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 FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)
If you’re impatient and simply can’t wait for the full season set to come out sometime early next year, you can re-watch Doctor Who: Series 6 Part 1 (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP), which contains all 7 episodes comprising the first half of this split season. Since it’s not the full season set, there’s a dearth of extras – just two featurettes looking at the Silence and the Gangers – so those wanting more will just have to wait.
As versatile as the Apple cord may be from device to device, its universal length – long – can sometimes be much more than you need, or want, in a given situation. For those times, there’s iStubz ($7.99), a small 7cm Apple-compatible cord that will get you through those needy moments.
They’ve been released separately, but now the I <3 iCarly Collection (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) brings together a trio of the iCarly TV movies – iFight Shelby Marx, iSaved Your Life, & iSpace Out. So, if you haven’t picked them up yet, here’s how to do it.
You may not be able to live every day like it’s Shark Week, but you can at least spend a couple hours with Shark Week: Restless Fury (Discovery Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), a 2-disc set which brings together eight specials featuring the oceanic predators, including the one hosted by the great Craig Ferguson.
Summer heat got you down? Don’t want to head out? Well, MGM has decided to unleash another torrent of new-to-high definition catalogue titles to make those sweltering days easier to pass – Overboard (MGM, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP), Wedding Daze (MGM, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), Be Cool (MGM, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), The Cutting Edge (MGM, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP), A Guy Thing (MGM, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), Honeymoon In Vegas (MGM, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP), and Four Weddings And A Funeral (MGM, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP). Only Honeymoon In Vegas is barebones, while all of the rest of the titles port over the special features found on their regular DVD editions.
It’s not a full season set, but at least fans are getting a clutch of 10 2nd season episodes in the 2-disc Smurfs: A Magical Musical Adventure (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$15.99 SRP), which also contains a pair of bonus featurettes on speaking Smurf and Top 10 moments from the 2nd season.
If you want a perfect example of how an unnecessary regional version of s successful show can suck the very marrow from the concept and leave only a lifeless corpse, look no further than the first season of the US version of Top Gear (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP). The UK version is fun, funny, and engaging to even someone like me, who hates cars and car culture, because of the likeability of the hosts. The US version is at its best boring and at its worst, grating.
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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I would be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit worried that George RR. Martin might be unable to keep all of the plates of his sprawling Song Of Ice & Fire series spinning with the arrival of the long-awaited 5th installment, 
If you’re not comfortable with the whole touch-activated thing and desire a measure of accuracy, then you might want to try the 
You know, it says it’s from Nickelodeon studios, but I find it hard to believe that 
I usually find Robot Chicken an uneven affair, but they always seem to bring their A-game to their Star Wars specials. While 
Oh, great that these classic Doctor Who releases are coming so fast, as we get the terribly unappreciated William Hartnell old west adventure 
As the cinematic Harry Potter-verse draws to a close, there’s a lot of products both official and unofficial that are being released to capitalize on all of the wizardry hubbub, but one of the most fun unofficial items has to be 
It doesn’t seem that long since the last series, but the spooks at 
After 15 seasons, 
Oh, Russell Brand. I really do like you as a performer, and was a fan long before the rest of the US even knew who you were, but this remake of 
A consummate lawyer who works out of the back seat of his car, Matthew McConaughey finds himself in a violent predicament when he takes on the defense of a young man accused of rape and murder in the entirely watchable thriller 
The third season of 
Shout Factory has cranked up their high definition genre releases with a pair of must-have cheese flicks – Roger Corman’s Star Wars pastiche 
Regardless of which side you fall on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the film 
If you’ve got a big, beautiful high definition television, there’s nothing like kicking back and just drinking in the beauty of the IMAX films 
Are you behind on picking up the DVD releases of Nickelodeon’s most popular preschool shows? Well, now you can catch up with 
I know there are plenty of fans, but I’ve never been able to make it through an episode of 
Tick another one off the most-wanted list as Wolfgang Petersen’s classic 
As if having it as an actual screwdriver or a flashlight weren’t enough, you can now get a pretty snazzy looking 
The kids can have their countless Elmo releases – for us big kids of the 70’s & 80’s, sets like 
Watch the second volume of 
For the past few years, LA’s Gallery 1988 has been presenting a fine art celebration of pop culture most iconic movies via a recurring show called Crazy 4 Cult. Well, if you’ve never been able to make it to the gallery for one of these shows, a clutch of the pieces have been collected together in the fine hardcover volume 
I can’t say that 
While waiting for the upcoming Blu-Ray collection of their classic toons, pass the time with 
Lionsgate has dropped another batch of TV titles from their license agreement with ABC Studios, including the seco0nd season of Eddie Murphy’s claymation 
By now, fans know what to expect from Warners deep, dense, impressively comprehensive Harry Potter Ultimate Editions, which means the wait for the rest of the series to get the treatment has sometimes been quite a hard one to bear. Thankfully, we’re nearing the end with the release of 
Although they seem to be agonizingly slow in adding to their offerings – and I wish they’d really dive into the action figure side of things – the fine folks at have imported a pair of Doctor Who board game for the whole family. 
The BBC has kicked their classic Doctor Who release schedule into overdrive, very rightly taking advantage of the modern show’s growing success in the US, as a new month brings a pair of new releases. From the 5th Doctor Peter Davison’s era we get 
I admit, I was one of those who didn’t exactly anticipate the Coen Brothers’ take on 
Like the two previous films before it, the third Jackass film gets a 
Being part of a family of New Yorkers, I’d always hear many a story of growing up in the 30s, 40s, & 50s, but I never hear much about the sort of games city kids of that period would play – which is why I found the documentary 
If you don’t use drugs or live in Brooklyn but want to experience what it must be like, check out 
I run hot and cold on Norm Macdonald, but there’s no denying he has a unique comedic voice, which is well-represented in his Comedy Central standup special 
Shout Factory continues to re-release formerly out-of-print Mystery Science Theater 3000 titles for those who may have missed them during their first go-round years and years ago – The latest two being 
I enjoyed the quirky charms of the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and am happy that the sequel, 
MGM is becoming even more prolific than Warners when it comes to releasing their MOD catalogue titles. The latest batch includes such obscure titles as Michael Moriarty & Yaphet Kotto in 
And if that weren’t enough, MGM has also dropped the adaptation of the Spike Milligan memoir 
It’s not The Hangover, but Ed Helms more than elevates the amiable comedy 
I enjoyed the heck out of the first season of his chat and music show, so I looked forward greatly to diving into 
While we’re waiting for another full season set, pass the time with the latest intermediary single-disc clutch of episodes – 
If you give a Twilight-y take to the story of 
I’m not sure I’m entirely comfortable with the premise of 
Every few years, Elvira rises and a new clutch of fun presentations of truly horrible horror flicks surfaces, the latest being a pair of double feature releases under the banner Elvira’s Movie Macabre – 
I’m all for animated adaptations of classic Marvel comic book stories, which is why having some of the unfortunate material written by Marvel pariah Brian Michael Bendis adapted first cuts deep. The latest is 
Give your 3D TV (or computer) a little bit of art and a little bit of not-so-art with 
Much like Curb Your Enthusiasm proved a radical, welcome breath of fresh air from the standard sitcom, so too does Louis CK’s 
There’s something eminently enjoyable in seeing Liam Neeson stretch his action star legs in 
In a welcome move, Shout Factory has recently acquired rights to produce full-season sets of classic Nickelodeon series, including the complete first season of 
Fans can now pick up the second volume of the first season of Nickelodeon’s inexplicably popular Monkees pastiche 
The problems with Michael Bay’s 
We’re now up to the 4th season of 
While it’s not the much-desired fully-restored Blu-Ray editions fans have been clamoring for, Universal has released the original (best) Marx Brothers films as individual DVDs of 
Who doesn’t want to snuggle with a soft and fluffy blob of sentient fat? Well, if you’re a Doctor Who fan, you can do just that with the 
Though I always get it confused in my head with The Wind And The Lion, I’ve always had a fondness for Jon Huston’s ingratiatingly epic adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s 
Like Sgt. Bilko and The Simpsons, the late comedian Bill Hicks is far more revered in the UK than he ever was in the US, and it’s with that reverence that the wish-it-was-better-done documentary 
Everyone breaks down in the third season of Breaking Bad (Sony, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.95 SRP), as Bryan Cranston’s Walt faces a difficult decision while dealing with a broken marriage, a dangerously reckless partner, and a price on his head. Bonus materials include a trio of uncensored episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
Warners queues up another sterling high definition catalogue restoration with 
The great David Attenborough narrates another must-see nature documentary from the BBC, as their far-ranging cameras descend upon 
Another month, another massive dip into the catalogue for MGM, as they deliver a new batch titles in high definition for the first time – Martin Scorsese’s 
I have to be honest with you – I’m not of the generation that became enamored with the man-child comedy stylings of Adam Sandler. That means I’m not the intended audience who will delight in the high-definition release 
Re-create your own NBC Mystery Movie Night with the complete 3rd season of 
The Warner Archive Collection dips back into the TV pool and pulls up another pair of releases that might not otherwise see the light of day – Part 1 of the first season of the classic 60’s procedural 
Warners has been releasing more and more of their obscure catalogue titles through the MOD Warner Archive, which is why it was a pleasant surprise to see 1933’s 
Of all the recent original animated movies to come out of Warners DC Universe imprint, the one of actually enjoyed and didn’t cringe at is the one starring ol’ Hal Jordan himself, 
The beginning of the 3rd season of 
Oh, James Cameron. I know you only produced 
Or you could spend this weekend plowing through 
If you’re sports-inclined, HBO has a pair of Blu-Ray releases that will delight Baseball fans – The documentary series 
I’m not a fan, but those who are will probably snap up the remastered 30th anniversary edition of the 
This really is a golden age for Doctor Who fans, as the DVD releases of classic storylines are coming fast & furious, with another quartet now available – the Peter Davison stories 
I’m a sucker for a specific task kitchen widget that also taps into childhood nostalgia, so you can imagine my delight at being able to put a homemade spin on corn dogs with the 
With the fourth volume of 
Prepare for Father’s Day with a pair of new-to-Blu-Ray catalogue classics from Fox – John Wayne in 
If you’re a big fan of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett’s post-MST3K endeavor Rifftrax, you owe it to yourself to partake of the heightened energy of a pair of new live show releases, that were originally beamed to theaters around the country – 
I can’t remember the last time I was surprised by the end of a romantic comedy, as the resolution of the couple-to-be is pretty well set in storytelling cliché by now, so my enjoyment of a romantic comedy comes largely from the journey. 
In the 4th season of 
I wish it weren’t the case, but the eighth season of 
I am not the audience for 
While we’re still not to the season that contains my absolute favorite episode, if you’ve yet to pick up the stellar high definition sets of Rod Serling’s classic anthology series, you can at least start with the newly-released 
While Trading Places and 48 Hours remain the greatest of Eddie Murphy movies in my estimation, it’s a welcome addition to the high definition library to get 
While many studios have been dumping sub-par catalogue releases in massive Blu-Ray waves, MGM has decided to release a wave of many films buffs consider must-haves – 
More insidious than wartime physical injuries, the effects of what has been termed everything from shell shock to post-traumatic stress disorder in soldiers is explored in the documentary 
Did you know that Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen did a film together in the 60’s? Co-written by Blake Edwards? No? Neither did I, until the Warner Archive Collection made 
It’s always nice just to have a disc that you can put in and show off your fancy a/v setup at home – One that looks and sounds pretty darn spiffy. The high definition IMAX documentaries 
Now that we’ve got the full run of the Six Million Dollar Man on DVD, it’s left to 
MGM continues to drop almost a literal ton of catalogue titles via their new MOD (Manufacture On Demand) Limited Edition Collection program, including the David Niven sex romp comedy 
If the big screen live action outing of the Norse god of thunder has whet your appetite for more adventures look no further than the animated feature 
Universal drops a pair of newer TV shows on DVD this week, including the debut season of the Piper Perabo-starring CIA procedural 
The Warner Archive Collection continues to roll out long-forgotten animated oddities from the Hanna-Barbera library with the release of 
If 
It may just be the Atheist in me, but I’m tired of films about priests regaining their faith in the face of demonic presences. It’s like demons are God’s hitmen. So yeah, I was less than interested in 
I know there are many people I love and respect who love 
Hey! Doctor Who fans of both Tom Baker’s 4th Doctor and the Daleks can pick up a pair of action figure sets spotlighting the classic Baker stories 
