On November 2, 2010, The Red Green Show‘s fourth through sixth seasons will be released on DVD through Acorn Media, under the title The Red Green Show: The Toddlin’ Years.  The title shows up on quite a few retail sites, including amazon.ca, amazon.com and DeepDiscount.com.

The Red Green Show: The Toddlin’ Years is also mentioned in an Acorn Media wholesalers’ listing.  I don’t think the title has been formally announced at this point.  The November 2 street date, of course, is subject to change.

The Red Green Show “rebooted” itself as The New Red Green Show for its three seasons on Global.  Despite the fact that The Red Green Show had to pay its way on Global, to the point of selling its own advertising, the Global era is when the show started to take off.  Despite the modifier “new,” The New Red Green Show‘s formulae and running jokes were by and large set by 1994.

The Red Green Show: The Toddlin’ Years is formatted like The Red Green Show: The Infantile Years, with three 24-episode seasons on a total of nine discs.  The price is the same as The Infantile Years – $99.99 US/$124.99 CDN.  As I said in my piece on The Red Green Show: The Infantile Years, this release is just for the hardcores.

I honestly don’t get the “Infantile/Toddlin’” way of selling the early years of The Red Green Show.  The show’s format never underwent any major changes over 15 seasons.  Who’s the target market for The Red Green Show: The Toddlin’ Years?  Are the hardcore fans that snobby that $100 US for three seasons of television is acceptable?  I don’t get it.  I blame PBS for this.

You know the drill by now.  Tags are here and here.  Here are the new season sets of shows from the Alliance vaults, ’cause capitalism is as subtle as Kevin Thompson’s acting.

Andromeda: Season 4 (October 19, 2010)
Earth: Final Conflict: Season 5 (October 26, 2010)
F/X: The Series: Season 2 (October 26, 2010)
Les Invincibles: Complete Series (October 19, 2010)
Mutant X: Season 3 (October 26, 2010)
The Adventures of Sinbad: Season 1 (October 19, 2010)
The Adventures of the Black Stallion: Season 1 (October 19, 2010)
The Outer Limits (1995): Season 7 (October 5, 2010)

Koch Canada gave The Adventures of Sinbad a first-season release in 2004, then abandoned the title.  Not surprisingly, The Adventures of Sinbad will be quickly ground through the Alliance video mill, as the show only lasted two seasons.  I forget if the first season is the one where Sinbad and Doubar fight toilet paper in one episode.

The Alliance releases are finally showing signs of slowing down.  Earth: Final Conflict, Mutant X, F/X: The Series and The Outer Limits (1995) have been exhausted.  Andromeda has one more season to go.

The Adventures of the Black Stallion already has a complete series set out, through Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.  Echo Bridge Entertainment bought Alliance Atlantis’ international distribution arm after Alliance Atlantis was dismantled in 2007.

To be honest, The Adventures of the Black Stallion is the first redundant title Alliance has released in a while.  Echo Bridge is rereleasing the series in season volume sets right now.  Not a good move, for either Echo Bridge or Alliance.

My prediction: you’re going to see Neon Rider and Bordertown very soon.  Mark my words.  These rush releases have their problems, but better this than letting the titles rot in archive hell.  I still want Night Heat.

Mike MacDonald: A Comic Stripped will be released by VSC on October 5, 2010.  The single-disc compendium of his CBC/Showtime specials will MSRP for $19.98 CDN.  The listed running time is 130 minutes.

Mike MacDonald: A Comic Stripped covers MacDonald’s three CBC/Showtime standup comedy specials, On Target, My House! My Rules!, and Happy As I Can Be.  Extras include a commentary track and Mike MacDonald performing air guitar.

Mike MacDonald is the star of the 1989-91 CBC series Mosquito Lake, though he can hardly be blamed for that show being an epic comedy abortion.  More importantly, he’s the voice of Rip Friend in the Teletoon/Fox Kids cartoon Ripping Friends (2001-02.)

MacDonald is one of Canada’s great standup comics, and it’s too bad he hasn’t become bigger than he is.  How CBC goes from Mike MacDonald and The Kids in the Hall to Ron James and The Ron James Show, I’ll never know.  At least one of Mike MacDonald’s old films is out on DVD, even if it is Loose Screws.

Here’s Mike MacDonald from the 1987 Just For Laughs Festival.  You may remember 1987 as the year Eddie Windsor spent a few minutes desperately trying to wring laughs from a dog and a hoop.

Ten years later, Eddie Windsor was featured on The Worst of Just For Laughs.  WoJFL aired just after The Just For Laughs 15th Anniversary Special.  Guess who hosted The Just For Laughs 15th Anniversary Special?

Yeah, Kevin Bacon!  You sons of bitches.

Durham County‘s second season will come out July 27, 2010 through Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada.  The TMN/Movie Central series’ second season sees forensic psychiatrist Pen Verrity (Michelle Forbes) join newly-appointed homicide detective Mike Sweeney (Hugh Dillon) as they solve crimes.

This being Durham County, both characters are weighed down by heavy emotional baggage.  Verrity is coming to terms with the drowning death of her daughter.  Sweeney’s family has pulled apart, due to the aftereffects of his dealings with serial killer Ray Prager.

The second season, like the first, is six episodes long.  Somehow, Anchor Bay has pulled a two-disc set out of this.  Go figure.

The amazon.ca sales rank for Durham County‘s second season is very high.  As of the time I write this, Durham County‘s second season ranks #19 in DVD sales.  Earlier today, it was #15.  Granted, this is amazon.ca and not amazon.com, but I am referring to the mainstream DVD sales chart.  A top 20 ranking there is impressive.

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TVShowsonDVD.com mentions Being Erica‘s second-season set, available on DVD September 14, 2010 through E1 Entertainment.  The three-disc set will contain the standard set of extras – bloopers, deleted scenes, audio commentaries and webisodes.  Of note, the webisodes are termed “Erica’s Weblogs.”

I apologize for not going into as much detail with Being Erica‘s format, like I have with Durham County.  Ostensibly, Erica Strange (Erin Karpluk) continues to delve into her past to find out the points where her life has gone pear-shaped, but the writers are smart enough to skew the format so that it doesn’t grow stale.

Granted, I’m going by what I’ve read, since I don’t watch the show.  Being Erica has a sizable fanbase, helped by its American run on the soon-to-be-shitcanned SOAPnet.  The general consensus is that Being Erica is the only realistic series about a woman in her thirties.  Basically, Being Erica is to older women what the Degrassi franchise is to high school.  Odd how Canada needs compare-and-contrast to succeed overseas, but I don’t pretend to understand cultural attitudes.

Alliance Home Entertainment’s TV-on-DVD schedule is beginning to make me sick.  Among the new titles announced since my last post on this topic, six days ago:

Andromeda: Season 3 (September 14, 2010)
BeastMaster: Season 3 (September 21, 2010)
Earth: Final Conflict: Season 4 (September 28, 2010)
F/X: The Series: Season 1 (September 28, 2010)
Lexx: Season 4 (September 21, 2010)
Mutant X: Season 2 (September 28, 2010)

That’s six titles announced in a week.  The syndicated programming well is being drained faster than The Flash on heroin.

I knew F/X: The Series would soon come out.  To be honest, I tolerate that series more than the others mentioned in this post.  F/X: The Series is a cut-rate Mission: Impossible, but one gets sick of Kevin Sorbo and Daniel Goddard after a while.  Hell, I’m amazed I remember the name Cameron Daddo.

I’m curious to know where Alliance goes from here.  What’s next?  The Crow: Stairway to Heaven?  North of 60?  Night Heat?  Ray Bradbury Theater?  All signs point towards drama, the 1980s, comedies…anything beyond the fare Alliance is currently offering.

Seriously, Alliance, put Night Heat on DVD.  That show has a good reputation and a solid, if aging, fanbase.  Hey, Alliance Home Entertainment thinks TekWar will sell, so why not Night Heat?  That said, I expect The Adventures of Sinbad to come out by November.

I’m not going to link to the previous Alliance Home Entertainment DVD news items anymore, just tags (here and here.)  Here are the three newest Alliance releases, as well as a couple of French-language titles that aren’t being mentioned:

C.A. Conseil d’administration: Season 4 (August 10, 2010)
Les Parent: Season 2 (September 7, 2010)
Mutant X: Season 1 (August 31, 2010)
Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal: Season 3 (September 14, 2010)
The Outer Limits (1995): Season 6 (September 7, 2010)

Today is the first day I’ve been given access to the Alliance media website, which is how I read about C.A. Conseil d’administration and Les Parent.  The French-language shows are important to Canadian television, even if they’re of limited interest to those outside Quebec and Northern Ontario.

I wish Alliance would ease off the syndicated 1990s/2000s fare, though I admit those shows sell.  The Outer Limits and Relic Hunter are the hot sellers, The Outer Limits moreso than Relic Hunter.

I don’t know why The Outer Limits is so popular.  Either Americans are buying the sets, or The Outer Limits is more popular in Canada due to its long run on Global.

Either way, I’m not complaining.  The Outer Limits is one of the few shows Alliance is releasing right now that I actually like.  I can’t believe the whole run of the series will be out before the end of 2010.  I can’t say I foresaw this back in January.

Alliance Home Entertainment is continuing its TV-on-DVD clusterbombing, as mentioned here and here.  The titles being monetized for late June-August 2010:

Andromeda: Season 2 (August 10, 2010)
BeastMaster: Season 2 (August 24, 2010)
Earth: Final Conflict: Season 1 (June 29, 2010) | Season 2 (July 27, 2010)
Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town: Complete Series (August 3, 2010)
Lexx: Season 2 (July 20, 2010) | Season 3 (August 24, 2010)
Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal: Season 2 (August 10, 2010)
TekWar: Complete Series (August 31, 2010)
The Outer Limits (1995): Season 4 (July 6, 2010) | Season 5 (August 3, 2010)
White Fang: Complete Series (August 17, 2010)

Amazon.ca is very spotty with its updates.  Admittedly, I use its affiliates program to drum up sales, which is why pieces like this exist.  The entries are still shambolic.  Items listed “the outer limits ssn 5″ or “Lexx S3″ are not uncommon.  An Amazon offshoot should not be that unprofessional.

TekWar‘s release date has been pushed back three times by now.  It was initially set to come out June 13.  August 3 and August 10 release dates will not be met.  I wonder what’s causing the delays, since it’s been mentioned that this set will not include the made-for-TV films.

One thing Alliance Home Entertainment needs to do is revisit TV-on-DVD sets its predecessor company, Alliance Atlantis, abandoned.  Cold Squad and Traders are two such titles, abandoned after their first seasons.  AA sat too long on Da Vinci’s Inquest, a title Acorn Media has since capitalized on.

I actually can’t believe Alliance Home Entertainment is as active as it is right now.  That’s good.  While the company isn’t perfect, this situation is a lot better than when AHE quietly released the odd Trailer Park Boys season and a few other titles.  I’m in awe that it’s keeping to its clusterbomb title strategy.  I question why shows like White Fang, but the good with the bad.

According to a VSC new release e-mail sent to retailers, The Border‘s third (and final) season will be out on DVD August 10, 2010.  The three-disc set will have an MSRP of $29.98 CDN.  Extras will include “Character Psychology Sessions” and “Behind the Scenes with Graham Abbey.”  The series finale will contain director and cast commentary.

The first two season sets of The Border will have their prices reduced to MSRP $19.99 CDN.  There are no mentions of Blu-Ray releases, at least according to the e-mail.

It should be noted that the release date isn’t final, as there is no formal press release for The Border‘s third-season set.  Hopefully, VSC won’t announce the third-season set a week before it streets, like it did for the second season.

CBC recently cancelled The Border after three seasons, due to less-than-stellar ratings on Thursday nights.  The show even ended on a cliffhanger.

Maybe the director and cast commentaries will reveal the reasons behind the cliffhanger.  The Border‘s days were numbered when it was moved to one of CBC’s worst-performing nights.  Then again, doing poorly on CBC Television doesn’t automatically mean cancellation.  They’re still making Little Mosque on the Prairie, so figure that one out.