The Wonderful World of DVDs

            Sometimes we miss out on something great. This has happened to too many people and to too many TV shows. A prime example of this being Family Guy. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182576/) This show was canceled after 2 seasons but the popularity in syndication and the DVD sales made Fox realize the mistake they made. This story has been the hope and dream of countless other shows but as far as I know it has never been repeated.

            Many shows only last one season, or less. We can take solace in the fact that most of them end up on DVD. Then the legend grows from there, people watch the show and cult status is achieved. If you look for any info on these shows you can find whole groups of people on dozens of websites who devote all of their time discussing the shows despite the show having been off of the air for years. The actors lives followed after the show and chronicled on the sites.

            Sometimes you’ll watch a show while it’s on the air and when it is finally done you pray for some other station to pick it up…but it never happens. The last time this happened to me was Arrested Development (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367279/) Devoted fans such as myself waited for the show to finally take off but it never did. I’ve met so many people who just never heard about it. On the end of the bloopers on the Season 2 DVDs David Cross, Dr Tobias Funke, remarks in a very NSFW rant ‘if you have a show that's won multiple Emmy's, Golden Globes, SAG, and other accredited awards, with good writing, numerous stars, and yet you can't seem to draw an audience to a show, maybe it's not the show's fault, maybe it's the marketing of the network.’ (This is paraphrased to see the whole speech click here NSFW http://mmeiser.com/media/David_Cross_Rant.mov)

            Arrested Development has gone the way of the dodo, and we have nothing left but to grief and watch 3 seasons worth of DVDs. The rumor was that Showtime would pick up the show but it never happened and the starts have moved on to new projects. The same has happened to several other awesome shows. Here is my list of the canceled shows you have to get on DVD.

The aforementioned Arrested Development (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367279/)

The Tick (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242949/) Based on the comic book and a grown-up version of the cartoon, this show was hilarious. The jokes were low-brow for the most part but sometimes that is just what you need.

Wonderfalls (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361256/) An Interesting concept and original story this show is funny and intelligent. One of the killers of this show is that America was not ready for an hour long Sit-Com .

God, The Devil & Bob (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221751/) This show was very short lived due to religious complaints. An all star voice cast brought this grown-up cartoon to life including Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. The basic idea is God (A Jerry Garcia look-alike) and The Devil (An effeminate but more misunderstood then evil prince of darkness) make a wager. God will destroy the earth if one human can’t convince him otherwise, the catch is The Devil gets to pick the human. He picks Bob a middle aged father of two drunk factory worker from Detroit. The show was well written and genuinely funny but in the end the religious portion of America didn’t like the friendly relationship between God and the Devil.

Firefly (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303461/) Set 500 years from now, this Sci-Fi flop became a cult classic. If you like Sci-Fi at all or if you just like good human drama then you should watch Firefly. You’ll become hooked.

Earth 2 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108758/) Another Sci-Fi wonder, this show lasted one season. Showing after Seaquest it was in a prim slot for Sci-Fi fans to see it but it never made it past the first season. The last episode is a great cliffhanger never answered. This show even warranted a mention on the X-Files; On the episode One Breath, which aired the same week as the Earth 2 series premier, Langly says to Agent Mulder, “You look down, Mulder. Tell you what, you're welcome to come over Saturday night. We're all hopping on the internet to nitpick the scientific inaccuracies of Earth 2.”

The X-Files (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106179/) If you never watched this show then you need to start at the beginning and get addicted. If you have seen this show then why don’t you already own the DVDs? Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller, Action; So many genres are represented in this show and always with a touch of humor.

Free Ride (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460641/) This one isn’t on DVD yet but I so hope it end up there, even with special features it would only take up 2 Discs. This show was a 6 episode filler from Fox that aired in January 06. It wasn’t picked up for a full second season and I have no idea why. The cast was largely unknown but the acting was wonderfully comedic. If you are now or have ever been 20 something and confused about where to go in your life then find a copy of this show and watch the funniest 3 hours (with commercials) you’ll see all week.