Most notably and highly frakking sad in my opinion, is the continued disregard for Battlestar Galactica. I guess not enough people watch the show. I can only assume if it was on FOX, enough people would have seen it and voted it into this group.

Honestly…Grey’s Anatomy over BSG? Really?

On a happier note, I’m LOVING that Flight of the Conchords made the Top 10…that’s just outstanding. Good for them.

Can’t say much bad about the dramas (aside from Grey’s). Dexter from the four episodes I’ve seen so far is awesome, I heard amazing things about The Wire, and it’s cool to see Friday Night Lights get some more love. Not sure I still get the love for Boston Legal, but I don’t watch it, so who am I to judge?

I’m going to slap little asterisks next to my predictions for the five series who make it to the finals. There just MIGHT be a bit of wishful thinking in there, but I don’t care!

Comedy Series:

• Curb Your Enthusiasm*
• Entourage
• Family Guy
• Flight of the Conchords* (sleeper pick!)
  
• The Office*
• Pushing Daisies* (super sleeper!)
  
• 30 Rock*
• Two and a Half Men
• Ugly Betty
• Weeds

Drama Series:

• Boston Legal
• Damages*
• Dexter*
• Friday Night Lights
• Grey’s Anatomy
• House
• Lost*
• Mad Men* (sleeper?)
  
• The Tudors
• The Wire*

On their graduation night, The Carleton Singing Knights of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, performed their own a cappella version of the Conchords song, Sello Tape.

It’s friggin’ hilarious and they do an amazing job. Watch it below, and if you are interested in the original version from Bret and Jemaine from episode 4 of season 1, you can check that out after.

The audience reactions makes it obvious that it was a major hit.

Bret and Jemaine:

(If you are arriving here at Pop Critics for the first time because of this article, we apologize for the slow speeds. We’re experience a heavier load than normal and we appreciate your patience!)

Bear McCreary, the composer behind the amazing music on Battlestar Galactica, took a few moments out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions we tossed his way. I was stoked to ask him about the show ending, what he has in store for us in upcoming episodes and a bit about The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Thanks to Bear for doing this for us, because I can only imagine what kind of schedule he has putting together music day after day for this show. It’s got to be hard, hard work, although super-rewarding.

I’m no music expert as we all know, but I have loved soundtracks all my life, from the very first Star Wars score I owned, to the more recent Lord of the Rings movies. And of course, the first three seasons of Battlestar Galactica. The music is at a level you’d find in a massive theatrical production I think, and it really gives BSG that extra awesome it needs.

Two quick things though:

Gaetta’s song WILL BE on the season four soundtrack. That is fantastic news. If you missed any of that, you can read more about it on our previous recap of the most recent episode.

The second is that one of the first things Bear said in the interview is that he loves Flight of the Conchords. In fact, when I asked him about what other TV shows he admires in the way of music, he had this to say:

“I don’t get to watch a lot of TV actually.  This might sound a little out of left-field, but the tv music that has struck me the most is probably Flight of the Conchords.  The guys, Brett and Jemaine, are funny.  But, in addition to the clever lyrics, the musical arrangements are quite inventive, retro and interesting on their own.  It’s really a delight to listen to.”

That’s about the greatest thing I’ve ever heard.

As much as I tried, I couldn’t get any juicy tidbits out of the guy, but he did give us the name of an upcoming episode that he’s been eluding to in a recent blog post or two. That little spoilerish tidbit is a bit further down.

Character Themes

One of the more interesting aspects of the music on the show is character themes. As you watch the series, you start noticing that certain people or moments have their own musical scores. This is evident big time early on with Baltar and Caprica Six…as every time she appears, you hear a change to the music to indicate it. I was curious how that came about, and Bear says it wasn’t even supposed to be that way, nor was it a conscious choice.

“I actually never decided that.  It just sort of happened.  In fact, I had specific instruction from the producers from day one to avoid “themes” all-together.  But, over the course of the first season, themes just kept creeping in there and nobody seemed to mind.  At this point, the series has become incredibly thematic.  Just check out my blog if you’re not convinced.” *smiley*

And he’s right. I of course do recaps each week here, but Bear’s recaps encompass all things musical about the episode. You can check out his most recent one for Guess What’s Coming to Dinner to get an idea. I suggest adding his feed to your RSS reader. If you have any aspiration to be a composer, reading how he does what he does has to be a big help and huge inspiration.

His answer about themes came with an obvious follow-up: Does it make it a lot easier to write music when you already have a history of music for each character?

“Absolutely.  You couldn’t score a movie, much less a 75-hour tv show, without creating some musical building blocks to fall back on.  With BG, we set out to create a sound that’s very different.   But, after that musical framework was established, there’s no need to re-invent the wheel.

“Honestly, the biggest problem is that certain characters are so complex, so layered and diverse, so morally ambiguous, that one single theme can not possibly encapsulate theme.  In a way, thematic writing in the traditional sense is for characters that are archetypes.  But real people are more complicated than Luke Skywalker.  Could you pick one musical theme to represent yourself?  You could pick one to represent your ideal vision of yourself, but from day to day, people change, have good moments and bad.

“Galactica is a series written with this in mind.  So, characters like Starbuck and Baltar have ended up with three of four themes a piece.  I try to keep them musically related, but their characters are too complex to be summed up in a few bars.”

Two Musical Pieces Explained

I asked him about two selections of music that I love from the series. The first was in Unfinished Business, the boxing episode. I just felt the entire episode had such a beautiful sound to it, which was really evident in the flashback scenes with Starbuck and Lee. He credits Ron Moore and editor Michael O’Halloran for the choices there:

“They worked together to temp that episode with some unusual music and I took the score in that direction as a result.  They wanted to play against the violence and aggression of the sport, to create something more lyrical and romantic.  It was a daring choice, and I think it paid off.”

The other that always gets me is the use of Celtic sounding music. Bagpipes, what have you…I love that stuff. It’s not used very much on the show, except in two monumental scenes when the fleet comes back together in Home Part 1 and 2 (season 2) and Exodus Part 2 (season 3):

“The Celtic instrumentation was first introduced in “Hand of God,” representing the bad-ass battle but also Lee and Adama’s father/son dynamic.  Since then, it has become a source of warmth and depth for the score, and again, I reserve it only for the most meaningful moments.  The destruction of the Pegasus was a visceral, aggressive and visually-stunning moment.  I knew it needed big taikos and full-orchestra, but the Uilleann pipes also leant it a melancholy sadness.  And it tied in thematically, because Lee was going against orders and sacrificing the ship to save his father.”

Season 4

In a recent blog post, Bear talked briefly about a musical piece that he had done for an upcoming episode that might be his best ever. That really intrigued me and I was glad to ask him about it when I got the chance. If you don’t want to know about it, skip his next answer, otherwise, it’s only mildly spoilerific.

“Yeah.  I don’t want to over-hype it, because it might not be so incredible for the fans.  But, for me as an artist and a composer, this piece changed the way I think about my music.  If I had to pick the most essential music I’ve written for the series, in terms of my own artistic growth, this would be it.  I think you’ll know it when you hear it, but I’ll give you a hint.  It’s in “Revelations.” *smiley*

That episode airs on June 13th (Friday the 13th), and will be the last one until 2009. Considering the title of it and Bear’s excitement over his piece, I can only imagine how awesome that episode will be. And I hope I can spot the music.

He also talked a bit about an “unusually musical episode” coming down the road. He wont say when or what, but it’s not going to be until the final 10 air next year.

“I’m afraid it’s too early for me to go into detail about this one.  You’ll know all about it once the episode airs… which could be like a year away! I apologize for being vague.  The rest of the series boasts some very wonderful (and shocking) surprises.  And yes, some of those are going to be musical.”

The Final Season

One thing that I was curious about was his feelings on it being the last season. I figure a lot of the people behind the show are starting to realize that the end is getting close, even if they might be a bit too busy to even have time to think about it.

“It’s hard not to think about it, but I’m doing my best.  I’m simply focusing my energy on making every cue, every note count.  Everyone who works on the show is going through a lot of emotional upheaval over this.  But, writer / producer Bradley Thompson put it best when he said that the conclusion of Galactica only represents the end of this stage of our journey.  There will be many more travels ahead for all of us, and we all hope to work together again.”

Interesting note about it only being the end of “this stage.” That could refer to new TV movies, or even if Bear will be around to do the music for Caprica. Which would have been a good question to ask. I’ll try to find that out down the road.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

I know there are a lot of Sarah Connor fans here, and it may surprise you to know Bear also does the music for that show as well. I don’t think I even realized that at first, but it was obvious after awhile. It’s good to know that even if BSG ends, Bear’s music will still be happening on a different show. But I was curious how he even got that job.

“Basically, the producers are big Battlestar fans and came to me directly.  It’s an honor and a thrill to work with them on T:SCC because James Cameron’s Terminator films are among the main reasons I wanted to get into the film business in the first place.  I have to pinch myself when I think that I get to write music for his characters and universe.”

This genre of shows…Terminator, Galactica, etc., were all inspirations that led Bear to where he is today.

“I grew up on a ton of sci fi films and shows.  It’s hard to say what it was exactly that caught my attention, but it was probably the skill used to create these fantasy worlds and characters.  The line between real life and imagination could be so blurred by a well-made film.  When I was a kid, Aliens was (and still is) so visceral, so real and gritty… it really blew my mind.  It made me want nothing more than to be able to be a part of that kind of filmmaking.”

Final Question

No interview by Pop Critics is complete without asking the final question. Since this site is so much about great television shows and movies, along with books and music, anyone we talk to has to let us know what some of their favorites are in those areas.

We already know about Flight of the Conchords, but what else?

“Ok, an incomplete list of my favorite movies would have to include Aliens, Braveheart, Terminator 2, Back to the Future 1 – 3, Highlander and more recently LOTR and Spiderman 1 & 2.  Most of the series I follow are comedies, because I don’t have enough time in my life to watch big, dramatic tv (since I spend all my time scoring it).  So shows like South Park, Flight of the Conchords, Colbert Report, etc.”

We can only hope some of those comedies include perhaps The Office or 30 Rock.

Thanks again to Bear for answering our questions, and we wish him well as the series nears its end. Good luck!

(and be sure to subscribe to his blog!)

So this is my list of the Top 15 Television Shows you should think of watching this summer. Those long, hot months get boring when there is nothing but reality TV on, and you might desire something good to watch.

This list has some shows that are still active that you might want to catch up on. But there are also great series that were canceled before their time, and others that just ended by normal means and tell a great story.

Either way, you wont be disappointed with any of them.

This list will undoubtedly leave off shows that you guys will think SHOULD be on it. I welcome you to leave your comments afterwards on how screwed up my selections are and how you would change it, or what you would add to it.

I am purposely not including any shows that came out this past year, because they just aren’t available on DVD yet. Reaper would be one I might add to this list if that were the case.

Enough babbling…let’s get to the good stuff.

The Top 15 Television Shows to Watch on DVD This Summer

15. Coupling (BBC)

4 “series” or seasons, 28 total episodes, 30 minutes each

Coupling is a BBC show that can make me cry from laughing too hard. It’s raunchy to say the least and it’s like the dirty version of Friends. You have six friends, three guys and three girls, and the show is all about their relationships…with each other and outsiders. It’s pretty much all about dating, sex, marriage and commitment. One of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen.

Here is a quote from a dinner party, where Steve has had enough of getting picked on about leaving a porn video in his VCR for his girlfriend to find.:

“I want to spend the rest of my life with the woman at the end of that table there, but that does not stop me wanting to see several thousand more naked bottoms before I die, because that’s what being a bloke is.  When man invented fire, he didn’t say, “Hey, let’s cook.”  He said, “Great, now we can see naked bottoms in the dark.”  As soon as Caxton invented the printing press, we were using it to make pictures of, hey, naked bottoms!  We have turned the Internet into an enormous international database of…you guessed it, naked bottoms.  So you see, the story of male achievement through the ages, feeble though it may have been, has been the story of our struggle to get a better look at your bottoms.”  ~Coupling, “Inferno,” original airdate 2 June 2000, written by Steven Moffat, spoken by the character Steve

14. Freaks and Geeks

1 season, 18 total episodes, 42-44 minutes each

One of the very first things Judd Apatow did was this great comedy drama called Freaks and Geeks, which is about some kids in high school that are either…well…freaks or geeks. You get a few great names of actors that are still around, like James Franco (Spiderman), Seth Rogan (Knocked Up) and Jason Segal (Sarah Marshall).

If you love Apatow’s stuff, then you owe it to yourself to go back and watch this series. It only lasted one season, so it wont be that big a job to get through all the episodes. It’s not the dirty comedies he does now, but this show has a ton of heart and great characters. It’s set in the year 1980-81, which should appeal to some of you nostalgic, older folks. *grin*

13. Entourage (HBO)

4 seasons, 54 episodes so far, 22-34 minutes each

One of the better shows I’ve seen on HBO, Entourage is about Vincent Chase, a young, hot star in Hollywood who has three buddies from their hometown of Queens as his “entourage.” They live with him, they party with him, and they have fun together like they were still back in New York.

While Adrian Griener who plays Vincent is awesome, this show is really about the supporting cast. Jeremy Piven won a Golden Globe for his role at Vincent’s agent, Ari Gold. He’s an absolute riot and seriously the best part of it. But Kevin Dillon, who is Vincent’s brother Johnny “Drama” Chase, is so fantastic, words can’t describe.

The episode are quick to get through being only a 30 minute show, which will allow you to catch up in time for season 5 sometime in 2009. Definitely an R-rated show, keep the kiddies away.

12. Veronica Mars

3 seasons, 64 total episodes, approx. 42 minutes each

The name Veronica Mars just doesn’t sound like it would be awesome, but it is. This is where Kristin Bell got her start, who you’ve now seen in Heroes and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She plays a highly intelligent high school girl who has learned all she knows from her single dad who is a great private investigator.

She uses her talents to help solve little mysteries at school, but that’s not where the beauty of the show lies. Each season contains an overall story arc from beginning to end that is one massive mystery which Veronica tries to figure out. Every week you find out a little more, you get a bit closer to the truth and each step along the way is a blast.

And if I haven’t said enough about Bell before, she’s the reason the show rocks. She’s hilarious, witty, smart and just perfect. The writing is top-notch with a ton of great pop culture references.

Definitely worth a watch. It was canceled after 3 seasons due to being subjected to the WB/CW’s poor ratings.

11. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)

3 seasons, 32 episodes so far, 22-23 minutes each

Always Sunny in Philadelphia is seriously one of the funniest shows ever. It’s bad…so very bad. The political incorrectness is off the charts, but it’s done so brilliantly you cannot help but die laughing. The writing so sick and twisted.

Here are some of the names of episodes: The Gang Gets Racist, Charlie Wants an Abortion, Charlie has Cancer, The Gang Finds a Dead Guy, Charlie Got Molested, Charlie Gets Crippled, etc., etc.

You get the idea. The cast is made up of three guys and one girl who run a bar in Philadelphia. I really don’t know what else to say other than if you can enjoy twisted humor, this is one of the best around.

And this is a good time to catch up as the show should be returning this fall for a 4th season.

10. Damages (FX)

1 season, 13 episodes so far, 43 minutes each (55 minute pilot)

Damages was a spectacular legal thriller last summer on FX. The wife and I were engrossed every week with brilliant acting and a 13-episode long story arc that kept you on your toes guessing until the final minute. Glenn Close and Ted Danson were awesome, but the rest of the supporting cast is worthy of a theatrical movie. I’m including it here because the DVD is already available.

The show has been renewed for a second season, but as with others, it wont be back until 2009, so now you can catch up on a short first season.

9. The Sopranos (HBO)

6 seasons, 86 total episodes, 45-60 minutes each

This is one of the more difficult shows to catch up on as it had 6 seasons and it’s an hour long program. And I must add, I’ve never seen more than one or two episodes.

Why am I putting it on my list without even watching it? Because when I’ve been told by everyone I know that I HAVE to see this show because it’s one of the best EVER, I just know it’s true. I actually would like to start watching it myself, but the daunting task of 86 episodes makes my knees shake. It probably deserves to be higher on this list, but until I see it, it stays here.

But I at least need to get started and promise to try my hardest to at least watch the first season this summer.

8. Firefly

Half a season, 14 total episodes, 45 minutes each

This series and the following one are like family to me. I get all excited just talking about them. The way they were just so amazing and got cut short makes you bleed inside. Reminds me a lot of Journeyman this past year.

Firefly was a Joss Whedon show that was made up of a cast no-names in a sci-fi western that I never gave a chance when I first heard about it. But of course it was SCIENCE FICTION, so I had to watch it. I was sucked in from the very start.

The characters were amazing. Whedon knows how to write a friggin’ show, that’s all I can say. The idea of a sci-fi series that is like a western doesn’t immediately sound awesome. But the more you watch the stories, the interaction amongst the crew, then mystery behind River Tam…it just pulls you in until you can’t believe it got canceled after only 9 aired episodes.

Nathan Fillion is the captain and really makes the show perfect. Of all the starship captains we’ve gotten from the Trek universe, I would take Mal Reynolds over any of them in a second.

You can catch repeats of this show on Universal HD every Friday night.

7. Sports Night

2 seasons, 45 total episodes, 22 minutes each

The second show that is near and dear to me is Sports Night. Aaron Sorkin wrote such an amazing show and created such vibrant characters. It sounds like a sports series, but it’s really about the inner workings behind a television show and the people that run it. Most of the actors went on to become hugely popular, like Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under) and Joshua Malina (The West Wing), etc.

Robert Guillaume (Benson) plays the the man in charge of Sports Night. Guillaume suffered a stroke during the filming of the show, and when he comes back after a long absence, you pretty much cry along with everyone else.

I’ve never seen so much heart put into a 22 minute show every week. While it only lasted 2 seasons, it’s worth noting that the final episode is absolutely perfect and leaves you wanting more. Yet it completes what feels like a 2-season story arc. So much stuff comes together because of what the show was going through at the time.

In fact, both season finales elude to the real world struggles the show was going through just trying to stay on the air. I miss Sports Night so much. I always wonder what happened to those guys.

6. Flight of the Conchords

1 season, 12 episodes so far, 27 minutes each

This is actually a new series, only having one season so far, but it’s already out on DVD, so you can go rent it pretty easily.

Flight of the Conchords is a real life New Zealand comedy folk “band” made up of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. They decided to make a TV show out of their songs and it just worked. They are two dim-witted guys who are trying to make it in America as a band, but pretty much fail miserably. Their band manager, Murray, is stupidly hilarious and holds “band meetings” in his office at the New Zealand consulate.

The show sprinkles in music videos that are usually relevant to the story at hand, and so in that way, it’s like a musical comedy. It’s funny, brilliant, but you have to sort of like this kind of humor. Give it 2-3 episodes before you judge whether you like the show or not.

5. The Office: USA version

4 seasons, 66 episodes so far, 22 – 45 minutes each (mostly half-hour episodes)

I actually just started watching the original BBC version of the show, and it’s pretty funny. But the American version of The Office is just as good and if you haven’t started watching it yet, you have to do it from the beginning.

A lot of people I know have seen an episode or two here and there, and always say the same thing: “It just didn’t seem that funny to me.”

That’s the problem and brilliance of the show. It’s vital that you know who the characters ARE and why they are funny. That is about 75% of the “funny” on the show. You see them for the first time, start to learn about each of them, and then you watch them grow and evolve with time. Simple looks from a guy like Jim Halpert are laugh out loud hilarious because of what you know about HIM and the person he’s smirking about.

There are a lot of episodes to catch up on, but the first season is only 6 total and you should at least give that a shot.

4. Arrested Development (FOX)

3 seasons, 53 episodes, 22 minutes each

Honestly, Arrested Development would rank #1 on my all-time comedies list. I’ve never seen a show written with such utter perfection and wit.

If you get into shows that are serials, like Lost, BSG, X-Files, etc., this series was sort of like that. There are jokes that are so funny because of things that happened in the past. And not only that, but the producers put hints along the way about things coming up down the line. If you go back and watch old episodes, you’ll laugh even more at the clues being left about a major event that happens 10 episodes later.

Jason Bateman…I never knew he was that funny, but now he’s one of my favorites. You also get Will Arnett, Portia De Rosi (who is a riot) and Michael Cera, who is finally getting his due in feature films. The rest of the cast is just as good, but I’m not going to name them all.

The show is narrated by Ron Howard, and you can feel him grow in that role as the series moves on. In fact, he becomes almost another character and is responsible for a huge amount of the laughs.

It wont take you long to catch up on this series, and you can catch repeats right now on HDNet.

3. Band of Brothers (HBO)

Mini-series, 10 total episodes, around an hour each

I just wrote an entire review about Band of Brothers last week, so if you want to learn more about it, check it out.

Needless to say, it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen done in the genre of war films and series. Schindler’s List, Private Ryan…this is just as good…maybe better?

Wont take you too long to watch 10 episodes and you’ll forget about the time anyways.

2. Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)

3+ seasons, 61 episodes so far, 1 pilot miniseries, 1 TV movie, 10 webisodes

Most of you faithful readers will not be surprised where this ranks on my list. I know I’ve talked about how great Battlestar Galactica is to no end, but I can’t help it. The show is just that good.

The show is science fiction, yes, but a lot of that isn’t as noticeable as the politics, religion and relationship stories going on while the last surviving humans from the 12 colonies try to find Earth. The cast is simply one of the best on television and it’s a travesty that it hasn’t been nominated or won for an ensemble cast award. It did nab a Peabody though.

This is the perfect time to catch up with the show. The final season has started and we’re in the first half of that right now. The last 10 episodes wont air until 2009, so you have that entire span to grab the DVDs and start watching!

1. Lost (ABC)

4 seasons, 81 episodes so far, 44 minutes each

And here we are. The #1 show I’d recommend to watch over the summer: Lost.

I truly envy anyone that sits down to experience Lost for the first time. Sure, you may have gotten wind of a few spoilers here and there, but for the most part, you are probably in the dark. Hopefully.

Either way, you get to enjoy the entire journey to where we are now. Tonight ends the fourth season of the show, so you do have some ground to make up. But as with many of these here, now is the perfect time.

It’s hard to imagine that some of you don’t know what the show is about, but in case you don’t: It’s about a commercial airline that crashes and leaves a bunch of survivors on a mysterious island. Where are they? What is going on with this island? Why did their survive? Why did they crash?

The show really re-defined the “serial” in the last four years and we’ve now got an abundance of these kinds of series. But this is the original in my book and you should really give it a shot.

Parting Thoughts

This list is made up of shows that I’ve seen, aside from The Sopranos pick. I realize of course that there are so many shows out there that could also be a part of this. Dexter, Monk, Burn Notice, Curb Your Enthusiasm, etc. I’ve heard so many great things about those shows, but just haven’t had a chance to watch it.

I’m curious where you’d disagree with me, or what you like about the list. And what shows would you have put on here instead of the ones I picked?

Also, let us know if you plan on taking any of these on, so we can see how you like them over the summer. Check back in on this post and talk about how the show is going for ya.

I’ll add a link to this somewhere so it’s easy to find.

This video came across my blog reader last week and I kept meaning to post it for you guys. It’s semi-NSFW, but it’s really not too bad. They sing one of their more popular songs, All the Ladies of the World.

On a side note, I just received my first Flight of the Conchords t-shirt: the one that has the poster Jemaine drew with his head WAY bigger than Bret’s. I love it.

Enjoy the music video…and be bummed that the writer’s strike delayed season 2 for who knows how long. Probably 2009. Also admire the roller skating abilities of the two comedy folk singers.

Flight of the Conchords is a musical comedy folk duo from New Zealand made up of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. They just released a new album last week that is getting rave reviews.

The duo made a comedy series last year that aired on HBO and it was fantastic. It’s definitely a unique style, with musical numbers mixed in with the normal flow of the show. But the two guys are just hilarious and Jemaine is my favorite.

Anyways, the 12-episode first season is getting an encore run on HBO starting on May 9th, so if you want to give it a shot, or rewatch them, add HBO to your cable/satellite provider next week.

There is also a ton of great stuff out there for the show, and I think that this shirt will be a member of my closet in the near future.

Damages, which got the go-ahead for a second season, is apparently rumored to not return until January, 2009. That’s a heck of a long ways off and starts to really make my summer viewing depressing.

To make matters worse, Rescue Me isn’t even coming back until MARCH of 2009, even further down the road.

This is all going to make the hot months interesting. As I’ve opened my eyes to the fact that cable has some REALLY good shows out there, it’s become a dependable place to find some good stuff during the summer. Flight of the Conchords, Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Battlestar Galactica are a few of the others I enjoy.

With the report of Entourage not coming back until September, I guess I will be catching up on a lot of reading during July, August and September.

Those geniuses are Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, the two members of the “band”, Flight of the Conchords. They call themselves the fourth most popular musical folk comedy band in New Zealand.

If you don’t get the humor in that, you may not get any of it, but for me, it’s just one of the many hysterical things that these two low key, musical comedians say on a regular basis.

The documentary is about the band’s trip to Austin, Texas, in 2006 for the South by SouthWest music festival, which is generally regarded as one of the most respected venues for contemporary music in the world.

The band brings along with them the Gibson Group film crew to help put the thing together, but it’s entirely written by Bret and Jemaine. I’m not sure how they do it, but even in random interviews on the street, they are funny.

The documentary is around 44 minutes long, and there might be a slight blip in the middle where it forwards you to the end, but if you have time to watch it, you wont regret it. Especially if you are already fans of these two.

So while I’m not watching it, I figured I’d leave you with a music video from the show called “Business Time“…and well, you will figure out what business time is all about fairly quick.

I absolutely love this show, and if you are interested in grabbing it to catch up, it’s on Amazon.com for only $23.

(Thanks to AML reader Tyler for sending me this video)

With the Writer’s Guild Strike in full swing and our favorite shows starting their countdowns to ZERO episodes left to air, it’s time to perhaps look at other entertainment outlets.

Reading books is good, in fact, I highly recommend it. I’ve read some great ones in the last year and I may write about those in coming weeks.

But this feature is specifically about DVDs, which CAN take the place of shows we love. There is a ton out there that you’ve totally missed, so this is a great time to catch up on it. Or at least, start making a list of things to watch when suddenly it’s Reality TV 100% of the time.

As you may or may not know, DVDs get released every Wednesday Tuesday, so I’m going to start point a few of the ones that I like every week, just for your well being! Because after all, it’s your life I’m concerned with the most.

Flight of the Conchords

The first season of this hilarious, wacky and strange comedy from HBO is now out on DVD. Follow Bret and Jemaine, two guys from New Zealand, as they try to make it in New York as a folk band. The show is quirky and may not appeal to everyone, but I died laughing every week. Both of the guys are pretty dimwitted and their manager Murray is equally insane.

Seinfeld Season 9

Yup, the final season is out on DVD finally and there is also a huge new set that contains all the DVDs for every season all in one package. More ways to spend money!

You can’t go wrong with Seinfeld, which I still rate is the #1 comedy of all time.

Sicko – by Michael Moore

I haven’t seen this yet, but Moore’s documentary of our national healthcare system got rave reviews (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) and makes you realize just how bad things are here and how well some other countries’s systems work,

X-Files: The Ultimate Collection

Well, I’ve always wanted the X-Files DVD collection and while I still don’t see myself spending $230 or so on this 61-disc set, I wish I could someday. It’s packed full of all the nine seasons, the feature film, the disc or discs that just deal with the Mythology episodes and all the other special features you could want.

You can find out more DVD stuff at Pop Candy.