This week on DVD - August 25, 2009

This week isn't seeing a whole lot in the way of movie DVD/Blu-ray releases this week, but there are a few television shows coming out today that I'd like to highlight. The first of these being the 8th season of Scrubs.

Scrubs: The Complete Eighth Season is out on DVD and Blu-ray today and I couldn't be more excited. This show is easily in my top five favorite television shows and this was a great season for the series. It has recently been announced that ABC has picked up Scrubs for a ninth season, though, while there have been a few announcements, there are still some major cast members whose returns are still up in the air. Prior to these announcements though, for a long time it was presumed that season eight was going to be this show's last, and had it been, this season would have been perfect for it to go out on. Bill Lawrence, the show's creator, did a great job of wrapping up a lot of the major story lines this season, while still keeping a few doors open in the even the series would continue. This season of Scrubs also saw the introduction of a lot of great new characters -characters that I feel, given the chance, could easily sustain one or two more quality seasons of Scrubs should some of the main cast decide to move on.

If you are a fan of Scrubs, season eight is a must own. This season contains some of the series' funniest and most touching moments thus far, and should the following seasons not meet expectations will make for an appropriate finale to the series.

What I thought to be a tragic cancellation from this last season was the show Life starring the always entertaining Damian Lewis. As of right now, looks like Season 2 was meant to be the show's last, which is too bad, because not only was this show fantastic - yet under appreciated - it had probably one of the most unique characters on TV. Rumors have it that the show may be moved to the NBC-owned USA Network, but so far nothing has been confirmed yet. Do yourself a favor and check out this awesomely unique cop-drama's two seasons; then be ready for disappointment when you realize it probably won't be back.

Another series coming on on DVD today is the David Duchovny vehicle, Californication: The Second Season. Everyone's favorite novelist is back for a second go-around, and things seem to be looking up for Hank Moody at the start. Even a short turn in jail lands him a deal to write a biography for a record producer; but of course nothing in Hank's world stays good for long. Obviously, if you are a fan of the series, you'll probably want to be picking this one up. If you haven't seen Californication, then you are only two seasons behind, both of which are out on DVD now! Duchovny is fantastic in this series and I would say this is definitely worth giving a try.

On the movie front for this week, the only movie I can give a solid recommendation to is Adventureland. Though, I have heard nothing but good things about Sunshine Cleaning, I just have yet to check it out. Adventureland is a great comedy about a young college graduate back in the late 1980's who gets a job at a local amusement park. What I thought was great about this film is the setting of this amusement park is used as a means to present life-lessons to the main character. Jesse Eisenberg does a good job as the awkward lead, and Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Hader make for a great supporting cast as usual. Even the normally intolerable Kristen Stewart manages to not draw too much attention and turn in an passable performance. Adventureland provides some solid laughs and some good serious moments and I feel it's well worth a watch.