Demko's DVD shelf: The weird, wonderful world of "Twin Peaks"

With the triple punch of "Spider-Man 3," "License to Wed" and "Captivity" hitting all at once, it would be very easy to dismiss this as a spectacularly craptastic week on DVD, but beneath the surface there are reasons to cheer, mainly in TV releases.

Just how good was David Lynch's "Twin Peaks"? The best way to judge that, unfortunately, is in the number of imitators that followed and failed in its wake.

What Lynch's show had over these others was that it created a genuine sense of mystery. Whereas most "supernatural" TV shows just pile on the quirk for quirk's sake, each piece of the puzzle that was "Twin Peaks" was essential to making the murder of Laura Palmer and everything else in this weird little burg on the US-Canadian border so intriguing.

Given that the show only ran for 30 episodes it's surprising that it's taken this long for the complete series to come to DVD, as it does this week with "The Definitive Gold Box Edition," supervised by Lynch himself.

If you actually spring for these 10 discs, which I'll have to look at my finances before doing, it would seem Lynch and co. have made it worth the considerable expense. Along with the newly remastered (I'm never quite sure exactly what that means) episodes, there are deleted scenes; a feature-length documentary, "Secrets from Another Place"; the featurettes "A Slice of Lynch" and "Return to Twin Peaks"; an interactive map of Twin Peaks; the complete Log Lady introductions; Kyle MacLachlan's appearance on "Saturday Night Live" and Julee Cruise's music video for "Falling."

This is listed as costing $99.99 (marked down to $64.99 at Amazon.com, but still not cheap), but for a groundbreaking TV show that instead of being ahead or behind its time just created a time unto itself, I'd have to say it's well worth it if you can spare the change.

Scrubs - The Complete Sixth Season
I never would have guessed that a sitcom this silly (yet undeniably entertaining) would have reached the magic number of seven seasons occupied by several of my favorite shows ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Gilmore Girls" and - if you count the two halfs of season six as separate entities - "The Sopranos.") The pacing and the characters on this show all just work for me, so I've got the DVR set to record all of season seven and will, eventually, spring for this on DVD too (since I have all the other season already.)

"My So-Called Life" - The Complete Series
The title alone should have had me running screaming from this mid-'90s show, and it probably would have if it weren't for Claire Danes and her mysterious beau, Jared Leto as quite possibly the broodiest teen in TV history. Though I'll still take "Freaks and Geeks" any day, this show was actually fairly moving when it didn't just make you cringe, and is well worth another look on DVD, assuming you can rent rather than buy it.

Talk to Me
It's one of the great crimes of my film year that I didn't manage to see this one in the theater, but in my defense it did hit during the one week (and one week only, in Macon) when I happened to be on vacation. Don Cheadle stars in the true story of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Green, an ex-con who weaseled his way onto the radio in DC in the '60s. It also stars the great Chiwetel Ejiofor and was directed by Kasi Lemmons, who managed to make one of my favorite movies, "Eve's Bayou," and just one other flick ("The Caveman's Valentine") before seeming to disappear completely for about 10 years. Welcome back! According to the IMDB, she's also the owner of this rather dubious title: The only black woman to manage to direct three major feature films. Now that's just depressing.

John Waters: This Filthy World
Essentially a DVD of director John Waters doing standup comedy and seeing just how gross he can be, this is perfect for DVD because, although he is often very funny, it does eventually get tiresome and call out for the remote. When he's on, though, he's as outrageous as you could possibly expect, so if you like Mr. Waters' movies (and I very often do) this is well worth a rental.

Two news tidbits

Speaking of "Freaks and Geeks," Sam Weir is about to make a very welcome return to series TV as a regular on "Bones," which just might be enough to get me to tune in for the Fox show. John Francis Daley will play Dr. Lance Sweets, a therapist appointed by the FBI to determine whether Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) can continue as partners. The Hollywood Reporter report also listed him as the star of the "upcoming" "5-25-77," so maybe that means Patrick Read Johnson's autobiographical flick about his quest to see the first "Star Wars" movie may actually someday get a proper release. Daley's also listed as writing his first feature film for New Line, "The 40 Thousand Dollar Man," which I can only assume will be a - hopefully funny - spoof of "The Six Million Dollar Man."

Robert Townsend sighting!
I may be the only person who was asking "what in the world ever happened to Robert Townsend?", but in case anyone else was actually wondering, here's the answer. It seems he's enlisted Ving Rhames to play Sonny Liston in "Phantom Punch," a biopic he will direct about the legendary pugilist. The flick began shooting Monday in Toronto and should wrap in December. The title refers to the single "phantom punch" Liston took from Cassius Clay that many believe led to the demise of his career. I love good boxing movies even more than I do Mr. Townsend, so I give this a hearty huzzah!

A truly goofy trailer for "I'm Not There"

I still have fairly high hopes for this Todd Haynes flick about Bob Dylan, but after the disappointment that was Wes Anderson's "Darjeeling Limited" I'm keeping my expectations in check. It's better to be pleasantly surprised anyway, right? Here's the international trailer which, as you'll see, is just an extended riff on Dylan's most famous music video. Please, please, please don't let this movie suck! Peace out.