BlackAdder

On the tenth day of Festivus, TV gave to me... Ten shows on DVD.

There are plenty of great TV collections being released all the time now, bringing back classic TV, shows that had short runs, and current favorites. You know about most of the big shows, so here's a mix of more popular and some maybe less-heralded collections.

House, M.D.: Season Five: This was a breakout season for the show, where the secondary characters really came to life and House broke down and finally had to face his addictions and personal failings. Season five may wind up being a pinnacle for the series as a whole.

When I was a kid, I remember seeing episodes of a couple of strange British shows on my local PBS affiliate in Rochester, NY. I never caught them regularly, not even sure when they aired, but I remember one of them was a peculiar little period piece with some funny gags, and a storyline I never completely grasped.

I learned later this first show was the classic Blackadder series with Rowan Atkinson, and the reason the storylines never made sense from show to show is that there are four seasons of the show, all taking place in a different historical period. I saw them out of order, and mostly caught the first season.

Watching the new Black Adder Remastered - The Ultimate Edition DVD set from BBC America (video and audio both remastered), it's clear the best way to watch Blackadder is to at least watch each series in order. And if you can watch the whole run in order, so much the better. From the first series set in the Dark Ages to the last set in World War I (Blackadder Goes Forth), Atkinson's character, Blackadder, remains a scheming coward. But he changes, too.

While most studios usually wait until Christmas to put out their top DVD releases, this year it seems as though they've decided that Halloween is good enough as today brings us a wide selection of delicious television treats. Of course, we doubt your neighbors will want to hand these out no matter how nicely you ask, but if you have the money you might want to take a look for yourself.

Because for fans of good TV, today really is Christmas in October.

Attention, TV Squad readers, my friends and fellow television fans, it's time to announce the winner for The Excellence in Outsourcing Award, that is, the foreign actor who possesses the best American accent. There were many worthy nominees, but the overwhelming winner was House, MD himself, actor Hugh Laurie. That Englishman, one of her majesty's loyal subjects, has been making us all believe that he's just a Jersey boy. As Dr. Gregory House of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, he sounds like he was born in south Jersey, spent his summers in Asbury Park, and is as much a Garden Stater as Bruce Springsteen and Tony Soprano.
%Gallery-10171%