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Jane After Dark: 'Supernatural' Season Five - Is the Apocalypse Happening or What?!

Jane Boursaw — 2010-05-02T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, Supernatural, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

I've been watching 'Supernatural' for Jane After Dark, my weekly column chronicling all the TV shows I watch on DVD into the wee hours. I'm now up to season five, episode 11, 'Sam, Interrupted,' and frankly, this season's been a little slow going.

After the dark powers that gripped the Winchester boys in season four, it almost seems like the writers have forgotten all about the fact that Sam unleashed Lucifer onto the world in the season four finale. You would think that once the Devil had escaped from the depths of Hell, he'd be running roughshod over the planet.

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Jane After Dark: 'Supernatural' - Season Four Ends, the Apocalypse Begins

Jane Boursaw — 2010-04-17T11:05:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Supernatural, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

You know how I told you guys I'd probably finish season four of 'Supernatural' and then wait for season five to be released on DVD? Yeah, that's not gonna happen. After watching the season four finale, I immediately started buying episodes of season five from iTunes (I couldn't find a good place to see them online for free - if you know of any, pass the word along). At this writing, I'm just about to watch 'The End.'

The mythology has really kicked into high gear during seasons four and five, and if perchance demons destroyed all the ways I could watch season five, I'd have to break into Eric Kripke's office and steal the scripts so I could find out what happens next.

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Jane After Dark: 'Supernatural' - Doesn't Anyone Stay Dead on This Show?

Jane Boursaw — 2010-03-27T16:25:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, Supernatural, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

Seriously, doesn't anyone stay dead on 'Supernatural'? Not that I'm complaining. I was devastated at the end of season three when Dean was attacked by the hell hound and dragged off to hell, and pretty excited when he was yanked back to life. I kept waiting for some big reveal that his resurrection was all a dream or alternate universe or something, but after meeting the angel Castiel, I'm convinced that Dean is back for real.

It's interesting. I kept wondering why Dean had gone to hell rather than heaven, because he's a good person doing good things in the world, so why wouldn't he go to heaven? On the other hand, Dean didn't believe in heaven or God or angels up to this point, so maybe that would automatically send him to hell? Nah, I'm not buying that.

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Jane After Dark: 'Supernatural' - Dean's Deal With the Crossroads Demon

Jane Boursaw — 2010-03-14T16:50:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, Supernatural, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

Hey, 'Supernatural' fans. Well, I'm into season three now, after a short break last week to recover from season two. I was sort of bummed out the way it ended and needed some time to get my wits together. I was majorly sad about Dean's deal with the Crossroads demon to save Sam. It was a tough spot, to be sure. He had to save his brother; on the other hand, how will Sam feel when Dean's gone in a year? Clearly, I've got too much invested in these characters.

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Jane After Dark: 'Supernatural' - What Does Dean Know?

Jane Boursaw — 2010-02-27T18:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Supernatural, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

Hey, 'Supernatural' fans. Well, I'm part-way into season two, and I have to say, I was utterly depressed after watching the first episode, 'In My Time of Dying.' But of course, I forged ahead anyway. It seems there's always a way to bring people back after they die on this show. Things aren't set in stone at all.

Which is exactly why it's hard to think that Sam could go to the dark side, or that he's harboring some deep, dark demonic thing. According to Gordon, that dark side is going to come out and be a really bad guy. Apparently, John Winchester felt that way, too, before he died. That's why he told Dean that if he couldn't save Sam, he'd have to kill him.

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Jane After Dark: 'Supernatural' is Approaching 'Buffy' Territory

Jane Boursaw — 2010-02-21T11:03:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Supernatural, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

Even though some episodes still scare the crap out of me, I'm really getting into 'Supernatural.' I know this because it's tough trying to do other work while I'm watching it at night. Impossible, really. Instead, I use it as my own little incentive program -- edit this post, watch five minutes of 'Supernatural,' write up that review, watch five minutes of 'Supernatural.' Cubicle workers have bonuses and rewards programs, I have 'Supernatural.'

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Jane After Dark: I Believe in the Power of 'Supernatural'

Jane Boursaw — 2010-02-13T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Supernatural, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

'Supernatural' is one of those shows I've been hearing about since it first premiered in 2005. I was never a fan of shows with demons and ghosts and the like until I finally watched 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer.' Now I'm sort of hooked on them.

I'm not gonna lie, though. I'm just a few episodes into 'Supernatural,' and so far, it's terrifying. It could be a good long while before I'm able to swim in a lake ('Dead in the Water'), go camping ('Wendigo'), fly on a plane ('Phantom Traveler'), or look in a mirror ('Bloody Mary'). And I'm convinced that my husband is probably a shape-shifter ('Skin').

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Jane After Dark: Catching up with Better Off Ted

Jane Boursaw — 2010-01-02T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD, TV Schedules

I'm kind of bummed that it looks like Better Off Ted might be on its way out. Maybe not, though. Mike's review this week sounded like it might get a reprieve from the axe. Who knows, really? But either way, I'm glad to have found this quirky series, and have been watching season one on DVD this week.

It's kind of a cross between The Office and Arrested Development. If you're not familiar with the show, it takes place in the Research & Development department of Veridian Dynamics, a corporation with lots of cubicles and fluorescent lights.

Ted (Jay Harrington) is a pleasant guy who runs things and answers to Veronica (Portia de Rossi), an uptight boss who wears her hair pulled back so tight it's amazing she can even breathe.

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Jane After Dark: Pondering The Prisoner

Jane Boursaw — 2009-11-29T10:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, OpEd, Video, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features

I finished watching The Prisoner this week, and while I had to watch the final episodes a few times, I think I sort of get it. As I mentioned in my post a couple of weeks ago, I haven't seen the original 1960s series, so I'm just basing my thoughts on the current version that just aired on AMC. I'm guessing they'll air the series again sometime soon.

First of all, I was riveted to the series from start to finish. Not only are the characters and storyline intriguing and mysterious, but the musical score by Rupert Gregso-Williams is phenomenal. So hypnotic and evocative. More of my thoughts on The Prisoner -- including possible spoilers -- after the jump.

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Things I Hate About TV: Pop-up ads

Allison Waldman — 2009-11-18T11:29:00+00:00

Filed under: OpEd, Things I Hate About TV, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features

When Lewis Black went off at the Emmys a couple of years ago about TV becoming obnoxious with the amount of information splayed on the screen, he hit the nail right on the head. Sad to say, things have not gotten better since that rant. In fact, they're worse. I don't know what's worse, the annoying pop-up ads on the television screen or the annoying pop-up ads on the computer screen. At least in the case of the latter, it's the equivalent of a commercial and -- somewhat -- understandable.

But when you're watching a television show and have to ignore the bug in the corner, then be subjected to a variety of pop-up promotions and reminders for shows you may or may not be interested in watching it's enough to make you turn off the set. I'd say it's enough to make you switch channels, but where can you go to avoid the intrusion? PBS?

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Jane After Dark: The Wire, season five (part two)

Jane Boursaw — 2009-11-16T09:02:00+00:00

Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

And so Jane After Dark has come to the end of The Wire. I need to watch it again to catch more than the one-eighth I caught the first time around. But after watching all five seasons, spanned over most of this year, the thing that keeps popping into my head is that the bureaucratic end of things is really no better than the drug dealer end of things.

In some ways, the drug dealers have more ethics than the suits. At least when a druggie does something that wrongs others in the system, there's no messing around. They're shot. They know they have it coming, and they step up and take it, just like Snoop did, asking if her hair looked ok before being gunned down. Just like Proposition Joe did when he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable bullet to the head.

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Jane After Dark: The Wire, season five (part one)

Jane Boursaw — 2009-11-02T20:03:00+00:00

Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV Royalty, TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

Ah, how good it is to get back to The Wire. I've been steered off track by other DVDs landing on my doorstep for Jane After Dark, so season five of The Wire has been a while coming. One again, the show blows me away with the writing, characters, cinematography and realism. I'm just part-way into season one, but I love all of the references to everything that's happened thus far in the series, and the crew's continued attempts to bring down Marlo's organization. And, apparently, Omar is still in the game ...

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Jane After Dark: Ally McBeal, season one

Jane Boursaw — 2009-10-25T15:03:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

It's always interesting when you've been hearing about a series for years and then finally sit down to watch it. All the little pieces and pop references of Ally McBeal are starting to come together, like Fishisms, The Biscuit, dancing babies and Vonda Shepard. I have seen the light. Well, at least season one of the light.

I mentioned in my preview last week that Ally McBeal seems like a mix of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and My World and Welcome To It. Having reached the end of season one, I still feel that way, with maybe a little Buffy the Vampire Slayer thrown in (hey, don't throw things at me, Ally looks like Buffy).

Molly Dodd because Ally is funny, desperate, strong and cute. My World because of all her fantasies, though not always in cartoon form as was the case with John Monroe / James Thurber.

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Jane After Dark preview: Hooked on Ally McBeal

Jane Boursaw — 2009-10-21T14:03:00+00:00

Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, TV on DVD, OpEd, Video, Music and Variety, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD, TV Schedules

I'm watching season one of Ally McBeal for Jane After Dark this week, and will give a full review this weekend. But I have to say, I'm just a few episodes in, and I'm already hooked. It's a weird blend of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and My World and Welcome To It.

And it's very weird seeing Calista Flockhart, whom I mainly know from Brothers & Sisters, and all of her co-stars, whom I know from other current shows, on Ally McBeal. What's even more amazing is all of the musicians featured on this show: Elton John, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, Al Green, and many more.

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Jane After Dark: Legend of the Seeker, season one

Jane Boursaw — 2009-10-18T11:02:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

I've been hearing about this little show called Legend of the Seeker since it debuted last year. Season one was just released on DVD, so I checked it out for Jane After Dark this week. It's a great show. In my neck of the woods, it airs Saturday afternoon at 4 PM, which is a perfect time. If it aired during the regular primetime schedule, I'm afraid it would be eaten up by other shows, but the weekends are a nice home for it.

I've heard that Legend of the Seeker, based on The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind, is similar to Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. As with Legend, both of these shows were produced by Sam Raimi and Robert G. Tapert.

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Jane After Dark: Peanuts 1970's Collection, Vol. 1

Jane Boursaw — 2009-10-11T10:02:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Animation, Children, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

Like most people in the known universe, I grew up with Charlie Brown. In addition to watching all the TV specials, my family amassed a fairly large collection of the paperback Peanuts books and even a few nice hardcovers. Family friendly graphic novels, you might call them.

So I was pretty excited to learn that Warner Home Video was releasing a lot of the TV specials, both individually and in collections. On Oct. 20, the Peanuts 1970's Collection, Vol. 1 will hit store and cyber shelves in a 2-disc set. A nice publicist sent me an advance copy, so I'm happy to devote this week's Jane After Dark to this lovely set.

I'm always harping on all the sex and violence on TV right now -- often in shows that bill themselves as family friendly -- so it's really nice to have something you can watch with your kids that you know won't contain anything offensive or off-color. Not only that, the stories usually have a moral lesson, but they don't whack you over the head with it. It's more subtle, wrapped up in the humor and innocence of the stories and characters.

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Jane After Dark: Grey's Anatomy season five; Private Practice season two

Jane Boursaw — 2009-10-04T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Grey's Anatomy, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

With Grey's Anatomy and its spin-off Private Practice starting new seasons, I decided to refresh my brain with the previous seasons of these two ABC shows. So this week's Jane After Dark was all about the dreamy doctors.

I've been on board with Private Practice since the beginning, and was especially interested to see what happened with Violet and her baby in the season three premiere. Happy ending there, thank goodness! And while Grey's Anatomy has certainly ebbed and flowed since it began in 2005, I've stuck with it because I've grown to love the dysfunctional characters with all their baggage. It makes my life seem just that much better.

Grey's Anatomy, Season Five

There were parts of this season that drove me a little nuts, like Izzie having "mind-boggling sex" with dead Denny. That whole storyline made me want to jump off a roof, but there were plenty of highlights to the season, as well...

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Jane After Dark: Five reasons I'm loving Castle

Jane Boursaw — 2009-09-27T15:01:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, TV Squad Lists, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

This week in Jane After Dark, I caught up with season one of Castle. I'm a sucker for fun whodunits, especially when they feature great male and female characters who've perfected the art of the snappy banter. Specifically, here are five reasons why I'm loving Castle:

1. Nathan Fillion is boyishly charming. I've been a big fan of this Joss Whedon favorite since seeing him in 2005's feature film Serenity. I finally completed that awesome circle by watching Firefly last winter. Fillion has the ability to be goofy one minute and deadly serious the next. In Castle, he plays Richard Castle, a best-selling mystery author who's raising a 15-year-old daughter Alexis (Molly C. Quinn) -- and, in many ways, his free-spirited live-in mother Martha (Susan Sullivan), as well. Having killed off his latest fictional character, Richard found inspiration in NYPD detective Kate Beckett, after being called in to advise on a case. Now they're working as pseudo-partners.

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Jane After Dark: Fringe, season one - pudding, ZFT, and The Observer

Jane Boursaw — 2009-09-21T09:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Reality-Free, Fringe, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

In anticipation of the season two premiere of Fringe last week (read my review and your comments here), I revisited season one to refresh my brain. There are so many subtleties that connect seasons one and two, and it was good to go back and watch it again.

While there were a few creature-feature episodes that appeared to be stand-alones (but who really knows with this show?), for the most part, much of season one was devoted to weaving an intricate mystery and setting things up for season two. It's too much, really, for one small blog post, but a few things sprang to mind ...

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Jane After Dark: Sexy Samantha talking Greek in Scrubs

Jane Boursaw — 2009-09-13T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Scrubs, Reality-Free, Jane After Dark, Features, TV Shows on DVD

Several DVD sets came my way this week, so I did some marathon viewing sessions for Jane After Dark. I'm brand new to some of these, so you'll get the stark, raw newbie version. But I'll start with one I've watched since the beginning ...

Dirty Sexy Money: The Complete Second and Final Season. I really liked this show at the beginning. It had all the elements of a great series, including excellent actors (starting with Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, and Peter Krause) and intriguing storylines with rich people, sex, murder, and mystery. But by the time they got to season two, the storylines just seemed to fizzle out. I would love to hear your thoughts on why Dirty Sexy Money didn't work. Crummy writing? Poor use of great actors? Too many characters to keep track of? Poor timing with the writer's strike occurring in the middle of its run, resulting in ten months between seasons?

Bonus features: Directing the Darlings (behind the scenes with director Jamie Babbit); A Total Knockout (a day in the life of Natalie Zea, who played Karen); Dirty Sexy Crafty (a featurette about the food on the set); Faux Pas (bloopers); deleted scenes.

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