Huffman, Felicity

Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary Edition

With breakout and memorable performances by Josh Charles (In Treatment), Robert Guillaume (Benson), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Sabrina Lloyd (Sliders) and Joshua Malina (The West Wing), this was writer/producer Aaron Sorkin's (A Few Good Men , The American President) first television series. And it was director Thomas Schlamme's first collaboration with Sorkin. The pair, who would continue to click brilliantly with The West Wing and Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip, may not have known it at the time, but with Sports Night they defined a new style and raised the bar for all television programs to follow.

Critically acclaimed when it debuted on ABC in 1998, Sports Nigh was an innovative half-hour program about a team of funny, smart and likeable people who put on a daily live sports cable newscast, much like ESPN's SportsCenter. They are a group of consummate professionals whose personal lives operate in apparent chaos, communicating every uncensored thought and feeling through a libretto of witty and honest chatter over the hum of the separate-but-integrated live show-within-the-show.

10th Anniversary Special Features:
*The Show: An in-depth look back at Sports Night with creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, directors Thomas Schlamme and Robert Berlinger, cast members Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause, Josh Charles, Joshua Malina, and Robert Guillaume, Emmy(r) award-winning editor Janet Ashikaga, Emmy(r) award-winning director of photography Peter Smokler, producer John Amodeo, and set designer Thomas Azzari. Includes never-before-seen behind-the-scenes home movies shot by John Amodeo.
*Face Off: ESPN's SportsCenter vs. CSC's Sports Night - Sports Night's real-life ESPN counterparts discuss what the series got right and wrong.
*A Conversation with Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme
*Inside The Locker Room - A look at the innovations of Sports Night with Aaron Sorkin, Thomas Schlamme, Robert Berlinger, Janet Ashikaga, Peter Smokler, John Amodeo, and Thomas Azzari.
*Season Gag Reels
*8 Episode Commentaries including creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme, director Robert Berlinger, editor Janet Ashikaga, and cast members Peter Krause, Josh Charles, Joshua Malina, Sabrina Lloyd, Greg Baker, Kayla Blake, Timothy Davis-Reed, and Ron Ostrow.
*Original Promos
*36-Page Booklet including an introduction by creator Aaron Sorkin

Georgia Rule (Full Screen Edition)

When three generations of women collide, it isn't always pretty. In Georgia Rule, Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls) stars as Rachel, a wild child whose mother Lilly (Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives) ships her off to Idaho to be tamed by Georgia (Jane Fonda, On Golden Pond)--Lilly's own cantankerous mom. There, 17-year-old Rachel shocks the conservative community with her short shorts, eager sexuality (which she plies on everyone from 12-year-old boys to unsophisticated, but hot, Mormon neighbors), and her tales of possible sexual abuse at the hands of her somewhat slimy stepfather (Cary Elwes, The Princess Bride). As directed by Garry Marshall (Beaches, Pretty Woman), Georgia Rule is a flawed chick flick where the women are tolerable but not particularly likeable. The characters we want to know more about are the peripheral ones we don't see enough of--the men. Simon (Dermot Mulroney), the kindly (and sexy) veterinarian who was once madly in love with Lilly, in many ways is the film's moral compass. A widower whose wife and son died tragically in an accident, Simon would've made a more compelling movie subject than these women. And for all his latent pining for Lilly, the moviegoer feels relieved for him that dodged a bullet by not marrying into this dysfunctional family. While the female leads aren't quite believable as mother, daughter, and grandmother, they all have strong moments in the film that save it from being a groaning mess. While Lohan doesn't exhibit the charm she displayed in Mean Girls, she more than holds her own in parts with the scene-stealing Fonda, who is quite good at chewing up the scenery. --Jae-Ha Kim

Desperate Housewives - The Complete First Season

The secrets and mysteries surrounding a group of female friends living on the suburban street of Wisteria Lane.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 20-SEP-2005
Media Type: DVD

Audiences were captivated by the women of Wisteria Lane in the first season of Desperate Housewives, the breakout hit from ABC that almost single-handedly lifted the network from its ratings doldrums and brought back the classic TV soap, remixed now with satire, comedy, and mystery. An affectionate yet darkly tinged send-up of suburbia that skirted Twin Peaks territory as much as that of Knots Landing, Desperate Housewives opened with a bang--literally--as perfect-seeming housewife Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) went through her picture-perfect day before putting a handgun to her temple and pulling the trigger. Mary Alice's sudden suicide leaves her four closest friends, all housewives of a sort, with a surfeit of grief, a re-examination of their own lives, and a mystery to solve. It also proves to be a catalyst for a seamy study of what goes on inside the finely appointed homes of Wisteria Lane--the tales of which Mary Alice narrates from beyond the grave with a sardonic tone dipped in both honey and arsenic.

There's Martha Stewart-perfect Bree (Marcia Cross), who rules her household with an iron fist in a tailor-made garden glove and seems to have it all, until she finds out her husband (Steven Culp) is cheating on her--and had a serious fetish habit to boot. Sultry Gaby (Eva Longoria), the youngest of the set, is a bored trophy wife whose predilection for shopping and clothes are the perfect decoy for her affair with the hunky teenage gardener (Jesse Metcalfe). Former career woman Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is the most stereotypical housewife, raising four (or was it five?) kids and frustrated at using her cutthroat business skills for suburban politics. And daffy Susan (Teri Hatcher), the divorcee looking for love, sees her prospects brighten with the arrival of hunky plumber Mike (James Denton), who has some desperate secrets of his own. And did we mention the neighborhood hussy (Nicollette Sheridan), the snotty busybody (Christine Estabrook), and Mary Alice's increasingly agitated son (Cody Kasch)?

It was a fast and wild mix of plot and characters that gave Desperate Housewives the zing that made it a number one hit, as it never got too bogged down in any dilemma before moving on to the next. And though it was neither as hard-hitting nor salacious as it was trumpeted to be, the show nevertheless breathed fresh, funny air into comedy television, for even though it hewed to the hour-long soap format, the content was far more dark comedy than sudsy drama. There were fun bright spots to be had, but the story behind Mary Alice's death--which included drugs, murder, blackmail, secret identities, and vengeance in equal amounts--hovered over all the characters, tingeing the farce with the specter of danger. The show's other source of strength is in its peerless ensemble cast, headed by four perfect leading ladies, all Emmy-worthy. Hatcher received the (deserved) lion's share of praise (and a Golden Globe), but her co-stars--especially the underrated Longoria--matched her scene for scene. And though the mystery of Mary Alice's death was ultimately solved (no Twin Peaks teasing here), it was just the beginning of the troubles on Wisteria Lane, where no life went unexamined for too long. --Mark Englehart

Desperate Housewives - The Complete Third Season

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
Title: SEASON 3
Street Release Date: 09/04/2007
Domestic
Genre: TELEVISION

After the second-season Desperate Housewives took the misguided direction of splitting apart its five principals, the third season was a comeback for the ladies of Wisteria Lane with some sparkling moments and a more engaging mystery. Following the previous season's cliffhanger, Mike (James Denton) was not written out of the cast after all, but left in a coma. Susan (Teri Hatcher) keeps a vigil at his bedside and meets Ian (Dougray Scott), a handsome and rich British man keeping a similar vigil for his wife. Newly single Gabriella (Eva Longoria) meets an unexpected admirer, while Edie (Nicolette Sheridan) finds unexpected family--and an unexpected beau. The season's primary mystery revolves around Bree's (Marcia Cross) new husband, Orson (Kyle McLachlan), who turns out to have some skeletons in his closet--including one he shares with Mike--and some women in his past that he wishes had stayed there (Valerie Mahaffey and Dixie Carter). We no longer see Lynette (Felicity Huffman) in her office; rather, the emphasis is on Tom's (Doug Savant) new "dream job" of opening a pizza parlor and the financial and personal conflicts that arise from it. The mystery is resolved unusually early, leaving the rest of the season to weddings and a shock ending. Even if a few scenarios were a little too obvious going for the emotional hot buttons (a hostage situation at a supermarket, a forest encounter), the writing and the cast were so good that we didn't mind being taken along for the ride and still found the moments moving. Huffman was the season's standout and accordingly scored the cast's only Emmy nomination, but everyone was in top form (including Cross, who was sorely missed when her real-life pregnancy knocked her out of a number of late-season episodes). Bonus features include featurettes on Eva Longoria and the season's weddings; clips from Amas de Casa Desesperadas, the Spanish-language version of the show with a different cast; a season recap; Marc Cherry's favorite scenes; eight deleted scenes with commentary by Cherry; and a blooper reel. --David Horiuchi

Desperate Housewives - The Complete Second Season

The ladies of Wisteria Lane returned for a second season of high anxiety, testy relationships, and a new mystery. Susan's (Teri Hatcher) angsty on-again off-again with Mike the plumber (James Denton) took an odd twist when her ex-husband (Richard Burgi) moved in with neighborhood seductress Edie (Nicollette Sheridan), then took an even odder one. Bree (Marcia Cross) resumed her widow's relationship with George the pharmacist (Roger Bart), then descended into personal addiction. Lynnette's (Felicity Huffman) return to the working world turned bizarre when her husband, Tom (Doug Savant), got tired of being a house-husband and returned to the workforce… at Lynnette's own firm. And Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) had to cope in her own unique way with Carlos (Ricardo Chavira) in prison.

With the first season's mystery surrounding Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong, still around as the narrator) revealed--though repercussions were still flying--the show's intrigue came from a new character, Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard), and her son (Mehcad Brooks), who try, unsuccessfully, to fit into Wisteria Lane while harboring their own secret. While Woodard is a great actor, her storyline tended to drag down the action, the brilliant Cross was saddled with two dismal character developments, and the housewives spent far too little time together. There were laughs to be had, however. Huffman's interplay with Savant was a highlight, and Gabrielle's conflict with a perceived rival named Sister Mary Bernard (Melinda Page Hamilton) was the funniest of the season. No longer as fresh as it had been in its debut season, Desperate Housewives ended up taking a back seat to its Sunday-night running mate, Grey's Anatomy, and was shut out of the major Emmy awards, but its late-season resurgence was a positive sign going into the third season. With Lesley Anne Warren as Susan's mother, Sophie; Bob Newhart as Sophie's beau; Andrea Bowen as Susan's steadfast daughter, Julie; Jay Harrington as Susan's doctor; Mark Moses and Cody Kasch as Paul and Zach Young, who continue to be plagued by Felicia Tilman (Harriet Sansom Harris) about what happened with Mary Alice; Shawn Pyfrom as Bree's rebellious son; Carol Burnett as Bree's stepmother; and Kyle MacLachlan as an oddball dentist.

On the DVDs
Creator Marc Cherry dominates the DVD features. He has a conversation with his muse, his mother; he comments on 27 minutes of his favorite scenes; and he has optional commentary on both the deleted scenes (15 minutes) and on the two unaired story lines. The longer of the story lines (11 minutes) focuses on Susan and her novel, with some nice interplay with Bob Newhart. In the shorter one (4 minutes), Lynnette tries to sneak in a phone call aboard a plane. The five lead actresses do get a chance to talk about their "juiciest bits" (about two minutes of recapping the season's kisses, etc.), the making of an episode, costumes, and their characters compared to TV's past housewives (with contributions from actresses such as Happy Days' Marion Ross and The Partridge Family's Shirley Jones). --David Horiuchi

Television's hottest show gets even juicier in its delicious second season. The women of Wisteria Lane are back and just when you thought things couldn't get any steamier a new neighbor and her handsome teenage son arrive to make new waves on the shady side of suburbia. Join the Emmy(R) Award-winning cast for all 24 episodes of Season Two and discover Bree's new life without Rex Lynette's chaotic return to the working world and what becomes of Susans on-again off-again relationship with Mike. That's just the beginning of the secrets in store in this six-disc DVD experience. Sizzling with sensational bonus features including a revealing never-before-seen storyline featuring Susan Mayer and a tell-all backstage dish session with the "Desperate Husbands" "there are almost too many things to love in Desperate Housewives" (San Francisco Chronicle).Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: TV-PG UPC: 786936300475 Manufacturer No: 04173700

Georgia Rule (Widescreen Edition)

When three generations of women collide, it isn't always pretty. In Georgia Rule, Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls) stars as Rachel, a wild child whose mother Lilly (Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives) ships her off to Idaho to be tamed by Georgia (Jane Fonda, On Golden Pond)--Lilly's own cantankerous mom. There, 17-year-old Rachel shocks the conservative community with her short shorts, eager sexuality (which she plies on everyone from 12-year-old boys to unsophisticated, but hot, Mormon neighbors), and her tales of possible sexual abuse at the hands of her somewhat slimy stepfather (Cary Elwes, The Princess Bride). As directed by Garry Marshall (Beaches, Pretty Woman), Georgia Rule is a flawed chick flick where the women are tolerable but not particularly likeable. The characters we want to know more about are the peripheral ones we don't see enough of--the men. Simon (Dermot Mulroney), the kindly (and sexy) veterinarian who was once madly in love with Lilly, in many ways is the film's moral compass. A widower whose wife and son died tragically in an accident, Simon would've made a more compelling movie subject than these women. And for all his latent pining for Lilly, the moviegoer feels relieved for him that dodged a bullet by not marrying into this dysfunctional family. While the female leads aren't quite believable as mother, daughter, and grandmother, they all have strong moments in the film that save it from being a groaning mess. While Lohan doesn't exhibit the charm she displayed in Mean Girls, she more than holds her own in parts with the scene-stealing Fonda, who is quite good at chewing up the scenery. --Jae-Ha Kim

Three generations of top actresses - two-time Academy Award winner Jane Fonda Lindsay Lohan and Felicity Huffman - unite in a film from director Garry Marshall about the power of redemption freedom in forgiveness and the unbreakable bonds of motherhood. When Lilly (Huffman) can no longer handle her rebellious teenage daughter Rachel (Lohan) she takes her to the one place she swore she'd never return her mother's house. For one very surprising summer these three very different women are living under one roof and under one rule: Georgia's (Fonda). System Requirements:Running time: 113 Mins. Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 025195006583 Manufacturer No: 61100796

Christmas with the Kranks

When their only daughter Blair leaves the family nest Luther and Nora Krank (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) decide to book an island cruise to beat the yuletide blues and just skip the holidays. But their decision to boycott tradition has the whole neighborhood in an uproar and when Blair calls on Christmas Eve to announce a surprise visit with her new fianc e the Kranks have just twelve hours to perform a miracle and pull themselves and their neighbors together to throw the best celebration ever! With fast-paced energy and support from Dan Aykroyd Cheech Marin Jake Busey and M. Emmet Walsh this hilarious adaptation of John Grisham's best-selling novel "Skipping Christmas" has become "an instant family classic!" (Gorman Woodfin CBN)System Requirements: Running Time 99 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 043396048614 Manufacturer No: 04861

Slapstick humor gets a full-body workout in Christmas with the Kranks. Critics were unanimous in their derision, and John Grisham must have gnashed his teeth over what studio-boss-turned-director Joe Roth did to his bestselling novel Skipping Christmas, to which this broad-stroked comedy bears little or no resemblance. The title characters are played by Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, who decide to skip Christmas because their daughter's in Peru with the Peace Corps. Thus begins a rabid program of enforced conformity when their neighbors (led by Dan Aykroyd) coerce the Kranks into changing their holiday attitude--a change that comes easily when the daughter announces she'll be home for Christmas after all. Imagine if a suburban lynch mob said "Have a Merry Christmas or we'll kill you," and you'll get some idea of what spending Christmas with the Kranks is really like. And if you laughed at the frozen cat, you're probably on Santa's "naughty" list. --Jeff Shannon

Path to War

The quagmire that was the Vietnam War comes to vivid life in this HBO film--not in the jungles of Southeast Asia, but in the offices of the White House, where a disastrous U.S. policy was forged. From Lyndon Johnson's landslide 1964 victory to his weary withdrawal from the 1968 race, Path to War charts the disappearance of LBJ's "Great Society" domestic dreams into the bramble patch of war. The bungled decisions are forcefully directed by John Frankenheimer, whose expertise at political intrigue shines in his final film. Donald Sutherland and Alec Baldwin do some of their best work in years (as Clark Clifford and Robert McNamara), although the great actor Michael Gambon, while impressive, doesn't quite capture the honey lilt of LBJ's beguiling style. Among the many superb scenes: Johnson intimidating an outmatched George Wallace (an unbilled Gary Sinise, re-creating a role from another Frankenheimer HBO film) on civil rights. --Robert Horton

PATH TO WAR tells the inside story of how "the best and the brightest" advisors in the Johnson administration including Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and special advisor Clark Clifford counsel the President in the decisions that will lead to America's deeper and deeper engagement in Vietnam. Torn between those who recommend increased bombing to win and those who advise a path be found to peace Johnson watches as his presidency and his nation are torn apart by the deaths of young Americans overseas and the protests of those who remain.Running Time: 164 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359191121