One of the great sci-fi dramas is now online!

Several years ago, I posted about one of my favorite TV shows, “Century City”. A legal drama set about 30 years in the future, the show boasted a tremendous cast (including Ioan Gruffud of Fantastic Four and Amazing Grace and Nestor Carbonell of The Tick and Dark Knight), a fine SFX budget, and terrific writing. It was true science fiction, using inventive ideas for future technologies as a springboard for telling compelling human dramas.

Unfortunately, it didn’t catch on and it left the air without even broadcasting all 9 episodes. I’ve since lamented that it wasn’t even available on DVD. Not that I’m expecting some kind of Family Guy-esque resurrection, but at least like Firefly I’d be able to spread the word about an un-appreciated show.

And NOW I CAN! It’s not on DVD, but it is on HULU! That’s the link for the show page where you can view all nine episodes, but for you doubters out there, let me start with this powerful episode: “To Know Her” – A woman claims that a man raped her by having nanites implanted in her fiance and using them to record and receive, and then experience, their lovemaking. The drama is a fine courtroom thriller just like the ones welcome all over our TV channels, except that it mentions nanotechnology. And if that isn’t enough to make you watch, how about for the ability to see Donny Most and Robert Guillaume on TV again!?

All nine episodes! I haven’t even watched them all yet, but I had to share this with you. And you want to hear something even weirder? One of the other TV shows I mentioned in that “I wish it was on DVD” post, Quark, a Star Trek parody from Buck Henry? Turns out that’s also on DVD now, and it just arrived from Amazon this morning! So, on the same day, I now have two of those TV shows to watch. Weird, huh?

I’ll give you a Quark review soon, okay?

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

TV Rarities I’d like to buy on DVD

This old article got me thinking….

There are a lot of TV shows that I’d love to be able to get my hands on in a DVD format. I’m not just talking about the hit shows that are bizarrely unavailable such as any further “King of the Hill” collections or the criminally-unavailable “Night Court”. (I mean, come on… the sales of the first season set were abysmal because the SHOW was abysmal. Every fan knows it gets better in later seasons.)

No, what I mean are the gems that went unappreciated but could find a new audience… or the old shows that probably really suck but nostalgia and curiosity could at least make it turn a profit.
Here are my top five:

• Century City: A sci-fi legal drama about the ethical and legal dilemmas that could exist in the near future. From a man arguing for possession of his clone to a boy band member who refuses to undergo plastic surgery to appear young…from an athlete who may not be allowed to play ball because of his bionic eyeball, to a man asking for the removal of his implant which keeps him from being mentally retarded, this was true science fiction and I truly regret that it was never really given a chance. And yeah, I’ve whined about it in these pages before. There were several episodes that never aired, so a “Complete Series” set would be worth seeing. It was a brilliant show and you all will serve time in purgatory for not watching it.
• Hot Properties: This is a silly show about four women working as Realtors in New York City. I get why it failed to catch on, but you cannot argue that it isn’t funny. I’ll freely admit, I downloaded all the episodes I could after the show was yanked and I’m glad I did, because with a few exceptions the episodes are good for multiple viewings. I watched it just for Nicole Sullivan and ended up loving all of the women on this show; their comic timing was well-honed and the scripts sparkled.
• Quark: A short-lived Star Trek parody from the mid-1970s that lasted for six episodes. It’s about a guy piloting a space garbage ship. As a kid, I loved the way Quark traveled between decks using a slide. I’m sure it’s super-dumb in the same way that most Mork and Mindy episodes have not aged well, but I don’t care. I just want to hear those words again: “Space baggy, straight ahead! Space baggy, straight ahead!”

How about you folks? What shows are you waiting for?

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

I need a tissue

Oy vey. Tonight’s episode of Century City really got to me. Best episode yet. This one was about…oh, I can’t say, just watch the trailer on the CBS site it on Hulu. Good news, though! I thought there were only four episodes, which made me fear that this was just a mid-season dumping of a few episodes of a pre-cancelled show. (You know, like FOX did with “The Tick”. Oddly enough, both shows feature Nestor “Batmanuel” Carbonell, which prompts me to wonder if he’s a new Mickey Rourke of TV shows.) But tonight they advertised next week’s episode, which means the episode guide I saw before was only for March. Next week’s is something to do with picking and choosing your unborn child to only give birth to a kid with a high I.Q. Also, I think I saw a glimpse of Enrico Colantoni (the photographer on “Just Shoot Me” and the lead alien on “Galaxy Quest”); this show has done a great job of picking guest stars. Experimental drugs, bionics, cloning, genetic testing…Century City is really dealing with issues that are in their infancy now and probably won’t take until 2030 to be turned into the kind of legal cases we’re seeing here. Oh, by the way, I caught a cute glitch tonight. When asked several questions to prove his mental competency, the question, “Who is president of the United States?” is asked and the defendant answers, “Oprah Winfrey.” But the closed-captioning on my TV read, “Christina Aguilera.” Guess the writers couldn’t decide.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Century City is only an hour away!

Dang! My computer access is limited this week, so I haven’t had a chance to remind everyone to watch Century City tonight.

I love this show. I think I’ll even do something I haven’t done before: write to the network and tell them how much I like it to make sure they don’t cancel it.

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...