Midsomer Murders, Set 21 [Blu-ray]

Macabre Midsomer
Midsomer County is oddly rife with peculiar mysteries and creative demises, but DCI John Barnaby is as gifted with powers of keen observation as his cousin, retired DCI Tom Barnaby. Sykes, John Barnaby's expressive dog, is also welcome! Neil Dudgeon, as the new DCI Barnaby, is an excellent addition to Midsomer, with his capacity for nuance; humor and seriousness shadow his countenance. The Barnabys are an old Midsomer family; in this verdant environment there are often recurring family resemblances (recall the funereal duo in first Midsomer mystery, "The Killings of Badger's Drift"). An amorous "look-alike" gardener was featured earlier in Midsomer, likely DCI John Barnaby is also good with plants. As always, the intrepid Jason Hughes is a wonderful foil as Detective Inspector Ben Jones, his wry humor adds another level of complexity to the series. The U.K. boasts many fine, underrated actors. Catch Dudgeon as a WWI vet/chauffeur in...

Set 21
My wife and I are huge fans of Midsomer Murders. We just watched all four episodes of Set 21 on Acorn Streaming. We were most unhappy with the "new" show. The new Barnaby seems aloof and has no sense of humor. It was sad to see Jones be his second in command. It would have been nice to see Jones move into the Barnaby role. He has the personality and could have carried it off. My personal choice would have seen the actor who played "Dangerous Davies" take over the lead role.

The stories were dull and uninteresting.

As an unwelcome parting shot; George the medical examiner anounced that he was retiring and that would be his last show. I used to purchase these sets on Amazon. I have them all. Sadly Set 20 was and will be my last purchase.

We miss our old friend John Nettles.

Harpers
Newport News, Va

Is Midsomer becoming CSI?
Midsomer Murders used to provide a mystery to unravel at a slow, leisurely pace amid the lovely setting of an English village and its eccentric inhabitants. Murder was the propelling force for action, but the real focus was on characterization, personal interaction, the setting and the culture of the English village as interpreted in the series. In particular, the viewer normally faced with the carnage of popular movies and television could find respite with a cerebral journey as Barnaby and Jones unravelled the mystery of the day. Enter Season 21 of Midsomer and the gruesome visage of a dismembered body in Echoes of the Dead and giggling, invasive school girls in Death in the Slow Lane. Dark Secrets fared a little better but salacious elements, gratuitous sex and incest, occupied center stage too readily and too much. I have not viewed The Oblong Murders yet, so perhaps all is not lost if it contains some saving grace.

Ironically, the formidable acting skills of...

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Testimony of Two Men

EPIC star-studded post-Civil War mini-series
FINALLY on DVD after 36 years. This restoration of the 36-year chronicle of Taylor Caldwell's film-adapted Post-Civil War story arrives in as good a screen quality and enthralling script captivation as "Roots." Both originated in 1977. One can also compare it to "The Forsyte Sage" or "The Kent Chronicles." A must view for historical drama fans. A nostalgic look at 21 star actors of the 70s.

This landmark production (filmed in 54 days) is perfection in detail of sets, props, costumes - and scandal. "Testimony of Two Men" begins in 1864, a war battle. Civil War Dr. Eaton (Steve Forrest) returns to find his fiancée (Barbara Parkins- `Peyton Place') wedding Adrian Ferrier (William Shatner). Lust lingers amid all types of circumstances in the PA town of Hambledon, Philadelphia, and the world of new medical practice amid a local hospital. One could almost rename it Peyton Hambledon Place.

Dr. Hedler (Tom Bosley) often narrates memories throughout this near 5...

Testimony of Two Men
It has always been one of my favorite books and this miniseries did a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the story and the struggle between the beginning of the more modern age of medicine over the old hacks who took pride in their dirty scalpels and saws. I was so happy to finally be able to see the miniseries again. Now if you'd only get Amerika with Kris Kristoffersen!

It's about time!!!
I've been waiting for years for one of the first miniseries to come out to finally be released on DVD. I have only seen it on a bootleg VHS years ago in college and it is still better than most other miniseries that have been released way before now.

Wish I could have it for Christmas, but I can wait two more months.

Thank you.

Kathryn

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Wodehouse Playhouse: Complete Collection

Into the "Playhouse"
P.G. Wodehouse wrote a staggering number of plays, short stories and novels over the course of his life. And while the stories about dim peer Bertie Wooster and his genius manservant Jeeves are the best known, the short films by husband-and-wife team Pauline Collins and John Alderton are enormous fun.

Among the kooky stories: Romance between a pair of ethereal young poets are threatened by a family curse -- which causes an urge to hunt animals. A stammering Mulliner struggles to overcome his "slight hesitance," so he can tell the girl he loves that he loves her. Mischievous Bobbie Wickham spins a web of lies to get rid of a dorky suitor. A young interior decorator finds that the only thing standing between him and his beloved is her very imposing mother... unless he can use her mystery novel against her, and several other stories of love, misunderstandings, and shooting elderly men with airguns.

If the author himself introduces each first-season episode, you can...

The best of all Wodehouse television
The third major British Wodehouse television series consisted of twenty stories developed to half-hour form as Wodehouse Playhouse. Most of the source material were the Mulliner stories, with a few others of Golf and the Drones club. The series was broadcast in the United States over Public Television, and subsequently syndicated to many local PBS stations well into the 1980s, before finally appearing in home video in 2003.

The television screen naturally opened up new storytelling possibilities not available in prose. For instance, "Big Business" was able to use a recording of Paul Robeson singing "Ol' Man River" when Reginald Mulliner is supposed to have been sad enough to express it with the proper emotion, adding a new layer of comedy to what could only be hinted at in the original story. However, even when elaborating on the original, David Climie's scripts frequently used dialogue and scenes directly from the stories, and managed to create a near-seamless...

The Playhouse is the thing.
At first glance this would appear to be yet another result of the current revival of British humorist P.G. Wodehouse, who, to put it lightly, is a worldwide phenomenon. Given the stellar treatment of his most popular duo in Granada Television's four season series, Jeeves and Wooster, one might think this the small screen follow-on of his other characters and books. In fact, these BBC shows date from the mid- '70s, and only recently made their DVD debut in the U.S.

"Playhouse" here is used in the old sense to mean minimal sets and staging, with an ensemble troupe consisting primarily of John Alderton and Pauline Collins, both known from "Upstairs, Downstairs", an early presentation in the U.S. on "Masterpiece Theater", as well as in numerous British shows. Both are also known to SF fans also, Alderton from the cult film Zardoz, and Collins from Dr. Who.

There have been numerous attempts to bring Wodehouse to the big screen, to radio, and in a limited way, to TV,...

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