The all-star ensemble comedy-drama TV series Parenthood is on DVD this week, along with several British shows.
Parenthood: The Complete Series (Universal/DVD, 2010-15, 23 discs, 103 episodes, deleted scenes/storyline, audio commentaries, featurettes). This engaging, touching and relatable comedy-drama series, loosely based on the 1989 Steve Martin movie, focuses on three generations of the Braverman clan, to include the children and grandchildren of Zeek and Camille (Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia).
Aside from Nelson and Bedelia, the best-known members of the large regular cast are probably Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, Dax Shepard, Monica Potter and Erika Christensen, with recurring characters over the course of the series played by Ray Romano, Jason Ritter, John Corbett and William Baldwin, among others.
The pilot kicks off as single-mother Sarah (Graham) moves back into her parents home with her two kids, and were introduced to her very different siblings, each with their own issues. Early stories focus on younger brother Crosby (Shepard) finding he has a son he didnt know about, older brother Adam and his wife (Krause, Potter) discovering their youngest child has Asperger's syndrome, and a variety of up-and-down roads to romance. But plotting over the series runs the gamut from farce to tragedy, and every age group and social strata is touched on.
Jamaica Inn (Acorn/DVD, 2014, three episodes, featurettes). This BBC adaptation of Daphne du Mauriers 1936 novel (initially filmed in 1939 by Alfred Hitchcock) is a bit muddled in terms of plot (and dialogue; youll be thankful for the closed-caption subtitles) but receives the usual lavish production treatment. The story, set in 1821, has a young woman (Jessica Brown Findlay) traveling to Cornwall to live with her aunt (Joanne Whally), where she finds her uncle (Sean Harris) is part of a notorious gang of smugglers.
DCI Banks: Season 3 (BBC/DVD, 2014, two discs, three episodes). More gripping feature-length episodes of this gritty British police procedural based on Peter Robinsons novels, with Stephen Tompkinson as Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, and Caroline Catz (Doc Martin) and Andrea Lowe as detectives that assist him in solving crimes involving a missing schoolboy, a decades-old killing of a rock musician and a shooting that comes a bit too close to home.
Scott & Bailey: Season 3 (BBC/DVD, 2013, two discs, eight episodes, featurette). Two detective constables, Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey (Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones), are members of the Manchester MIT (Major Incident Team) and good friends, though they have opposite personalities. Cases this season deal with the usual gruesome murders, as well as the pair having a falling out, and Rachel being fingered by her no-good brother for a murder.
Death in Paradise: Season 3 (BBC/DVD, 2014, two discs, eight episodes, featurettes). In the first episode of this season, Ben Miller, as Detective Inspector Richard Poole, departs this comedy-drama series set in the Caribbean. London detective Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) takes his place, and hes as awkward as Poole was polished. Adrian Dunbar and Sarita Choudhury guest in one episode.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal: Season 1 (Cinedigm/DVD, 2012, six discs, 25 episodes). The fourth series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime television franchise, which spun off the strategic fantasy card game. Aspiring duelist Yuma teams up with Astral, who is from another world, as they search for Duel Monsters cards to restore Astrals memory.
Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Surfs Up Scooby-Doo! (Warner/DVD, 1969-2015, 13 episodes). Episodes from various Scooby-Doo! animated shows are preceded by a new 22-minute cartoon: Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie, which takes the gang to Florida for a vacation until they encounter a strange water creature that steals precious jewels. Adam West provides a voice.
Parenthood: The Complete Series (Universal/DVD, 2010-15, 23 discs, 103 episodes, deleted scenes/storyline, audio commentaries, featurettes). This engaging, touching and relatable comedy-drama series, loosely based on the 1989 Steve Martin movie, focuses on three generations of the Braverman clan, to include the children and grandchildren of Zeek and Camille (Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia).
Aside from Nelson and Bedelia, the best-known members of the large regular cast are probably Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, Dax Shepard, Monica Potter and Erika Christensen, with recurring characters over the course of the series played by Ray Romano, Jason Ritter, John Corbett and William Baldwin, among others.
The pilot kicks off as single-mother Sarah (Graham) moves back into her parents home with her two kids, and were introduced to her very different siblings, each with their own issues. Early stories focus on younger brother Crosby (Shepard) finding he has a son he didnt know about, older brother Adam and his wife (Krause, Potter) discovering their youngest child has Asperger's syndrome, and a variety of up-and-down roads to romance. But plotting over the series runs the gamut from farce to tragedy, and every age group and social strata is touched on.
Jamaica Inn (Acorn/DVD, 2014, three episodes, featurettes). This BBC adaptation of Daphne du Mauriers 1936 novel (initially filmed in 1939 by Alfred Hitchcock) is a bit muddled in terms of plot (and dialogue; youll be thankful for the closed-caption subtitles) but receives the usual lavish production treatment. The story, set in 1821, has a young woman (Jessica Brown Findlay) traveling to Cornwall to live with her aunt (Joanne Whally), where she finds her uncle (Sean Harris) is part of a notorious gang of smugglers.
DCI Banks: Season 3 (BBC/DVD, 2014, two discs, three episodes). More gripping feature-length episodes of this gritty British police procedural based on Peter Robinsons novels, with Stephen Tompkinson as Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, and Caroline Catz (Doc Martin) and Andrea Lowe as detectives that assist him in solving crimes involving a missing schoolboy, a decades-old killing of a rock musician and a shooting that comes a bit too close to home.
Scott & Bailey: Season 3 (BBC/DVD, 2013, two discs, eight episodes, featurette). Two detective constables, Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey (Lesley Sharp and Suranne Jones), are members of the Manchester MIT (Major Incident Team) and good friends, though they have opposite personalities. Cases this season deal with the usual gruesome murders, as well as the pair having a falling out, and Rachel being fingered by her no-good brother for a murder.
Death in Paradise: Season 3 (BBC/DVD, 2014, two discs, eight episodes, featurettes). In the first episode of this season, Ben Miller, as Detective Inspector Richard Poole, departs this comedy-drama series set in the Caribbean. London detective Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) takes his place, and hes as awkward as Poole was polished. Adrian Dunbar and Sarita Choudhury guest in one episode.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal: Season 1 (Cinedigm/DVD, 2012, six discs, 25 episodes). The fourth series in the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime television franchise, which spun off the strategic fantasy card game. Aspiring duelist Yuma teams up with Astral, who is from another world, as they search for Duel Monsters cards to restore Astrals memory.
Scooby-Doo! 13 Spooky Tales: Surfs Up Scooby-Doo! (Warner/DVD, 1969-2015, 13 episodes). Episodes from various Scooby-Doo! animated shows are preceded by a new 22-minute cartoon: Scooby-Doo! and the Beach Beastie, which takes the gang to Florida for a vacation until they encounter a strange water creature that steals precious jewels. Adam West provides a voice.
