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List Price: $59.98Price: $23.99You Save: $35.99 (60%)
Smallville - The Complete Fifth Season
Actor: Tom Welling
ASIN : B000G1R4SO
Sales Rank : 602
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Widescreen, Box set, Color, Dolby
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0012569762091
UPC : 012569762091
Release Date : December 12, 2006
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 925
DescriptionAn astonishing season of destiny! Clark Kent now carries a full load of classes at Central Kansas U., but that's not all he carries. He carries the full weight of his - perhaps the world's - destiny. "We call this season Superman in Training," series co-creator Alfred Gough says. "Clark is going to accept his destiny." During this exciting pivotal season: The Fortress of Solitude rises. A spaceship mystery unfolds. A dark tragedy - one even Clark's powers can't prevent - strikes. These and more key elements of Superman lore fall into place. Amazon.comConsistently solid with some major developments, the fifth season of Smallville kicks the characters off to college, but not before finishing the cataclysmic disaster that ended the fourth season. With Chloe transported to the Arctic Circle and Kryptonian supervillains in town, Clark (Tom Welling) is in the Fortress of Solitude meeting Jor-El (voiced by Terence Stamp). He gives up his powers, but to get them back will cost him the life of someone he loves. The even bigger development is that Clark and Lana (Kristin Kreuk) finally give up their dalliances with others and become an official couple. That means the other girls in Clark's life become fifth and sixth wheels, so Chloe (Allison Mack) reveals the secret she's been keeping from Clark and becomes a best pal. Super-gorgeous Lois's (Erica Durance, now part of the opening credits) banter with Clark loses its bite without any sexual tension so instead she meets Arthur "AC" Curry, a fantastic swimmer who has an eye for Lois and an accusing one toward Lex (Michael Rosenbaum) and LutherCorp. He's not the only one; Clark's Central Kansas A&M professor, Milton Fine (James Marsters) hires Clark to help him on his project, an expose of LutherCorp. Lex is the pivotal character of the season. His relationship with his best friend, Clark, now history, Lex has a Christmas Carol-type dream in which he sees himself in a law-abiding--and happy--life. (That episode, "Lexmas," also has some amusing interplay involving Clark and Chloe.) Undeterred, he decides on a life of power and dives into a state senate race against Jonathan Kent with gusto, though a fanatical Lex supporter turns the race into a literal one for life and death. Lionel Luthor (John Glover) also makes a strong comeback in this season, pulling unseen levers and making everyone wonder exactly what he knows. There's some fun. "Thirst" is a tribute to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and another DC Comics character, Cyborg (Teen Titans), appears. Carrie Fisher plays Chloe's editor at The Daily Planet, and "Exposed" reunites Schneider with former Dukes of Hazzard costar Tom Wopat, and the two go peeling out in a vehicle. But things come to a head in the series 100th episode, when Jor-El's prediction comes to pass and splintered relationships end up leading in unexpected directions. Then in the season finale's cliffhanger, Clark has to face three of his enemies. DVD features include commentary on two episodes and a half-hour examination of the 100th episode, from writing through production. --David Horiuchi
Reviews for the Smallville - The Complete Fifth Season
List Price: $39.99Price: $19.49You Save: $20.5 (51%)
Pushing Daisies - The Complete First Season [Blu-ray]
Actors: Lee Pace, Chi McBride, Anna Friel, Jim Dale, Ellen Greene
ASIN : B001A7X0ZO
Sales Rank : 2237
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Format : AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Binding : Blu-ray
EAN : 0883929034178
UPC : 883929034178
Release Date : December 16, 2008
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 379
Studio description Every not-so-often, along comes a show that's different. Wonderfully different. Pushing Daisies, TV Guide's Matt Roush writes, "restores my faith in TV's ability to amuse, enchant and entertain." It's the story of Ned, a lonely pie maker whose touch can reanimate the dead. Cool, but there's a hitch. If Ned touches the person again, the miracle is reversed. If he doesn't, a bystander goes toes up. What to do? Easy: Team with a private eye, bring murder victims back just long enough to discover whodunit, and collect the rewards. Things go well until Ned's boyhood sweetie is the next dear departed, and he can't resist bringing her back for keeps! Dig the wit, style and quirky romance: If you're not laughing, you may need a visit from Ned.
Reviews for the Pushing Daisies - The Complete First Season [Blu-ray]
List Price: $49.98Price: $35.99You Save: $13.99 (28%)
ER - The Complete Eighth Season
Actors: Anthony Edwards, Eriq LaSalle, Goran Visjnic, Noah Wyle, Maura Tierney
ASIN : B000WMA74A
Sales Rank : 1610
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0085393365721
UPC : 085393365721
Release Date : December 22, 2008
Publisher : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Manufacturer : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Running Time : 981
DescriptionExcitement. Suspense. Joy. Grief. All in a heartbeat. Twenty-two of the best, most compelling hours on television unfold in this powerful, series-changing Season 8 of ER. New hopefuls ? Army Reservist Michael Gallant and brash Gregory Pratt ? arrive to face the challenges of Trauma One life. A familiar face ? Dr. Susan Lewis ? returns. Benton weighs career and family. Malucci crosses the line once too often. Chen defies demotion. And Greene fights what could be his last battle, leaving a void at the group?s heart. His leadership may never be replaced. But someone must step into the breach. That someone is the doctor who?s now been in the ER the longest ? the former student who seemed to have the most to learn: Dr. John Carter. Amazon.comSeason eight was a time of big changes for the ER, with perhaps the biggest set of in-season transitions yet. Jing-Mei Chen (Ming-Na) is the new chief resident, but a bad call lands her and "Doctor Dave" Malucci (Eric Palladino) in hot water and brings out the self-preserving worst in Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes). Peter Benton (Eriq LaSalle) finds himself with sole responsibility for deaf son Reese, and Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) and Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston) are already dealing with juggling their jobs, a brain tumor, and a newborn when Mark's teenage daughter Rachel (Hallee Hirsh) arrives. John Carter (Noah Wyle) is still chasing away ghosts, while Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney) and Luka Kovacs (Goran Visnjic) begin to have relationship problems. That seems to open the door for Carter and Abby, but then Dr. Susan Lewis (Sherry Stringfield) returns and sets off sparks. In one of ER's famous inclement-weather episodes, Carter's grandmother (Frances Sternhagen), though not fit to drive, does so, breaking her hip and hitting a young woman, while Weaver and medical student/Army reservist Michael Gallant (Sharif Atkins) try to save a pregnant stab victim in a wrecked, electrified ambulance. It's one of Weaver's finest hours, and the firefighter with whom she butts heads at the scene (Lisa Vidal) ends up playing a significant role later. By the end of the season, a number of doctors are gone, none more significant than the two original cast members. Benton's exit is like the doctor himself: clean, efficient, and with barely a hint of emotion. And Greene's departure is also fitting: unable to separate himself from the ER, he stays at work till nearly the bitter end, when he finally relents and takes a trip to his boyhood home of Hawaii, where Iz's Island-flavored rendition of "Over the Rainbow" proves especially moving in the season's penultimate episode, "On the Beach." Other cast members include Julie Delpy as a barmaid who takes a liking to Kovac, Mekhi Phifer as new hotshot intern Greg Pratt, Mary McDonnell and Michael Gross as Carter's parents, Christina Hendricks as Abby's battered neighbor, and Molly Price and Jason Wiles as New York cops in a crossover episode with Third Watch. Bonus features include a gag reel and deleted scenes, including eight from "On the Beach." --David Horiuchi
Reviews for the ER - The Complete Eighth Season
List Price: $59.98Price: $19.99You Save: $39.99 (67%)
24: Season One (Special Edition)
Actor: Kiefer Sutherland
ASIN : B0014BJ16S
Sales Rank : 634
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543488088
UPC : 024543488088
Release Date : December 20, 2008
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
Label : 20th Century Fox
Running Time : 1019
Product DescriptionStudio: Tcfhe Release Date: 05/20/2008 Run time: 1056 minutes Rating: Nr Amazon.comAll new content on Disc 7:
**Trailer Farm: Burn Notice, Prison Break Season 2, 24 Season 7 Tune-in Trailer
**EXTENDED AND DELETED SCENES: *Alan and Teri discuss Jack's Profession *Kim and Rick discuss Jack's Profession *Jack and Officer Hamilton Talk About Palmer *Officer Hamilton Dies *Carl "Chats" with Barry *Alan and Teri at the Hospital *Ira Spares Kim and Teri and Discusses His Contingencies *Kim Comforts Teri in Captivity *The Palmers Visit an Elementary School *Nina and Tony Discuss Jack's Marriage *Jack Gives Rick a Second Chance *Nina Searches the Hospital Room *Nina Pulls Prints from the Hospital Phone *Nina Tells Tony She Wants to Bring Kim and Teri Back to CTU *Kim Confronts Nina and Teri in the Safehouse *Teri Comforts Kim *Andre Drazen at the Cafe *Jack Plans to Use Elizabeth Nash as a Spy *Teri Asks Kim Not to Tell Anyone What Eli Did to Her *Johan Calls Andre to Tell Him the Women Escaped *Teri's Amnesia *The FBI Comes for Carl *Phil is Wounded and Confesses His Feelings to Teri *Kim is Held Hostage by the Drazens *Teri Tells Nina About Her Pregnancy *Alternate Ending *The Genesis of 24 *The Rookie: Coffe Run, Get this To...
Beyond 24 on DVD  Watch the new hit Burn Notice on DVD |  Check out Saving Grace starring Holly Hunter |  Catch up on Prison Break on DVD | Stills from 24 (Click for larger image)
Reviews for the 24: Season One (Special Edition)
List Price: $39.97Price: $25.95You Save: $14.02 (35%)
Weeds - Season Three [Blu-ray]
Actors: Mary-Louise Parker, Romany Malco, Justin Kirk
ASIN : B00166UFT8
Sales Rank : 476
Brand : Lions Gate
Studio : Lionsgate
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
Binding : Blu-ray
EAN : 0031398240785
UPC : 031398240785
Release Date : December 03, 2008
Publisher : Lionsgate
Manufacturer : Lionsgate
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Lionsgate
Running Time : 388
DescriptionAmerica's favorite pot-dealing soccer mom is more addictive than ever in the third season of WEEDS, the highly acclaimed Showtime(r) Original Series. Emmy (r) and Golden Globe(r) winner MARY-LOUISE PARKER stars as Nancy Botwin, a single mom who resorts to dealing pot after her husband dies suddenly. But when an off beat way to make ends meet grows into a mini-empire, the mother of all dealers finds she may be in over her head - and on the verge of taking everyone else with her. Hilarious and subversive, WEEDS is the hit that put the herb in suburb.
Reviews for the Weeds - Season Three [Blu-ray]
Price: $39.98
Carnivale - The Complete First Season
Actors: Guy Chapman (II), Hot Pie
ASIN : B0002YLC1U
Sales Rank : 4270
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : HBO Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780783128382
ISBN : 078312838X
UPC : 026359885723
Release Date : December 07, 2004
Publisher : HBO Home Video
Manufacturer : HBO Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : HBO Home Video
Running Time : 720
Description1934. The Dustbowl. The last great age of magic. In a time of titanic sandstorms, vile plagues, drought and pistilence - signs of God's fury and harbingers of the Apocalypse - the final conflict between good and evil is about to begin. The battle will take place in the Heartland of an empire called America. And when it is over, man will forever trade away wonder for reason. See the conflict of good vs. evil played out against a pair of vivid and unusual backdrops: a traveling carnival working the American Dustbowl circuit, and an evangelical ministry in California. DVD Features: Audio Commentary:3 Audio Commentaries with Creator Daniel Knauf, Executive Producer Howard Klein and Directors Rodrigo Garcia and Jeremy Podeswa Featurette:"Making of Carnivale" Featurette detailing how set and costume designers collaborated to achieve the look of the Dustbowl in the 1930s
Amazon.comCarnivàle doesn't waste any time making its--wildly ambitious--aims clear. As carnival manager Samson (Michael J. Anderson, Twin Peaks' diminutive backwards-talker) notes in pilot episode "Milfay," directed by Rodrigo García (son of Gabriel García Marquez), "To each generation [is] born a creature of light and a creature of darkness." With that the story begins. The year is 1934, the setting the Oklahoma dustbowl. In short order, Ben Hawkins (In the Bedroom's Nick Stahl) loses his mother and his home. He's poor, he's alone--he needs a job. So he joins Samson's carnival, en route to the West. Hawkins, naturally, is the good guy. Waiting for him in California is the not so good Brother Justin Crowe (Clancy Brown, The Shawshank Redemption), a fire and brimstone preacher with supernatural powers and a fiercely loyal sister (Amy Madigan). Hawkins, as it turns out, has similar powers.... Created by Daniel Knauf (Wolf Lake), Carnivàle feels like David Lynch (weird, slow, occasionally kinky), plays like American Gothic (Shaun Cassidy's cult series about a good kid and an evil sheriff), and looks like John Ford's Grapes of Wrath. It features one of television's most colorful casts of characters. They include Sophie (Clea DuVall), who reads fortunes--with her comatose mother's assistance, the vaguely sinister Lodz (Patrick Bauchau), blind absinthe-drinker and mentalist (he can see both the future and the past), and Ruthie (Adrienne Barbeau), snake charmer, strongman's mother, and all-around maternal figure. By the final episode of the season ("The Day That Was the Day"), also directed by García, one of these characters will be dead. Carnivàle won five richly deserved technical Emmys for its first year, including awards for cinematography and art direction. Like HBO's edgy Deadwood, it's period drama for people who don't normally like period drama. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Reviews for the Carnivale - The Complete First Season
Price: $9.98
One Special Night
Actors: James Garner, Julie Andrews, Patricia Charbonneau, Stacy Grant, Stewart Bick
ASIN : B00008G7QH
Sales Rank : 1588
Director : Roger Young
Brand : MTI
Studio : MTI HOME VIDEO
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0039414881295
UPC : 039414881295
Release Date : December 26, 2002
Publisher : MTI HOME VIDEO
Manufacturer : MTI HOME VIDEO
Availability : Usually ships in 1 to 2 days
Label : MTI HOME VIDEO
Running Time : 92
Product DescriptionReunited for the first time since "Victor/Victoria," Academy Award winner Julie Andrews and Emmy Award winner James Garner portray two strangers who take refuge in a small cabin during a stormy winter night and, despite their differences, or because of them, they are undeniably drawn to one another in this holiday classic that demonstrates once again the charisma that has made them two of the world's most beloved stars. Amazon.comIf the title It Happened One Night hadn't already been taken for Frank Capra's romantic comedy classic, it would've worked just as well for this holiday charmer. Catherine (Julie Andrews) is a widowed pediatric physician (with no children of her own) and Robert (James Garner) is a contractor with a wife suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Due to an accident of fate (a winter storm), they end up spending Thanksgiving together in an abandoned cabin, away from their family and friends. The two initially wary strangers soon find they have more in common than either could have anticipated. The subplot concerning Robert's adult daughters is fairly extraneous (and predictable) but doesn't distract from the tender relationship at the heart of this made-for-TV movie. Andrews and Garner have worked together before, in The Americanization of Emily and Victor/Victoria, and it shows in the chemistry generated by their sympathetic, believable performances. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Reviews for the One Special Night
Price: $39.98
Six Feet Under - The Complete Second Season
Actors: Frances Conroy, Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Lauren Ambrose, Mathew St. Patrick
ASIN : B0001KL5DA
Sales Rank : 2150
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Hbo Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0026359889226
UPC : 026359889226
Release Date : December 06, 2004
Publisher : Hbo Home Video
Manufacturer : Hbo Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Hbo Home Video
Running Time : 780
DescriptionWhen death is your business, what is your life? For Nate, David, Ruth and Claire, the world outside the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home continues to be at least as challenging-and far less predictable-as the one inside. DVD Features: Audio Commentary:Commentaries with Alan Ball, writers and directors on Episodes 1,7,10,12,13 Episodic Previews Episodic Recaps:Season 1 Recap Featurette
Amazon.comIn some ways, HBO's Six Feet Under plays kid brother to stellar BMOC The Sopranos: it's spunkier, less refined, chancier, and a bit of a punk. Nevertheless, the show set in the Southern California mortuary Fisher and Sons deserves its place in the pantheon of great television series. The initial season was a showcase for the most original characters, including tight-lipped brother David (Michael C. Hall) coming out of the closet, emotionally trippy mom Ruth (Frances Conroy), and the most complex girlfriend on the face of the planet, Brenda (Rachel Griffiths). Slowly, the major force in season 2 is the unassuming lead, Peter Krause. Part of the long line of good-looking actors who never get respect because they make it look too easy, Krause (Sports Night) finds the perfect blend of optimism with a wonderful, bittersweet anguish as Nate, the prodigal son. The initial season's happy ending is forgotten as relationships change, the business is still under fire from the evil conglomerate Kroehner, and a lively dream sequence is just around the corner. As with the premier season, creator Alan Ball lets many others direct and write the show, but his stamp is all over it. The eccentricities of the characters are shaped, and not always suddenly. Take daughter Claire (Lauren Ambrose), who sheds her bad boyfriend only to find more complex relationships on her road to discovering her own groove. One person in the mix is Ruth's beatnik sister (Patricia Clarkson, in an Emmy-winning role), a joyous embodiment of thriving--if aging--counter culture. Another new character is Nate's old girlfriend, the granola-loving Lisa (Lili Taylor). With Brenda heading down another destructive course, Nate is at more than one crossroads by season's end. For fans who groove with the wild, serio-comedic world of the Fishers (and let's face it, many didn't), the second season goes down like a fine meal of fusion cuisine. The show shares an unfortunate family trait with its HBO big brother: although both were lavished with multiple Emmy nominations the first two seasons, both took home only token awards. But then there's always next year. --Doug Thomas
Reviews for the Six Feet Under - The Complete Second Season
List Price: $64.99Price: $42.99You Save: $22 (34%)
NCIS Naval Criminal Investigative Service - The Complete Third Season
Actor: Mark Harmon
ASIN : B000MGBSIK
Sales Rank : 698
Brand : Paramount
Studio : Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0097361226743
UPC : 097361226743
Number Of Discs : 6
Release Date : December 24, 2007
Publisher : Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
Manufacturer : Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
Availability : Usually ships in 9 to 12 days
Label : Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
Running Time : 1057
Product DescriptionNCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is more than just an action drama. With liberal doses of humor, it's a show that focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), a former Marine gunnery sergeant, whose skills as an investigator are unmatched, formerly led this troupe of colorful personalities. Gibbs, a man of few words, only needs a look to explain it all. The team includes NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), an ex-homicide detective who may come off as the world's oldest frat boy, but whose instincts in the field are unparalleled; forensic specialist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), a talented scientist whose dark wit matches her Goth style and eclectic tastes, NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray), an MIT graduate whose brilliance with computers far overshadows his insecurities in the field and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), a former Moussad agent who shares a bond with Gibbs over the death of his arch nemesis, Ari, the terrorist who killed former NCIS Special Agent Kate Todd. Assisting the team is medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum), who knows it all because he's seen it all, and he's not afraid to let you know. Rounding out the team is NCIS director Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly) who has a romantic history with Gibbs. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines, these special agents travel the globe to investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties. Amazon.comWith two solid seasons already banked, NCIS returns for a compelling third year with exciting plotlines and a slightly tweaked cast. The show's second season ended with the brutal and shocking death of Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander). The first two episodes of this season deal with the aftermath of bringing her killer to justice and examining the emotional impact of her loss on the remaining members of the NCIS team, which is led by Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). The six-disc set includes all 24 episodes, which aired on CBS during 2005-2006. Returning are happy-go-lucky ladies' man Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly, Dark Angel), forensics expert and resident Goth chick Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum, The Man from U.N.C.L.E), and agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray). Former Mossad intelligence officer Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) joins the close-knit cast, as does Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly, Dumb & Dumber) as the new NCIS director. Working on a daily basis with Shepard initially makes Gibbs wary. Not only is she a former girlfriend, but she also was his underling at one time. Equal parts CSI and JAG, NCIS works primarily because of its quirky cast, which is able to take sometimes regurgitated ideas and rework them into something engagingly watchable. Throughout this season, we will see agents endangered and framed, and one will accidentally kill an undercover detective who may not have been armed. But the explosive two-part season finale will finally shed light on Gibbs' painful history and help explain why he is who is he today. --Jae-Ha Kim
Reviews for the NCIS Naval Criminal Investigative Service - The Complete Third Season
List Price: $59.98Price: $44.99You Save: $14.99 (25%)
Jane Austen Collection (Sense & Sensibility / Emma / Persuasion / Mansfield Park / Pride & Prejudice / Northanger Abbey)
Actors: Elizabeth Knight, Anne Maxwell, Katharine Schlesinger, Peter Firth, Robert Hardy
ASIN : B000244FFU
Sales Rank : 2379
Director : Cyril Coke, David Giles, Giles Foster, John Glenister
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : BBC Warner
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780790770222
ISBN : 0790770229
UPC : 794051168221
Release Date : December 24, 2004
Publisher : BBC Warner
Manufacturer : BBC Warner
Label : BBC Warner
Running Time : 1336
Product DescriptionIncludes: sense & sensibility emma persuasion mansfield park pride & prejudice and northanger abbey. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/27/2005 Amazon.comThe socially restricted lives of 18th-century women hardly seems like a subject that would inspire dozens of 20th (and 21st) century adaptations--but the brilliant novels of Jane Austen are flush with sparkling dialogue, razor-sharp wit, marvelously realized characters that range from adorably sympathetic to grotesquely comic, and--above all--ingeniously intricate plots, which arrive at a seemingly inevitable happy conclusion yet keep you seized with suspense every inch of the way. The Jane Austen Collection pulls together six BBC miniseries from 1971 through 1987, one for each of Austen's much-beloved books. Unsurprisingly, the gems of the lot are also the best of the novels: Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Pride and Prejudice, expertly translated to the screen by novelist Fay Weldon, skillfully chronicles the ups and downs of the sensible but quick to judge Elizabeth Bennet (the adorable Elizabeth Garvie) and the snooty Mr. Darcy (played with an imperious scowl by David Rintoul). Any adaptation of Emma rests firmly on its central character, and Doran Godwin wonderfully captures Emma Woodhouse's resilience, determination, and exasperating self-satisfaction. Definitely the funniest of Austen's novels, Emma's satirical humor is perfectly balanced with romantic yearning, and this 1972 version succeeds delightfully. Persuasion, though more melancholy in tone, has a wonderfully sympathetic heroine in Anne Elliot (played by the graceful Ann Fairbanks), who once turned away the man she loved but is given the chance, seven years later, to set things right. Sense and Sensibility suffers from comparison to the star firepower and cinematic sweep of the 1995 movie with Emma Thompson (a must-see for any Austen fan), but the dueling characters of gracious Elinore and headstrong Marianne, two sisters struggling with fallen fortunes, make for enjoyable viewing in this 1981 adaptation. Mansfield Park has perhaps the dullest hero and heroine of any Austen novel, yet the story zips along, powered by some of Austen's most outrageous supporting characters, here brought to deliciously comic life by Anna Massey and Angela Pleasence. Northanger Abbey satirizes gothic romances and the overheated imaginations that loved them; but though the tone is more broad and melodramatic than most of Austen, this 1987 adaptation suits the novel and rounds out this very satisfying boxed set. --Bret Fetzer
Reviews for the Jane Austen Collection (Sense & Sensibility / Emma / Persuasion / Mansfield Park / Pride & Prejudice / Northanger Abbey)
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