TV on DVD: Eastbound and Down and on disc

Eastbound and Down is a half-hour series starring Danny McBride as thoroughly obnoxious galute Kenny Powers, reduced to teaching gym after drugs ruined his career in Major League Baseball. He is crude and foul and disgusting. AND he has a mullet. But despite all that, and my lukewarm review back when it premiered on The Movie Network in February, I found that I laughed more and — go ahead, laugh — brushed away a tear near the end of its six-episode run. And not over Will Ferrell’s car salesman coif, which could bring a tear to the eye but for a completely different reason. I’ll probably even tune in when it returns with a second season to HBO Canada in 2010. Extras on the Season 1 DVD, new on shelves this week, include audio commentaries, deleted scenes and outtakes, and featurettes Kenny Powers: Greatest Hots, Stevie’s Dark Secret and a making-of.
Here are some other and, probably, less foul, TV DVDs, new on shelves this week:

Stargate: Atlantis: Season 5
Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season
Eureka: Season 3.0
The IT Crowd: The Complete Second Season
Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Season 2
Blue Murder: Set 4
Parker Lewis Can’t Lose: The Complete First Season
Route 66: Season 3, Vol. 1
Frontline: Inside the Meltdown
American Experience: We Shall Remain
Hilarious House of Frightenstein: The Librarian’s Not So Scary Tales
– Denise Duguay

Talk-show tango June 29-July 3: Daily Show, Colbert islands in stream of repeats

Repeat city on most chat shows this Canada Day and pre-July 4 week, except  for The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Live with Regis and Kelly, Chelsea Lately and Tyra. Later.

LATE NIGHT

Late Show with David Letterman (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Jessica Biel (Easy Virtue), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), Steve Earle (Townes) R

Tuesday: Michael J. Fox (Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist), The Fray (The Fray) R

Wednesday: Denzel Washington (The Taking of Pelham 123), The Jonas Brothers (Lines, Vines and Trying Times), Top 10 with Regis Philbin R

Thursday: Sandra Bullock (The Proposal), comic Pete Correale, P.J. Harvey with John Parish (A Woman a Man Walked By) R

Friday: Kid scientists, Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Rick Ross with Magazeen (Deeper Than Rap) R

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m. ET on CBS and E!)

Monday: Michael Douglas (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Carrie Ann Inaba R

Tuesday: Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Martina McBride R

Wednesday: Denis Leary (Rescue Me), Diane Birch, Tod Sawyer R

Thursday: John McEnroe R

Friday: Matthew McConaughey (Ghosts of Girlfriends Past), Cokie Roberts R

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (11:35 p.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Tom Hanks, Green Day R

Tuesday: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joel McHale, John Mayer Trio R

Wednesday: Eddie Murphy, Angela Kinsey, Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal R

Thursday: Norm Macdonald, Jim Gaffigan, Neko Case R

Friday: Kobe Bryant, William Shatner, Incubus R

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35 a.m. ET on NBC)

Monday: Ice T, Elmo, Morgan Webb, Yeah Yeah Yeahs R

Tuesday: Seth Meyers, Michelle Trachtenberg, BMX biker Mike Spinner R

Wednesday: Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek), Joan Rivers, Rachael Ray R

Thursday: Maya Rudolph (Away We Go), Damon Wayans Jr., Asher Roth R

Friday: Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Baldwin, Keane R

Jimmy Kimmel Live (12:05 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Paris Hilton (Paris Hilton’s New BFF), Ken Jeong (The Hangover), Blink 182 R

Tuesday: Ty Pennington (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), David Sedaris (When You Are Engulfed in Flames), Jonas Brothers R

Wednesday: Shia LeBeouf (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), June Diana Raphael (Year One), Eric Hutchinson R

Thursday: Megan Fox (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), David Cross (Year One), Phoenix R

Friday: Josh Duhamel (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Tracy Hutson (Feathering the Nest) R

Chelsea Lately (12:35 a.m. ET on E!)

Monday: Brooke Hogan (Broooke Knows Best), comics Josh Wolf, Natasha Leggero and Michael Yo

Tuesday: Lauren Conrad (L.A. Candy), comics Kevin Hart, Jen Kirkman, Jo Koy

Wednesday: Justin Kirk (Weeds), comics Greg Proops, Sarah Colonna and Ross Matthews

Thursday: Marissa Jaret Winokur (Dance Your Ass Off), comics John Caparulo, Heather McDonald and Brody Stevens

Friday: L.A. Laker Derek Fisher, comics Sarah Colonna, Randy and Jason Sklar

Daily Show with Jon Stewart (midnight ET, CTV)

Monday: Dr. Oliver Sacks

Tuesday: Mike Kim (Escaping North Korea)

Wednesday: California Rep. Hanry Waxman

Thursday: tba

The Colbert Report (12:30 a.m. ET, CTV)

Monday: Neil Degrasse Tyson (Nova scienceNOW)

Tuesday: Kevin Mattson (What the Heck Are You Up to, Mr. President?)

Wednesday: Lee Siegel (Against the Machine)

Thursday: mountaineer Ed Viesturs

The Hour (11 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Alice Cooper, Bill Maher R

Tuesday: Ricky Gervais R

Wednesday: tba

Thursday: tba

Friday: tba

Charlie Rose (11:30 p.m. ET, PBS)

Mr. Rose announces his guests only on the day of broadcast, so please click on the show-name link above for the most recent guest announcement.

Real Time with Bill Maher (11 p.m. ET, Fridays only, on HBO Canada)

Friday: repeat

DAYTIME

Live with Regis and Kelly (9 a.m. ET, NBC and CTV)

Monday: Mark Consuelo co-hosts, Josh Duhamel (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen)

Tuesday: Anderson Cooper co-hosts, Seann William Scott

Wednesday: John Leguizamo (Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs)

Thursday: Jerry O’Connell co-hosts

Friday: Brad Paisley

The View 11 a.m. ET, ABC and CTV)

Monday: Tom Hanks, Ron Howarad and Ayelet Zurer (Angels and Demons) R

Tuesday: Dolly Parton, Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty and Marc Kudisch (9 to 5: The Musical)

Wednesday: Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friends (Cheri), Shirley Jones an Marty Ingels R

Thursday: John Edwards

Friday: Susan Lucci and Cameron Mathison (All My Children), Black Eyed Peas

The Bonnie Hunt Show (2 p.m. ET on Citytv and NBC)

Monday: Sherri Shepherd (The View), tennis pro James Blake R

Tuesday: Denis Leary (Why We Suck), Aisha Tyler (Bedtime Stories) R

Wednesday: Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Micky Dolenz (Gone Country), Nick Malis R

Thursday: Rosie O’Donnell, Oliver Hudson (Rules of Engagement) R

Friday: Alyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother), Elmo, Richard King R

The Ellen DeGeneres Show (4 p.m. ET, CBC)

Monday: Ted Danson, Ernie Bjorkman R

Tuesday: Pink, Bette Midler R

Wednesday: Queen Latifah, Rob Thomas R

Thursday:  Michelle Obama, Jonas Brothers R

Friday: Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake R

Oprah 4 p.m. (NBC and CTV)

Monday: Evangelist Ted Haggard, His Wife and the Gay Sex Scandal R

Tuesday: Dr. Oz — Extreme Life Extension R

Wednesday: Oprah’s Clean Up Your Messy House Tour — Atlanta R

Thursday: Special Report — Tyra Banks and Dating Violence R

Friday: Secret Lives of Moms R

The Tyra Show (10 a.m. ET on ABC)

Monday: Ashley Madison

Tuesday: Rock Your Ugly

Wednesday: Virginity Auction

Thursday: Beyonce

Friday: Wing Women

– Denise Duguay

Series premiere: Hung hangs its shingle Sunday at 10 on HBO Canada

Series name
Hung

Debuts
Sunday, June 28 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO Canada

Regularly airs
Sundays from 10-10:30 p.m. ET (although the June 28 premiere runs about 45 minutes or so) on HBO Canada

Premise
Stop me if you’ve heard this country song before. A one-time star athlete who hates the teacher/coach job he turned to after a career-ending injury, the same guy whose wife left him for a dermatologist and his magical injections, loses his house to a fire, necessitating the loss of his children to his Botoxed ex and her skin doc. Meet Ray. He’s living in a tent, in the backyard of his burned-out home. His neighbour, whose love of expensively rendered landscaping bad taste is unparalleled, is trying to drive him from the neighbourhood. Oh yeah. He’s broke. And hopeless. So you can imagine that a one-night stand would only sink this poor schlub lower than a hound dog sleeping in a wet ditch. But that boff, with a women he shtupped before but of course doesn’t remember, changes Ray’s life. Because it’s when he and his new friend decide that he, in fact, does have one thing going for him. His penis. And they decide to put his penis to work in a one-man escort service.

Primary cast and crew
Thomas Jane (Punisher, 61*) is Ray Drecker, about as regular a guy as you can imagine. Well, aside from the enormous penis.

Jane Adams (Little Children, Frasier, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) is Ray’s new friend, Tanya Skagle, poet, proof reader and pimpette.

Anne Heche (Men in Trees) is Ray’s ex, vapid ditz striving to be liked by her teen children.

Charlie Saxton (minor credits so far but he’s in the upcoming film adaptation of The Lovely Bones, so watch for that) is Damon, the son whose painted fingernails and makeup causes a little parental concern.

Sianoa Smit-McPhee (couple of Australian series, As the Bell Rings and Neighbours) is Darby, the sulky daughter.

Dmitry Lipkin (The Riches) is exec producer and writer.

Buzz buzz
The one-trick, um, pony of a title is good for one very brief laugh and then it’s just unfortunate. This black-comic series has humour, but even the humour is the opposite of titillating. But that didn’t stop Variety and others from writing sexy stories about the concept.

But what do I know anyway? After having seen the first four episodes, I do declare…
I’ve already covered the fact that, despite the title, this series is not a sex-joke shocker. Set in depressed Detroit, it is about a family of depressed people. The shocker is that it’s a sweet, thoughtful look at how hard it is to haul your arse out of that depression. “Make somebody feel good” is the message, because you gotta do something and anyway, it might make you happy or at least put a few buck in your pocket. But I’ve gone and made this series sound serious and self-helpish. Not so. It’s a true dark comedy, embracing ridiculous leaps of narrative logic, in which a spunky poet-baker pimps her recent one-night stand out to society ladies so he can finance the rebuilding of his cindered home. You should know that it starts out slooooooooow; it takes a full three episodes to hit its stride, but stay the course. Episode 4 will make you smile. I guarantee. Oh, and hit the mute button whenever Anne Heche’s character comes onscreen. I so far don’t see the point except to illustrate how little Ray was paying attention to his joyless marriage to this panicky, bland character.

Other reviews
Monsters and Critics’ critic April McIntyre agrees this series takes a few episodes to grow on you … and she earns a couple of cranky comments that she should not buy the series’ view that teachers like Ray are criminally underpaid.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Tim Goodman calls Hung downright “endearing.”

For something on the more acid end of the spectrum, Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall Street Journal not only declares this series a failure, but she uses some of the most unkind language I have encountered in a while (and I get around), describing Ray’s first true client, whose absence of glamour is central to the action, as “a sad-eyed, fat, ever-so-pathetic wife”. Wow. Is that you, Mother Teresa?

Official website
Meh.

Wondering when the other new series and returning series are kicking off?
Click here for my select list of summer premieres and other important dates. Who am I to tell you what to do, but you could consider bookmarking it…

– Denise Duguay