Now, these are not brilliant nor will they change your life forever but just thought you should know these are out on DVD:

If you missed the 70’s or want to reminisce, there is hardly a better capsule of that time period than THE BEST OF MATCH GAME. It’s not every episode of every year but selected 30 episodes from its entire run. It is a hoot. You get to see the best of leisure suits and the whole 1970’s fashion, the smoking on the set, the drinking and of course, how to be risque in another era – the show wouldn’t be any fun today because everyone would just be Joe Pesci. If you want to see more, better buy this one 🙂

From the UK, an animated series from the 1980’s – Dangermouse, a world renowned secret spy & his faithful assistant Penfold fight dastardly villains – usually Baron Silas Greenback. Now, the animation is TV UK er … cheap … but the writing is sharp and aimed at a more sophisticated level, full of British droll, puns and smart for the viewer with the characters interacting with the narrator and playing around with TV conventions.

Of course, it goes without saying that you have to own the Looney Tunes collection sets but don’t forget some love for the Hanna-Barbara series from the 1960’s. With a much lower budget and weekly TV time constraint, they cranked out some beloved characters – thanks also to some of the greatest voice talents ever. There’s Magilla Gorilla, Yogi Bear, Dastardly & Muttley, Penelope Pitstop, Huckleberry Hound, The Wacky Races, Top Cat, or Hong Kong Phooey.

Of course, the theme songs were 2 minute pop gems but none more so than their of their long form series – the Jetsons, The Flintstones & Scooby Doo.

It’s always amazing that this show didn’t make it – I suppose most people thought it was a western and just ignored it – man, you missed out. Of course, what has Bruce Campbell done that isn’t interesting, funny, smart or downright hilarious? Add in sexy and you have the series – Adventures of Brisco County Jr. – it was so much more than a parody western … at least we have it all on DVD now.

Laguna Beach seems like an easy show to dismiss and it is on many levels but it’s much more than a “reality” soap opera of rich kids growing up in Laguna Beach. It is a snapshot of this generation for marketers and what this & the next generation find as their aspirational role models. You might not want to be their BF but as a marketer, you have to see how they live and how they think. You also have to see first hand the media savviness of these kids – how a camera following them around is as natural as listening to music – where else can you spend hours following teenagers around … without getting arrested 🙂

As a marketer, you also have to appreciate MTV’s editing and their ability to create a reality that is 50 times more compelling than the fake, fake lives of Fox’s The OC. You will marvel at how they applied all the rules they learned on THE REAL WORLD and created this heightened hybrid fake-reality-fake & entirely new dimension of TV. Sadly, MTV has lost its way after this series and there is nothing on the channel even 4% as compelling. The new cast is not nearly as interesting as the first two seasons of the original cast.

Of course, if you want real teen drama played by actors that are more real than the kids of Laguna Beach, there is always the Degrassi High series … or Degrassi High: Next Generation.

Or perhaps a more innocent times? The Best of The Electric Company? Sesame Street – Old School, Vol. 1 (1969-1974)? What’s amusing about the Sesame Street disc is they point this is a nostalgia release and may not be appropriate for kids today 🙂 And of course, the brilliant Schoolhouse Rock.

I can’t really write a better description than the one from the box of Sunday Morning Shootout (regular episodes airs on AMC) except that this set is perfect for aspiring producers and film-makers or crazy avid fans of cinema & the business:

Peter Bart (Editor-in-Chief of Variety Publications) and Peter Guber (Chairman and CEO of the Mandalay Entertainment Group) present your favorite stars, directors and film industry heavyweights in SUNDAY MORNING SHOOTOUT, the definitive guide to mastering the secrets of success in Hollywood. Over the course of the show, superstar guests including Clint Eastwood, Jude Law, Charlize Theron, Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson and many more share personal stories and experiences illustrating the skills and confidence that are absolutely necessary to understanding the business of entertainment and achieving superstardom. From indie filmmaking to big budget blockbusters, from opening weekend box office grosses to what it’s like to win an Academy Award, the Shootout Experience is a must-have resource for aspiring filmmakers and everyone who loves movies.

This set contains six discs – some are available separately.

The High & the Mighty … they sure don’t make them like this anymore. I’m not much of a John Wayne fan but any movie in which he slaps Robert Stack and tells him to stop crying is a movie you have to gather up your friends, load them up with liquor and watch together – like the Match Game, it is a hoot. If anything, you’ll see that AIRPLANE pretty much cribbed this movie … except of course they were deadly seriously and were making an important movie, damn it!

Want a preview – Leif Peng has thoughtfully scanned a Reader’s Digest version and posted also to Flickr.

Of course, you can also get some DVD’s to read In a convenient PDF format …

“Absolutely MAD DVD Collection collects over 600 issues of MAD magazine, (1952-2006) every regular issue (1-460). It also includes most of the Special Editions: XL’s, Super Special and Color Classics. There’s even interviews with the many of the writers, Spy VS Spy animation video, Spy VS Sky Mountain Dew commercials and much more.”

Other comic books:

“Amazing Spider-Man: The Complete Collection brings together four decades of adventures with one of the world’s most famous heroes! Revisit and relive every Amazing Spider-Man comic book ever printed covering over 43 years. Including the mind-blowing 12 Milestones of Amazing Spider-Man spanning March 1963 through June 2006. A total of over 575 complete comic books including Annuals, all articles, Spider-Web column pages, Bullpen Bulletins, Pinups and every single advertisement.”

Also: 40 Years of the X-Men Collector’s Edition, 44 Years of the Fantastic Four Collector’s Edition, 40 Years of The Avengers Comic Book, and Incredible Hulk the Complete Comic Collection.

Or how about The New Yorker on 8 DVD’s?

The Complete New Yorker covers the magazine’s entire history, from February 1925 through April 2006, every page of every issue of America’s leading magazine—from full-color covers to spot drawings, from poetry to Profiles, from cartoons to advertisements—on reader friendly and highly searchable DVDs. All pages are printable.

Of course, it is a hassle to have to keep putting in a DVD, if only there was a way to copy it to a hard disk drive … or better yet, just buy it on a HDD? Yep, you can buy it all on a USB drive …

The Complete New Yorker Portable Hard Drive. 4,164 issues of The New Yorker – every issue of the world’s best magazine, from February 1925 to April 2006.