Shared Darkness

Between the Lions is
part of a multimedia educational initiative created to help instill children ages four
through seven with both beginning-level reading skills as well as a love of
reading. Recognizing the importance and ubiquity of television, the centerpiece
of the effort is the PBS show of the same name, a winner of seven Emmy awards.

Built around a curriculum that incorporates the most recent
scientific research in literacy instruction, each episode of Between the Lions uses an engaging
variety of entertaining animation, puppetry, music videos, graphics and live
action segments. The series’ loveable cast of characters — a family of lions
who live in a library like no other — engages adolescent audiences with
interactive activities, songs and stories, all tailored to help build a child’s
vocabulary and language development. Words then take on a life of their own,
with these colorful sketches serving essentially as the “spoonful of sugar”
around which key reading skills are slyly imparted.

The first season of the show is comprised of a whopping 30 episodes,
each running roughly half an hour. Featuring opera star Denyce Graves, Chicken
Jane, Martha Reader and the Vowelles, Gawain’s World, Arty Smartypants, Cliff
Hanger, the Information Hen, Monkey Pop-Up Theater and more, the show soars courtesy
of its variety and imagination. Some episodic titles and settings aside, this isn’t
referential comedy, and there’s no sort of gassy, Shrek-type humor. Sesame Street
would of course be a good comparison, but the wide, expressive eyes of B.B.,
the king of the beasts, and all the other puppets is what will make this most
inviting for inquisitive pre-schoolers. Kindergarteners and those slightly older,
meanwhile, will be able to get into the diversity of the show’s costumed stories,
and once the B.B. and the characters take firmer root in their imagination,
they’ll want to follow them into this terrain, even as they learn in parallel
fashion about unlocking the doors of their own imaginations via reading.

Presented in 4×3 full screen on five all-region discs, Between the Lions comes housed in
plastic slimline cases in turn stored in a sturdy, attractive, yellow cardboard
case. Special features include a bonus video entitled “Leading the Way to Literacy,”
as well as a slew of downloadable materials for both parents and kindergarten educators.
These family activity guides, available in both English and Spanish, offer up
tips on how to make reading fun and integrate it into the family’s activities
together, and include practice sheets and more. To order the title online, click here. B+ (Show) B (Disc)

The concept of vulgarly lacing into those you love is deliciously highlighted in this Comedy Central-broadcast special DVD release, spotlighting Denis Leary. When the tradition began I’m not completely sure, but the Friars’ Club guys turned it into high art back several decades ago. Here actor and comedian Leary, who got his start as that maniac from the MTV promos who “you hear knocking and is comin’ in,” gets explicitly touched up by a laugh-inducing laundry list of friends and former co-workers, including Gina Gershon, Colin Quinn, Jeff Garlin, Jim Breuer and Ed Lover and Dr. Dre (extra props to those who can spot the Who’s the Man? in-jokes).

Flanked by guests Kiefer Sutherland, Elizabeth Hurley, Bill Nunn and others, Leary gets flamed as having released a filmography that includes “more bombs than Hamas.” Quinn’s offerings are probably the funniest from the on-site guests; also weighing in via remote are Jon Stewart, Christopher Walken, Michael J. Fox, Conan O’Brien and Rene Russo, the latter of whom provides a profane sketch that jokingly reveals herself as a transsexual. Supplemental extras on the DVD include Leary’s full-length, uncensored, expletive-laden response (20-odd minutes of somewhat scripted fare, not among his best blasts), red carpet intro footage and additional behind-the-scenes bits and excised material. To purchase the title via Amazon, click here. B (Show) B+ (Disc)