I honestly can’t believe it’s taken this long…but at the same time, I can’t believe it’s actually happening. VHS tape is officially dead. The last company that was actually buying VHS tapes has ceased, and now there is no market left.

The last film to actually be released on VHS was “A History of Violence” in 2006. Since that time VHS tapes have made their way into bargain bins across the country, but now the man that fills those bins is giving up, and dropping the format all together.

I think i will always love VHS for what it was. In this day of DVRs, digital downloads, DVDs, and Blu-Ray Discs, it’s hard to even look at a VHS and get all the way through it. The quality is just terrible…BUT…I remember very well the VHS collection we had at my house.

I would buy blank tapes and fill them to the brim with recordings of my favorite bits from SNL, MadTV (the early years), and sitcoms galore. I’d record comedy specials on HBO and watch them into the wee hours of the morning. George Carlin came into my life thanks to VHS tape. Godzilla too.

Every crazy bit of entertainment I loved as a kid went through a VHS tape at one point.

In high school I worked at a video store, and DVD came in shortly after I exited. It was one of the best job’s I’ve ever had – and I can still very clearly remember what was like to take a busted VHS tape and perform surgery to move the tape contents to a new case, to make the video playable again.

Even though we’ve had movies recently like “Be Kind, Rewind” that sort of remind us of how interesting and simple VHS was – it’s time has long passed. It’s successor is about to be successed, and whatever is coming after that is on its way to the horizon.

I’m guessing we’ll be watching things digitally in the next few years, and that’s where it will stay, in one form or another, for a very long while. We’ll see though. You never know what’s going to happen next in the world of recordable media – but the grandfather of home movies has passed away, and it’s finally time to lay him to rest.

(S02E05) “Let It Go”

Finally, the characters of Private Practice get down to the core of what gives a show it’s heart. In tonight’s episode, we were allowed a real glimpse of the key player’s personalities.

In the sub-plot surrounding Violet we receive confirmation that she was once raped. While we still don’t know the full-extent that this has effected her, it’s obvious that this part of her life is painful and not fully understood by many, with the exception of her old college friend. Sadly her one time confidant is now running for congress and will do just about anything to erase her own painful past, including sacrificing Violet’s job. Time will tell, but this may just be an opening for a major move in Violet’s life. I don’t suspect that she’ll leave the show, but she may be forced to leave the practice.

Also finding that the ties which bond them can, and sometimes must, be severed, Naomi and Sam officially call it quits. This only occurs though after they not only full themselves, but also their daughter who has hopes of her parents reuniting. As this storyline progresses, one can easily tell that explosions may occur as both Naomi and Sam begin to date again. After all, nothing that happens in this practice is ever truly private.

In lighter news, Addison steps up her game and takes on her role as a leader without hesitation. After hours of sleepless nights she not only has an idea of how much money the practice will need to survive, but also an unpopular idea of how to obtain that quick cash. This includes leasing out the fourth floor she didn’t even know they owned until tonight. Speaking of fourth floor plans, could Charlotte be getting in on that action with her new job opportunity? Looks like a possibility to me.

Now, no Private Practice review can be complete without at least a small grumble from this writer. Tonight’s is quite valid, as the message the show sent out tonight was completely misleading. You can indeed get the HIV virus from oral sex. So here’s a clue to Cooper… put a cap on it. What’s more, just because you’re on the pill doesn’t mean you can’t slip up and get pregnant. Something to keep in mind Charlotte.

I personally feel that if you’re going to represent a very important issue as a doctor’s office, no matter how fictional, you should take it on with some sense of responsibility. There’s one too many kids out there who get their facts from a TV screen. Why add to that confusion?

Sometimes there are things from your childhood that you just flat out forget about. Most of the time those things are little, and really had no impact on you. Then there are those other things. Things you’d forgotten about that you really, truly, loved as a child. One of those things for me is “My Pet Monster”.

As a kid I was not at all interested in carrying around a “My Buddy”. I thought that guy was lame. I already had a little brother, why on earth would I need a simulated little brother too? A monster, on the other hand, that was a different story. Plus, this thing looked like he could tear your head off. I mean, just look at him…

That guy looks like he could eat YOUR SOUL!!!!! I loved that thing. I mean seriously – do you think the boogyman is coming into your room if this guy is standing guard at your bed? NO WAY!

So, as you can imagine when a video came out in the 80s called “My Pet Monster” you can bet I was interested in renting it from the local video store. I did just that, and what I found was a 45 minute movie about a kid named Max who was turned into a Monster that looked like a friendly character at a theme park than the hideous beast I was holding while the video played.

The story involves Max and his siblings running from a scientist and rescuing a kidnapped dog.

You’d think I would have hated it….but you would have been wrong. For some reason, I loved it. It became a regular rental when we’d venture to the video store and there was nothing else to get. My Pet Monster was my old stand by. My mother probably could have purchased the tape 3 or 4 times over with the amount of times she paid $.99 for me to take it home for 2 days.

Still, as I grew up, many of my favorite shows as a kid stuck with me, but this one fell by the wayside in my memory. At least, until about a week ago.

After doing some digging I stumbled across a copy of the video, and promptly sat down with my daughter to watch it. I expected to cringe all the way through it, but somehow even now, I can’t help but love it. When we were finished watching it my daughter told me it was “funnier than Kung Fu Panda” (which she actually enjoyed quite a bit).

The movie itself is insanely cheesy, and cliche, but darn it – its fun. If you can get a hold of (and if you look hard enough, you can), you should check it out. They really do need to bring the mean, soul stealing Monster back – kids today would love him.

Sometimes its hard to believe that good television even gets produced, when so much of it cancelled because of an ancient ratings system that in no-way reflects what the public is actually watching. (Nielsen’s I’m looking at you). Sometimes a Network just doesn’t give a show enough time, sometimes they just don’t understand what they have until its too late, and sometimes the people that handle scheduling are just plain idiots.

Below, we have a list of 5 TV Shows that never should have been cancelled – and each of them was for one of the reasons listed above.

5. The Screen Savers

When TechTV was merged with G4 – every fan of TechTV knew that the glory days were over. Bizarre changes started immediately, and Leo Laporte left the show, and things looked really bad. The new co-host, however, was an aspiring actor named Alex Albriecht. He, along with Kevin Rose, managed to usher in a new era for The Screen Savers. The show was reborn, but after a few months Alex was fired, and the format was changed over an over again until they finally cancelled the show all together, and moved the staff to a new program called Attack of the Show!.

The Screen Savers should have never been cancelled, and the hosting team of Alex Albriecht and Kevin Rose would later re-team for an online show called Diggnation that has officially made them tech-rock stars.
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Some Christmas Specials seem to last forever. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” has aired very year since the early 1960s. “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is another one that has been on for as long as I’ve been alive, and will probably be on every Christmas until well after I’m dead.

Then there are other Christmas Specials. Specials that, if you’re a child of the 80s, you probably watched more than once, but that haven’t lived on into the immortal status. They aired annually for a few years, but these shows will never be the holiday mainstays that they were intended to be…but that doesn’t make them any less great.

Thanks to the magic of YouTube, however, we can remember these shows…

5. A Garfield Christmas

The Garfield Christmas Special was one of my favorites as a kid, and is available on a really cheaply produced DVD that includes his Thanksgiving and Halloween specials as well. Even though the special doesn’t air annually anymore, and the DVD looks like a VHS copy, I’m glad I share this one with my kids.

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M.A.S.K. was one of the my favorite 80s cartoons. I loved the concept behind the show. It was G.I. Joe meets Transformers – and if you can think of a better combination of action cartoons I’ll buy you a steak (but you can’t – because that one is the best). The vehicles became other vehicles and the the action figures had cool masks ta boot!

M.A.S.K. is one of those shows that I really wish would get a second chance. I’d love to see it back in action. The line was slightly reused for another toy project a few years ago, but it wasn’t M.A.S.K.

It’s a Living was a sitcom that first aired in 1980, but the show didn’t fair well. It was retooled for a second season, but that didn’t catch on either – so the show was cancelled.

However, all 39 episodes of the episodes went into syndication, where the show finally picked up an audience. As a result, the show was revived in 1985 and ran until 1989. This may be the first show in history to be un-cancelled.

The Wuzzles were one those really interesting ideas for toylines that came out after the Care Bears crazy of the 1980s. I’m actually surprised they haven’t returned to toy shelves yet – they’re much more interesting than Popples. The Wuzzles was actually a Disney cartoon, and only 13 episodes of the series were ever produced. It is, in fact, the shortest running Disney cartoon on all time.

Another interesting fact, is that The Wuzzles debuted on the same day as Disney’s Gummie Bears (which was far more successful). Still, for the few of you that remember The Wuzzles, I’m sure you’ll in enjoy this trip down memory lane…

Want more? There’s an old television for the Wuzzle plush dolls after the jump!

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One of the thing I like most about YouTube, is how you can find just about any old video you can think of on there. If you’re looking for an old TV show, or television commercial, you can almost always find it with a few clicks. With that in mind, from time to time, I’m going to be posting RETROVISION! – old commercials, videos, and tv shows to spark the old nostalgia bug.

First up is SHAZAM!, a 1970s take on the DC Comics Captain Marvel (who has to be referred to as SHAZAM! in the title for legal reasons…long story). This series is absolutely nothing like the Captain Marvel in the comics. In comics, Billy Batson is a little boy, here he’s a lanky, almost full grown teen, and the old guy he drives around the country with in an RV is completely made up for this series as well.

This show didn’t last long, and it’s not terribly hard to see why…