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…

Just narrowly missing the window to make it into our big holiday shopping guide is a must-have chunk of classic TV in the form of the I Love Lucy: The Complete Series megaset (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$241.98 SRP). Featuring all 9 seasons (194 episodes!), the set also features I Love Lucy: The Movie, rare footage, archival footage, and much, much more. If you passed by the original season sets, this is the way to snag it.

As much as I wanted it to be as brilliant as the show’s glory days, The Simpsons Movie (Fox, Rated PG-13, DVD-$29.99 SRP) missed the mark. I did think they managed to expand the show to feature-length well enough, but the comments from the writers in the audio commentary pointed out what my main issue is – they dumbed things down for a wider audience. The sharp, intelligent writing and lines that defined the show’s golden period – and the believability of the characters themselves – has been replaced with lowbrow belly laughs and characters that are more cartoon than believable… A balance which the show used to be able to pull off nicely before Homer became the king of the idiots. The DVD features a pair of audio commentaries, deleted scenes, trailers, and more.

It’s either the 3rd or 4th time that the original Wallace & Gromit shorts have been available on DVD, but a new year brings a new edition, this time titled Wallace & Gromit: Three Amazing Adventures (HIT Entertainment, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP). It’s worth making the upgrade, though, to get the new Nick Park & co. commentary on A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave, as well as a few episodes of Shaun The Sheep. From previous releases, you get the “Cracking Contraptions” shorts, featurettes, and more.

When it came to music, Johnny Cash was no elitist. The musicians you’ll find featured on the all-too-brief two-season run of The Johnny Cash TV Show (Sony Legacy, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) prove that Cash threw his doors open to whatever struck his fancy, providing a stage for artists like George Jones, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Louis Armstrong, and more – all of which can be found on the new 2-disc collection of performances. Also available is a companion CD (Sony Legacy, $ SRP) featuring 16 tracks culled from the show.

The Kingdom (Universal, Rated R, DVD-$29.98 SRP) – while a well-constructed action flick that balances its political, ripped-from-the-headlines urgency with aplomb, had the misfortune of being released during a flood of other flicks whose plotlines found themselves mired in the Mid-East. On DVD, you can give a second shot to this tale of an elite FBI squad sent to Saudi Arabia to solve a mass murder, starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer garner, and Jason Bateman. Bonus features include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Who knew that you could get a relatively long-running cult TV show out of John Hughes’s sci-fi sex romp Weird Science? Maybe it’s because the small screen version of Weird Science (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$ 44.95SRP) was goofy fun, and hewed pretty closely to the nerd wish fulfillment of geeks Wyatt and Gary that fueled the flick. Check out the 2-disc complete seasons 1 & 2 set, featuring cast audio commentaries on a trio of episodes.

After the stellar 5th season, the general consensus was that the 6th season of 24 (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) hit a bit of a rut – to be brutally honest, it was a mess. Jack Bauer is released from an extended stay in a Chinese prison into the hands of a terrorist, the usual day-long globe-spanning escapades kick off, with the fate of something or another in the process. The 7-disc set features all 24 episodes, plus audio commentary on select episodes, deleted/extended scenes, featurettes, and more.

Perfect for completists and those looking for a good laugh, Galactica 1980 (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) was a mercifully short-lived attempt to slash the budget of the original Battlestar Galactica by moving it to Earth and moving the remaining cast and storylines into sad, sad camp.

Showtime’s attempt to sex up the reign of King Henry VIII by reimagining his court as Melrose Place yielded one of this past season’s wonderfully unintentional comedies, as you see if you check out the complete first season of The Tudors (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$42.99 SRP). Hoping to somehow sweeten the pot, the 4-disc set also includes episodes of Penn & Teller’s Bullshit, Californication, and This American Life, as well as behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Even 15 years later, SeaQuest DSV (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) is still an odyssey. Birthed of a sappy age just coming to grips with environmental concerns after the end of the 80’s, it plays like an undersea version of the same rose-colored idealism that crippled much of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Check out the second season of DSV and see if you agree or not. The 8-disc set features all 21 second season episodes, but not a single bonus feature.

Let’s wrap up the first shopping guide of the new year with a plug for the long-awaited second wave of Simpsons figures from McFarlane Toys ($12.99 SRP each). This wave features a pair of dioramas from “Treehouse of Horror” episodes – Good & Evil Homer, and The Raven – plus Radioactive Man & Fallout Boy and Clown Homer & Krusty.

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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