It's DVD Tuesday, which is as good an excuse as any to link to this blogpost from last year from Joe Kissell's Interesting Thing of the Day site. He's explaining the complicated video history of "Twin Peaks," most of which I was unaware of. Like the fact that the pilot episode is owned by a different company than the one that owns the remaining 32 hours. And why you shouldn't watch the last ten minutes of the pilot.
I'm not the world's biggest "Simpsons" fan. But I was so charmed by the packaging of the "Simpsons Complete Sixth Season" DVD that I started watching it. As has been done apparently with all DVD collections of the show, there are audio commentaries for every episode. Which is kind of like taking a Communiversity class in "Simpsons 101." The typical commentary has Matt Groening, at least one of the four principal voicers, the showrunner and the writer and director of the episode all chiming in. And since they're old pros at it, they (mostly) avoid the self-congratulatory backslaps that are a tipoff that you're listening to a bad DVD commentary. In fact, some even came with material, like Mike Scully, who wrote an episode that featured the voice of guest star Winona Ryder: "She steals the show!"
I've gotten through eight commentaries so far and the two voices I've yet to hear (besides, of course, the late Phil Hartman) are Hank Azaria or Harry Shearer. Azaria's got an excuse. As for Shearer, if things are so toxic between him and the rest of the crew, why don't they just call him in on a Saturday to record a commentary or two, solo, for the season seven collection? It's not like he doesn't know how to talk into a microphone and be entertaining for 22 minutes, or even 59 minutes, all by himself.
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