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Friday, August 09, 2002

By Barbara Vancheri and Rob Owen, Post-Gazette Staff Writers

Missed an episode of your favorite TV show? Not to worry, since it's becoming more and more likely that it eventually will turn up on DVD.

"Six Feet Under," "24," "Felicity," "Sports Night," "Once and Again" and other series will get their initial releases in the coming months, joining an already impressive array of shows available for purchase.

The quality of the programs themselves was established when the shows first hit the air, but with a DVD release it's necessary to look at the extras that make such a purchase more or less worthwhile for collectible-minded fans. The figures quoted below are the original suggested retail prices; depending on release date and store, they could be lower.

'The Simpsons'
What: Second season -- 22 episodes -- of the Fox cartoon.
Cost: $49.98.

Extras: Audio commentary by writers/producers on every episode plus interviews with James L. Brooks and Matt Groening; "Do the Bartman" director's cut music video; "Deep Deep Trouble" music video; David Silverman on the creation of an episode; Emmy Awards presentation; Butterfinger commercials; foreign language clips; and early drawings.

Dishing the DVDs: Excellent commentaries by creator Groening and various producers/writers/directors that explain the zeitgeist of the moment when jokes were written, changes in the appearance of the characters over time (Homer no longer has chest hair) and their traits (Krusty the Clown was originally depicted as illiterate). Groening and company do right by fans with this compilation.

'Friends'
What: First season -- 24 episodes -- of the NBC comedy. Second season arrives Sept. 3.
Cost: $69.98.

Extras: Executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane provide commentary on the pilot; interactive tour of Central Perk set; video guide to guest stars; trivia quiz; cast profiles; and a look at season two.

Dishing the DVDs: There are some goodies here for viewers who remember the days when Rachel was a runaway bride. Very early on, for instance, the creators imagined Monica-Joey would be the principal love story. Of course they also envisioned Monica as more Janeane Garofalo than Courteney Cox. And before deciding to dub the coffee shop Central Perk, lots of names were kicked around, including Java Joe's.

'Sex and the City'
What: Third season -- 18 episodes -- of the HBO comedy.
Cost: $49.99.

Extras: Four audio commentaries by Michael Patrick King, executive producer, writer and director; cast and crew biographies; and episodic previews.

Dishing the DVDs: King's commentaries, all on the second disc, whet your appetite for even more insight. King explains, for instance, how he tried to keep the audience from hating Carrie when she was cheating on Aidan with the married Mr. Big. The bios look like press kit entries, jazzed up with color photos. For one bonus element, you need DVD-ROM, and we didn't have that at home.

'Twin Peaks'
What: First season -- seven episodes -- of the TV series about a homecoming queen turned homicide victim. But does not include the two-hour pilot.
Cost: $59.98.

Extras: The four-disc set includes an interview with Mark Frost, conducted by phone by the founders of "Wrapped in Plastic" magazine; a chat with the one-time owner of the real diner; lesson by 3-foot-7 actor Michael Anderson on how to talk in the Red Room; brief interviews with cast, including Kyle MacLachlan; select episode analysis by the directors; optional Log Lady episode introductions.

Dishing the DVDs: This is quirky, like the show, and has very cool packaging. Slip off the plastic sleeve, with its picture of a smiling Laura Palmer, and you'll find her blue-tinged face on the disc holder.

The chat with Frost is very interesting, but couldn't he have been in the same room with the uber-fans? Frost reveals Agent Cooper was envisioned as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes and Michael Ontkean was the last person cast. And when the diner owner told a location scout she planned to do some remodeling, she was begged not to change a thing. Inclusion of the pilot would have earned it another star, at least.

'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'
What: Second season -- 22 episodes -- of the cult hit.
Cost: $59.98.

Extras: Three featurettes, interviews, TV commercials, actor bios, still photos, set design blueprints, scripts, audio commentary on four episodes.

Dishing the DVDs: 1/2 This release offers many more extras than the first season of "Buffy" to come out on DVD, but Fox declined to provide all the discs for review, which makes it impossible to judge the quality of the all-important audio commentaries.

The featurettes, which date to 2000, are pretty comprehensive, offering tours of the set and interviews with the makeup-effects artists responsible for the show's monsters. As with many DVDs, an interlude of computer animation pops up when you click on just about anything, wasting the viewers' time.

'Oz'
What: First season -- eight episodes -- of the HBO drama series.
Cost: $64.98.

Extras: Cast/crew bios, featurette, music video, deleted scenes, audio commentary on two episodes.

Dishing the DVDs: In the deleted scenes, can't hear any of the original soundtrack when audio commentary plays simultaneously. Other DVDs do a better job of mixing the sound. Series creator Tom Fontana and actor Lee Tergesen, who plays the woebegone inmate Beecher, provide audio commentary on the first two episodes.

They offer some interesting tidbits (Fontana creates an arc for each character every season before writing the episodes) and Fontana is willing to criticize the director's choice in one scene (a rarity on DVD commentaries), but mostly they just laugh at themselves.

'The World of Sid & Marty Krofft'
What: One episode each from 13 Krofft Saturday morning kids' shows.
Cost: $49.95.

Extras: None.

Dishing the DVDs: An overview of Krofft oeuvre featuring "Land of the Lost," "H.R. Pufnstuf," "The Bugaloos" and "ElectraWoman and Dynagirl," this DVD is not ideal for completists who want everything. It's just a collection of seemingly random episodes of badly written, poorly acted children's shows, some of which may or may not include drug imagery (that pipe in "Pufnstuf" seems awfully suspicious). One nice element: You can watch just the opening credits of these shows, easily the most memorable part of any of them.

And you can look for: "The Sopranos," third season, Aug. 27; "Outer Limits," season one of original series, Sept. 3; "StarGate SG-1," season two, Sept. 24; "24," Sept. 17; "Mary Tyler Moore Show," season one, Sept. 24; and "Malcolm in the Middle," season one, Oct. 29.

Barbara Vancheri can be reached at bvancheri@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1632; Rob Owen, at rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582.