The Weird Al Show
Rating: PG
Running time: Approx. 320 minutes
Distributor: Shock


After his 1983 debut album, which mainly contained twisted spoofs of hit songs, the frizzy-haired, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing and ever-so-nasal Weird Al Yankovic went on to secure himself his own television show which also featured his best friend, a hamster...Enough said.

For the fans, this three-DVD set will be a dream come true, I know, for others, this will be a nightmare. Seriously, you either absolutely love this guy, or you hate him with the white hot intensity of the sun - there is no in-between.

The complete series features Al's original songs, television and film spoofs, some animation and a whole lot of celebrity guests. And I mean a lot. Just to name a few, there are guest appearances from comedy faves like Drew Carey and Michael McKean, as well as - bizarrely enough - Fabio, and musical guests like Hanson and the Barenaked Ladies.

The extras, meanwhile, are made up of the original concept art gallery, 'The Evolution Of Fatman', animated 'Fatman' storyboards and 'The Weird Al Show Theme' karaoke at the end of it all.

But perhaps the most amusing extra feature is the commentary for each and every one of the 13 episodes featured in the set by not only Al himself, but the director and the head writer. The interesting thing about this is the fact that the three pretty much seem to hate the show as they attack it and ridicule it to no end - everything gets a mouthful, from the censored stuff to the lame and often hypocritical educational lessons like 'be yourself', 'settle conflicts with peaceful communication' and 'don't make promises you can't keep'.

And although they do make a good point most of the time, it's still strange to hear Weird Al and co. diss the show to that extent.

It's a bit of a shame that the bloopers and cut scenes were not included in the DVD set thanks to Dick Clark Production throwing everything out expect for the master tapes. Still, even that couldn't have saved this package from being an utter boring failure. Stay away.

Nina Bertok