It's an all TV week at Play All and we couldn't be happier about that. No Asian action movies, no underappreciated documentaries, not even a straight-to-DVD Heather Graham movie (wait...there is a straight-to-DVD Heather Graham movie...but we're choosing to ignore it like the rest of the world probably will.) Nope, it's all TV on DVD this week at Play All, including four VERY different shows. How different? Justine Bateman, Stephen Hawking, Chris Kattan, and Bernard Hill each play a role in one of this week's titles. It can't get much different than that. After you're done seeing The Dark Knight for the sixth time or finished trying to get your money back for The Mummy 3, pop open a cold one and hit Play All.

Family Ties: Season Four
Studio: Paramount
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Michael Gross, Meredith Baxter Birney, Justine Bateman, and Tina Yothers
Features: Gag Reel, Episodic Promos

"Growing up...but growing closer." When I was a kid, Family Ties was one of my absolute favorite shows on the air. Does that make me old? Or a dork? Or both? Who cares? But I mention it because my adoration of Family Ties when it originally aired was undeniable, which makes it hard for me to admit something - the show hasn't held up that well. You can watch Cheers, Newhart, or countless other '80s hits and they hold up incredibly well, but, more than most of its peers, Family Ties is clearly a product of its era. It's one of the first shows that producers and writers think of when the subject is "'80s TV". The 24 episodes of Ronald Reagan's favorite show (something he actually said, not something I'm making up) that aired from 1985 to 1986 are undeniably clever and the ensemble was one of the strongest of its day, but it's interesting that the neoconservative Alex Keaton was clearly the star of the show at this point, just as Reagan was in the prime of his presidency. The show is such a product of that era. The fourth season of Family Ties finished second on the year - in between The Cosby Show and Murder, She Wrote - the highest that the show would ever rank. This is Family Ties in its prime, even if it may be stuck there.

Masters of Science Fiction: The Complete Series
Studio: Anchor Bay
Starring: Judy Davis, John Hurt, Terry O'Quinn, Sam Waterston, Elisabeth Rohm, James Denton, Brian Dennehy, Anne Heche, James Cromwell, Malcolm McDowell, Clifton Collins Jr., and Sean Astin
Features: None

Masters of Horror gets 26 episodes (plus another 13 in the form of Fear Itself) but the even more star-studded Masters of Science Fiction only lands a six-episode order? Two of which never even aired? Sci-fi fans always get jacked. Only four episodes of Masters of Science Fiction actually made it to ABC in the States with the other two episodes staying on the shelf. ABC totally mishandled the show, barely marketing it at all and putting it on in the dog days of August, but casual DVD shoppers are likely to come across the star-studded cover of Masters of Science Fiction (look at that impressive cast above) at the store and wonder how they missed it. With MOH, the "masters" were in the director's chair. For MOSF, the masters are the creators of the source material. The six episodes in the Complete Series set are based on stories by John Kessel, Howard Fast, Robert A. Heinlein, Harlan Ellison, Walter Mosley, and Robert Sheckley and feature directors as diverse as Michael Tolkin and Jonathan Frakes. With an introduction by Professor Stephen Hawking before each episode, fans of the genre won't have a complete DVD collection without Masters of Science Fiction.

Sunset Tan: Season One
Studio: Lionsgate
Starring: Molly Shea and Holly Huddleston
Features: Olly Girls' Guide, Deleted Scenes, Red Carpet Interviews

"In Hollywood, you can never be too rich - or too tan." Critics regularly choose different targets when they write about how TV has hit the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the reality genre, but, for me, almost all of them are on the E! channel. Flavor of Love may be silly and Farmer Wants a Wife and Girlicious are ridiculously stupid, but there's something about what E! has given to the world of reality television that's downright disturbing. It's only partially because none of these shows feel "real" - they're SO clearly scripted at least half of the time - but more because what E! tries to pass off as reality is so far from it. Hugh Hefner's girlfriends (The Girls Next Door), Denise Richards' paparazzi problems (It's Complicated), the horrendous parenting of Dina Lohan (Living Lohan) - what's REAL about any of it? And then there's the ultimate - Sunset Tan. Leave it to E! to produce a show about a tanning salon in one of the sunniest cities in the country. Want to tan in LA? Go outside. But, no, Sunset Tan is about the vapid clients and far more ridiculous workers of Sunset Tan, where the hottest California girls go for that bronzed look. Celebrity guest stars in the first season set include Britney Spears, Chris Kattan, Kim Kardashian, Pauly Shore, Kato Kaelin, Jenna Jameson, the ex-wife of Jose Canseco, and more people who are only a celebrity in the "reality" of E! And now in your DVD collection...probably next to three seasons of The Girls Next Door.

Wild China
Studio: BBC Home Video
Starring: Bernard Hill
Features: None

"A land of history, mystery and extraordinary diversity." From Sunset Tan to Wild China...you won't find a DVD column more diverse than Play All. Actually, it's great that the format can support such wildly different product as a show about starlets spray-painting their bodies and a show that features people who are tan because they work outside all day long. Honestly, most of the people documented in the excellent Wild China will never see electricity, much less a DVD player or Mystic Tan. This excellent six-hour BBC nature series shines a light on a rarely-seen part of the world, the vast sections of China that have barely been touched by man. Through breathtaking landscapes and small villages that usually exist because of their rice or fish trades, viewers of Wild China will be introduced to a part of the world rarely seen on film. Using the latest filming technologies and high definition cameras, the creators of Wild China have made a truly fascinating document of unusual wildlife, gorgeous scenery, and the colorful people that live with both. THIS is reality TV.