MURDER ONE Comes To DVD!!Herc

I am – Hercules!!

Because we’re maybe nine months from when the studios start issuing their catalogs in the vastly superior HD-DVD format (with rival HD format Blu-Ray following close behind), I’m not buying movies on DVD these days.

But TV shows are a different matter. I’m nervous about how long we’re going to have to wait for classic TV skeins to find their way onto HD-DVD, so I am still ordering season box sets. (For the record, yes, even the oldest TV show shot on film can, at a studio’s whim, be issued in gorgeous HD. Witness the old episodes of “Charlie’s Angels,” “Wiseguy” and “Square Pegs” being satcast in glorious HD on HDNet.)

I’ve just purchased the “Murder One” season-one DVD box set and I encourage anyone who shares my taste in filmed entertainment to do the same. (Mostly because I want the studio to have reason to issue the series on HD-DVD at some point in the not-too-far future.)

“Murder One” came along about a decade ago, long before “24” demonstrated how an ongoing series could garner legions of grateful fans by embracing tight continuity. Inspired by, among other things, the O.J. Simpson murder trial, it was a 23-episode tale of a substance-abusing movie star accused of raping and murdering a 15-year-old sexpot.

It was an amazing show, and I’d argue a better show than more popular continuity-happy cousins “24” and “Lost,” teeming as it is with fascinating characters who grew more fascinating as the sordid details of the case came to light. No character was more compelling than Teddy Hoffman (Daniel Benzali), the pudgy, grimly hilarious and much-feared legal superman hired to defend Neil Avedon (Jason Gedrick), the accused movie star. But there was also creepy psychoanalyst Graham Lester (Stanley Kamel), arrogant movie mogul Gary Blondo (John Pleshette), frustrated lawyer Arnold Spivak (J.C. MacKensie), conflicted detective Arthur Polson (Dylan Baker), and the slippery millionaire Richard Cross (Stanley Tucci), thought to be the last person to see Jessica Costello alive.

No one bothers to broadcast the “Murder One” repeats anymore, so Fox Home Entertainment has done us all a colossal favor by issuing this set at long last.

Also out this month.

I was about to bemoan the fourth season of “Good Times” hitting DVD while season one of “The Bob Newhart Show” has gone begging. But I just clicked over to amazon.com and, lo, now the first-season adventures of psychologist Robert Hartley, schoolteacher wife Emily, co-pilot neighbor Howard Borden and bitter mental patient Elliot Carlin are rocketing our way on April 12! And – by Fox Entertainment’s beard!!! – all 24 episodes for just $20.99!!! Why can’t EVERY home video division price this way??

I guess the best news is that everything will be available in season box-sets sooner rather than later. Within the next 15 days, you’ll be able to purchase all the following season-sets:

Last Tuesday:
Bullshit! 2.x
Cheers 4.x
Charmed 1.x
Frasier 4.x
Friends 6.x
I Love Lucy 3.x
Sealab 2021 2.x
Taxi 2.x
Wonderfalls 1.x

Feb. 8
Chapelle’s Show 2.x
Deadwood 1.x
Fresh Prince of Bel Air 1.x
Full House 1.x
Highlander 6.x
Jamie Foxx Show 1.x
Miami Vice 1.x
Murder One 1.x
Murphy Brown 1.x
Night Court 1.x
7TH Heaven 2.x

Feb. 15
Angel 5.x
Good Times 4.x
Greatest American Hero 1.x
Little House on the Prairie 7.x

Feb. 22
The Commish 2.x
The King of Queens 3.x
Have Gun Will Travel 2.x
The Shield 3.x
South Park 5.x
Stripperella 1.x

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