TV DVD September-November 2008

Compiled by Cheryl Biggs -- Video Business, 8/4/2008

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News and selected titles being released September-November in the TV DVD genre.

UPCOMING TITLES

Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Definitive Collection This set includes 12 films featuring the beloved detective. Street Sept. 23, prebook Aug. 26; 12-disc set $99.95

Acorn

The Red Green Show: 2000 Season Red and his pals tackle handyman dilemmas. Street Sept. 16, prebook Aug. 19; three-disc set $39.99

BBC/Warner

Torchwood: The Complete First Season (six-disc BD $99.98) and The Complete Second Season (five-disc set $79.98) More adventures in alien hunting for Capt. Jack Harkness and his team. Both street Sept. 16, prebook Aug. 12

Big Vision/First Look

Ghost Hunters: Season 4—Part 1 Ghost hunters investigate army forts, libraries and asylums. Street Oct. 7, prebook Sept. 2; three-disc set $24.98

CBS/Paramount

Star Trek: Alternate Realities Available for the first time on DVD, this features the episodes in which favorite characters behave contrary to type. Street Sept. 16, prebook Aug. 5; five-disc set $42.99

First Look

Grace Under Fire: Season 1 Comic Brett Butler plays a no-nonsense survivor of a bad marriage who raises her three kids on her own. Street Oct. 7, prebook Sept. 2; three-disc set $24.98

Fox

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 3 It’s business as usual for the Paddy’s Pub gang, as they sabotage the bar down the street and adopt dumpster babies. Street Sept. 9, prebook Aug. 13; three-disc set $39.98

Genius

White House Pets This looks at the animals that have lived in the Oval Office under 39 presidents. Street Oct. 14, prebook Sept. 2; DVD $12.95

HBO/Warner

The Sopranos: The Complete Series This set includes a 56-page hand-assembled album and all 86 episodes remastered, with two bonus discs and three CD soundtracks. Street Nov. 11, prebook Oct. 7; 28-disc set $399.99

Image

Bizarre Foods Collection 2 Andrew Zimmerman continues his quest to find the planet’s most exotic foods. Street Oct. 7, prebook Sept. 9; DVD $19.98

Lionsgate

Will & Grace: Season Eight (four-disc set $44.98) and The Complete Series Set (33-disc set $249.98) The final season of the groundbreaking series is released along with the entire series collection. Both street Sept. 16, prebook Aug. 20

MPI

Dark Shadows: The Beginning—Collection 6 This ’60s serial became one of daytime’s most popular series. Street Oct. 28, prebook Sept. 22; four-disc set $59.98

Shout Factory/Vivendi

Sports Night: The Complete Series 10th Anniversary The series about the struggles and victories of a witty dream team on a cable network. Street Sept. 30, prebook Sept. 2; eight-disc set $69.99

Smithsonian/Infinity

Stories From the Vaults: Season One Curators, experts and scientists share their most prized and surprising artifacts; America’s Greatest Monuments: Washington, D.C. A look at our country’s greatest shrines. Both street Sept. 23, prebook Aug. 19; DVD $24.98, BD $34.98 each

Sony

Cashmere Mafia: The Complete Series Lucy Liu, Frances O’Connor, Miranda Otto and Bonnie Somerville star as four New York power players trying to hold their lives together. Street Sept. 23, prebook Aug. 21; two-disc set $29.95

VCI

The Starlost: Complete Series The giant earthship Ark drifts through deep space in this sci-fi series, first broadcast in 1973. Street Sept. 30, prebook Sept. 5; four-disc set $49.99

Warner

Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season Clark Kent’s cousin Kara must keep a low profile until she masters her powers. Street Sept. 9, prebook Aug. 5; six-disc set $59.98; three-disc BD $79.98

WGBH

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries 6 The sophisticated inspector and his prickly sidekick are back in this final series. Street Sept. 2, prebook Aug. 5; two-disc set $29.95

Emmy elite

The Emmy Awards will be presented on Sept. 21. Below are multiple nominees making their way to DVD prior to the start of the series' next seasons.

Program (Label/distributor)	Noms	Street Date	Prebook	Price
30 Rock S2 (Universal)	17	Oct. 7	now	$39.98
Pushing Daisies S1 (Warner)	12	Sept. 16	Aug. 12	$29.98
Recount (HBO/Warner)	11	Aug. 19	now	$19.98
The Office S4 (Universal)	8	Sept. 2	now	$49.98
Boston Legal S4 (Fox)	7	Sept. 23	Aug. 27	$59.98
Lost S4 (Disney)	7	Dec. 9	Oct. 14	$59.99
Two and a Half Men S4 (Warner)	7	Sept. 23	Aug. 19	$44.98
Ugly Betty S2 (Disney)	6	Sept. 9	now	$59.99
Dexter S2 (Showtime/Paramount)	5	Aug. 19	now	$39.98
Entourage S4 (HBO/Warner)	5	Aug. 26	now	$39.98
Grey’s Anatomy S4 (Disney)	5	Sept. 9	now	$59.99
This American Life S1 (Showtime/Paramount)	5	Sept. 23	Aug. 12	$19.99

Smothers makes disc debut

Vintage controversy arrives with the release of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: The Best of Season Three, marking the first time the landmark show, which ran from 1967 to 1969 on CBS, has ever been available for the home entertainment market. Eleven episodes from the show’s third and final season, handpicked by brothers Tom and Dick Smothers and packaged in a well-supplemented set, will arrive at retail Sept. 16 in a four-disc set ($49.95) and via the company’s Web site Aug. 1 in a five-disc set ($69.99).

“Of course, the second season was good too—the war in Vietnam was heating up and the political content of the show was growing,” says Dick Smothers. “But the third season was the strongest in many ways.”

Much of the third season’s strength might have derived from the volatile events of the previous summer and spring, which included the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy and the fiery Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It became the final season for the show, which CBS canceled despite its popularity and a tentative renewal for a fourth season.

“Censorship was part of the package then; it was real,” Dick Smothers remembers. “There’s a lot more opportunity to get around that today. And, yes, there’s always freedom of speech,” he adds. “But today, you also have corporations controlling everything, and there’s no freedom of listening.” —Laurence Lerman

Time Life

The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour: The Best of Season Three The folk-singing comedy duo’s show featured a who’s who of ’60s comedy and music. Street Sept. 16, prebook Aug. 19; four-disc set $49.95

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