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There´s A TV In My Dvd Player!
CL's picks of the best television on DVD
By Matt Brunson @moviematt1, Sam Boykin, John Schacht, Ann Wicker, Timothy C. Davis, Samir Shukla, Linda Vespa and Maggi Grooms
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EXTRAS: None.
FUN FACT: Falk again donned the trenchcoat for 24 more Columbo flicks made between 1989 and 2003.
- Matt Brunson
FOYLE'S WAR
WHO AND WHEN: Starring Michael Kitchen, Anthony Howell, Honeysuckle Weeks. Originally broadcast on BBC and PBS 2002-2004.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON DVD: Series 1 and 2, each with four episodes.
WHAT'S SO GREAT?: As the British suffer through the war in 1940, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle has been prevented from enlisting by his superiors. Instead, he's stuck solving domestic homicides in Hastings, on the southern coast of England, an area also vulnerable to invasion. This well-written and beautifully filmed series gives us a good look at what day-to-day life was like and insight into the British frame of mind at the time.
BEST SEASON: There are 12 episodes with more on the way. The episodes have been broadcast in sets of four on PBS (Mystery! and Masterpiece Theatre). In the second set, the main characters are more developed and the story lines more complex: "Fifty Ships" and "War Games" are particularly good.
EXTRAS: The DVD episodes are uncut and slightly longer than the ones broadcast on PBS. The first set has commentary and an interview with writer/director Anthony Horowitz, and the second set has additional material with Horowitz plus an interview with Honeysuckle Weeks.
FUN FACT: Kitchen and Weeks first worked together on the British series Lorna Doone.
- Ann Wicker
MIAMI VICE
WHO AND WHEN: Starring Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, Edward James Olmos. Originally broadcast on NBC 1984-1989.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON DVD: Season 1.
WHAT'S SO GREAT?: If you're currently in your late 20s to late 30s, odds are that at some point during the 1980s, you wore white pants, a pastel shirt, and/or a pastel blazer. Odds are even greater that you were trying to imitate the inimitable Crockett and Tubbs, the two best-dressed cops in TV history. Even when taking on potentially touchy subjects — drug-running, immigration, homelessness and addiction — the show was as flashy and stylized as the city it was based around. The pairing of music and visual image had reached a fever pitch in the midst of the MTV-spawned "video age," and few shows ever did a better job of combining the two.
BEST SEASON: The second and third season are generally agreed to be the best, but have yet to be released.
EXTRAS: The two-hour pilot, several short documentaries on the music and clothing, and a series introduction by creator Michael Mann.
CAVEAT EMPTOR: At $60, the price is rather steep, but you do get 22 shows. However, the reproduction quality isn't what you'd like — the sound sometimes lags a bit behind the visuals, which is anathema to a show that relies so heavily upon both.
- Timothy c. Davis
PRIME SUSPECT
WHO AND WHEN: Starring Helen Mirren and a large supporting cast. Movie-length, individual episodes originally broadcast in chapters by BBC and PBS 1993-1997, revived for one last episode in 2004.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON DVD: Entire series, in six sets.
WHAT'S SO GREAT?: Mirren revived her career with her deep, nuanced portrayal of London Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison in a series of first-rate, complex mysteries. Often battling the sexism inherent in her chosen profession, Tennison is a dedicated professional woman who sacrifices much of her personal life for her career.
BEST SEASON: In Prime Suspect 2, Tennison's private life is entwined with her investigation of the murder of Caribbean girl, while also facing up to the racism in her own department that stalls the case.
EXTRAS: None.
LOOK FOR: The murderer from PS1 shows up again, while still in prison, in PS4.
- John Grooms
SIX FEET UNDER
WHO AND WHEN: Starring Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy, Lauren Ambrose, Freddy Rodriguez, Rachel Griffiths. Originally broadcast on HBO 2001-2004.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON DVD: Seasons 1-3.
WHAT'S SO GREAT?: An HBO dark comedy series with larger than life characters that worm their way into your heart despite their multitude of personal flaws. The show follows the daily lives of the Fishers, a quirky, dysfunctional Los Angeles family that runs a funeral home. Each episode is loosely based around the death of a family client and the daily struggles of the family and those who come in contact with them.
BEST SEASON: Season 2. The show really hits its stride as screenwriter Alan Ball, the creator of American Beauty, really develops the characters and sets up the pitfalls they'll be struggling to dig their way out of for the rest of the series.
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