The New Normal: The Complete First Season
Starring: Justin Bartha, Andrew Rannells, Georgia King, Bebe Wood, NeNe Leakes, Javson Blair, Ellen Barkin
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Retail: $29.95
ASIN: B00K8HAKAK
Running Time: 484 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Available through Amazon's manufacturing on demand (MOD) service is the 2012-2013 sitcom The New Normal, co-created by Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tick, Glee, American Horror Story). The series aired on NBC for one season and received mixed reviews from critics, a few even calling the series "raciest."

The New Normal centers on a gay California couple, Bryan (played by Andrew Rannells) and David (played by David Bartha), whom decide that they want to become parent. They seek out the perfect surrogate - Goldie (played by Georgia King), and they instantly befriend Goldie and her wiser-than-her-age daughter, Shania.

Life seemed to be going great until Gold's overprotected raciest grandmother, Jane Forrest (played by Ellen Barkin) decides to movie to California to disturb them in anyway possible. To make matters worse, Goldie's slacker ex-boyfriend shows up wanting custody of Shania.

The 22 episodes on the 3-disc set are:

Available on DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment through Amazon's manufacture on demand (MOD) is Last Man Standing: The Complete First Season and Last Man Standing: The Complete Second Season.

Tim Allen returned to television with the family-sitcom Last Man Standing in 2011. He plays Mike Baxter, the marketing director for the sporting goods store, Outdoor Man, which is owned by  Edward "Ed" Alzate (played by Héctor Elizondo). After spending several years traveling around the world promoting the store and working on the yearly calender, Mike decides to change the store's marketing tactics by vlogging. This also gives him more free time to spend his with wife, Vanessa (played by Nancy Travis) and their three daughters - Kristin, Mandy and Eve. The eldest daughter, Kristen, has a son, Boyd.

Despite premiering to over twelve-million viewers on Tuesday nights, the ratings dropped to half that by the end of the season. The series managed to get picked up for a second season, but with many changes, including the change in showrunner and the move to Friday nights.  Actress Alexandra Krosney, who plays Kristin, was replaced with actress Amanda Fuller. The grandson, Boyd, magically aged three years, now played by Flynn Morrison. Jordan Masterson takes over the role of Boyd's father, Ryan Vogelson. Another major change was the added political tone, in which Mike would bunt heads with Ryan over politics.

The series has maintained decent ratings since moving to Friday nights and will begin its fourth season in the fall. Typically, television shows are released on DVD a few months after a season ends, but for some reason Last Man Standing never received traditional DVD releases, but instead seasons one and two were released through the Amazon's manufacture on demand (MOD).

The episodes featured on the sets are:

Bewitched: Seasons 3 & 4
Starring: Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York, Agnes Moorehead
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Retail: $14.98
ASIN: B00JPQ1HXO
Running Time: 27 hours 52 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Arriving on DVD last week is the Bewitched: Seasons 3 & 4 Combo Pack from Mill Creek Entertainment, featuring 66 hilarious episodes on 6 discs. That's nearly 28 hours our magical entertainment for less than $15!

I believe almost every adult has heard or has seen Bewitched, the longest-running supernatural sitcom, airing from 1964-1972 on ABC and later entering into syndication heaven (currently airing on Antenna TV). The basic plot was simple, Darrin Stephens (played by Dick York) bumps into Samantha (played by Elizabeth Montgomery), they fall in love and quickly tie-the-knot. It is on the wedding night that he learns that she is in fact a witch!

Season 3 starts with a bang (plus, the fact that it is the first episode of the series to be aired in color), as Samantha learns that her daughter, Tabitha, (despite being half-human) has magic abilities; something she would like to keep from Darrin, who later finds out by the second episode of the season. With frequent visits from her mother, Endora (played by Sandra Gould), Aunt Clara and Uncle Arthur, Samantha has more to worry about than just Tabitha's magic activities.

The series added a twist during the 4th season when Samantha takes over the duties of the Queen of the Witches. Meanwhile, Endora tries to babysit, but Tabitha's magic runs amok.

The 66 episodes on the six-disc set are:

I Dream of Jeannie: Seasons 1 & 2
Starring: Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Retail: $14.98
ASIN: B00I099K4K
Running Time: 25 hours and 48 minutes
Rating: Not Rated

Review:

Arriving on DVD last month from Mill Creek Entertainment is Seasons One and Two of the classic sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, which the seasons can be purchased individually or as a Two Season Combo Pack.

 I Dream of Jeannie aired from 1965 to 1970; producing 139 episodes during its five season run. The series centered on Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson (played by the late Larry Hagman), an astronaut, who stumbles upon a unique bottle when his one-man capsule lands in the South Pacific. He gets a big shock when he opens the bottle and a 2,000-year-old genie, Jeannie (played by Barbara Eden), pops out of it.

In the fairy tales, genies typically gives you three wishes, but that is not the case for Major Nelson, whom is permanently stuck with Jeannie, even though he had wished for her to be free. He returns home in Florida, where he is looking forward to seeing his fiance, a general's daughter. Jeannie is already in love with Major Nelson and is determined to interfere with his relationship. Note: the fiance character was dropped after the pilot.

After the pilot, the series focused on Major Nelson, along with his pal Major Healey, covering up what antics or whatever trouble Jeannie has gotten herself into, in fear that NASA would learn that she is a genie.

The 61 episodes on the six disc set are:

NewsRadio: Seasons 1 & 2
Starring: Dave Foley, Phil Hartman, Khandi Alexander, Maura Tierney, Andy Dick, Joe Rogan, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Retail: $14.98
ASIN: B00I099JUK
Running Time: 10 hours 12 minutes
Rating: Not Rated

Review:

Arriving on DVD earlier this month from Mill Creek entertainment is the first and second seasons of the  90s comedy series NewsRadio, starring Dave Foley, Khandi Alexander, Maura Tierney, Andy Dick, Joe Rogan, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis and the late comedian great, Phil Hartman.

The series aired on NBC from 1995 to 1999 with 97 episodes produced over five seasons. It went into syndication for a few years before officially disappearing from the airwaves. However, the complete series made its way on DVD between 2005 to 2008, but all the season sets are now out-of-print. Mill Creek Entertainment acquired the rights of several Sony Pictures titles, including NewsRadio, in 2013.

NewsRadio is centered on the antics of the office staff of New York City's WNYX radio station, which is owned by Jimmy James (played by Stephen Root). The pilot introduces the new news director, Dave Nelson (played by Dave Foley), who has to fire the current news director on his first day at work. There is an instant chemistry between Dave and the reporter/producer Lisa Miller (played by Maura Tierney), but there is a slight problem - she wanted to be the new news director. Despite the tension between the two, they enter a relationship which they try to hide from the other employees, Bill McNeal (played by Phil Hartman), Beth (played by Vicki Lewis), Matthew Brock (played by Andy Dick), Catherine Duke (played by Khandi Alexander) and Joe Garrelli (played by Joe Rogan).

The episodes on the three disc-set are: