There are hundreds of genuinely funny people that positively suck at stand-up comedy, which is why the DVD for “Russell Brand Live in New York” sat unopened on this writer’s desk for a couple weeks. Mind you, I found Brand quite funny in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” and he pretty much stole “Bedtime Stories” from Adam Sandler. But is he stand-up funny? As it turns out, yes, he is. His approach is extremely British, in both language and timing, but his routine, which originally aired on Comedy Central in March, is wisely focused on all things America, beginning with his disastrous stint as the host of the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards (the opening monologue from the VMAs is included in the bonus features). He even shares the death threats he received afterwards, one of which declares that his monologue proves that he’s a Muslim-loving terrorist (“Bit of a leap,” Brand replies). One of the funniest bits in his routine is relegated to the bonus features, where he has some fun with an overly excited admirer, but soon loses his patience when she won’t keep her mouth shut. A genuinely amusing routine overall, but a quick note to Comedy Central: lose the grainy hand-held camera shots. They’re annoying.
The third volume of “Baccano!” is decidedly less plot-heavy than the two that came before it, but what it lacks in exposition, it more than makes up for with a relentless supply of bloody, bloody violence. Though the series has certainly featured its share of bullets, knives and soul-sucking immortals in the past, Volume Three goes into overdrive as the Flying Pussyfoot literally transforms into death on wheels. The bloodbath isn’t just the work of the Rail Tracer, either, but he does figure heavily into the story this time around due in part to the fact that he’s finally properly introduced. As it turns out, the Rail Tracer isn’t much of a demon at all (at least, not in the traditional sense), but rather Claire Stanfield (now going by the name Vino), who’s adopted the persona of the Rail Tracer for his own amusement. Meanwhile, Ladd gets into a fight with Chane on top of the Flying Pussyfoot; Rachel (the mysterious woman seen on the outside of the train in Volume Two) is revealed to be working as a spy for the Daily Days; and Czeslaw is killed several times, only to be revived by the powers of the elixir. This might just be the craziest batch of episodes yet, but with tensions at an all-time high and plenty of questions still left unanswered, the fourth and final volume should easily trump that.
When you work for a web magazine which has trumpeted itself as “The Guys’ Portal to the Web,” you have to learn that, despite your best intentions of covering a diverse amount of TV-DVD releases, your bosses aren’t always going to be as enthusiastic about your review picks as you are. After having suffered through a slight chastising over my decision to praise “Blossom: Seasons 1 and 2” on Bullz-Eye, it seemed like a wise move to avoid an argument and just do my review of “Designing Women: The Complete Series” over on Premium Hollywood instead. This is, after all, practically the antithesis of what the average Bullz-Eye reader would be watching…and given how many times the episodes have been rerun on the Lifetime Network over the years, one wonders if even the show’s fans really need to own it on DVD. (That’s a joke, of course: “Designing Women” fans have been clamoring for the show to come to DVD for years, so you can only imagine their excitement.)
The back of the box boldly declares that the cast members of “Designing Women” – Delta Burke, Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, and Jean Smart – “brought a new kind of Southern spirit to American television. Smart, ambitious, and outspoken, they embodied the ‘new’ Southern woman.” That’s as may be, but it doesn’t feel terribly groundbreaking…and if you check your ’80s sitcom timeline, it’s pretty obvious that CBS’s interest in picking up the show stemmed from a desire to entice some of the women who were watching NBC’s “The Golden Girls.” To be fair, however, creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason devised the show mostly because she wanted to see the four actresses, each of whom had worked with her in the past, teamed up in a show together.
“Designing Women: The Complete First Season” might as well cause estrogen to come billowing forth from your DVD player, so much is it geared toward the fairer sex. Not that that isn’t to be expected from a show with a title like that, but it really needs to be underlined, lest any guys find their girlfriends or wives asking them if they’d like to check out the set with them. God help you if you end up in such a position, but if you do, then you can at least request that you watch the following episodes, which have solid guest stars: “Design House” (Stephen Tobolowsky), “Grand Slam, Thank You, Ma’am” (Gregg Henry), “I Do, I Don’t” and “Reese’s Friend” (you can never go wrong when Hal Holbrook turns up), and the two-parter entitled “Old Spouses Never Die,” which features Michael Jeter and Scott Bakula. There’s also the occasional saving grace of Meshach Taylor, who pops up as ex-con Anthony Bouvier once in awhile, but he’s not a regular in this season, so he’s certainly not around every episode.
Lastly, if you are a fan of the show but you can’t imagine any need to actually own the set (seriously, every episode must’ve been aired on Lifetime at least a thousand times), you might be swayed into a purchase by “Designing Women: A Reunion,” a 36-minute retrospective of the show which took place at the Paley Center for Media in 2006. Taylor is conspicuous in his absence, but it’s nice to see Burke, Carter, Potts, and Smart together again, along with Bloodworth-Thomason, as they discuss the legacy of the show.
It’s funny to think how vastly different Seth MacFarlane’s life would be right now had “Family Guy” not been revived from the dead. FOX would have never offered him a multi-million dollar development deal and a big chunk of their Sunday night primetime block, and he certainly wouldn’t have had the commercial backing from a company like Burger King to launch his own online series, “Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.” Unfortunately, if there’s any indication that MacFarlane might be losing his comedic edge, this is it. While the collection of animated shorts is presented in the same vein as the cutaways from “Family Guy,” they mostly just feel like B-sides that never made the final cut. There are a few really good ones in the group (Wile E. Coyote finds Jesus after finally killing the Road Runner, Mario’s advances are squashed by the Princess, and Bob Dylan gets into a mumble fight with Tom Waits and Popeye backstage at his concert), but a majority of them are only giggle worthy. The shorts themselves are pretty harmless on their own, but when viewed in one sitting, they don’t work quite as well. Plus, the idea of having to pay for something that you can watch for free online is a pretty ridiculous concept, so unless you pray at the altar of MacFarlane, you’d be better off watching it the way it was meant to be seen.
Not many shows can survive without their lead protagonists front and center (the only successful one that comes to mind is “The Wire,” and even then it was only for a season), and though the producers of “Black Lagoon” should be commended for trying something so radical, the second season just isn’t the same without the Lagoon Company constantly in the mix. They’re always a part of the action, mind you – whether it’s hunting down a pair of vampire assassins or protecting a money counterfeiter from an army of bounty hunters – but the stories never truly revolve around them like they did in Season One. Granted, we get to meet some pretty interesting characters as a result of that, but by the time Rock and Revy head to Japan on a contract job for Hotel Moscow, you’ll be sorely missing Dutch and Benny, both of whom rarely appear throughout the season. The team-based antics may be gone, but the show is still packed with wall-to-wall action, and it even offers more complex storylines than before. Still, with rumors that a third season is in the works, here’s hoping the show gets back to its roots, because without the Lagoon Company to cheer on, it simply isn’t as fun.
