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…)
It’s a true loss that Nat Hiken’s Car 54: Where Are You? (Shanachie, Not Rated, DVD-$ SRP) only made it to two seasons, as it’s truly one of the most grossly underappreciated television comedies ever made. Thankfully, we now have both of those seasons on DVD, thanks to the fine folks at Shanachie. Go. Get them both, and watch the merry misadventures of Officers Toody and Muldoon.
Even if you’re not steampunky, it’s hard to resist the charm of the positively beautiful Solar Powered Turbine Fob Watch ($129.99). Styled in pewter and copper with many a steampunk accent – right down to the turbine-like inset on the lid – it doesn’t quite go all the way, featuring instead of mechanics a reliable battery-powered quartz movement.
I would say that Patton Oswalt: Finest Hour (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP) is a pretty accurate title when it comes to Patton’s latest stand-up special, which certainly finds him at the top of his game , even if sweatpants don’t make it out unscathed. Bonus materials include an encore and a pair of featurettes.
The best way to describe the brilliant new stand-up special from the brilliant Paul F. Tompkins is that it’s an oral history of the career of comedian Paul F. Tompkins. Suffice to say, you would regret it for the rest of your days if you do not purchase Paul F. Tompkins: Laboring Under Delusions (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$14.95 SRP). Bonus materials include an audio commentary with a director, an encore, and an episode of his Pod F. Tompkast.
The dandy scribe behind Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, explores another slice of class warfare – this time historic – with the 4-part miniseries Titanic (E1, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP), a much-better-than-James-Cameron look at the various societal and economic tiers at play on the doomed ocean liner.
Have a little Jackie Gleason-thon in high definition this weekend with the Blu-Ray arrival of the guilty pleasure comedy The Toy (Image, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$9.99 SRP) and the much better Tom Hanks tearjerker Nothing In Common (Image, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$17.97 SRP). Both lack any bonus features, but who needs ’em when you’ve got Ned Beatty?
Fox has released another of their star-specific DVD collections, this time bringing together 10 films for the Frank Sinatra Film Collection (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP), featuring The Pride And The Passion. Kings Go Forth, A Hole In The Head, Can-Can, The Manchurian Candidate, Von Ryan’s Express, Cast A Giant Shadow, Tony Rome, The Detective, & Lady In Cement.
The fine folks at Mill Creek continue to re-release seasons of a handful of TV classics for staggeringly rock-bottom prices you’d be foolish not to take advantage of. Included this time around are 3rd Rock From The Sun: Season 3 & 3rd Rock From The Sun: Season 4 (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP each), That 70’s Show: Season 3 & That 70’s Show: Season 4 (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each), and Roseanne: The Complete Third Season & Roseanne: The Complete Fourth Season (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each). The great thing? The sets contain all of the bonus features from the original releases.
A movie lover who devoured old films, my grandmother would have loved if I had gifted her the dirt cheap, 12-disc genre sets Mill Creek has been releasing, mainly because each of those 12-disc sets – flicks of the 1950’s in The Nifty Fifties, Timeless Family Classics, & the crime/noir Dark Crimes (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP each)- contains 50 films. That’s right – FIFTY films.
How incredible are the artisans at Hot Toys? So incredible, that their latest DX 12″ figure of Jack Nicholson’s Joker ($264.99) from Tim Burton’s Batman is remarkably, creepily accurate. Not only is the facial sculpt perfect, but the elaborate costuming, right down to the overcoat The Joker wore during the parade near the end, is completely in-scale accurate. And props! This thing comes with guns (BANG and ludicrously long), a megaphone, a remote control, chattering teeth, cash, and more. Get this incredible piece from the fine folks at Sideshow, or regret that you passed up the opportunity to do so.
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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It was with some trepidation that fans entered the 5th season of 
If you’re keen on the environment but also really, really like to make a lot of noise, why not try the reusable 
Another could-have-been-a-disaster moment turned out to be gold with Steven Moffat & Mark Gatiss’s modern take on Sherlock Holmes, 
It’s a been a few months, and you know what that means – a new Mystery Science Theater 3000 set! Continuing their yearly tradition, this holiday period box set comes packed with another bot action figure, and this times it’s the absolutely massive (and wonderfully accurate) Gypsy. If that weren’t enough, the movies contained in the 
No one but Edgar Wright could have made a film quite as eccentrically experimental yet firmly rooted in pop culture geekery as 
They’re absolute classics and seasonal must-haves, and now the 
A few months has gone by, which means that the BBC vault has opened and another pair of classic Doctor Who releases have made their way out – specifically the Tom Baker years 
Push Clooney & Pitt out of your mind for a moment and revel in the HD glory of The Rat Pack’s grand heist, as the 50th anniversary edition of 
It’s the holiday season, and Warners has added to their set of deluxe holiday Ultimate Collections (previous entries include A Christmas Story & Christmas Vacation) with the 
Fans of the recent direct-to-DVD DC animated fare will no that many of those came with bonus shorts starring other characters within the DC universe. Well, extended versions of those shorts have been collected with a brand new one – that new one being the titular 
It’s a shame that 
As a film, it’s a big mess, but there’s plenty of fun still to be had in 
They might not be as popular or prevalent as they once were, but there’s still something alluring to life under the big top – a life which is explored in the documentary 
Economize your high definition kiddie-slick purchase with the 
Where the US version of the UK’s middle-age male crisis dramedy Manchild never got past pilot, the similarly themed 
The big screen version may be moving in fits and spurts, but the BBC’s live action adaptation of 
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I’m not a fan, but I know may out there will have been champing at the bit for 
First and foremost, take a moment to celebrate the glorious demise of the ill-conceived American version of Spaced with the news that this July brings the release with the original Britcom that put Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, and Edgar Wright on the geek map. Loaded with bonus features from not only the UK release, but also exclusive to the US edition, this is a must-have set. Keep an eye out at your favorite online retailer or DVD emporium.
By the third season of 
For years now, I’ve been reiterating that you should buy, post-haste, the comedic sci-fi novels of Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. Every one so far has been a gem, and he’s managed to keep the plate spinning with his latest tale of slow-witted detective Frank Burly, 
With a new Indy flick in the offing, it was a foregone conclusion that we’d see some form of re-release on the original trilogy – and so we have with the 
Cinema geeks rejoice! Universal has seen fit to collect 10 of their catalogue’s most genre-tastic titles into one box set – 
As much as I liked the “official” history found in the deluxe tome To Infinity And Beyond, it’s nice to have a complementary, unauthorized book about the early days and rise of Pixar to balance out the picture, and David Price’s 
The movie’s not yet in theaters, but everything I’ve seen of Kung Fu Panda has made me keen to do so. It’s taken awhile for rival studios that the way to fight Pixar is not to make knock-off Pixar flicks, but to realize the same thing that Warners did in their heyday – leave the heart to Disney and focus on the comedy instead. If you want to whet your appetite for this flick, look no further than 
I wasn’t alive to experience firsthand growing up in the 50’s, but I’m certainly aware of the shows and celebrities that made up the pop culture diet of that generation. If you’re as interested as I am in that period, you’ve got to get yourself a copy of 
It’s been 10 years since the passing of the Chairman of the Board, and Warners has seen fit to celebrate his passing with a quartet of box sets celebrating Frank Sinatra’s cinematic legacy – 
Everyone’s favorite sleuthing antiquities dealer returns in the complete third season of 
It’s not like I would have paid to see it in the theater, but 
The fourth season of 
Just when my nephews have nearly burned out the previous release, along comes 
One of my nephews is fast approaching the one-year mark, and getting him to sleep is quite a feat with all that teething going on. We’ve found that a big help in the seemingly never-ending battle is Nickelodeon’s 
The off-color puppets are back with 
Have you ever picked up a book and thought “This is an idea that was a long-time coming…”? I thought that very thing when I thumbed through 
You’ll weep, you’ll awww, you’ll get plenty of points from your significant other if you pick her up a copy of the new 
Like According To Jim, 
Surprisingly enough, Sean Combs acquitted himself quite well in last year’s TV adaptation of 
One of those programs that will always grab my attention if insomnia or boredom has me scanning channels at 4 in the morning is anything with forensic examiner Dr. Michael Baden. An all-new edition of