Taxi (Season 3) DVD Review

With its biting humor and eccentric characters, Taxi is widely lauded as one of the top sitcoms in television history. The brainchild of James L. Brooks, whose golden touch played a role in such hits as The Andy Griffith Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Simpsons, Taxi continues to entertain and gather generations of new fans through syndicated reruns. With a superb cast and great writers, the show introduced the world to the comedic talents of Hollywood mainstays like Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, Christopher Lloyd, and Andy Kaufman.

Taxi follows the daily operations of the Sunshine Cab Company, a New York City taxi service run by tyrannical dispatcher Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito). De Palmas self-centered sarcastic remarks are often dispensed from the safety of his pathetically small office in the corner of the body shop, while various employees like Alex Reiger (Judd Hirsch), Tony Banta (Danza), and Elaine Nardo (Henner) socialize and plot agains t their common enemy. Add foreign mechanic Latka Gravas (Kaufman) to the mix and all the ingredients are in place for hours of endless laughter. As the characters deal with problems of varying degree in their personal lives, the audience is treated to some of the best comedy ever produced for the small screen.

The Taxi (Season 3) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere Louies Rival in which Louies girlfriend Zena dumps him for a bartender at Marios. Danny DeVito provides another hilarious performance as the heartless Louie Other notable episodes include The Costume Party in which the gang crashes a luxury yacht party in the hopes of meeting some famous people, and Bobby and the Critic in which Bobby happens upon one of the theater critics who recently bashed his performance.

Below is a list of episodes included on the Taxi (Season 3) DVD:

Episode 47 (Louies Rival) Air Date: 11-19-1980
Episode 48 (Tonys Sister and Jim) A ir Date: 11-26-1980
Episode 49 (Fathers of the Bride) Air Date: 12-03-1980
Episode 50 (Elaines Strange Triangle) Air Date: 12-10-1980
Episode 51 (Going Home) Air Date: 12-17-1980
Episode 52 (The Ten Percent Solution) Air Date: 01-07-1981
Episode 53 (The Call of the Mild) Air Date: 01-21-1981
Episode 54 (Latkas Cookies) Air Date: 02-05-1981
Episode 55 (Thy Bosss Wife) Air Date: 02-12-1981
Episode 56 (The Costume Party) Air Date: 02-19-1981
Episode 57 (Elaines Old Friend) Air Date: 02-26-1981
Episode 58 (Out of Commission) Air Date: 03-12-1981
Episode 59 (Zen and the Art of Cab Driving) Air Date: 03-19-1981
Episode 60 (Louies Mother) Air Date: 03-26-1981
Episode 61 (Bobbys Roommate) Air Date: 04-09-1981
Episode 62 (Louie Bumps Into an Old Lady) Air Date: 04-16-1981
Episode 63 (Bobby and the Critic) Air Date: 04-30-1981
Episode 64 (On the Job: Part 1) Air Date: 05-07-1981
Episode 65 (On the Job: Part 2) Air Dat e: 05-14-1981
Episode 66 (Latka the Playboy) Air Date: 05-21-1981

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Taxi (Season 3) DVD Review.

Author:: Britt Gillette
Keywords:: taxi season 3 dvd review
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Seinfeld (Season 5) DVD Review

The preeminent show of the 1990's decade, Seinfeld grew from an idea of a show about nothing into a sacred pop culture icon, not that there's anything wrong with that... The show follows the life of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and the exploits of his short, quirky, bald guy best friend, George Costanza (Jason Alexander), Jerry's neurotic neighbor Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), and Jerry's ex-girlfriend Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). Through the years, they're joined by a loveable cast of characters that includes Newman, Uncle Leo, the Soup Nazi, Frank and Estelle Costanza, the Bubble Boy, and countless others

Following on the heels of Season 4, arguably the best season ever (with famous episodes such as The Bubble Boy, The Contest, The Pick, The Junior Mint, The Handicap Spot, and The Pilot), Season 5 offers its own case for Seinfeld immortality with episodes like The Puffy Shirt (a.k.a. The Pirate Shirt), The Stall (can you spare a square?), The Marine Biologist (or is it The Architect?), The Hamptons (there was significant shrinkage!), and The Opposite (George's newfound religion)...

The Seinfeld (Season 5) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere The Mango in which Jerry discovers that Elaine faked it during the time they went out. Determined to redeem himself, he begs Elaine for another shot. Meanwhile, Kramer gets banned from his favorite fruit vendor when he attempts to return a bad peach Other notable episodes from Season 5 include The Hamptons in which Jerry's girlfriend accidentally sees George naked following his swim in a cold pool (which caused him to shrink like a frightened turtle), and The Opposite in which George decides that every decision he's ever made in life was the wrong one, and from now on, he'll do the exact opposite of what his instincts tell him to do

Below is a list of episodes included on the Seinfeld (Season 5) DVD:

Episode 65 (The Mango) Air Date: 09-16-1993< br> Episode 66 (The Puffy Shirt) Air Date: 09-23-1993
Episode 67 (The Glasses) Air Date: 09-30-1993
Episode 68 (The Sniffing Accountant) Air Date: 10-07-1993
Episode 69 (The Bris) Air Date: 10-14-1993
Episode 70 (The Lip Reader) Air Date: 10-28-1993
Episode 71 (The Non-Fat Yogurt) Air Date: 11-04-1993
Episode 72 (The Barber) Air Date: 11-11-1993
Episode 73 (The Masseuse) Air Date: 11-18-1993
Episode 74 (The Cigar Store Indian) Air Date: 12-09-1993
Episode 75 (The Conversion) Air Date: 12-16-1993
Episode 76 (The Stall) Air Date: 01-06-1994
Episode 77 (The Dinner Party) Air Date: 02-03-1994
Episode 78 (The Marine Biologist) Air Date: 02-10-1994
Episode 79 (The Pie) Air Date: 02-17-1994
Episode 80 (The Stand-In) Air Date: 02-24-1994
Episode 81 (The Wife) Air Date: 03-17-1994
Episode 82 (The Raincoats: Part 1) Air Date: 04-28-1994
Episode 83 (The Raincoats: Part 2) Air Date: 04-28-1994
Episode 84 (The Fire) Air Date: 05-05-1994
Episode 85 (The Hamptons) Air Date: 05-12-1994
Episode 86 (The Opposite) Air Date: 05-19-1994

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Seinfeld (Season 5) DVD.

Author:: Britt Gillette
Keywords:: seinfeld season 5 dvd review
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The King Of Queens (Season 2) DVD Review

A spin-off of the popular TV series Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens first hit the airwaves in the Fall of 1998. The show follows the life of Doug Heffernan (played by comedian Kevin James), a package delivery man for IPS (far different from UPS for you litigious-minded readers out there), and the show utilizes much of the same marital and relationship humor found in Ray Romano's blockbuster sitcom. With seven successful seasons under its belt, and even more yet to come, King of Queens is a hilarious comedy series well worth one's time and attention

King of Queens revolves around the life of Doug Heffernan, a hard-working, sports-loving parcel delivery man living in Queens, New York. In his thirties, and married to a lovely woman named Carrie (Leah Remini - who played Carla's daughter on the hit show Cheers), Doug spends most of his non-working hours basking in the glow of his state-of-the-art 70-inch TV with two buddies who share his fanatical love of sports, Spence (Patton Oswalt) and Deacon (Victor Williams). But Doug's personal paradise suffers a devastating blow when Carrie's widowed father Arthur (Jerry Stiller of Seinfeld fame) moves in with the couple. Doug's TV fantasy room is converted into an in-law suite, and after several failed relocation attempts, the TV is pushed into the garage Now Doug and Carrie must learn to share their palace with an eccentric, and oftentimes annoying, father/father-in-law with a penchant for messing up the couple's well-grounded routine

The King of Queens (Season 2) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere Queasy Rider in which Doug buys a motorcycle, clearly violating Carrie's stated wishes. As part of a plan to get Doug to sell the motorcycle, Carrie takes up smoking, telling Doug that she'll give up cigarettes when he gives up the bike. But when Doug sells the bike, Carrie's guilt causes her to buy it back, resulting in some unintended consequences O ther notable episodes from Season 2 include Parent Trapped in which Deacon and his wife Kelly ask Doug and Carrie to be the godparents of their newborn (they decline, but then regret doing so), and Net Prophets in which Doug and Carrie invest their Christmas bonus in the stock of an online company they know little about

Below is a list of episodes included on the King of Queens (Season 2) DVD:

Episode 26 (Queasy Rider) Air Date: 09-20-1999
Episode 27 (Female Problems) Air Date: 09-27-1999
Episode 28 (Assaulted Nuts) Air Date: 10-04-1999
Episode 29 (Parent Trapped) Air Date: 10-11-1999
Episode 30 (Tube Stakes) Air Date: 10-18-1999
Episode 31 (Doug Out) Air Date: 10-25-1999
Episode 32 (Get Away) Air Date: 11-01-1999
Episode 33 (Dire Strayts) Air Date: 11-08-1999
Episode 34 (I, Candy) Air Date: 11-15-1999
Episode 35 (Roamin' Holiday) Air Date: 11-22-1999
Episode 36 (Sparing Carrie) Air Date: 11-29-1999
Episode 37 (Net Prop hets) Air Date: 12-13-1999
Episode 38 (Party Favor) Air Date: 01-10-2000
Episode 39 (Block Buster) Air Date: 01-17-2000
Episode 40 (Frozen Pop) Air Date: 01-24-2000
Episode 41 (Fair Game) Air Date: 02-07-2000
Episode 42 (Meet By-Product) Air Date: 02-14-2000
Episode 43 (The Shmenkmans) Air Date: 02-21-2000
Episode 44 (Surprise Artie) Air Date: 02-28-2000
Episode 45 (Wild Cards) Air Date: 03-06-2000
Episode 46 (Big Dougie) Air Date: 04-17-2000
Episode 47 (Soft Touch) Air Date: 05-01-2000
Episode 48 (Restaurant Row) Air Date: 05-08-2000
Episode 49 (Flower Power) Air Date: 05-15-2000
Episode 50 (Whine Country) Air Date: 05-22-2000

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of The King Of Queens (Season 2) DVD.

Author:: Britt Gillette
Keywords:: king of queens season 2 dvd review
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Movie Review The Big Heat (1953)

THE BIG HEAT (1953) is a film-noir classic featuring Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame in the lead roles, with a very young Lee Marvin playing a mobster.

Glenn Ford plays Det. Sgt. Dave Bannion, the straight arrow who refuses to back down when his investigation into the suicide of a fellow police sergeant upsets the mob boss Mike Lagana who has the police commissioner Higgins as well as the Bannion's boss Lieutenant Wilks in his pocket.

The movie opens with a bang, literally the police sergeant Duncan commits suicide at his home, leaving behind an envelope addressed for the DA.

However, his suspiciously cool headed widow Bertha Duncan who walks into his study right after the incident, picks up the envelope while his husband's corpse is still bleeding on his desk, and calls Lagana.

An arrangement is made and Mrs. Duncan is put on the payroll in return for suppressing her husband's letter revealing the mob links. We later on understand that Sgt. Duncan w as on the take himself but regretted what he had done and tried to flush out the mob through his suicide.

Duncan's death is swept under the rug as the suicide of an unhappy man who was sick. But Duncan's girlfriend contacts Bannion and insists that Duncan was not ill, he was happy and actually he carried on a lively affair with her at his summer house suggesting too much wealth for a cop who is supposed to survive on limited income.

Bannion can smell something very rotten in the suicide ruling but he is told to step back and let it be which, of course, makes him even more suspicious and adamant.

Soon Duncan's girlfriend, seen speaking to him at a bar which is staffed by Lagana spies, is found dead, thrown from a car at a ditch outside the city. Bannion realizes he is definitely on to something.

During his investigation, Bannion makes friends with Debby (played by a very gifted Gloria Grahame), the gangster Vince Stone's (Lee Marvin) girlfriend who is regularly abused and slighted in the Stone household. This semi-romantic link becomes crucial later on in the story.

The big plot point arrives when Stone's hired killer Larry Gordon blows up Bannion's car one night in his drive way with his pretty wife in it. The vendetta is on.

Bannion, even after he is ordered to turn in his badge and resign from his post, swears to find Larry Gordon and seek vengeance.

Debby, whose face is burned when Stone splashes a pot of hot coffee on her face during one of his outbursts, takes refuge with Bannion who has evacuated his house after his wife's death and moved into a hotel.

Deeply angry and despondent that half of her face has been burned with an ugly scar, Debby is a woman with nothing to lose. And since she knows the inside score, she takes matters into her own hands by first killing the smug Mrs. Duncan who was certain that she would live on easy street for the rest of her life. Did she get that one wrong.

Then Debby leads Bannion both to Larry Gordon and Vince Stone.

The final confrontation between Bannion and Stone takes place at Stone's penthouse with a breath taking night view of skyscrapers lit up like Christmas trees.

Debby achieves the closure she seeks by burning Vince's faces also with a pot of hot coffee before Vince shoots her lethally. After the mandatory gunfight at the terrace, Bannion captures Stone alive.

Since Sgt. Duncan's hidden letter was the collateral for Mrs. Duncan's life, once she is dead the letter is revealed per her instructions and Lagana and all his men are rounded up in a hurry.

In the last scene Bannion is reinstated to his job as a police detective with integrity and welcomed back in his office with the warm admiration of his colleagues and subordinates.

But what happens to the sold-out police commissioner Higgins and his boss Lt. Wilks is not too clear by the end of the film. Seems like the former, a political appointee, is also sacked but Lt. Wilks survives his checkered past and the ordeal. Such is life.

The production values in this film is inferior as would be expected from a movie shot in 1953. Debby's burn scar for example is a funny sheet of glue pasted to her left cheek and it makes one wonder how primitive the state of make-up artistry was back in those days. But Glen Ford and Gloria Grahame display a nuanced sensitivity and credible approach to their characters.

The story line is not too bad either, especially for film-noir fans like myself.

This classic rates a 7 out of 10.

------------------------------------------

Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a Creative CopyWriter, Editor, an experienced and award-winning Technical Communicator specializing in fundraising packages, direct sales copy, web content, press releases and hi-tech documentation.

He has worked as a Technical Writer for Fortune 100 companies for the last 7 years.

You can reac h him at Writer111@gmail.com for a FREE consultation on all your copywriting needs.

Please visit his official web site http://www.Writer111.com for customer testimonials and more information on his multidisciplinary background and career.

The last book he has edited: http://www.lulu.com/content/263630

Author:: Ugur Akinci
Keywords:: ugur akinci,Writer,Editor,copyWriter,technical Writer,Hollywood,Movies,Films,Entertainment,Review
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Project Runway Review

Project Runway is a competition-based show that features a group of talented clothing designers who are competing to show their own fashion collection at New York Citys Fall or Spring Fashion Week at Bryant Park. The honor of showing in one of the primary tents at Bryant Park is an honor that cannot be bought or quickly earned. Famous designers like Vera Wang, Dolce and Gabanna, or Calvin Klein are the top-attended shows at Fashion Week; however since the first airing of Project Runway in December of 2004 the competing designers have brought in huge audiences.

The Project Runway series is hosted by German supermodel Heidi Klum and can be seen on the Bravo cable television network. The judges are pulled from some of the top fashion design houses or fashion and beauty magazines that America has to offer. Michael Kors is a famous American designer and has served as a judge on the show during all three seasons. The other primary judge, besides Kors and Klum, is Nina Garc ia who is the Fashion Director for the top-rated Elle magazine. While Kors, Klum and Garcia make up the core of the judging panel, there is always a third guest judge who is brought in according to the style or challenge of each episode. For example, in Runways Season Two, world-class Olympian figure skater Sasha Cohen served on the panel to help judge the skating costumes that had been designed and constructed by the design contestants. Other guest judges included: the legendary Diane Von Furstenberg, musician Sarah Hudson and Tara Conner, Miss USA. One of the recent Project Runway challenges instructed the contestants to sketch, design and construct Tara Conners evening dress for the Miss Universe pageant.

The competition is based in New York City, and much of the design work and judging take place at Parsons School of Design. The Chair of Fashion at Parsons, Tim Gunn, has become a figurehead for the show and serves as a mentor to the contestants. His oft repeated r eminders to the designers to Make it Work and Carry On have become two of Americas most famous catch phrases. Tim Gunns sophisticated and calm approach to the design process enables the designers to turn out couture clothing on a small budget and even smaller time schedule. Frequently, each designer is given $100.00 to spend at Mood Designer Fabrics in the Garment District in order to make a dress that would appear to a consumer to be well over $1000.00 retail. The time constraints placed upon the designers are stress-inducing. Merely a day or two is given to create, shop for and construct tailored and unique pieces that speak to each designers particular aesthetic sensibility. Each look is then worn on the runway by a group of fashion models selected to appear on show. While the look is paraded down the runway, the judges take notes and ascribe a score to each design. Once all looks have been shown, the designers are told whether they received a high, middle or low score an d are eliminated accordingly. Typically one or two designers are eliminated per episode.

When the last three designers remain, all three are given a budget of $8000.00 and sent home for three months to construct a collection of 12 pieces to be shown at Fashion Week in New York. Once the collections have been shown, one designer is chosen as the winner of Project Runway. He or she wins $100,000 to start their own collection, a new car, and an apprenticeship at a major fashion house.

Find more out about Project Runway and the entire reality t.v. world at http://www.reality-revamped.com

Author:: Edward Charkow
Keywords:: Project Runway
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The Sopranos (Season 4) DVD Review

Along with Sex And The City, the HBO original series The Sopranos took the world by storm in the late-1990s with its cutting edge drama and acerbic wit. A cross between The Godfather and the traditional nuclear sitcom family, the show provided a unique experience for a niche audience that quickly developed into a barrage of dedicated fans. Nominated for countless Emmy's, and winner of at least four in every one of its seasons except Season 2 (in which it carried home one), The Sopranos has cemented itself as one of the elite shows in television history

Golden Globe performer James Gandolfini plays the title role of Tony Soprano, a middle-aged father of two, loving husband, and successful businessman. But contrary to a typical sitcom, Tony finds himself irritated by his kids Anthony and Meadow (Robert Iler and Jamie Lynn Sigler), he cheats on his wife Carmela (Edie Falco), and the business organization responsible for his success is the mafia (of which he is the local boss). All the confusion in Tony's life leads to massive amounts of stress, prompting him to regularly visit a therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) - one of the few outsiders he trusts. Following a classic prime time soap opera format, quite similar to the hit TV show Dallas, The Sopranos provides audiences with a glimpse into the life and times of a mafia boss, where we find out that being a mob kingpin isn't the glamour life often portrayed in the Movies

The Sopranos (Season 4) DVD offers a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere For All Debts Public and Private in which Tony and Carmela deal with the strain on their household finances in the midst of a recession, and Adrianna brings a friend of great interest to the Soprano family dinner. Meanwhile, Tony creates a speci al bond with Christopher when he gives his blessing for Christopher to avenge his father's murder Other notable episodes from Season 4 include No Show in which Meadow has a fallout with Tony and Carmela when she decides to drop out of college and travel the European continent, and Pie-O-My in which Tony develops a deep interest in Ralphie's new race horse, prompting him to spend more time away from home than Carmela likes

Below is a list of episodes included on The Sopranos (Season 4) DVD:

Episode 40 (For All Debts Public and Private) Air Date: 09-15-2002
Episode 41 (No Show) Air Date: 09-22-2002
Episode 42 (Christopher) Air Date: 09-29-2002
Episode 43 (The Weight) Air Date: 10-06-2002
Episode 44 (Pie-O-My) Air Date: 10-13-2002
Episode 45 (Everybody Hurts) Air Date: 10-20-2002
Episode 46 (Watching Too Much Television) Air Date: 10-27-2002
Episode 47 (Mergers & Acquisitions) Air Date: 11-03-2002
Episode 48 (Whoever Did This) Air Dat e: 11-10-2002
Episode 49 (The Strong, Silent Type) Air Date: 11-17-2002
Episode 50 (Calling All Cars) Air Date: 11-24-2002
Episode 51 (Eloise) Air Date: 12-01-2002
Episode 52 (Whitecaps) Air Date: 12-08-2002

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of The Sopranos (Season 4) DVD.

Author:: Britt Gillette
Keywords:: the sopranos season 4 dvd review
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The Very First Television Shows

The first television sets were part electrical and part mechanical, consisting of spinning discs that replicated the action of a larger spinning disc in the studio. The first moving images - of a ventriloquist's dummy - were transmitted by Scot John Logie Baird in 1925.

In 1927 the first Tv show was aired. It was a demonstration by Bell Telephone Labs and AT&T with contributions from various executives of these companies and a speech by the secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover.

This was followed by many ad-hoc broadcasts from Whippany, N. J. These were experiments and were picked up by just one Tv set - at Bell Laboratories, New York City. These broadcasts consisted of images transmitted using radio waves and sound transmitted via cable. They were not entertainment shows - just a few engineers and scientists testing out the new medium.

The first shows that aired to the public were those of WRGB (known officially as W2XB but popularly known as WGY's Television). Broadcasts were beamed locally to Schenectady, N.Y. This happened to be the home town of television (and radio) pioneer Ernst Alexanderson. Schenectady was also the home of just four television receivers. The early WRGB broadcasts usually consisted of a person sitting in a chair not doing very much except the odd hand or face movement or a drag on a cigarette. In fact, watching people smoke cigarettes seems to have been the main feature of early Tv test transmissions!

The first sch eduled Tv shows, and from what I can make out, the world's first regular Tv shows were farming and weather bulletins aired twice a day, 3 days per week on WRGB. These broadcasts were simply extensions of the output of radio station WGY. The first remote location broadcast, or outside broadcast, took place in 1928, once again by WRGB. The subject of this broadcast was Governor Al Smith's acceptance speech of the Democratic nomination for office President of the United States. Due to inclement weather, the ceremony was switched from outside to an indoor location and the short notice didn't allow enough time to test the lighting and equipment. Hence the resu lting live pictures were of poor quality. Meanwhile, in Wheaton, Maryland, Charles Jenkins' W3XK transmitter started tests followed by regular programs in July 1928.

These broadcasts were never really meant or designed for wide public consumption, however, some enthusiasts managed to build crude receivers and got to enjoy the output. Charles Jenkins' estimated that W3XK had an audience of 20,000.

Many incorrectly quote the BBC's The Man with the Flower in his Mouth from 1930 as being the first broadcast play, but it was actually The Queen's Messenger, written by J. Harley Manners and directed by Mortimer Stewart. This was aired on WRGB in 1928.

It must be noted that in those early days television screens were about 3 inches by 3 inches. So small, in fact, that most output consisted of a person's upper body. Radio with pictures is what it was called, and that was not far off! The images consisted of varying shades of pink or brown, depending on the illuminat ion used. The presenters and performers would often need to wear dark lipstick and green makeup so that their features would not be bleached in the extremely bright studio lights. True color television came later. The spinning discs were eventually replaced by all-electric systems. All Tv shows, including dramas, were live to air - there was no videotape or digital recording in those days!

These pioneering broadcasts were effectively experiments (and were licensed as such by the federal government). Most viewers were either wealthy and curious or were hobbyists. It is unlikely that television had any real worth as an entertainment or information medium in these early days. The extent to which television could expand and could be networked was severely hampered by a lack of a national standard for telecasting. There were also many technical difficulties not least with the revolving disc system. It wasn't until the forties when these issues had been ironed out that Tv took off in earnest.

The rest, as they say, is history, but a very rich history indeed. Have a look at bygoneTv.com and you see what I mean.

Vernon Stent is the marketing consultant to http://www.bygoneTv.com, specializing in old Tv shows.

Author:: Vernon Stent
Keywords:: old Tv shows
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