TV on DVD

A horny rock star, a sci-fi surfer and a bar hopper get released

By Paul Semel

Special to Metromix

Is Bret Michaels looking for love in all the wrong places? Will Renton ever find extreme happiness? And when are they going to do “Three Sheets: Newark”? Find out the answers to these questions in this week's installment of…TV on DVD!

Show: Rock Of Love, Season 1 (Anchor Bay)
Format: DVD.
What is it? We have become a nation of rubberneckers. Whether it's Britney Spears, “Jackass,” or TMZ, we delight in watching other people make asses of themselves. The latest illustration is this show, in which Poison frontman Bret Michaels was supposed to be looking for love, but instead found a bunch of crazy ladies who either forgot that cameras were rolling or just didn't care. As a result, their flirting is almost as shameless as their manipulation, both of which result in lots of “Jerry Springer”-esque fights over the dumbest things imaginable. Which occasionally makes this fun to watch in small doses, but always makes you feel dirty afterwards.
Number of discs/episodes: 3 discs/13 episodes.
Extras: “Phone Sex”; “Late Night Food Fight”; HeatherCam; Bret's Sexy Sing-A-Long; “Get It On” music video; extended trailer.
Price: $59.98
Buy, borrow or ignore: Ignore.


Show: Eureka 7, Volume 12 (Bandai)
Format: DVD.
What is it? When this anime show began fifty episodes ago, Renton's life with his grandfather was Dullsville. Then he got a robot suit and was able to enjoy the latest extreme sport, called 'lifting,' which is kinda like surfing but in mid-air. But when he joined Gekkostae, a lifting team fronted by his hero, Holland, Renton realized that the cliché about grass being greener was actually true. Thankfully, all of his suffering won't be in vain (or at the very least won't go on much longer), as this disc contains the final episodes of this popular Japanese cartoon.
Number of discs/episodes: 1 disc/4 episodes.
Extras: Regular Edition: Commentary on the final episode. Special Edition: A t-shirt; “Psalms Of Planets Eureka 7 Complete Best CD,” a single-disc compilation of tracks from the show's two double-disc soundtrack CDs; a copy of the “Eureka 7, Volume 2” manga, the prequel to the story in the video game “Eureka 7 Vol. 1: The New Wave And The New Vision.”
Price: Regular Edition: $24.98; Special Edition: $59.98
Buy, borrow or ignore: Borrow.


Show: Three Sheets, Season 2 (Infinity)
Format: DVD.
What is it? I don't want to make a big deal out of this, but this DVD has me confused. On TV, “Three Sheets” follows comedian Zane Lamprey as he visits the best local bars in such exotic locales as Japan, Munich and South Korea. But while it's shown in high-def on TV —it airs on MOJO HD, after all—this is just a regular-def DVD. Sure, watching some guy pound beers doesn't really need to be presented with realistically detailed visuals or in rich surround sound (though this does preserve the show's original widescreen presentation), but since it's already shot this way, why the downgrade?
Number of discs/episodes: 2 discs/10 episodes.
Extras: Footage from the show's New Year's Eve pub crawl; outtakes.
Price: $24.98
Buy, borrow or ignore: Borrow.


Other TV DVDs out this week:
Ben 10, Race Against Time (Turner)
Fortysomething (Acorn)
Hell's Kitchen, Season 1 (Uni Music Canada)
Matlock, The First Season (Paramount)
Meerkat Manor, Season Two (Animal Planet/Genius Products)
Mike Birbiglia, What I Should Have Said Was Nothing: Tales From My Secret Public Journal (Shout Factory)
Mythbusters, Collection 3 (Discovery Channel)
Nana, Volume 1 (Viz)
Perry mason, 50th Anniversary (Paramount)
Sense & Sensibility (BBC)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Season 6 (Lionsgate)
The Cosby Show, Season 7 (Urban Works)
The Cosby Show, Season 8 (Urban Works)
The Last Detective, Season 4 (Acorn)

Editor's Note: Actual releases may differ; Metromix is not responsible for injury, loss of life, or wasted time if you go to the store to buy one of them and the clerk says, “Uh, no, that's not coming out until next week.”