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Reviews
Amazing Stories (1985)
Amazing Stories First Season
I was delighted to finally see the release of Amazing Stories the first season on DVD. I had forgotten just what a stellar cast of actors and directors worked on this series. For the longest time the only way you got to see this remarkable series was with the VHS 2 or 3 episode collections or when Sci-Fi would re-run the episodes. However, when Sci-Fi would host the re-runs, they generally stuck to the same episodes. There were a few outstanding episodes in Season One like The Mission that they didn't repeat. Does anyone know exactly how long this series ran? It says 1985 to 1987 at the top here at IMDb but I thought it ran longer than two years. If you loved the Twilight Zone, Night Gallery and Outer Limits, you will love this series and you will not be disappointed with your purchase.
Charmed (1998)
Charmed is getting tired
I have watched this wonderful show from the beginning. I was shocked but not surprised when Shannon left the show. That is what Shannon is best at causing lots of disturbances on a set. I'm surprised she gets any kind of parts now with that kind of reputation. However, I did not start this to run down Shannon. She did a wonderful job of playing Prue and whatever the cause of her leaving, her character is still missed. I loved the way the writers were able to work in the new sister that made plausible sense. What I am really fed up with tho is the quality of writing now. These last few seasons have not been worth wasting my time with. The stories are trite and boring with no excitement like it was in the earlier seasons. I think most of the fans of the show will agree with me that the Cole-Phoebe years the 2003 and 2004 seasons were the best. You didn't know what might happen with that paring and even after they vanquished Cole, you still didn't believe that he was really gone. You kept waiting for him to pop back up and he didn't disappoint us. I've had major problems with the show ever since Chris came back from the future to supposedly save Baby Wyatt from turning evil. The magic school thingy is something else that's a bit disjointed along with the Paige/Agent Brody pairing. Then the Avatars came along and offered peace, light, love for everyone. I didn't trust them when they tried offering this one to Cole (when we was still the source albeit banished) back when they first appeared and my instincts not to trust them were right they weren't nice guys but I mean the writing is tired. You can tell the writers are tired of trying to come up with something new and you can tell the sisters are getting just as tired of working with the same old type of scripts. I think they should end the show before the ratings really go down the tubes and ruin it. I think Jerry Seinfield said it right when he ended Seinfield after seven years. He said (I'm paraphrasing here) that he wanted to go out on a high note instead of dragging on until no one wanted to watch them any more or the writers couldn't come up with fresh material. I mean the new season calls for no Detective Morris or very very few appearances of him and no Leo either. I mean come on how can you limit Leo's appearances on the show even if he is mortal now and not a whitelighter he's still Piper's husband and the father of the boys you can't just cut him out with no appearances. WB stated that they had to cut out Morris' and Leo's appearances due to budget constraints. I haven't watched the show for the last two seasons much except for the season openers and was disappointed both times. I think they should end the show on a high note like Seinfield did. We always have the boxed sets to watch when we want to get our Charmed fix. I just ordered my copies of Seasons 3 and 4 and that's probably all I'll get.
Friendly Fire (1979)
Friendly Fire
I saw this movie many years ago on television and I was deeply moved by it. I don't agree with the comment another reader posted that the Mullens were trying to start a revolution about their son's death. What they were mad about, and rightly so in my opinion was the apparent cover-up the military did on the death. They only wanted the real truth about how their son died not a lot of lies which is what they got. I thought Carol Burnett was marvelous in her role. Up until that time, I had never seen her in anything but a comedic role and it was refreshing to see her in a dramatic role. Ned Beatty, as usual, was his stoic self. I would have liked to have seen his character display a bit more emotion but that was how the male society was at that time, very unemotional. Has this movie ever been released on video or DVD? I would love to get a copy.
Backstairs at the White House (1979)
Great Series
This was a wonderful mini-series. I too, am puzzled as to why this was never released on video in one form or another. It was very popular when it was run on television. If you have not read the book, I highly recommend both of them, they are excellent. There are two out there, the one that Mrs. Parks wrote and one Gwen Bagini(?) and Mrs. Parks collaborated on that went along with the mini-series. The producers couldn't have picked a better cast to play the characters. They were all exemplary. The series was pretty accurate historically too, maybe that's why it was never released on video, it insulted someone some how. I too would like to add my voice to the growing number that want to see this mini-series released.