TV NEWS ON JUNE 23

http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2012/06/digital-digest-missing-complete-first.html Welcome back to this week's edition of Digital Digest! Summer is here, but we're not slacking off. In addition to our regular news, we have another double feature for our reviews this week, with reviews of Missing - The Complete First Season and Mannix - The Seventh Season. Let's get going! DIGITAL NEWS The big announcement this week has been "Blu," as Warner Home Video has announced that once again, they'll be releasing the series Friends... but this time on Blu-ray! On November 13, the entire series will come out in one big chunk as an ultimate 21-disc Blu-ray set, with every single episode presented in high definition. The set includes over 20 hours of special features, three of which have never been presented on any previous release. We've got more news this week, which brings us closer (but not quite all the way) to completing the 2011-2012 seasons of ongoing series on home media. We start with the Universal series, as we have more definitive details on those. Universal treats us with a double feature on September 4 with releases of The Office - Season Eight (DVD, DVD/Blu-ray/Digital Download Combo Pack) and Parks and Recreation - Season Four (just on DVD, sorry!). The Blu-ray release of The Office, as suggested above, is not JUST a Blu-ray release this time, but includes the DVD and an Ultraviolet digital download this time. It seems, though, that Universal has chosen to place the DVD and Blu-ray versions on the same discs utilizing double-sided discs, a standard which Universal seemed to have abandoned some time ago (but obviously it isn't gone for good, it appears). While it is already available to preorder, there is still no date for 30 Rock - Season Six, but most likely we'll see it just before the final season begins (since it will be a midseason replacement in the 2012-2013 season). TVShowsOnDVD.com has come across some release dates for some series from 20th Century Fox, courtesy of listing dates provided on Amazon.ca (Amazon's Canadian outlet). We should stress that these dates are unofficial, and subject to change... but generally speaking, Canadian release dates are the same as release dates in the United States. On September 18, you can find Modern Family - Season Three (DVD/Blu-ray) in retailers. How I Met Your Mother - Season Seven is scheduled for another "legendary" release on October 2. Moving over to Fox animated series, Family Guy - Volume Ten is set for a September 25 release. Surprisingly, they are not trying a Blu-ray release for this set... at least not yet. And moving all the way into December, Fox has The Simpsons - The Fifteenth Season (leaving the series with seven seasons still not yet released... the pacing of this series seriously needs to be picked up a bit) on December 4, and Futurama - Volume Seven on December 18. Both releases will be on both DVD and Blu-ray. Amazon.com announced some new additions to their Amazon Prime streaming service last week, this time coming from the MGM library. While the announcement for the deal mostly discusses movies, it does include some TV series from the MGM library. The only series which we could find that are included in this deal so far, though, are thirtysomething and series from the Stargate franchise. Hopefully as this deal "develops" over time, we'll see more MGM TV series appear on the service for unlimited streaming, such as Green Acres, Cagney & Lacey, Fame, and more. Those series are, in fact, already available to purchase as streaming video from the website, but are NOT included in the "all you can watch" Amazon Prime plan (which costs about $80 a year, unless you are eligible for one of their discounted flavors of the service). We'll let you know if more comes out of this. Finally, we have been covering a lot of news lately about the in-demand actress Christine Lakin, including our recent story with the actress on her latest endeavor Worst Audition Ever. You'll be able to see much more of her coming up starting July 16 on Hulu, with her own webseries mockumentary, Lovin' Lakin. The "mockumentary" focuses on her rise from child star to a working actress in Hollywood, where she provides insight on how to make it there. There is an intro trailer available now where fans can preview the comedic webseries, which will feature guests including Kristen Bell, Patrick Duffy, Kristin Chenowith, and Seth MacFarlane. We will have much more on this webseries in the coming weeks!