1990s and Newer

Stargate - Continuum

Baal travels back in time and prevents the Stargate program from ever being started. SG-1 team must somehow restore history and once again save the galaxy from oppressive domination.System Requirements:Running Time: 98 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 024543528463 Manufacturer No: 2252846

The Closer - The Complete Third Season

Episodes:HomewreckerGrave DoubtSaving FaceECRubyThe Round FileDumb LuckFour to EightManhuntBlindsidedCulture ShockLover's LeapTill Death Do Us (Part 1 & 2)Next of Kin (Part 1 & 2)System Requirements:Running Time: 685 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 085391201151 Manufacturer No: 120115

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

Firefly - The Complete Series

As the 2005 theatrical release of Serenity made clear, Firefly was a science fiction concept that deserved a second chance. Devoted fans (or "Browncoats") knew it all along, and with this well-packaged DVD set, those who missed the show's original broadcasts can see what they missed. Creator Joss Whedon's ambitious science-fiction Western (Whedon's third series after Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) was canceled after only 11 of these 14 episodes had aired on the Fox network, but history has proven that its demise was woefully premature. Whedon's generic hybrid got off to a shaky start when network executives demanded an action-packed one-hour premiere ("The Train Job"); in hindsight the intended two-hour pilot (also titled "Serenity," and oddly enough, the final episode aired) provides a better introduction to the show's concept and splendid ensemble cast. Obsessive fans can debate the quirky logic of combining spaceships with direct parallels to frontier America (it's 500 years in the future, and embattled humankind has expanded into the galaxy, where undeveloped "outer rim" planets struggle with the equivalent of Old West accommodations), but Whedon and his gifted co-writers and directors make it work, at least well enough to fashion a credible context from the incongruous culture-clashing of past, present, and future technologies, along with a polyglot language (the result of two dominant superpowers) that combines English with an abundance of Chinese slang.

What makes it work is Whedon's delightfully well-chosen cast and their nine well-developed characters--a typically Whedon-esque extended family--each providing a unique perspective on their adventures aboard Serenity, the junky but beloved "Firefly-class" starship they call home. As a veteran of the disadvantaged Independent faction's war against the all-powerful planetary Alliance (think of it as Underdogs vs. Overlords), Serenity captain Malcolm Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) leads his compact crew on a quest for survival. They're renegades with an amoral agenda, taking any job that pays well, but Firefly's complex tapestry of right and wrong (and peace vs. violence) is richer and deeper than it first appears. Tantalizing clues about Blue Sun (an insidious mega-corporation with a mysteriously evil agenda), its ties to the Alliance, and the traumatizing use of Serenity's resident stowaway (Summer Glau) as a guinea pig in the development of advanced warfare were clear indications Firefly was heading for exciting revelations that were precluded by the series' cancellation. Fortunately, the big-screen Serenity (which can be enjoyed independently of the series) ensured that Whedon's wild extraterrestrial west had not seen its final sunset. Its very existence confirms that these 14 episodes (and enjoyable bonus features) will endure as irrefutable proof Fox made a glaring mistake in canceling the series. --Jeff Shannon

Beyond Firefly on DVD

Watch Stargate: Continuum on DVD

Catch up on Stargate Atlantis on DVD

Check out Sunshine on DVD

Stills from Firefly (Click for larger image)

Five hundred years in the future there's a whole new frontier, and the crew of the Firefly-class spaceship Serenity is eager to stake a claim on the action. They'll take any job, legal or illegal, to keep fuel in the tanks and food on the table. But things get a bit more complicated after they take on a passenger wanted by the new totalitarian Alliance regime. Now they find themselves on the run, desperate to steer clear of Alliance ships and the flesh-eating Reavers who live on the fringes of space.

Weeds - Season Three

Weeds: Season Three continues the dark line of comedy that emerged in the previous season for this Showtime series. The story picks up exactly where it left off, with Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) faced with a half-dozen guns pointing at her in her own kitchen, while an Armenian gang and Nancy's buyer, U-Turn (Page Kennedy), both demand she turn over her entire stash of marijuana (worth several hundred thousand dollars). Problem is, the pot is in the trunk of on-again, off-again friend Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), whose car has been stolen by Nancy's oldest son, Silas (Hunter Parrish). Silas wants in on mom's business, but his timing couldn't be worse as Celia and a police officer show up to reclaim the car while Nancy is still at gunpoint. The fallout from all this is that Nancy ends up working for U-Turn to repay her debt to him, a dangerous relationship that sends Nancy down a rabbit hole of underworld threats and violence. Meanwhile, Celia gets booted out of her home by her husband and becomes estranged from her young daughter, Isabelle (Allie Grant), who insists she's a lesbian. Celia rebounds a bit when a corrupt developer (Matthew Modine) gives her a house in exchange for her support on city council for one of his schemes. That goes wrong, too, when Celia allows Nancy, Doug (Kevin Nealon), and Conrad (Romany Malco), all of whom go into business after U-Turn stops being a problem, to put their endangered trove of marijuana plants in her house. Nancy's other son, Shane (Alexander Gould), claims he can see and talk to the ghost of Nancy's late husband, and Nancy's brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk) goes AWOL from the U.S. Army after his comrade is deliberately killed in an experimental missile test. As always, it's one thing after another on Weeds, and the blend of humor and suspense is uniquely compelling. Parker and the rest of the cast pull off some pretty surreal situations with great credibility. The show's lead star, particularly, can carry moments of blended terror and comedy: one of the season's most memorable moments finds Nancy forced to put on a sexy dance for a group of drug dealers in order to pick up a package U-Turn requires. The scene is humiliating, frightening, sexy, and comical all at once. Few actresses could have pulled it off, but Parker does. --Tom Keogh

America's favorite pot-dealing soccer mom is more addictive than ever in the third season of WEEDS, the highly acclaimed Showtime(r) Original Series. Emmy (r) and Golden Globe(r) winner MARY-LOUISE PARKER stars as Nancy Botwin, a single mom who resorts to dealing pot after her husband dies suddenly. But when an off beat way to make ends meet grows into a mini-empire, the mother of all dealers finds she may be in over her head - and on the verge of taking everyone else with her. Hilarious and subversive, WEEDS is the hit that put the herb in suburb.

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

The Tudors - The Complete First Season

The Tudors presents the rarely dramatized tumultuous early years of King Henry VIII s nearly 40 year omnipotent reign (1509-1547). In addition to his famous female consorts and 20+ year marriage to Catherine of Aragon to the infamous dalliance with Anne Boleyn the series delves in to Henry s most notable political relationship and the deconstruction of the Roman Catholic Church in England.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 097368516045 Manufacturer No: 851604

The Tudors: The Complete First Season may cover the same subject matter as the 1970 BBC series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, but in every other respect it is a different idea of historical drama. Sexy and violent, The Tudors envisions Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) as a young man of both passion and ambition, driven by boundless sexual energy and the desire to establish a legacy early in his monarchy. When he isn't sleeping with any available beauty--heedless of whose daughter or wife a lover might be--he's getting fired up about going to war with France. He is amenable, however, to alternative ideas, including the counsel of his Lord Chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey (Sam Neill), who wants his king to sign a treaty of universal peace with all of Europe. Henry's fiery temperament endangers such a move, but Wolsey persists in hopes of gaining France's support for his own, possible ascendance to the papacy. His ambitions are not to be, however, and his fortunes go downhill as Henry's desire to wed Ann Boleyn (Natalie Dormer) puts Wolsey in the position of petitioning Rome for a hearing on the legitimacy of Henry's marriage to Queen Katherine.

Henry's shrewd alliance with the king of Spain is also testament to his desire to have more influence over European affairs. But his even greater desire for another woman proves an obstacle there, too. Over the course of the ten episodes on The Complete First Season, Henry's confidence grows as a monarch while his self-interest undercuts his better judgement about making a difference to Europe's progress. While the series makes the historical events rich and captivating, it also makes Henry's love life a voyeuristic delight, full of candlelit flesh and romps in the royal bed. Some of the most fascinating characters in the show are those who figure out the link between Henry's libido and his exercise of power--including Boleyn's own father (Nick Dunning), who encourages Ann to keep up the good work. Sheesh. --Tom Keogh

Bones - The Complete Second Season

Detectives Bones and Booth create undeniable chemistry and humor while solving crimes using frequently clashing investigative styles.System Requirements:Running Time: 946 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543460459 Manufacturer No: 2246045

Beginning with the death of a senator and ending with a marriage, the second season of Bones builds on the momentum created during the Fox drama's debut year. Bones' sophomore season (which includes all 21 episodes that originally aired during 2006-2007) centers on the collaborations between FBI special agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), whom Booth has nicknamed "Bones." While Booth doesn't completely believe in Bones' method, he can't argue with her success rate at solving crimes. As for Bones, she is meticulous at what she does and is a borderline genius, but she has issues. Seemingly oblivious to her own good looks, she is all but socially inept. Booth may be blunt, but he's comfortable dealing with the public. Bones, on the other hand, would rather be sequestered away with the dead, trying to figure out what happened before their uncertain deaths. Of course, while viewers can see that Bones and Booth would be a perfect couple, the characters aren't quite there yet. Their friendship becomes a little more complicated this season when it turns out that Bones' new demanding boss, Dr. Camille Saroyan (Tamara Taylor), is a former girlfriend of Booth's. And the two women aren't getting along.

Still, everyone is able to work together to solve a series of crimes, such as identifying the remains of an all but unidentifiable teenage boy and dealing with a serial killer who is emulating the crimes depicted in Bones' latest mystery novel. (Yes, she's not only a brilliant scientist but also an ace author.) Like many television dramas where forensic evidence is a driving force in the plots, Bones offers up the gross-out autopsies. But it also serves up a lot of humanity in the way the characters interact with one another. It is giving nothing away to reveal that Bones and Booth are not the couple getting married in the season finale. But the episode does reveal that beneath their tough exteriors, marriage and all that it implies is something they wouldn't mind... perhaps even with each other. --Jae-Ha Kim

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

Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Fourth Season

Enter a world of change in the irresistible and unforgettable fourth season of one of television's most acclaimed dramas. Love lies and family ties are revealed as the surgeons of Seattle Grace discover that their choices have major unintended consequences. And coupled with the arrival of some very eager new interns life at the hospital sizzles with more emotion excitement and heartbreak than ever before. Get an extra dose of GREY'S ANATOMY in this comprehensive 5-disc DVD box set complete with never-before-seen extended episodes and exclusive bonus features that take you inside the world of your favorite doctors. From the very first minute you'll be hooked on TV's most talked about show.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 786936754193 Manufacturer No: 05636400