDs, plus include info on highlights of what's coming out.

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