Rizzoli & Isles keeps on rolling through season five, and Justified comes to an end with season six, both newly released on home video this week.
Rizzoli & Isles: The Complete Fifth Season (Warner/DVD, 2014-15, four discs, 18 episodes, deleted scenes, featurette, bloopers). Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander are terrific as the title characters, a Boston homicide detective and medical examiner, respectively, in this police procedural with liberal doses of comedy (based on Tess Gerritsens novels). This season, a jogging mom is killed in a park, a rare-book sellers murder leads to ancient Celtic writings and a womans mummified remains are discovered. Bruce McGill and Lorraine Bracco co-star.
Justified: The Complete Final Season (Sony/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, three discs, 13 episodes, deleted scenes, featurettes). The sixth and final season of Justified was a mixed blessing for fans who were sad it was ending but relieved that the series concluded in a most satisfying manner. For me, the final episode ranks with the best in TV history in terms of wrapping up a show in a way that both pleases fans and maintains the integrity of the characters.
For the uninitiated, Justified, which is rated TV-MA, follows the exploits of no-nonsense U.S. marshal Raylan Givens, perfectly personified by Timothy Olyphant, and his efforts to take down his former boyhood pal Boyd Crowder, who is now a psychopathic criminal, perfectly embodied by Walton Goggins. For these actors, these were roles of a lifetime, and they played them wonderfully for six years.
The Wire: The Complete Series (HBO/Blu-ray/Digital, 2002-08, 20 discs, 60 episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes). This gritty HBO series (with all the requisite R-rated content) is being released here in widescreen for the first time as an upgraded Blu-ray edition. The show is set in Baltimore where it explores the fine line between integrity and compromise in the midst of urban life, with an ensemble played by little-known character actors. Not strictly a crime show, though that is its main thrust.
Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Fifth Season (Warner/DVD, 2014-15, six discs, 25 episodes, deleted scenes, fan-appreciation episode: We Love You to Death, featurettes). Based on the books by Sara Shepard, this ABC Family cable series follows a clique of five high school girls who, as the title suggests, are mostly devious, secretive and self-centered. Someone called this Desperate Housewives for teens, which is an apt description.
Touched By an Angel: I Will Walk With You (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 2003, two episodes). This two-part story was the finale of Touched By an Angel, the final two episodes of season nine, during which angel Monica (Roma Downey) performs her last assignment with supervisor Tess (Della Reese) before being promoted, and encounters both Jesus and Satan. Regulars John Dye and Valerie Bertinelli are on hand, along with guests Patrick Duffy, Patty Duke and Cloris Leachman, among others.
Where Was God? (Cinedigm/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, deleted/extended scenes, featurettes; Bible program insert). Faith-based documentary about a community coming together in the aftermath of a devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, focusing on stories of survivors.
New Worlds (Acorn/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, two discs, four episodes, deleted scene, featurettes, photo gallery). British costume miniseries, a sequel to The Devils Mistress (with different actors), follows two stories that intersect, one set in England and the other in America during the North American colonization. Jamie Dornan stars, with Jeremy Northam among the supporting cast.
Big Little Movies: Dora Saves Fairytale Land (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 2015).
Big Little Movies: Umi Space Heroes (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 2015).
Big Little Movies: Doras Explorer Girls: Our First Concert (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 2011). Each of these three titles under the Big Little Movies banner is an hourlong TV special (45 minutes here), with no additional episodes. Fairyland has Dora and friends rescuing familiar fairy tale characters. Space Heroes has the Team Umizoomi kids heading into space to rescue the moon from The Trouble Makers. And Concert has Dora and friends losing their tickets to a Shakira concert. (Fairytale Land is making its DVD debut before it airs on the Nickelodon cable channel.)
Bubble Guppies: The Puppy and the Ring (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 2012-13, four episodes). Besides the title episode from this animated series, included are Sir Nonny the Nice, Bubble-Cadabra and The Wizard of Oz-tralia!
Once Upon a Sign: The Magic Mirror in American Sign Language (DawnSignKids/DVD, 2015, featurette). One of three new 25-minute releases performed for hearing-impaired children by a deaf cast using American Sign Language. Here, a young girl needs a confidence boost to audition for a talent show, and help comes in an unexpected way. (Also available are The New Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The New Little Red Riding Hood.)
Rizzoli & Isles: The Complete Fifth Season (Warner/DVD, 2014-15, four discs, 18 episodes, deleted scenes, featurette, bloopers). Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander are terrific as the title characters, a Boston homicide detective and medical examiner, respectively, in this police procedural with liberal doses of comedy (based on Tess Gerritsens novels). This season, a jogging mom is killed in a park, a rare-book sellers murder leads to ancient Celtic writings and a womans mummified remains are discovered. Bruce McGill and Lorraine Bracco co-star.
Justified: The Complete Final Season (Sony/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, three discs, 13 episodes, deleted scenes, featurettes). The sixth and final season of Justified was a mixed blessing for fans who were sad it was ending but relieved that the series concluded in a most satisfying manner. For me, the final episode ranks with the best in TV history in terms of wrapping up a show in a way that both pleases fans and maintains the integrity of the characters.
For the uninitiated, Justified, which is rated TV-MA, follows the exploits of no-nonsense U.S. marshal Raylan Givens, perfectly personified by Timothy Olyphant, and his efforts to take down his former boyhood pal Boyd Crowder, who is now a psychopathic criminal, perfectly embodied by Walton Goggins. For these actors, these were roles of a lifetime, and they played them wonderfully for six years.
The Wire: The Complete Series (HBO/Blu-ray/Digital, 2002-08, 20 discs, 60 episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes). This gritty HBO series (with all the requisite R-rated content) is being released here in widescreen for the first time as an upgraded Blu-ray edition. The show is set in Baltimore where it explores the fine line between integrity and compromise in the midst of urban life, with an ensemble played by little-known character actors. Not strictly a crime show, though that is its main thrust.
Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Fifth Season (Warner/DVD, 2014-15, six discs, 25 episodes, deleted scenes, fan-appreciation episode: We Love You to Death, featurettes). Based on the books by Sara Shepard, this ABC Family cable series follows a clique of five high school girls who, as the title suggests, are mostly devious, secretive and self-centered. Someone called this Desperate Housewives for teens, which is an apt description.
Touched By an Angel: I Will Walk With You (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 2003, two episodes). This two-part story was the finale of Touched By an Angel, the final two episodes of season nine, during which angel Monica (Roma Downey) performs her last assignment with supervisor Tess (Della Reese) before being promoted, and encounters both Jesus and Satan. Regulars John Dye and Valerie Bertinelli are on hand, along with guests Patrick Duffy, Patty Duke and Cloris Leachman, among others.
Where Was God? (Cinedigm/DVD/Digital/On Demand, 2015, deleted/extended scenes, featurettes; Bible program insert). Faith-based documentary about a community coming together in the aftermath of a devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, focusing on stories of survivors.
New Worlds (Acorn/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, two discs, four episodes, deleted scene, featurettes, photo gallery). British costume miniseries, a sequel to The Devils Mistress (with different actors), follows two stories that intersect, one set in England and the other in America during the North American colonization. Jamie Dornan stars, with Jeremy Northam among the supporting cast.
Big Little Movies: Dora Saves Fairytale Land (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 2015).
Big Little Movies: Umi Space Heroes (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 2015).
Big Little Movies: Doras Explorer Girls: Our First Concert (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 2011). Each of these three titles under the Big Little Movies banner is an hourlong TV special (45 minutes here), with no additional episodes. Fairyland has Dora and friends rescuing familiar fairy tale characters. Space Heroes has the Team Umizoomi kids heading into space to rescue the moon from The Trouble Makers. And Concert has Dora and friends losing their tickets to a Shakira concert. (Fairytale Land is making its DVD debut before it airs on the Nickelodon cable channel.)
Bubble Guppies: The Puppy and the Ring (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 2012-13, four episodes). Besides the title episode from this animated series, included are Sir Nonny the Nice, Bubble-Cadabra and The Wizard of Oz-tralia!
Once Upon a Sign: The Magic Mirror in American Sign Language (DawnSignKids/DVD, 2015, featurette). One of three new 25-minute releases performed for hearing-impaired children by a deaf cast using American Sign Language. Here, a young girl needs a confidence boost to audition for a talent show, and help comes in an unexpected way. (Also available are The New Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The New Little Red Riding Hood.)