The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

After Shout! Factory’s wonderful treatment of the complete NBC Network 90 run of SCTV, I was disappointed to learn that what was originally intended as a complete release of the first season of the original syndicated run had instead morphed into a Best of the Early Years (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) set featuring 15 episodes from the second and third seasons. I hope that whatever issues prevented complete season releases eventually gets worked out, but until then, it’s nice to have anything from these seasons. The 3-disc set features 4 audio commentaries, a brand new interview with Andrea Martin, a featurette spotlighting the Old Firehall home of Toronto’s Second City, and a vintage news report on the explosive popularity of Bob & Doug McKenzie.

As with any outsize personality whose very name has become a corporate identity, Walt Disney has become more myth than man. Lionized on one hand and demonized on the other, Neal Gabler’s massive Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (Knopf, $35.00 SRP) is the even-handed, heavily researched biography that’s sorely been needed. If you want to know about the man and where the myth originated – plus get some long-standing myths refuted – this is the definitive story of the man behind the mouse.

In the lead up to the 2000 election, South Park maestros Trey Parker & Matt Stone announced that they would be doing a Comedy Central sitcom based on whoever wound up winning in November. They developed shows based on both a Gore and a Bush outcome, but when the dust settled, the show we got was That’s My Bush (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.99 SRP). It’s depiction of a bumbling rube at the mercy of his advisors would eventually prove to be completely accurate, but the show itself – despite being a hilarious satire of both the administration and old school sitcoms – lasted just 8 episodes. The 2-disc set features the entire run, plus audio commentaries with the cast, Parker, and Stone.

While the magician out front may be performing the tricks, it’s Jonathan Creek (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) who actually designs the tricks. As portrayed by comedian Alan Davies, he’s a shaggy, unassuming guy who toils in the background, a genius unknown by the public… At least until his identity is uncovered by a nosy investigative journalist (Caroline Quentin) who needs his help in solving a murder… And once you have one sleuthing adventure under your belt, why stop there? What follows is one of Britain’s most enjoyable mystery series, with equal parts drama and humor. The complete first series of Jonathan Creek features all 5 adventures, plus exclusive interviews, screen tests, and an audio commentary.

Always on the lookout for a genuinely funny sitcom (which has increasingly become a rarity), I’m understandably a bit wary of any new show that comes down the pike – I’ve been burned far too many times. Everybody Loves Chris (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$50.99 SRP), though, was a pleasant surprise – well-written and an amazing cast, led by young Tyler James Williams as Chris. The series is loosely based on the Bed-Stuy childhood of Chris Rock, when his parents sent him to a largely white school outside of his neighborhood. What sets the series apart from most sitcoms – and in the same class as shows that have come to be called classics – is that its comedy is rooted in reality, and completely identifiable. I just hope it doesn’t rapidly deteriorate into the cartoonish buffoonery that scuttled the once-promising Malcolm in the Middle. For now, the first season of Chris is a gem, and a set well worth checking out. The 4-disc set features all 22 episodes, plus audio commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes, audition tapes, bloopers, and more.

Like the titular flying mammal, Meat Loaf has returned to the depths to set the monster loose in the third Bat Out Of Hell (Virgin, $18.98 SRP), which features a clutch of new Jim Steinman tunes, along with tracks from Diane Warren, Nikki Six, James Michael, Marti Frederiksen, and Desmond Child. While the tracks are full of the operatic bombast we’ve come to expect from Meat, the songs themselves don’t approach the modern classics found on the original Bat – which is not to denigrate what’s to be found here, but they certainly have quite a legacy to live up to. What is a revelation, though, is Meat’s vocals – in recent years, he’s allowed the theatrics of his singing to get too out of hand, to the point where he’d often sound like a parody of himself. In the new album, however, he’s pulled it back and is singing better than ever. Though he claims he’ll never do another album, I hope this reinvigorated Loaf will reconsider heading back into hell in the near future.

The 6-disc BBC Atlas of the Natural World (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$99.98 SRP) is an amazing collection of nature documentaries exploring habitats from North America to the Antarctic. The documentaries featured include Land of the Eagle, Spirits of the Jaguar, Wild South America, and Life in the Freezer. All in all, it’s a spectacular journey around the globe – and it’s got plenty of penguins. Penguins rock.

How do you possibly tackle a documentary about the legendary car customizer and 60’s icon Ed “Big Daddy” Roth? Well, you probably do it as a series of animated tales featuring the voices of people like John Goodman, Brain Wilson, The Smothers Brothers, Matt Groening, Tom Wolfe, and many more. That’s how. Tales of the Rat Fink (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is that film, and it’s packed with bonus features, including a rare interview with Roth, interviews, a deleted scene, and more.

There’s nothing particularly artistic about the episodes featured in the second volume of the late 80’s Super Mario Bros. Super Show (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), but so help me, I can’t help but like the animated Koopa-bashing adventures of those daring plumber-brothers Mario and Luigi (or their live action equivalents, particularly Captain Lou Albano as Mario). This 4-disc set features an additional 24 episodes, plus a fan featurette, a costume gallery, concept art galleries, and four bonus episodes.

While it never achieved the critical acclaim of its siblings Cheers or Frasier, there’s a reason why Wings (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP) ran as long as it did – it was a solid, enjoyable sitcom with a wonderful cast of characters and great actors to realize them. The 4-disc complete third season features all 22 episodes, but not a single bonus feature. Whither Tim Daly?

It has been a long, slow slog to get the complete run released, but the fifth and final volume of Speed Racer (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is finally available, featuring the last 8 episodes of the show. Who wants to bet the complete series set we should have gotten in the first place is just around the corner?

It becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate the various seasons of the various incarnations of procedurals like CSI, but suffice it to say that the fourth season of CSI: Miami (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$64.99 SRP) features the continuing crime-solving adventures of David Caruso’s Horatio Caine and his crackerjack forensics team. The 7-disc set features all 25 episodes, plus audio commentaries on 6 episodes (“From the Grave,” “Prey,” “Felony Flight,” “Urban Hellraisers,” “Shattered,” and “Payback”) and a quartet of behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Although he arguably made funnier films as a solo artist, the films that Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin made together during their white hot rise to superstardom are pleasant enough, as you’ll find if you partake of the 8 flicks collected in the Martin & Lewis Collection: Volume One (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP). Those films include My Friend Irma, My Friend Irma Goes West, That’s My Boy, Sailor Beware, Jumping Jacks, The Stooge, Scared Stiff, and The Caddy. They’re largely excuses for Jerry to pratfall around and Dean to launch into song, but what more did you expect?

The fromage runs as deep as the offshore death trap protected by the lifeguards under the aegis of Lt. Mitch Buchannon (David Hasslehoff), but there’s no doubt that there’s much to guiltily love about the loathsome stories abounding in the first two seasons of Baywatch (First Look, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP each). These are strictly bare-bones releases – with poor music clearances (not even the theme song!) and some missing episodes due to rights issues – but for so cheap a price, I’m sure many of the show’s fans will still snap them up.

It certainly wasn’t highbrow theological fare, but compared to the new version, the original Omen was a classic. Maybe it’s because this slightly rejiggered Omen (Fox, Rated R, DVD-$29.99 SRP) feels far too slick when compared to the atmospheric 70’s take on the little boy antichrist. And I don’t buy Julia Stiles as a mother, either – even if it is the mother of evil incarnate. Bonus features include an audio commentary, extended scenes, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

If you need a Spongebob fix until the next season set comes out (and you can’t get “Best Day Ever” out of your head), pick up the latest 7-episode collection – Spongebob Squarepants: Whale of a Birthday (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP). There. Now stop jonesin’ already.

It’s not until you see a documentary like The Making Of Miss Saigon (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$24.95 SRP) that you realize just how delicate – and fragile – putting together a successful Broadway show can be. Is the book good? How about the songs? And can you find a lead actress able to pull them off? That was the challenge faced by producer Cameron Mackintosh here, and it took auditions around the world before they finally found star Lea Salonga.

It’s been unavailable for a few years, but the 2-disc special edition of Die Hard (Fox, Rated R, DVD-$26.98 SRP) is back on shelves and a must-have presentation of a great action flick. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, deleted & extended scenes, newscasts, and more.

If it weren’t for the presence of Jennifer Love Hewitt, I probably wouldn’t have given Ghost Whisperer (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$72.99 SRP) another glance, seeing as how bored I am with the entire touchy feely “touched by the paranormal” genre that seems so prevalent these days. But then there’s Love Hewitt, whose enthusiasm for even the thinnest of concepts tends to be infectious, so you could care less about how fuzzy-feeling her whole “I communicate with dead people and convey their messages to the living” schtick is. The 6-disc complete first season features all 22 episodes, plus audio commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes, and a blooper reel.

The Hitchhiker: Volume 3 (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) features another 10 dark, terror-filled tales of the decidedly unhappy wanderer whose path you most certainly do not want to cross. Guest stars include Bill Paxton, Kelly Lynch, Michael Madsen, and Lauren Hutton.

So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…

Comments: None