NY Daily News Reviews 3 Recent TV-DVD Releases

[vashti1999]

New York Daily News
Great shows then,
now must-see DVD

Tuesday, June 29th, 2004

No question: It's more fun to watch old shows on DVD these days than to watch most of the new summer programs. Here are some recent releases worth noting - and in most cases, purchasing.

The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season
(Fox Home Entertainment, four disks, $49.98)

Previous editions in this set have sold nearly 5 million copies, making it the most popular TV-series DVD boxed set in history. Not only do the episodes of "The Simpsons" seem to get better every year, but so do the voluminous extras packed alongside.

For season four, there are so many extras as to be a generous overdose of humor and information for "Simpsons" fans. Each of the 22 episodes has an alternate audio commentary track, and every one of them has made me laugh out loud independent of the show's content. It's a treat to learn, from one such track, that the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge" - in which Marge stars in a community-theater musical production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" - originally had a different title for the musical "Oh! Streetcar." Its original title, which I love: "Hello, Trolley."

Other extras include deleted scenes, short documentaries and monologues. Executive producer James L. Brooks' account of his encounter with Barbara Bush is a classic. And the episodes are absurdly brilliant. "Kamp Krusty," "Streetcar," "Homer the Heretic," "Lisa the Beauty Queen" - and that's just the first disk. These are the best DVD sets around, and Matt Groening and company take them so seriously, they're even funnier as a result.

SCTV Network 90, Volume 1
(Shout! Factory, five disks, $89.95)

The bad news is that this set doesn't start with the first of the brilliant "SCTV" syndicated shows, but picks up the action several seasons later, presenting the first nine of the 90-minute shows that ran on NBC.

The good news is that the first episode alone is a retrospective collection of many of the syndicated version's best skits, including John Candy as a grownup Beaver Cleaver; Dave Thomas as Bob Hope and Rick Moranis as Woody Allen in a superb film parody called "Play It Again, Bob"; Catherine O'Hara trying to teach English-language student Andrea Martin such simple phrases as "Can you direct me to the hotel?" and so, so much more, from the drunken hosers of "The Great White North" to Moranis as Merv Griffin.

It's still as funny, and almost as fresh, as when it was shown on NBC in 1981. Extras include audio commentaries by Joe Flaherty and Eugene Levy, several documentary features, and one of the best-written DVD booklets around. The price is hefty (because of music-clearance rights - the shows included performances by the likes of Levon Helm singing "Summertime Blues"), but worth it. In the booklet, Conan O'Brien says of "SCTV," "I don't think anyone's ever topped it." He may be right.

Wonder Woman: The Complete First Season
(Warner Home Video, three disks, $39.98)

On the supplementary material to this first compilation of the 1976-79 action series, Lynda Carter describes her sexy, jutting Wonder Woman costume as "prima donna." Actually, that's what it sounds like - but what she's really saying is "pre-Madonna." And it's an appropriate remark, because, from the heroine's bullet-shaped bras to her bold feminist attitude, "Wonder Woman" was every bit as much a pop-culture icon.

This DVD set, though fun to watch, doesn't quite do her justice. Included are 13 episodes from the show's initial ABC series (the one set in the 1940s, as was the original comic book, which premiered in 1941), plus the show's original telemovie pilot starring Carter as Diana Prince and her costumed alter ego.

The extras, though, are paltry. There's a brief documentary retrospective, and audio commentary on the pilot, featuring Carter and executive producer Douglas S. Cramer. But that's it.

Even though both the documentary and commentary make reference to the original "Wonder Woman" screen tests - of Carter, co-star Lyle Waggoner, and even Debra Winger, who got her first screen credit as perky Wonder Girl - they aren't included here. If they exist, that's the sort of bonus material for which DVDs were made.

There's also no mention whatsoever of the 1974 "Wonder Woman" telemovie, also from Warner Bros. TV but from different producers, starring Cathy Lee Crosby in the title role. Since the set's Disk 3 B-side is left blank, that certainly could have been part of the mix.

But the old episodes still offer plenty to enjoy, from the theme-song lyrics ("In your satin tights / Fighting for your rights / And the old red, white and blue") to the kicky, sometimes kinky plots.

And in guest spots this first season are such familiar faces as Cloris Leachman, Carolyn Jones, Henry Gibson and Lynda Day George.