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…)
All kudos, salutations, exaltations, hurrahs and huzzahs to Darrell Van Critters for assembling a long overdue and absolutely brilliant tribute and celebration of The Art Of Jay Ward Productions (Oxberry Press, $49.95 SRP). From Crusader Rabbit and Rocky & Bullwinkle to George Of The Jungle and Superchicken, it’s packed with artwork and information about the artists and the studio itself. Did I mention how brilliant this book is? Because it really is brilliant that such a wonderful tome now exists. So go get it. Quickly.
To say that Fruitvale Station (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is a sobering film is an understatement, as it dramatizes the tragic shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) by San Francisco BART officers on New Year’s Day 2009 – which was captured on cameras by his fellow passengers. Bonus materials include a filmmaker Q&A and a featurette.
After mainly focusing on shorts-based released for their DVD line – most likely due to ease of rights issues – the fine folks at Rifftrax have been increasing their feature-length releases, with a pair of brand new ones to ring in the new year. If you’re in the mood to extend your holiday celebrations, there’s the disturbing Santa’s Village Of Madness, or the somehow not quite as creepy Ghosthouse (Rifftrax, Not Rated, DVD-$9.95 each). Just get them both.
Fox has opened up their vaults again, going all the way back to the high definition debut of one of the very first Academy Award winners, 1929’s Sunrise (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), packing it with an audio commentary, deleted scenes, trailers, and featurettes. Also arriving in high def are 1967’s In The Heat Of The Night (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), with commentary & featurettes, and 1985’s A Chorus Line (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), with the original theatrical trailer.
The surprise announcement that his younger brother is getting married sets off a chain reaction of bitterness and recrimination between the long-divorced but still very angry parents of Carter (Adam Scott), a man who is still caught in the emotional maelstrom of that dissolution in A.C.O.D.: Adult Children Of Divorce (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). It’s a wry little comedy marked by a stellar cast, including Catherine O’Hara, Richard Jenkins, and Amy Poehler. Bonus materials include cast & crew discussions, PSAs, and outtakes.
Watching Kevin Bacon be Kevin Bacon is the real reason to watch the spotty The Following (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), as it finds him cast as a former FBI agent brought back into the fold when a serial killer he put away nine years earlier (James Purefoy) escapes from death row intent on revenge and with a loyal cult of followers spread far and wide dedicated to carrying out his master plan. Bonus materials include an audio commentaries, featurettes, and deleted scenes.
The perfect antidote to the grating US version is a dose of the original power trio in their latest season with Top Gear 20 (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$18.98 SRP), which finds Clarkson, Hammond, and May racing against a yacht in New Zealand, blast across Spain, and seek the world’s fastest taxi. Bonus material includes Stig Cams and James May’s Greatest Moments in Top Gear History.
By the time we get to the third season of Enterprise (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$129.99 SRP), any lingering franchise goodwill I had towards the show had long since evaporated in the face of a relentlessly mediocre offering, so the baby steps this season began taking to try and right the sinking ship very much smacked of too little, too late, but at least they were an improvement. Little did the show know, however, that this would prove to be their penultimate season of a voyage cut short. Bonus materials are, as with the previous Blu-Ray releases, where the real gems reside, with a brand new, wonderfully candid set of documentaries as well as new audio commentaries and all of the previous DVD features.
If you’re in the mood for a prestige mystery that manages to maintain it’s edgy drama throughout, try Top Of The Lake (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP), which starts with a pregnant 12-year-old-girl who walks out into the freezing waters of a lake. She refuses to reveal who the father is, and then disappears from town… leaving behind more than one mystery for an inexperienced detective (Elisabeth Moss).
As the new episodes have slowed to a trickle, the Spongebob machine keeps on rolling by introducing a character-centric collection – Patrick Squarepants (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) – which brings together 14 episodes centered around everyone’s favorite be-shorted starfish.
Just in time for the debut of the fifth season (naturally) comes the complete fourth season of Archer (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). From the Bermuda Triangle to the Vatican, it’s a globe-hopping clusterfuh of Archerian proportions. Bonus materials include Archer Live! and a featurette.
It’s largely disposable entertainment, but Runner Runner (Fox, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is fine as thriller, with engaging performances from Justin Timberlake as a Princeton grad student who believes he’s been swindled by a gambling tycoon (Ben Affleck), so he heads to Costa Rica and winds up gambling more than he anticipated in a high stakes game between the Tycoon and the FBI. Bonus materials include deleted scenes and a featurette.
Every once in awhile, The History Channel manages to set aside their godawful “reality” programming in favor of something truly enlightening and, dare I say, classy, like The Universe In 3D (History Channel, Not Rated, 3D Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), which brings their astronomical science series into the 3rd dimension.
Get your final fix of the period police drama Copper (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.98 SRP) with the second and final season, set in New York City on the brink of Lincoln’s assassination in a metropolis at war with itself. Bonus materials include set tours and featurettes.
The supernatural Three’s Company that is the US remake of Being Human (E1, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.98 SRP) rolls along with the release of the third season, which finds our vampire, werewolf, and ghost (plus Nora) struggling to keep their secrets hidden as things get more and more complicated. Isn’t that always the way? Bonus materials include featurettes, bloopers, and the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con panel.
Only a handful of releases of the long-running BBC series remain with the release of Last Of The Summer Wine: Vintage 2001 (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP), featuring the ongoing comic misadventures of Holmfirth’s pensioners.
When you can watch the story of a woman on the coast of Scotland who crafts fishing lures that are renowned the world over for both their efficacy and their beauty and be absolutely enthralled, THAT is the mark of the true power of a well-crafted documentary. So do give a spin to Kiss The Water (Virgil Films, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) and see if it lures you in as well.
It’s a new year, so howzabout a new round-up of soundtracks currently available for your listening pleasure? We’ve got Howard Shore’s The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (WaterTower Music, $18.99 SRP), Anchorman 2 (Universal Republic, $11.88 SRP), Marcelo Zarvos’s Reaching For The Moon (Lakeshore, $9.99 SRP), Johnny Klimek & Reinhold Heil’s I, Frankenstein (Lakeshore, $15.35 SRP), and Rolfe Kent’s Labor Day (Warner Bros., $18.47 SRP).
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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While you’re counting the days that have comprised this massively long wait for the start of the 6th season, dive into the complete 5th season of 
Looking for an easier way to send countless texts to friends and family this holiday season in a much, much easier fashion? How about augmenting your iPhone with a 
Many (including me) celebrated the release of the Rhino DVD sets as a golden age for fans of the show, but Shout Factory has proved that those Rhino days were but pyrite compared to the torrent of Mystery Science Theater sets they’ve delivered over the past few years. Case in point, just months after all of the Gamera films, we get 
Watching the 4th, penultimate (and last full) season of 
I don’t want you to think that I didn’t enjoy 
For a unique home 3D experience that’s also quite educational, join Werner Herzog for a journey into the 
Oh, 
One of the great war films of all time gets a high definition release with 
In the documentary 
I am shocked to say that I found 
I’ve always thought that Colin Quinn was a pretty sharp comedian with a not terribly sharp delivery, but in his first stand-up special – 
Listen, I know that the John Milius Conan film has its flaws, but there’s an energy and grit that permeates every frame of that flick that’s simply not found in the too-slick, too-affected, too-boring modern 
If you’ve waited your whole life to see Jim Carrey cavort with penguins in an elegant New York apartment, then 
I kept hoping that 
Ben returns to take on the abounding extraterrestrial menaces in 
It’s been the requisite amount of time, so what do we get? Why, we get another season set of Spongebob! 
Things take a dark, unpredictable turn in the 5th and final season of 
If you’d like to fulfill your very special movie quota, check out 
For history buffs, the perfect companion to their recent WWII set is the equally fascinating/gripping 
I admit – besides just being a fan of the show and being delighted that another volume has arrived – I’m even more delighted by the release of the 
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of wimpy flashlights. I want a flashlight that looks like it came right out of The X-Files… You know, with that wildly improbably beam that illuminated an entire wooded area with a powerful white light. Well, fantasy has become reality with the 
I had little expectation going in, but to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the new CG-animated adaptation of Tezuka Osamu’s 
I wish Disney’s grand return to traditional animation hadn’t been a by-the-numbers princess film, but at least there’s enough fun and spirit in 
The 13th season of 
The second half of the film doesn’t live up to the first half, but 
While it’s not quite the revelation that some tried to make it out to be, 
Well, 
Why, exactly, did USA decide to cancel 
It doesn’t take long into the second season of 
Are you a teen or a middle-aged person desperate to fantasize with the unique ability to turn off the portions of your brain able to assess the quality of script or acting? Well, then the latest installment of the cinematic Twilight saga, 
Explore the history behind the big screen with a pair of History Channel documentaries whose big-screen counterparts are apparent – 
Mill Creek returns with a clutch of fan favorite titles repackaged and offered at rock bottom prices. Their latest batch includes 
While watching 
Bide the times until the next full season set with the single-disc collection 
Produced by the Wachoski Brothers, 
To dismiss 
As part of their in-house plan to continue releasing shows that may not have the sales to go a more traditional big-box route, fans can now pick up the complete second seasons of both 
John Krasinski takes David Foster Wallace’s 
Yes, I know I’m a little close to the material – but you know what? I’d still recommend you pick up a copy of 
The miniaturization of video cameras is beginning to frighten me. This terror is completely overridden by the geek delight in holding a digital memory camera that’s only slightly larger than a chapstick tube. The camera I speak of is the 
Sadly, we’ve now reached the limit of the currently produced episodes of 
I’ve seen the episodes a half-dozen times each (I often replayed them while working), but it’s the mark of a classic show that I’m looking forward to digging into the 3rd season set of 
Yes, it really has been 100 episodes since the squarepanted sponge of Bikini Bottom first made his way onto our TV screens. How do I know this? Because there’s now an uber-deluxe box set titled 
They’ve been released what seems like a half-dozen times by at least three different companies, but this is the first time that 
Abrams is fast becoming a real juggernaut with their incredible Abrams ComicArts imprint, as they’ve been releasing some absolutely top-notch tomes that belong on your shelf. Like, now. First up is a loving, in-depth tribute to 
Much like Pineapple Express, those going into 
Have I mentioned before just how much I’m enjoying Warner Bros.’ On-Demand DVD service at WarnerArchive.com? I have – numerous times – because it’s great to see a company find a way to make smaller catalogue titles available to fans when economic realities prevent a full-fledged commercial release. Case in point are a trio of new titles that have been added to the site – King Vidor’s 
Does anyone still watch 
Serial womanizer Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey finds his plans to bed a bridesmaid at his brother’s wedding is derailed by the supernatural guidance of his departed uncle (Michael Douglas), who originally instructed him on his boorish ways, to mend his ways and find true love (in the form of Jennifer Garner) in the tolerable rom-com 
Comedy Central may have killed their much-missed show, but at least there’s still live performances to keep The State alumni David Wain, Michael Showalter, & Michael Ian Black together, as you’ll see on 
Despite further muddying already cloudy waters with divergent continuity, the biggest drawback of the axed 
When his wife and child are murdered by a serial killer, a celebrity psychic renounces his conning past and devotes himself to using his observation and analysis skills to bring killers to justice in 
It may not be the best sitcom that ever came down the pike, but I still love me some 
It pretty much sums itself up in the title – 
When a killer begins copying the murders found in novelist Rick Castle’s stories, the author is enlisted by the NYPD to help bring the murderer to justice in 
Really, the only purpose that 
It seems Warners believes that audiences were simply dying for an origin prequel to their middling live action Scooby-Doo franchise, which means we know have 
I can’t have been the only one not surprised that 
Oh, Disney Channel – why are your tween/teen comedies just so unrelentingly bland? It’s no wonder iCarly is kicking your ass in the ratings – one has only has to look at the episodes featured on the inaugural DVD release of the new Jonas Brothers sitcom 
Those fans that have only experience the butchered editions of The Mighty Boosh that have been running on Adult Swim need to run – not walk – to their favorite DVD emporium and snag copies of the new-to-the-US unexpurgated editions of 
Some may call it kitschy. Some may call it corny. Some may call it Shirley. The fine folks at Thinkgeek call it the 
As a fan of both the Neil Gaiman book and the previous work of director Henry Selick, I was eager to see what the stop-motion cinematic adaptation of 
Spurred on by the fun they had with their original foray into a galaxy far, far away, the Robot Chicken team decided to jump back in with 
Another quirky show still going strong (and also a network-mate of Monk is 
I once chatted with John Hodgman about the importance of supporting a film like 
Truly a leader in John Hodgman’s vision of a nerdier America, Ira Glass’s 
Spongebob makes a momentous decision about his very identity in the latest single-disc release, 
Like many a quirky, innovative show before it, 
Years after defining the television sitcom and becoming a cultural icon, a now-single Lucille Ball returned with 
In a nature mood? The Smithsonian has a quartet of new documentaries that may help with that. Explore the massive blue whale in 
Hey! Fans of Homestar Runner! Get your DVD fix with a pair of new Strong Bad DVDs – 
It’s completely mind-off entertainment, but at least you can say that the techno-thriller 
It’s not a terribly great adaptation of the Terry Pratchett book, but there is a measure of fun to be had in the made-for-TV 
Even as Sci-Fi… err, Syfy… is on the verge of launching a new, neutered series, Stargate fans can pick up a newly recut, refurbished version of the original series pilot, 
By the time the fourth season of 
James Brolin and Connie Selleca star in Aaron Spelling’s land-based equivalent of The Love Boat, 
Hell has finally frozen over and swine fly through the skies, as 
Sometimes, I love gadgets that are completely and utterly useless to me personally. As I don’t work in an office, or in a cubicle, the 
When I wasn’t playing with Transformers in early 80’s, I was usually playing with the dozens of GI Joe figures I had hounded my parents incessantly for. Yes, that means I also was a daily viewer of the episodes contained in 
Twomorrows’ always wonderful artist spotlight series turns its eye towards yet another worthy illustrator with 
Amongst the many documentaries hitting DVD to tie in with the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, near the top of the “must watch” list is the new high definition transfer of filmmaker Al Reinert’s documentary 
Most shows suffer in their sophomore season, but it’s always nice when a program bucks the trend and turns in a stellar outing – and such is the case with 
If you’re keen on quick, easy, one-stop shopping to get all of the classic Peanuts specials you remember so well, I urge you to snag a copy of 
There are over 16 hours of vintage ads contained in 
The 11th season of the now-departed 
It was never must-see TV for me, but whenever I’d see Andy Griffith as lawyer Ben Matlock, it felt like hot cocoa and a warm, almost smothering blanket. Fans can lay their hands upon 
Just in time for the porous yellow one’s 100th episode festivities comes the CD release of 
Yes, I admit to being a person who occasionally gets sucked into The Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week celebrations. But what to do the other 51 weeks of the year? Well, now you can dive into the 2-disc 
The penultimate adventure for young Harry Potter (well, in the books, anyway – there’s still two more films to go) finds events becoming much darker, and Nicholas Hooper’s score to 
Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange tackle the roles of “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale in the engaging adaptation of the now legendary documentary revealing their sad, eccentric, privileged lives, 
The first season of the TNT original 
Tick another show off the list, as we get the release of the eighth and final season of 
Get over the laughable “based on a true story” tag, and 
I have no emotional attachment whatsoever to 
You know what? Between you and me, the less said about 
It’s nice to know that we live in a world where a quirky show like 
The American version is often an over-produced mess, but the original UK version of 
I love gadgets, and tools that feel like gadgets. That’s certainly the case with the 
I would have preferred it have been A Shot In The Dark, but I guess the high definition arrival of the original 
Released in separate packages previously, MGM has brought together all 9 volumes Pink Panther cartoons into 
I’m not entirely sure why these DC animated direct-to-DVD titles abandoned the much-refined and wonderful Bruce Timm-syled designs of JLU in favor of clunkier, uglier, more angular designs unless the sole reason was (sad) change for change sake, but that is a major “ugh” point in the not-exactly-stellar animated 
Although I find the subject matter interesting, you’ve gotta love a book title like 
Fans have been clamoring for it for years – well, they’ve been clamoring for anything from the band, really – but they’re surely dancing a happy jig at the release of 
Though the stories comprising it are being released separately, the best and easiest way to get the entire arc is to just pick up the 
Not many cartoons can boast a guest turn by Johnny Depp, but a certain spongy yellow character can in the episode collection 
You can see every drop of sweat in the new Blu-Ray edition of Martin Scorsese’s 
If you’ve got a lot of free time, are really jonesing for the Watchmen movie, and are a huge fan of those late 60’s Marvel cartoons, then you’ll probably want to give a spin to 
If you want to find a little bit more about the author behind Watchmen, V: For Vendetta, From Hell, and League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, you can’t do wrong in picking up a copy of the re-released and expanded 
Though my nephews lap it up, I still watch 
I know it made money. I know that people went to go see it. Intellectually, I know these things. I still can’t rationalize that knowledge into any semblance of an endorsement for 
I prefer to believe the awkward director’s cut doesn’t exist, but I did love 
Make sure your young ones get to Sesame Street for 
Baz Luhrman’s epic story of love between an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) and a rough-&-tumble cattle driver (Hugh Jackman) in the Outback is certainly big and sprawling, but 
Oh, 
There are many films from my childhood that I place upon a pedestal merely for sentimental reasons, despite glaring deficiencies in quality. You know exactly the type I mean. But then there’s 
There are a lot of low-cost portable video options out there, but there aren’t very many credit card-sized video players that will give you 2 GB of storage, a MiniSD slot, hours of playing time, AVI/MPEG ability, a built in external speaker, and included earphones for under $100. Well, ThinkGeek has got just such a 
Long a legendary cult tape often whispered about but rarely seen, 
In 1976, a group of British comedy and music luminaries got together for a benefit show to raise money for Amnesty International. In 1979, this charity gathering was rechristened The Secret Policeman’s Ball, and over the years would feature members of Monty Python, Peter Cook, Fry & Laurie, Rowan Atkinson, Pete Townshend, Neil Innes, Sting, Jackson Browne, French & Saunders, and many more. Long available in the UK, all of the classic Balls are now available in the US in the form of 
It seems like it’s taken years – because it has – but the we can now lay our mitts upon the eleventh and final season of 
Make the waiting for the next full season set a little easier with one of Nick’s holdover single-disc editions – 
He could be like battery acid in your ears, but the diamonds in the rough more than made it worth experiencing the comedy of Sam Kinison. He’s specials are finally getting the treatment they deserve with the special edition release 
All I could think while watching 
Warners has looked into the vaults and dug up four new-to-DVD flicks for their 
Okay, for the sole reason that it stars John Denver and John Rhys Davies, 
It did nothing at the box office, but 
Love is in the air – and Valentine’s Day is fast approaching – so it should be little surprise that Warners is releasing a 
Take Old School and make it about rock & roll dreams, and you’ve pretty much got 
Yes, I recall many a Saturday morning watching 
Paramount isn’t the only studio catching up on catalogue releases – Fox also brings their own basket of back titles to high definition with 
I admit it – with all due shame – I did watch at least the first season Blossom when it originally aired. In retrospect, I’m not sure why. It’s certainly your standard sitcom fare – except with a dancing Mayim Bialik. Am I being too hard on it? Well, you can judge for yourself with 
Another admission – there was a period when I read John Grisham novels. I’m not going to apologize – it’s a phase many go through, and then we move on. That means, however, that I’ve seen the quartet of films contained in the 
The second and final season of 
It’s not as good as he’s managed be lately, but 
Like Cops with even more junkies and dealers, Spike’s reality series 
Now that the classic specials have all gotten their due, the remastered edition treatment is turning towards the lesser of the Peanuts specials with 
One must marvel at the ability of 
Oh, Disney. What am I to do with 
Comedian Russell Peters delivers a one-two punch with a combo set of his stand up DVD and CD, 
In this episode, I’m having a bit of a chat with acting legend Ernest Borgnine.
