title: Alias: The Complete Fourth Season function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment MPAA rating: TV 14 SLV starring: Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Michael Vartan, Carl Lumbly, Kevin Weisman, Melissa George, Greg Grunberg, David Anders, Victor Garber DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Four Stars sound/picture: Four Stars reviewed by: Mel Odem Now in its fifth year of production, the television show “Alias” knows what it’s selling: a sexy heroine, violence, a frenetic pace, layered storylines and an overall soap opera feel that guarantees morning-after water cooler TV. Viewers talk about “Alias”: the characters, the plot twists, the cutting-edge tech, and – above all – where the allegiances of their favorite agents currently are. Who’s zooming who seems to be one of the favorite questions asked by the intrigued audience that has hung on for so long to a television show that has proven as tumultuous and unforeseeable as the real life of the series’ sexy star, Jennifer Garner. As with every year, “Alias” opens and ...

title: Da Ali G Show – The Complete Second Season function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: HBO Home Video MPAA rating: Not Rated starring: Sacha Baron Cohen TV broadcast year: 2003 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Four Stars sound/picture rating: Three Stars reviewed by: Bryan Dailey I fear that the best days may be over for “Da Ali G” show. Not because brilliant comic Sacha Baron Cohen has lost his comedic way, ala Dave Chappelle, but because he may have become too well-known to effectively corral as many unsuspecting people on the street. Cohen has gotten into hot water thanks to his funniest character, a Kazakhstani television reporter who travels the, as he says, “U S and A” to interview local yokels and learn about different areas and American traditions mostly in the Midwest. This anti-Semitic, misogynistic character uses his ignorance and broken English to get away with making comments that are sometimes jaw-dropping, but seeing that Cohen is actually Jewish, it’s obviously all done in fun and ...

title: Tilt: Season One   studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment/ESPN Home Entertainment MPAA rating: NR starring: Michael Madsen, Chris Bauer, Kristin Lehman, Todd Williams, Don McManus, Eddie Cibrian TV broadcast year: 2004 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Three and a Half Stars sound/picture rating: Three Stars reviewed by: Bryan Dailey Poker has exploded all over your TV so much that that ESPN might as well just spin off and start a new channel called The Poker Channel. Just last evening for an experiment I flipped through my satellite channels and ran across three different networks airing professional or celebrity poker of some form. With the resurgence of the popularity of poker, the Matt Damon/Edward Norton poker drama “Rounders” has found a new life on DVD. To capitalize on this social phenomenon, the executives at ESPN decided to take the creative team behind “Rounders,” Brian Koppelman and David Levien and put their poker-related drama series “TILT” on the air to fill the void between World Series of ...

title: Chappelle's Show - Season 2 Uncensored function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Paramount Home Entertainment/Comedy Central MPAA rating: NR starring: David Chappelle, Paul Mooney, Charlie Murphy TV broadcast year: 2004 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Five Stars sound/picture rating: Four Stars reviewed by: Bryan Dailey What was so funny that it prompted Comedy Central to give Dave Chappelle a $50 million dollar contract? The answer can be summed up in four words. “I’m Rick James’ bitch!!!!!!” It was this catch phrase from the segment “Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories” that launched the already successful “Chappelle’s Show” into the pop culture stratosphere. Basketball players would yell this catch-phrase behind their teammates doing national TV interviews during warm-ups. The guys from System of a Down were guests on the nationally syndicated radio show Loveline and couldn’t stop saying it during the show. Chappelle had officially kicked Chris Rock out the top spot when discussions of “funniest man in the world” came up in casual conversation and he had Charlie Murphy ...

title: Fat Actress – The Complete First Season function popUp(URL,NAME) { amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write(""); document.close(); studio: Showtime Entertainment MPAA rating: TV-MA starring: Kirstie Alley, Bryan Callen, Rachael Harris TV release year: 2005 DVD release year: 2005 film rating: Three Stars sound/picture rating: Three Stars reviewed by: Bryan Dailey Being a successful actress in Hollywood is almost as tough as winning the lottery. The competition for starring roles is fierce and the pressure to be thin and beautiful is so heavy that many eating disorders and chemical dependencies are not uncommon amongst Hollywood starlets. As comedian Janeane Garofalo sarcastically says in her stand-up act, “I checked out the latest issue of Cosmo this week and it said that thin is in this summer. As if big fat girls have been having a free run of it up until now.”