Television

Stargate Atlantis - The Complete Fourth Season

Disc 1:AdriftLifelineReunionDoppelgangerDisc 2:TravelersTabula RasaMissingThe SeerDisc 3:Miller's CrossingThis Mortal CoilBe All My Sins Remember'dSpoils of WarDisc 4:QuarantineHarmonyOutcastTrioDisc 5:MidwayThe KindredThe Kindred Part 2The Last ManSystem Requirements:Running Time: 900 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 883904110132 Manufacturer No: M111013

An acclaimed cast that includes Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett, Rachel Luttrell, Jason Momoa and Amanda Tapping returns for season 4 of the incredible Stargate Atlantis series. Colonel Samantha Carter (Tapping) takes charge as the city's new leader, facing new and daunting challenges, including joining forces with the dangerous Wraith in order to fight a common enemy--the seemingly unstoppable Replicators.

Beyond Stargate: Atlantis - Season Four on DVD

Stargate: Atlantis - Season One on DVD

Stargate: Atlantis - Season Two on DVD

Stargate: Atlantis - Season Three on DVD

Stills from Stargate: Atlantis - Season Four (Click for larger image)

Heroes: Season 2

Rejoin the epic and suspenseful phenomenon as Heroes: Season 2 arrives on DVD! Experience all the new and exciting twists of the astonishing series in this 4-disc set that includes every gripping Season 2 episode. Plus, see what could have been with exclusive bonus features that reveal the untold stories that never aired and an alternate ending to the season finale, where the fate of humanity takes an ominous turn when Peter fails to catch the vial containing the deadly virus.

Mad Men - Season One

MAD MEN - SEASON 1 (DVD MOVIE)

Stills from Mad Men (click for larger image)

Burn Notice - Season One

Michael Westen is a trained spy who receives a "burn notice" for an unstated reason & effectively is fired. Penniless he returns to his hometown in Miami and freelances while trying to find who burned him.System Requirements:Running Time: 530 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543519317 Manufacturer No: 2251931

Burn Notice is a canny, clever comedy-thriller show about a covert operative with a heart of gold. Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is in the middle of a top-secret mission when he discovers he's been "burned"--basically, fired without warning. After barely extricating himself from danger, he wakes up in Miami, where the government has abandoned him and locked him out of his own bank account. To make ends meet, he takes on private detective jobs (helping an old lady who's fallen victim to a con artist; rescuing a young girl who's being tricked into white slavery; helping a mother whose son has been kidnapped by the boy's father... only it turns out the father is the rightful parent and the "mom" is an assassin sent to kill him--a nice guest star appearance by Lucy Lawless, Xena: Warrior Princess), while trying to figure out who burned him and why. Westen tries to remain clinical in his approach to these problems, but he always ends up protecting the helpless with his sophisticated spy skills. Over the course of the first season, he gradually uncovers a mysterious conspiracy that plans to use his talents for their own nefarious ends. Burn Notice deftly mixes the old and the new. The old: Our hero has a hot ex-girlfriend (Gabrielle Anwar, Scent of a Woman), a goofy sidekick (cult hero Bruce Campbell of the Evil Dead movies), and a meddling mom (Sharon Gless, Cagney & Lacey) who help and hinder him in his investigations, as well as a MacGyver-esque skill for making deadly devices out of common household products. The new: A media-savvy way of deconstructing the tricks and techniques of spies and government agencies, often resulting in smart and highly entertaining plot twists. Donovan, handsome but cheeky, combines a light comic touch with a convincing secret agent cool, and the supporting cast fill their niches with aplomb. Their escapades are pretty breezy and occasionally skirt being glib, but most of the time the show finds an extremely entertaining balance between action, romance, and humor. The extras are few (some montages of characteristic moments from the series, including one of the many bikini-clad girls the Miami locale provides) and the commentaries, rather than covering entire episodes, just discuss a few select scenes from each show. Fortunately, the series itself holds up; imagine a cross between Magnum, P.I. and The Wild Wild West (the classic series, not the insulting Will Smith movie) and you're on the right track. --Bret Fetzer

Beyond Burn Notice on DVD

Watch 24 on DVD

Check out Saving Grace starring Holly Hunter

Catch up on Prison Break on DVD

Stills from 24 (Click for larger image)

Dexter - The Complete Second Season

DEXTER is a crime drama about Dexter Morgan a man who leads a double life as an incredibly likeable forensics expert for the Miami Police Department and as an emotionless vigilante serial killer. Taught by his foster father to harness his lust for blood and killing Dexter lives by his own strict moral code - he only kills murderers who can't otherwise be brought to justice. Dexter is a killer who grapples with fitting into society while at the same time he struggles with his inability to feel emotion. The irony of Dexter's life is that he works closely as a blood splatter analyst with the very people who hunt his kind - the homicide department. Dexter's "Regular Joe" front is in full force while working alongside the ill-tempered Sgt. James Doakes who seems to be the only one to sense Dexter's more sinister side and Lt. Maria LaGuerta the head of the division who pursues Dexter sexually with as much force as she would any criminal. While his sister Debra Morgan a tough and determined cop leans on Dexter for personal advice and career advancement the closest one Dexter "connects" with is Det. Angel Batista whose similar attention to detail and taste for forensics almost mirrors his own. While sentiment and feelings elude Dexter he struggles to find a kindred spirit of sorts in his emotionally damaged girlfriend Rita who keeps him grounded in the realities of "normal" life and provides him respite from the dark corners of his mind. The series is based on the acclaimed novel "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" by Jeff Lindsay.System Requirements:Running Time: 636 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097368925144 Manufacturer No: 892514

Dark and sinister is the new sexy, thanks to Dexter, which in its second season has proven to be the most successful series Showtime has offered up yet. Remember how much you squirmed in your seat during the season one finale? Believe it or not, the premiere of season two felt like it could have been a season finale--because jaws were on the floor when the credits rolled. For being a supposed sociopath, Dex is pretty broken up about the gruesome events that concluded last season. The one and only person who could possibly understand him is six feet under, and it seems our unlikely hero is losing his homicidal grip. He's even having a little trouble slicing up a few of his latest victims (from a murderous gang member to a chainsaw-wielding fiend from his past). Enter Lila (Jaime Murray, Hustle), a lady with a sweet British accent and a few dark secrets of her own. She seems to accept Dex for who he really is, and he finds himself feeling relaxed for the first time in his life. In contrast, his relationship with his girlfriend Rita (Julie Benz) has been stretched almost to a breaking point. The problem is, he should be anything but relaxed. Someone picked a poor place to go scuba diving off the Florida coast, and came across an underwater graveyard: Dex's primo spot for dropping dismembered bodies wrapped in heavy-duty trash bags. Word about the "Bay Harbor Butcher" gets out quick, and the F.B.I. sends the best of the best, Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine, Deadwood) to work alongside the police to sniff out Miami's latest serial killer. This guy is no schlub, and Dex may have met his match. And, yes, Dexter gets to work with Lundy on a daily basis, which provides some wonderfully awkward moments. It certainly doesn't help that the intuitively paranoid Sergeant Doakes (Erik King, Oz) is hot on Dex's trail.

Season two of Dexter is all about decisions. Lila or Rita? Old code or new code? Run or fight? Right or wrong? Well, one thing's for sure: When it comes to writing, casting, acting, and production, the makers of this show made all the right decisions. Michael C. Hall is simply superb as the title character. You'll never find yourself more willing to genuinely root for a serial killer. It's bloody liberating. --Jordan Thompson

House, M.D. - Season Four

Prepare for even more baffling, complex and shocking medical mysteries than ever before as every season four episode of House arrives on DVD! Reunite with the perplexing and prickly Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie in his two-time Golden Globe®-winning role) as he tackles impossible cases while putting a new staff of potential team members - including Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle), Peter Jacobson (The Starter Wife), and Olivia Wilde (The Black Donnellys) - through the medical wringer with his trademark sarcasm and irreverent bedside manner. Get ready for another dose of one of TV's most original dramas and what Entertainment Weekly calls “One of the most compelling characters in TV history.”

Eureka - Season Two

It's the same small town but the hidden secrets are even bigger in the city of Eureka in Season 2 of this mysteriously-surreal and quirky series.System Requirements:Running Time: 565 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025195017176 Manufacturer No: 61102106

The Wire - The Complete Fifth Season

In the projects. On the docks. In City Hall. In the schools. And now in the media. The places and faces have changed but the game remains the same. Times are tough for the detail. Mayor Carcetti has slashed the departments budget to the bone. Police are operating without overtime some without cars and radios. Angered McNulty is off the rails again and headed down a dangerous path of deception and lies that will ally him with an unscrupulous reporter. The drug trade still rules the corners all you have to do is read between the lines.Running Time: 630 min.System Requirements:Running Time: 630 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 883929015368 Manufacturer No: 1000038240

A barroom toast to Det. Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), a one-man good cop/bad cop, offered in The Wire's final episode could very well serve as this series' epitaph: "When you were good, you were the best we had." Season five bears witness to this. The 10 riveting, wrenching episodes focus on yet another beleaguered Baltimore institution, The Baltimore Sun daily newspaper, whose staff, much like the police, is forced to do more with less. One editor (Clark Johnson) struggles to maintain the paper's journalistic standards in the face of declining ad revenues, employee buyouts and bureau closures. An ambitious reporter (Tom McCarthy) undermines him by taking a page out of the Stephen Glass/Jayson Blair playbook, manufacturing sensational quotes, and eventually, whole stories, while bean-counter management encourages its rising star and keeps its eye on the (Pulitzer) prize. Meanwhile, on the streets, the year-long investigation of rising drug lord Marlo Sansfield (Jamie Hector) and the 22 bodies found in "the vacants" has been discontinued and police morale is at an all-time low (the money promised to the department has been diverted to the schools). McNulty manufactures a serial killer case that will have far-reaching repercussions in the mayor's office, where Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) is mounting a run for governor a mere two years into his term. "I wonder what it would be like to work at a real police station," McNulty rages at one point. The Wire, as ever, is all about real. It's a gritty and unflinching look at life in one of roughest districts of a "broke-ass city." There is street justice for some characters, and street injustice for others. Some meet sad, sudden, or shocking ends that defy TV convention. Referring to Marlo, McNulty declares early on, "He does not get to win; we get to win." The hard-earned victories are mostly small, or come with a price. Not that The Wire does not offer glimmers of hope. Bubbles (Andre Royo) struggles to maintain his sobriety (Steve Earle portrays the leader of his 12-step program and also does the theme song honors this season), and the final episode features a cameo by Jim True-Frost as the once overwhelmed teacher, "Prez," who now seems to have the hang of the job. The ratings-strapped and criminally Emmy-snubbed The Wire has always been a critic's darling with a passionate fan base. To the show's credit, it did not make itself more accessible in its final season (consequently, its send-off did not receive near the fanfare of The Sopranos or Sex and the City). That should not dissuade newcomers to the show. It is heavy lifting, and if you're just joining The Wire, a visit to the show's official website for orientation is recommended. But buy it, watch it, and be patient. It's so worth it. From the masterful storytelling to the peerless ensemble, it just doesn't get any better than The Wire. But that's not exactly news. --Donald Liebenson

Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series

With an unprecedented production budget of $25 million and from the makers of Blue Planet: Seas of Life comes the epic story of life on Earth. Five years in production over 2000 days in the field using 40 cameramen filming across 200 locations shot entirely in high definition this is the ultimate portrait of our planet. A stunning television experience that captures rare action impossible locations and intimate moments with our planet's best-loved wildest and most elusive creatures. From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers this blockbuster series takes you on an unforgettable journey through the daily struggle for survival in Earth's most extreme habitats. Planet Earth takes you to places you have never seen before to experience sights and sounds you may never experience anywhere else.Running Time: 550 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MISCELLANEOUS/SPECIAL INTEREST UPC: 794051293824 Manufacturer No: E2938

As of its release in early 2007, Planet Earth is quite simply the greatest nature/wildlife series ever produced. Following the similarly monumental achievement of The Blue Planet: Seas of Life, this astonishing 11-part BBC series is brilliantly narrated by Sir David Attenborough and sensibly organized so that each 50-minute episode covers a specific geographical region and/or wildlife habitat (mountains, caves, deserts, shallow seas, seasonal forests, etc.) until the entire planet has been magnificently represented by the most astonishing sights and sounds you'll ever experience from the comforts of home. The premiere episode, "From Pole to Pole," serves as a primer for things to come, placing the entire series in proper context and giving a general overview of what to expect from each individual episode. Without being overtly political, the series maintains a consistent and subtle emphasis on the urgent need for ongoing conservation, best illustrated by the plight of polar bears whose very behavior is changing (to accommodate life-threatening changes in their fast-melting habitat) in the wake of global warming--a phenomenon that this series appropriately presents as scientific fact. With this harsh reality as subtext, the series proceeds to accentuate the positive, delivering a seemingly endless variety of natural wonders, from the spectacular mating displays of New Guinea's various birds of paradise to a rare encounter with Siberia's nearly-extinct Amur Leopards, of which only 30 remain in the wild.

That's just a hint of the marvels on display. Accompanied by majestic orchestral scores by George Fenton, every episode is packed with images so beautiful or so forcefully impressive (and so perfectly photographed by the BBC's tenacious high-definition camera crews) that you'll be rendered speechless by the splendor of it all. You'll see a seal struggling to out-maneuver a Great White Shark; swimming macaques in the Ganges delta; massive flocks of snow geese numbering in the hundreds of thousands; an awesome night-vision sequence of lions attacking an elephant; the Colugo (or "flying lemur"--not really a lemur!) of the Philippines; a hunting alliance of fish and snakes on Indonesia's magnificent coral reef; the bioluminescent "vampire squid" of the deep oceans... these are just a few of countless highlights, masterfully filmed from every conceivable angle, with frequent use of super-slow-motion and amazing motion-controlled time-lapse cinematography, and narrated by Attenborough with his trademark combination of observational wit and informative authority. The result is a hugely entertaining series that doesn't flinch from the predatory realities of nature (death is a constant presence, without being off-putting), and each episode ends with 10-minute "Planet Earth Diaries" (exclusive to this DVD set) that cover a specific aspect of production, like "Diving with Pirahnas" or "Into the Abyss" (the latter showing the rigors of filming the planet's most spectacular caves, including the last filming ever officially permitted in the "Chandelier Ballroom," a crystal-encrusted cavern found over a mile deep in New Mexico's treacherous Lechuguilla, the deepest cave in the continental United States.)

With so many of Earth's natural wonders on display, it's only fitting that the final DVD in this five-disc set is devoted to Planet Earth: The Future, a separate three-part series in which a global array of experts is assembled to discuss issues of conservation, protection of delicate ecosystems, and the socio-economic benefits of understanding nature as a commodity that returns trillions of dollars in value at no cost to Earth's human population. At a time when the multiple threats of global warming should be obvious to all, let's give Sir David the last word, from the closing of Planet Earth's final episode: "We can now destroy or we can cherish--the choice is ours." --Jeff Shannon

More Planet Earth

Planet Earth on Blu-ray

Planet Earth on HD DVD

More BBC DVDs

Stills from Planet Earth (click for larger image)

Birds of Prey: The Complete Series

Who will stand up to villains now that a heartbroken Dark Knight has mysteriously vanished? Never fear New Gothamites a trio of champions is ready to take wing ? and Helena the daughter of Batman and Catwoman is among them. She calls herself Huntress and crime is her prey. Teenaged Dinah is the youngest of the group learning as she goes and gifted in clairvoyance. And overseeing the awesome threesome?s high-tech nerve center is Batgirl. Left wheelchair-bound by The Joker she has reinvented herself as Oracle the team?s cyber expert. Huntress Dinah Oracle: They are the Birds of Prey. Fighting together. Living together. And soaring into adventure together in 13 breathtaking live-action episodes.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 883929012954 Manufacturer No: 1000037575