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…

When Lost‘s third season showed itself to be full of narrative stumbling and became mired in its own mythology (Hello, X-Files!), thank jebus Heroes was there to pick up the sci-fi slack with a storyline that incorporated the best of comic book mythology (Ordinary people becoming superheroes! Evil villains! Kick ass cheerleader in jeopardy! Time travel!) and a storytelling style that doesn’t leave viewers frustrated chasing smoke monsters and mirrors, hoping for a revelatory morsel. Check out the complete first season (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) for yourself and see what all the fuss was about. The 7-disc set features all 23 episodes, plus the original pilot, 50 deleted scenes, a making-of documentary, featurettes (on the stunts, special effects, and score), audio commentaries, and a profile of artist Tim Sale.

While not as bizarrely out there as Dodgeball or grounded as Caddyshack, Blades of Glory (Dreamworks, Rated PG-13, DVD-$28.99 SRP) is definitely part of the long lineage of sports comedies that date back to that links classic. In this opus, the spotlight is on figure skating, and two skaters in particular, actually – the pampered wunderkind Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder) and the grizzled, boozing veteran Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferrell). When a post match brawl gets them banned from solo skating and leave them on the skids for 3 years, the discovery of a loophole allows them entry back into the sport that defined their lives – but only if they become a figure skating pair. It’s amiable and fun, and definitely worth a spin on the ice. Bonus features include behind-the-scenes featurettes. Alternate takes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and more.

In a time when Queen Elizabeth I has been revitalized onscreen, finally a biography comes along that captures her fierce spirit and a fascinating period of her long reign. The Pirate Queen (Harper Collins, $26.95 SRP) details the brilliant financial and logistical mind that built the foundations of a globe-spanning empire, and the merchant-adventurers in her employ that found ways both daring and heavy-handed to span that globe.

He’s now part of the comedy pantheon, but after he debuted on Spaced and before Shaun and Hot Fuzz, Nick Frost co-starred on a britcom called Manstrokewoman (BCI, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), a very funny sketch comedy show about relationships. Snap up the US debut of the complete first season, featuring audio commentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

The battle of the bachelors continues in then complete second season of The Odd Couple (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD=$38.99 SRP), which brought not only Felix’s ex-wife Gloria and Oscar’s secretary Myrna & ex-wife Blanche to the cast, but also the beloved Murray the Cop. You even get a flashback to when Felix first met Oscar. The 4-disc set features all 23 remastered episodes.

Although she claims it’s the last time she’ll fill the role of Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison, I’m not quite ready to believe Helen Mirren’s last turn in Prime Suspect: The Final Act (Acorn Media, Not Rated, DVD-$29.99 SRP) is the end. Maybe it’s just because it’s such a powerful performance that I have trouble letting go of the character, and can only hope she reconsiders.

And if Mirren’s claims that Tennison’s time was at an end weren’t blow enough, Robbie Coltrane takes his final turn as Detective Edward “Fitz” Fitzgerald in Cracker: A New Terror (Acorn Media, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP). Hard living Fitz returns to England after a decade as an ex-pat is swept into the hunt for a murderer in a post-9/11 landscape far different from the one he used to operate in. Brilliant stuff. Bonus materials include a brand new retrospective documentary detailing the history of Cracker.

It was very hard to resist not saying “she turns your DVD player on with her smile”… And, I guess I failed to resist it. Of course, this must mean that the complete third season of Marlo Thomas as That Girl (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP). The 4-disc set features all 26 episodes, plus a featurette on the creation of the show, a make-up test, and audio commentaries from Thomas and creator Bill Persky.

I admit, I care nothing for sports. The only sports I’ve developed an affection for are those featured on the other end of my Wii controller. So, it goes to follow that a show like Friday Night Lights (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) – about the high school football, and soap opera storyline, obsessed denizens of Dillon Texas – would not be my cup of tea. And it’s not, but it is a rather well put together show that spent most of last season on the cancellation bubble. Now you can pick up the entire first season and see if it’s up your alley, before the new season launches. Yes, the fate of the show may be in your hands. The 5-disc set features all 22 episodes, plus a behind-the-scenes featurette and deleted scenes.

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…

-Ken Plume

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