NEW RELEASE TUESDAY (11/5): 1990s HIGH SCHOOL IS BACK IN FULL FORCE!

It's another New Release Tuesday and this week sees the release of numerous complete TV series sets. Most are re-issues that have been released in individual sets but that doesn't stop us from loving those shows.

Drama Pick-of-the-Week

Mad Men - Season 6  (DVD/BD)

The sixth season of the 1960s-era advertising drama continues its creative stronghold as the ad men adjust to the changing office environment in response to an evolving American culture. Don Draper's life in these 13-episodes continues its normal topsy-turvy routine, as it starts off with a Hawaiian vacation and ends with the impending transition of the firm's key players to Los Angeles.

Sci-Fi Pick-of-the-Week

Under the Dome - The 1st Season (DVD/BD/Limited Edition)

Stephen King's summer hit comes to DVD. The mystery surrounds the appearance of a transparent dome around the small town of Chester's Mill in Maine. The residents find themselves completely disconnected from the outside world thanks to the impenetrable wall. All 13-episodes of the first season are presented in this set.

Kudos to the designer of the Limited Edition packaging. The set is presented as a snow globe of Chester's Mill, with the DVDs stacked on a spindle.

Comedy Pick-of-the-Week

Absolutely Fabulous - Absolutely All of It Set

Sweetie darling, we're back! The chain-smoking, boozy ladies of Absolutely Fabulous return with this new complete series set. So what makes this set different from the Absolutely Everything set released in 2008? A lot of things. First, the new episodes/specials for the 20th Anniversary, as well as commentaries, are included in this release. New interviews and special features have been created for this set, and Seasons (or Series, as the British like to call it) 1-3 have been remastered for a much sharper and crisper appearance. No word if the replaced music has been restored. Word of advice: Wait a little bit and purchase this set. We're sure Edina and Patsy will reunite in several years for a 25th Anniversary, and there will be yet another complete collection set.

Retro Pick-of-the-Week

Flo - The Complete Series

The sassy Southern waitress from Mel's Diner got her own show in 1980. After departing Alice in February 1980, Florence Jean Castleberry travels to Houston, Texas for a new gig. Along the way, she stops in her hometown Fort Worth (or Cowtown as Flo refers to it) for a visit, and winds up settling in and purchasing a roadhouse, which she names Flo's Yellow Rose. The DVD set, exclusively available through the Warner Archive Collection, includes the short 6-episode first season and 23-episode second season. If you don't go and buy this set then you can "Kiss my Grits!"

Complete Collection Picks-of-the-Week

Boy Meets World - The Complete Collection

The entire 7-year run of Boy Meets World was released in individual sets throughout the years, even bundled together. This is the first time they are all presented in one complete package. There is also new bonus content specifically produced for this release, and in anticipation for the 2014 Disney spin-off Girl Meets World.

Beverly Hills 90210 - The Complete Series

A new complete series set featuring television viewers' favorite zip code is released in one neat-o looking package...or is it? The show's ten seasons are split into two yearbook disc holders, featuring double-sided discs. While the packaging is innovative for followers of the West Beverly High gang, cardboard holders have been known to scratch discs during storage and even pick up some residue glue that affects playback. This set just repackages all the episodes that were released in the individual sets. There is no new bonus content and all original music has been edited out - which is pretty much the norm for CBS-released DVD sets.

Saved by the Bell - The Complete Collection

The five-season run of the Saturday morning show featuring the original gang is included in this set. Unfortunately it pretty much is another lovely repackaging of the older sets with some new bonus material. Glaringly absent are the Good Morning, Miss Bliss episodes that were like a prologue of the Saved by the Bell episodes we remember. The Hawaiian Movie is also missing from this set but new cast and crew interviews could make up for that fact.

Seinfeld - The Complete Series

The show about nothing gets a Complete Series set...again. This isn't the first time at the rodeo for Seinfeld's complete series set. The last release was in 2007. Unfortunately for fans, this set repeats all the bonus content from previous releases, and the bonus disc is the same from the '07 release. If you haven't picked up this show yet, you're in luck. It's slightly cheaper than the previous release. 

Weeds - The Complete Collection (BD)

Lionsgate and Showtime are getting things right with this complete collection Blu-ray release. With consumer demand for Blu-ray collections increasing, the studio has placed all eight seasons of the dark comedy about a cannabis-selling widower and mother in one nifty, glowing set. New special features are included in this set, in particular a cast roundtable discussing the final season of the show.

RENEWED: 'UNDER THE DOME' WILL RETURN...NEXT YEAR

Fans of CBS' summer series Under the Dome can breath a sigh of relief now that the network has renewed the show for a second season. The kicker, however, is that only a 13-episode season was ordered and it won't premiere until Summer 2014.

Based on a Stephen King novel, Under the Dome centers on the small town of Chester's Mill that one day finds itself surrounded by an impenetrable barrier. The isolation begins to take its toll on the townspeople and madness ensues.

Under the Dome has maintained decent ratings so far this summer and viewership has even increased. So far it has become the most successful summer show presented by the main three networks.

Boy Summer, How You Have Changed...

Summer...the time of year for family vacations, popsicles, pools, cookouts, and fireworks.

We have a little more daylight in the evenings, traffic is slightly better, and for us fortunate ones, our work environment is a little more relaxed and flexible. For some people it is also the time of year to sleep in until 11 AM, eat big bowls of cereal for lunch, and do absolutely nothing for hours on end. Usually we are given the options of mowing the lawn, picking up that "boring" book assigned to read for the fall, or plopping down on the couch and watch TV. The third choice usually wins the contest.

These days, however, there is a lot of variety on the boob tube and we are not relegated to the depths of perennial summer rerun hell. Gone are the days when every network re-aired entire seasons of television shows during the summer hiatus. We don't have to check the TV Guide every week to see if that one episode we missed in the fall will air this coming Tuesday.

We now rely on streaming outlets such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and even network websites to catch up on missed shows and episodes. Don't get me wrong, the networks still air repeats of shows that need a little boost in viewership, in preparation for the fall season. But now they mix a little bit of the old with the new.

In the past, new shows that premiered in the summer were already considered DOA and used just for filler. They rarely saw a full season in the next production season. What has remained the same is the "burning off" of episodes from already canceled TV series. Currently, ABC is burning off unaired episodes of Zero Hour and 666 Park Avenue for filler on its Saturday night schedule, as well as Family Tools on its Wednesday night comedy block. Sitcom episodes were also casualties of the summer "burn off" when they were produced within the normal production season but considered too weak to win its time slot. Today, networks have to hedge bets and take risks on introducing new TV shows during this time of year. Why? Could be for revenue. Could be for ratings. Could be for survival. Mostly likely, all of the above.

CBS' Under the Dome and ABC's Mistresses are examples of bets the networks are counting on.

The summer television landscape has also changed in the past few years with the increase of original programming on cable networks. HBO's True Blood and Showtime's Dexter have been strategically placed to retain its Sunday night viewership from the spring. TNT continues its stronghold with new seasons of Falling Skies, Major Crimes, Perception, Rizzoli & Isles, and Franklin & Bash. Even TV Land has stepped up its game in appealing beyond its regular audience of cats and cat people with new seasons of its sitcoms Hot in Cleveland, The Exes, and The Soul Man. 

On the Reality TV front, let's be honest, there are too many shows currently being aired to list and frankly Stay Tuned has little to no interest in reporting that type of programming. Some of those shows are creative, others are not, and most are on the brink of just plain absurd. But to each his/her own.

The one thing that is no longer standard, and that clearly defined summer television, was the Made-for-TV Movie of the Week. I used to love those movies, at least the campy cheesy ones. There was some cheese factor to made-for-TV movies, but it was low cheese. Most of these movies were re-airings since TV movies and mini-series were originally shown during the fall. A lot of them were dramas featuring then-taboo topics and forbidden romances. And almost all of them featured television stars from popular network TV shows.

Check out the link for the 1987 made-for-TV movie Shattered Vows starring Valerie Bertinelli and David Morse. Both actors were popular among viewers, Bertinelli was still on the post-One Day at a Time high while Morse was enjoying his long stint on St. Elsewhere. The movie's subject matter was deep stuff at the time. Basically a nun (Bertinelli) falls in love with a priest (Morse).

Shattered Vows - 1987

Crash Course was originally aired in the winter but repeated during the summer and is an example of the campy cheesy made-for-TV films. The movie basically was a vehicle to promote the TV shows of its stars Alyssa Milano (Who's the Boss), Rob Stone (Mr. Belvedere), Olivia d'Abo (The Wonder Years), Tina Yothers (Family Ties), and Jackee (227). Considered to be a low-budget version of The Breakfast Club, the movie centers around a group of high school students re-taking a Driver's Education class where unlikely friendships and relationships form in the confines of the classroom.
 

Well we all know that you cannot relive the past, and for some of us, who would want to? But we can enjoy the memories associated with summer and sitting in front of the tube.

What are your memories watching TV in the summertime? Please feel free to share and rant...share and rant and share...rant rant rant...share share share, right here and remember to Stay Tuned.