8 Simple Rules - The Complete First Season
by James Widdoes
from Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Legendary sitcom stars John Ritter and Katey Sagal team up in 8 SIMPLE RULES ABC's hit family comedy that is laugh-out-loud funny. "If you make my daughters cry I ll make you cry." That's the rallying cry of Paul Hennessy. A little rusty in the parenting department Paul is forced to meet fatherhood head-on when his wife Cate returns to work. Two teenage daughters and a wisecracking son make Paul's new situation daunting but never dull. Cybill Shepherd Jason Priestley and Terry Bradshaw are just some of the guest stars joining the fun in Season One. Experience all 28 episodes plus exclusive bonus features including a hilarious bonus reel in this sensational 3-disc set.System Requirements:Running Time: 601 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: TV-PG UPC: 786936732818 Manufacturer No: 05418500
After gaining fame as ladies man Jack Tripper on the 1970s sitcom Three's Company, John Ritter steals the show as a father of three--including two nubile teenage girls--on 8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter. The first season, which aired on ABC during 2002 and 2003, introduces viewers to Paul (Ritter) and Cate Hennessy (Katey Sagal) and their precocious children Bridget (Kaley Cuoco), Kerry (Amy Davidson), and Rory (Martin Spanjers). When former stay-at-home mom Cate returns to the work force as a nurse, it's up to Paul to write his newspaper column at home on occasion and mind the kids. The first season deals with that uneasy transition. It's actually refreshing to see a family depicted where the parents don't always like the kids. Paul often jokes with Cate that he's mad she ever suggested they start a family. He also notes, "What's it called if you're damned if you do and damned if you don't? Oh yes, fatherhood."
As for the children, we've seen similar stereotypical characters on other sitcoms. Bridget is the 16-year-old blonde bombshell. Kerry is her awkward, brunette younger sister, and Rory is their kid brother who has the creepy habit of hiding in their closets. Paul's relationship with Rory is even keeled. But it's his daughters that he is trying to win over. They love him, but they're also embarrassed and befuddled by him. Just when he thinks he's bonding with them, the girls will sarcastically point out his faults--such as his being at least 100 years old. As he succinctly points out to his wife, "They live in my house, but they don't even like me. They're not kids. They're cats!" Though the show is big on comic moments, it also is generous in sharing poignant memories. When Paul looks at his girls, he doesn't see young women that even his friends think of as hotties. Rather, he still views them as innocent toddlers who looked up to and adored him. Sagal, who was so over-the-top in both looks and mannerisms when she played the matriarch on Married with Children, is a wonderful foil for Ritter. Beautiful, smart, and funny, she's a tough act for him to follow when it comes to being a stay-at-home dad. --Jae-Ha Kim
10.5
from Lions Gate
Disaster Strikes the United States when an earthquake of epic proportions hits the Pacific Northwest causing the West Coast to separate form the rest of the continent and there is only one man who can save it and 50 Million people for annihilation.
System Requirements:
Format: DVD MOVIE
Dismissed by seismologists and roasted by critics, 10.5 offers everything you'd expect from a cheesy camp-classic disaster flick. Originally broadcast on May 2 and 3, 2004, this $20 million NBC sweeps-week miniseries achieved its ratings goal (20 million viewers) by promising a respectable cast and spectacular digital effects to simulate "the Big One"--a series of fault-ripping earthquakes that re-shape the entire West Coast of the United States. The first quake hits Seattle, toppling the Space Needle in a ridiculous opening sequence, and within minutes deep-fault expert Kim Delaney (no doubt regretting her departure from NYPD Blue) is busy convincing the President (Beau Bridges) and his geological advisor (Fred Ward) that only a series of nuclear blasts will "heal the rift" in the shifting tectonic plates. With John Schneider and The West Wing's Dulé Hill in thankless supporting roles, 10.5 deliberately strives for supreme badness, leaving no cliché unturned and cursing its cast with the worst dialogue in miniseries history. It's gloriously awful and uproariously entertaining. 10.5 may not rock your world, but natural disasters were never this much fun. --Jeff Shannon
Bratz: Kidz Fairy Tales
from Lions Gate
The Bratz Kidz have promised their principal that they will put on a Fairy Tale Showcase for the kindergartners at their school. Butthe girls' hearts aren't in it. The fairy tale heroines they are supposed to be playing (Rapunzel Snow White Red Riding Hood andCinderella) are all weak in their opinion. Cloe Jade Sasha and Yasmin state that they could have handled the situations in these fairy tales much better. Suddenly a little frog appears and scolds the girls for dissing the fairy tale heroines. He zaps the Kidz into Fairy Tale Land where the girls have to prove that they could handle things better than the original heroines. Cloe tries her hand at Rapunzel's story and discovers it is much more difficult than she bargained. It is only when her BFFs show up that she is able to escape the witch. Jade trying her hand at Snow White discovers that cooking and cleaning for a bunch of slovenly dwarves inolden times is no picnic while Sasha discovers that outwitting Red Riding Hood's wolf is far trickier than she thought. Both girlsend up needing the clever intervention of their three other friends to see them through. Yasmin then tries to outperform Cinderella. Of course things go comically awry until Sasha Cloe and Jade show up to lend a hand. Having set the story of Cinderella back on the right course the Kidz are zapped back to present day where they are supposed to perform a Fairy Tale Showcase for the kindergartners at their school. They eagerly start their show having acquired a newfound appreciation for the classic tales and their heroines. The Kidz all agree that it isn't right to judge other until you have walked a mile in their shoes!System Requirements:Running Time: 74 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: NR UPC: 012236224693 Manufacturer No: 22469