Sex and the City: DVD includes
commentaries, farewell tributes
Continued from page 7
through it all, and it's satisfying to fi
nally see a resolution to this story line.
The support that her husband Harry,
played by Evan Handler, shows for her
is remarkable and inspiring. I think
this plot is by far the most melancholy
and the tears came down every time I
watched the last few episodes.
There is a whole disc dedicated to
bonus features, although I found it a
bit disappointing. There are three al
ternative endings shot to leave the au
dience guessing. They were very
short, maybe two minutes each, but
all would leave Carrie in a different
place in her life. There are also deleted
scenes from seasons two, three, four,
five and six, as well as two HBO
farewell tributes.
The finest bonus feature, however, is
the audio commentaries. If you are as
big a “Sex and the City” fan as I am,
there is nothing better than sitting
down and watching the audio com
mentaries on every season possible.
Michael Patrick King, the executive pro
ducer and a writer on the show, goes
through a select number of episodes
and gives great insight into the writing,
the characters and the premise. The
audience can learn so much more
about “Sex and the City" just by listen
ing to King, who has been there since
the beginning of the series.
The finale of "Sex and the City,"
easily one of the most wonderful and
revolutionary television shows out
there, was heartwrenching and bitter
sweet. The final release of the last
eight episodes has given some closure
to the millions of fans out there, al
though I don’t think anyone will ever
fully recover from saying goodbye to
these four fabulous women.
amylichty@dailyemerald.com
Animated: Sitcoms stand out with
creative writing and appealing visuals
Continued from page 5
So television it was. I have an over
powering distaste for the medium,
stemming from the poor quality of writ
ing, the irritating repetition of cliches
and the nagging suspicion that I am be
ing hypnotized through the subliminal
coordination of flashing lights emitting
from the screen. But this usually passes
after a few minutes.
Through these bouts of television I
always discover anew a fact that is of
ten considered common knowledge:
Ninety percent of everything is crap.
With this in mind, the key is to find out
what is worthwhile. So I came up with
a hard and fast rule for watching televi
sion that seems to work with a decent
level of accuracy (this is the theory I
was speaking of above. You remem
ber, right? Right?). The rule is: Animat
ed sitcoms are the best-written and
funniest shows on television. Can we
all agree on that? Good.
• Proof of this theory is pretty easy to
come by. Think of all of the animated tel
evision shows that have been on the air
in the past five years. How many of
them sucked? I rest my case. It is possi
ble to come up with a few bad apples in
the bunch, but these are in the minority.
Imagine that—a form of television in
which the good outweighs the bad. And
thanks to the wonders of digital technol
ogy, I no longer have to actually watch
television on a regular basis in order to
enjoy the cream of this particular crop.
The boom of television shows being re
leased on DVD has brought with it the
pleasures of commercial-free viewing of
good television at my convenience. And
nothing pads out a DVD collection like a
few well chosen box sets.
It has in fact come to the point
where I no longer have to watch televi
sion stations to see the shows I like.
Buying the DVDs of my favorite shows
has actually lowered the amount of tel
evision I watch to almost nonexistent
levels. Funny how the world works.
While there are plenty of shows out
there worth watching, a few stand out
far above the rest. “Futurama” stands
out for its endlessly inventive writing
and appealing visual style, even if it
does start to falter a bit in its final sea
son. "Family Guy" is like "All in the
Family" on a three-day crack-bender
and has actually come up with a new
sort of visual gag - the brief flashback
— that I do not believe I've ever seen
on television. These shows are of
course followers to that godhead of an
imated television, "The Simpsons,"
about which nothing more really
needs to be said. These shows actual
ly seem to work better on the DVD for
mat than on television because their
scattershot approach to comedy
makes them endlessly watchable.
A few other shows stand out, such
as the understated humor of “King of
the Hill” or any number of oddities
found on Cartoon Network’s "Adult
Swim" programming. Another show
I’ve recently gotten into is “Invader
Zim," a Nickelodeon program that has
been released on DVD. The show is
more kid oriented than most of the
shows mentioned above, but this hard
ly detracts from its values. It is one of
those rare children’s shows that does
n’t insult the intelligence of its audi
ence, nor does it create a sugar-coated
view of the childhood it depicts. In
stead, it imagines childhood, particu
larly public education, as a freakish sci
fi world full of equally freakish children.
Some of the plot lines even push the
boundaries of children’s programming.
In the episode “Dark Flarvest,” the
diminutive alien invader of the show’s ti
tle steals the organs of his fellow stu
dents at the public school he is hiding
out in. The purpose of this is to look as
much like a real human as possible so
he can pass a health examination. The
show actually condenses an entire hor
ror film plot into fifteen minutes, yet re
mains funny enough to be palatable for
children. Check it out, it will be worth
your while.
ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com
CUSTOM CAKES
your photo + our cake = celebration
GREATFUL BREAD BAKER/ emu main level
gyag
WET I
WILD
Tickets available at the Hult Center Box Office
and the UO ticket office. To charge by phone
call 541-682-5000 or
go online at www.hultcenter.org.
Visit us at www.gallaghersmash.com.
STUDENT DISCOUNT!
Discounts a iso available for groups, seniors and military.
Flash Photography Allowed. Meet Gallagher Pre-show*.