Among TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray this week, Rizzoli & Isles wraps things up and the fifth season of Homeland paves the way for the sixth season, which is on Showtime now.
Rizzoli & Isles: The Seventh and Final Season (Warner, 2016, three discs, 13 episodes, bloopers). As their last season begins, Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and her best friend and co-worker, medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander), are reeling from the sixth season's cliffhanger shooting at the wedding of Korsak and Kiki (Bruce McGill, Christina Chang). Jane is sure that the drug dealer/killer Alice Sands (Annabeth Gish) was responsible and she sets out to trap her. Maura, who suffered a head injury, debates having surgery.
Other cases include a murder at a zombie convention and the killing of a postal worker, and the final episode nicely wraps up the series, providing the characters with both closure and new opportunities. Lorraine Bracco co-stars and guests include Sharon Lawrence, Sharon Gless and the author of the Rizzoli & Isles novels, Tess Gerritsen.
Homeland: The Complete Fifth Season (Fox, 2016, three discs, 12 episodes, featurettes). Two years after the events of the fourth season, Carrie (Claire Danes) is no longer with the CIA and is instead heading up a private security firm in Berlin and trying to start over as she raises her daughter with a new boyfriend. But, of course, her past catches up with her as she becomes involved in a deadly conspiracy.
It should be mentioned that, this being a Showtime production, the requisite R-rated sex, nudity, coarse language and violence are on hand. Co-stars include Rupert Friend, Miranda Otto, F. Murray Abraham and Mandy Patinkin. (The sixth season began Jan. 15 on Showtime.)
Searching for Augusta: The Forgotten Angel of Bastogne (PBS, 2016). During World War II, Augusta Chiwy was a black Belgian nurse who, in the face of racial discrimination, served as a medical aid volunteer in the U.S. Army 10th Armored Division. At the Battle of the Bulge, she treated patients with fellow nurse Renee LeMaire in the Bastogne aid station. But after LeMaire was killed on Christmas Eve and became famous as The Angel of Bastogne, Chiwys history was forgotten until military historian Martin King found her in Brussels. This feature-length documentary, with Kings participation, earned an Emmy last year.
Pearl Harbor: Into the Arizona (PBS, 2016). This hourlong documentary uses modern technology to go inside the USS Arizona, which has been sitting on Pearl Harbors ocean floor since it was destroyed in the Japanese attack in 1941. Included are personal stories of survivors, including one who is brought to see the ship one last time.
WordWorld: Lets Make Music! (PBS Kids, 2007-09, eight episodes). Shark is a great underwater dancer and Duck encourages him to dance on his show. Other storylines are also among the episodes for preschoolers in this one-disc set. This educational animated show works on sounding out words and building childrens confidence in reading.
Rizzoli & Isles: The Seventh and Final Season (Warner, 2016, three discs, 13 episodes, bloopers). As their last season begins, Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and her best friend and co-worker, medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander), are reeling from the sixth season's cliffhanger shooting at the wedding of Korsak and Kiki (Bruce McGill, Christina Chang). Jane is sure that the drug dealer/killer Alice Sands (Annabeth Gish) was responsible and she sets out to trap her. Maura, who suffered a head injury, debates having surgery.
Other cases include a murder at a zombie convention and the killing of a postal worker, and the final episode nicely wraps up the series, providing the characters with both closure and new opportunities. Lorraine Bracco co-stars and guests include Sharon Lawrence, Sharon Gless and the author of the Rizzoli & Isles novels, Tess Gerritsen.
Homeland: The Complete Fifth Season (Fox, 2016, three discs, 12 episodes, featurettes). Two years after the events of the fourth season, Carrie (Claire Danes) is no longer with the CIA and is instead heading up a private security firm in Berlin and trying to start over as she raises her daughter with a new boyfriend. But, of course, her past catches up with her as she becomes involved in a deadly conspiracy.
It should be mentioned that, this being a Showtime production, the requisite R-rated sex, nudity, coarse language and violence are on hand. Co-stars include Rupert Friend, Miranda Otto, F. Murray Abraham and Mandy Patinkin. (The sixth season began Jan. 15 on Showtime.)
Searching for Augusta: The Forgotten Angel of Bastogne (PBS, 2016). During World War II, Augusta Chiwy was a black Belgian nurse who, in the face of racial discrimination, served as a medical aid volunteer in the U.S. Army 10th Armored Division. At the Battle of the Bulge, she treated patients with fellow nurse Renee LeMaire in the Bastogne aid station. But after LeMaire was killed on Christmas Eve and became famous as The Angel of Bastogne, Chiwys history was forgotten until military historian Martin King found her in Brussels. This feature-length documentary, with Kings participation, earned an Emmy last year.
Pearl Harbor: Into the Arizona (PBS, 2016). This hourlong documentary uses modern technology to go inside the USS Arizona, which has been sitting on Pearl Harbors ocean floor since it was destroyed in the Japanese attack in 1941. Included are personal stories of survivors, including one who is brought to see the ship one last time.
WordWorld: Lets Make Music! (PBS Kids, 2007-09, eight episodes). Shark is a great underwater dancer and Duck encourages him to dance on his show. Other storylines are also among the episodes for preschoolers in this one-disc set. This educational animated show works on sounding out words and building childrens confidence in reading.
