Elementary, The Good Wife, Americas Test Kitchen, Criminal Minds and The Walking Dead season sets are on DVD this week.
Elementary: The Third Season (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 2014-15, six discs, 24 episodes, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). This engaging, updated 21st-century twist on Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes stories is set in New York City with detective Holmes re-envisioned as a misanthropic former drug addict and Watson as his levelheaded female partner, a former doctor.
This season begins with Holmes and Watson apart, as Watson starts her own investigative service and Holmes brings up a new protg, Kitty Wells (Ophelia Lovibond). Soon, all three are working together, but eventually Holmes and Watson are again a duo.
The weekly mysteries are solid, the writing is crisp and often funny, and Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu demonstrate chemistry while inhabiting their characters well. Aidan Quinn and Jon Michael Hill are also good as the cops with whom they consult. (Season 4 begins on CBS Nov. 5.)
The Good Wife: The Sixth Season (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 2014-15, six discs, 22 episodes, deleted scenes, featurettes, bloopers). This soap opera/legal procedural/political melodrama is a critical darling and Julianne Margulies has won two Emmys for her role as lawyer Alicia Florrick. This season, she is coerced into running for state attorney, even as her marriage to the governor (Chris Noth) is falling apart and Cary (Matt Czuchry) is accused of drug trafficking. Alan Cumming, Archie Panjabi and Matthew Goode co-star, with Noth, David Hyde Pierce, Michael J. Fox, Taye Diggs, Oliver Platt, Kyle MacLachlan and Edward Asner in recurring roles. (Season 7 begins on CBS Oct. 4.)
Americas Test Kitchen: Season 15 (PBS/DVD, 2015, four discs, 26 episodes, printable versions of all 51 recipes). This half-hour PBS series has Christopher Kimball and friends testing recipes with variations as they make it their mission to perfect them so theyll work for viewers at home on the first try. This season includes gluten-free pizza and cookies, comfort foods, asparagus stir-fry and Southeast Asian specialties, among many others.
Criminal Minds: Season 10 (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 2014-15, six discs, 23 episodes, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). The FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit continues to pursue serial killers in this gruesome series, led by Thomas Gibson and Joe Mantegna and, new this season, Jennifer Love Hewitt. (Season 11 begins on CBS Sept. 30.)
The Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season (Anchor Bay/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2014-15, five discs, 16 episodes, deleted scenes, audio commentaries, featurettes). Based on the graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman, this violent horror show about zombies vs. survivors of a post-apocalyptic existence stars Andrew Lincoln and a large cast of regulars. This season, some of the group head to Washington, D.C., hoping to find a cure for the undead. (Season 6 begins on AMC Oct. 11.)
Harry (Acorn/Blu-ray/DVD, 2013, two discs, six episodes, photo gallery). New Zealand police-procedural miniseries stars Oscar Kightley in the title role as a cop (with a teenage daughter) who returns to the Auckland Major Crimes Unit after spending time in his native Samoa grieving over his wifes suicide. It doesnt take long before he and his boss (Sam Neill) are deep into the investigation of a string of robberies that ties into drug gangs.
Rosamunde Pilchers Shades of Love (Acorn/DVD, 2010, four discs, four feature-length episodes, photo galleries). Lavishly produced soap opera in the British tradition follows the melodramatic travails of the Aird dynasty, as Lord Edmund (Charles Dance), his American wife (Eleonore Weisgerber) and their children live on an opulent estate and run a thriving business. But passions, present and past, threaten to destroy their lifestyle.
Transformers Rescue Bots: Dinobots! (Shout! Kids/Hasbro/DVD, 2014-15, five episodes). These episodes from the cartoon series third season are Land Before Prime, Big Game, Quarry vs. Quarry, Did You See What I Thaw? and The Attack of Hummungado.
Puppy Palooza! (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 1997-2015, six episodes). One episode each from six Nickelodeon cartoon series: PAW Patrol, Bubble Guppies, Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, Blues Clues and Mutt & Stuff.
Elementary: The Third Season (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 2014-15, six discs, 24 episodes, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). This engaging, updated 21st-century twist on Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes stories is set in New York City with detective Holmes re-envisioned as a misanthropic former drug addict and Watson as his levelheaded female partner, a former doctor.
This season begins with Holmes and Watson apart, as Watson starts her own investigative service and Holmes brings up a new protg, Kitty Wells (Ophelia Lovibond). Soon, all three are working together, but eventually Holmes and Watson are again a duo.
The weekly mysteries are solid, the writing is crisp and often funny, and Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu demonstrate chemistry while inhabiting their characters well. Aidan Quinn and Jon Michael Hill are also good as the cops with whom they consult. (Season 4 begins on CBS Nov. 5.)
The Good Wife: The Sixth Season (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 2014-15, six discs, 22 episodes, deleted scenes, featurettes, bloopers). This soap opera/legal procedural/political melodrama is a critical darling and Julianne Margulies has won two Emmys for her role as lawyer Alicia Florrick. This season, she is coerced into running for state attorney, even as her marriage to the governor (Chris Noth) is falling apart and Cary (Matt Czuchry) is accused of drug trafficking. Alan Cumming, Archie Panjabi and Matthew Goode co-star, with Noth, David Hyde Pierce, Michael J. Fox, Taye Diggs, Oliver Platt, Kyle MacLachlan and Edward Asner in recurring roles. (Season 7 begins on CBS Oct. 4.)
Americas Test Kitchen: Season 15 (PBS/DVD, 2015, four discs, 26 episodes, printable versions of all 51 recipes). This half-hour PBS series has Christopher Kimball and friends testing recipes with variations as they make it their mission to perfect them so theyll work for viewers at home on the first try. This season includes gluten-free pizza and cookies, comfort foods, asparagus stir-fry and Southeast Asian specialties, among many others.
Criminal Minds: Season 10 (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 2014-15, six discs, 23 episodes, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers). The FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit continues to pursue serial killers in this gruesome series, led by Thomas Gibson and Joe Mantegna and, new this season, Jennifer Love Hewitt. (Season 11 begins on CBS Sept. 30.)
The Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season (Anchor Bay/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital, 2014-15, five discs, 16 episodes, deleted scenes, audio commentaries, featurettes). Based on the graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman, this violent horror show about zombies vs. survivors of a post-apocalyptic existence stars Andrew Lincoln and a large cast of regulars. This season, some of the group head to Washington, D.C., hoping to find a cure for the undead. (Season 6 begins on AMC Oct. 11.)
Harry (Acorn/Blu-ray/DVD, 2013, two discs, six episodes, photo gallery). New Zealand police-procedural miniseries stars Oscar Kightley in the title role as a cop (with a teenage daughter) who returns to the Auckland Major Crimes Unit after spending time in his native Samoa grieving over his wifes suicide. It doesnt take long before he and his boss (Sam Neill) are deep into the investigation of a string of robberies that ties into drug gangs.
Rosamunde Pilchers Shades of Love (Acorn/DVD, 2010, four discs, four feature-length episodes, photo galleries). Lavishly produced soap opera in the British tradition follows the melodramatic travails of the Aird dynasty, as Lord Edmund (Charles Dance), his American wife (Eleonore Weisgerber) and their children live on an opulent estate and run a thriving business. But passions, present and past, threaten to destroy their lifestyle.
Transformers Rescue Bots: Dinobots! (Shout! Kids/Hasbro/DVD, 2014-15, five episodes). These episodes from the cartoon series third season are Land Before Prime, Big Game, Quarry vs. Quarry, Did You See What I Thaw? and The Attack of Hummungado.
Puppy Palooza! (Nickelodeon/Paramount/DVD, 1997-2015, six episodes). One episode each from six Nickelodeon cartoon series: PAW Patrol, Bubble Guppies, Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, Blues Clues and Mutt & Stuff.
