What’s New? TV Show DVD Releases for March 10, 2009

Adventures of Champion — A 1950 show produced by Gene Autry himself. Set in the wilderness in the 1880s, Ricky North (Barry Curtis) befriends the wild stallion Champion and the two manage to have all kinds of adventures together. The two-disc DVD set includes ten episodes totaling around 100 minutes.

The Baron: The Complete Series — The Baron is back! Everyone around him believes John Mannering (Steve Forrest) is an antique dealer, but in reality, he’s a secret agent working for Britain’s Special Branch Diplomatic Service (SBDS). The series follows Mannering’s exploits with his assistant Cordelia (Sue Lloyd) as the two try to recover stolen treasures and bring criminals to justice. The eight-disc set includes all 30 episodes totaling 1,470 minutes.

The Best Years: The Complete First Season — Samantha Best (Charity Shea) is ready to take on the world in this teen drama produced by the executive producer of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Fresh from a foster home, Samantha heads to the prestigious Charles University on a full scholarship and somehow finds herself at the center of an unusual surrogate family. The members include a socialite named Kathryn (Jennifer Miller), a star basketball player and potential crush named Devon (Brandon Jay McLaren) and a former child star named Dawn (Athena Karkanis). The four-disc set includes the first thirteen episodes.

Caroline in the City: The Second Season — Caroline Duffy (Lea Thompson) is a successful cartoonist whose comic strip “Caroline in the City” makes her a big hit in Manhattan. The strip is based on her life and the lives of her friends, and boy do things get complicated. Caroline struggles to maintain a relationship with her occasional boyfriend Del Cassidy (Eric Lutes), a divorcee with commitment issues. Then, when you add in a slowly blossoming attraction to her cartoonist assistant Richard (Malcolm Gets), you’ve got a recipe for romance and comedy! The three-disc set includes 25 episodes.

Cracker: The Complete Collection — Eddie “Fitz” Fitzerald (Robbie Coltrane) is a criminal psychologist — or “cracker” – who’s got problems of his own. He’s addicted to alcohol and gambling, he cheats on his wife, he’s foulmouthed and sarcastic — and he’s brilliant at getting into the heads of the criminals he’s chasing. The series follows Fitz and his relationships with three detectives — DS Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville), DCI Bilborough (Christopher Eccleston) and DS Beck (Lorcan Cranitch) — as they try to strike a balance between psychological reasoning (favored by Fitz and Penhaligon) and the old-style aggressive policing (favored by Bilborough and Beck). The 10-disc set includes all 11 episodes.

Family Ties, The Fifth Season — Things in the Keaton household start changing and parents Steven (Michael Gross) and Elyse Keaton (Meredith Baxter Birney) are starting to realize that their kids are practically grown up already. Alex (Michael J. Fox in the role that launched his Emmy-winning career) is a junior in college and works at a bank, Mallory (Justine Bateman) is studying fashion, Jennifer (Tina Yothers) is fronting an all-girl rock band, and Andy (Brian Bonsall) is just plain growing! The family begins to understand that growing up doesn’t always mean growing apart, as long as they continue to support each other. This four-disc set contains 28 episodes.

Get Smart: Season 2 — An Emmy Award-winning spy-spoof series, inspired by the comic genius of Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) aka Agent 86 is a secret agent that works for CONTROL, a secret U.S. government intelligence agency, and his patient boss, the Chief (Edward Platt). Bumbling Agent 86 teams up with beautiful Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) and the pair somehow always manages to come out on top. The four-disc set contains 30 episodes.

The Girls Next Door: Season 4 — The Girls Next Door returned for a fourth year and focused on three of Hugh Hefner’s girlfriends that live at the Playboy Mansion with him: Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson. The series offers a tantalizing glimpse into what life is really like behind closed doors at the mansion through the eyes of the women who live, work and play there. The three-disc set includes 16 episodes. Special features include hilarious commentary with Holly, Bridget, and Kendra; deleted scenes; and the first three episodes of season five.

The Red Green Show: 2001 Season — This unique hybrid of sitcom, sketch comedy series and home improvement show features characters who are none-too-bright and desperate to take the easy way out. Leader of the Possum Lodge, Red (Steve Smith), his nephew Harold (Patrick McKenna) and his friend Dalton (Bob Bainborough) have their own TV show in which they give less-than-helpful lessons on how to repair things and how to catch fish or camp. The three-disc set contains 414 minutes of footage.

Samantha Brown’s Passport to Great Weekends: Season 1 — Travel Channel host Samantha Brown takes you on trips all around the world in her various TV shows, and this one is no exception. In this DVD set, Samantha goes on two-day vacations to various places in the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe and she provides tips for new and veteran travelers alike. Brown gives helpful advice about which hotels to stay in, how to tip properly, which restaurants to eat in, and how to participate in local activities. This DVD set is two discs with 378 minutes of footage.

South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season — This season, Stan Marsh (Trey Parker), Kyle Broflovski (Matt Stone), Eric Cartman (Parker), and Kenny McCormick (Stone) follow the new President-elect from his acceptance speech to his first official day of duty as Commander in Chief, help a pop princess down on her luck, and prevent giant rodents from destroying the world. The three-disc set includes 14 uncensored episodes and three “making of” featurettes. Also available on Blu-Ray.

The Starter Wife: Season 1 — Picking up where the mini-series left off, Molly Kagen (Debra Messing) is facing the world as a divorcee trying to raise her daughter without the cushy settlement she’d expected to receive from her ex-husband. Molly swears off men forever, and with the help of her friends Joan (Judy Davis) and Rodney (Chris Diamantopoulos), she starts to carve herself a new, happy life in California. The two-disc set contains all 10 episodes with all of the fantasy sequences included, as well as audio commentaries on two episodes. The series was recently cancelled so there won’t be a second season.

Woody Woodpecker Favorites — Woody Woodpecker, voiced by Grace Stafford, is a brash, high-strung woodpecker who captured the heart of people everywhere with his signature “ha-ha-ha-HA-ha” laugh. Generations of children have watched his crazy bird’s wild adventures, and now, sixty years after his cartoon debut, a compilation of favorite episodes is set to be released. The DVD features 20 different cartoons, 5 cartoons starring other characters from creator Walter Lantz’s library, and two episodes from The Woody Woodpecker Show TV series.