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The Office - Season Two

Actors: Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, Rainn Wilson, B.J. Novak
ASIN : B000GETTKM
Sales Rank : 521
Brand : Universal
Studio : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0025193037824
UPC : 025193037824
Number Of Discs : 4
Release Date : December 12, 2006
Publisher : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Manufacturer : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Running Time : 477

Description

It's time to clock in for Season Two of The Office, the hilarious and witty TV-mockumentary starring Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) in his Golden Globe Award-winning role. From sexual politics to performance reviews to email espionage, the employees at Dunder-Mifflin are there to get the job done…or not. Join earnest but clueless boss Michael Scott (Carell), Assistant to the Regional Manager Dwight (Rainn Wilson), receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer), sales rep Jim (John Krasinski), and the office temp, Ryan (B.J. Novak), as they make the daily grind a lot more laughable. Fully staffed with 22 outrageous episodes and hours of side-splitting bonus features, it’s the must-own collection that caused Time magazine to declare "Never has a lousy job been so much fun."

Amazon.com

Thank goodness for second seasons. While the first season of The Office started dubiously with a pilot that was just a poor copy of the original British version, it did manage to provide enough good material to stay on the air and hint that better was yet to come. And here it is. The second season of The Office finds its own footing and manages to do the near-impossible by not only breaking free of the gravity of that excellent BBC version to stand solidly on its own, but establishing it as one of the best comedies on TV. Season 2 starts out strong with "The Dundies," where Regional Manager, Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The 40 Year Old Virgin) hosts the company’s annual office-awards event with his signature less-than-perfect grace. Things seem to only get worse for him this season as he bumbles a potential affair with his boss, Jan (Melora Harding), angers his employees by reading their emails ("Email Surveillance"), cooks his foot ("The Injury"), and accidentally destroys the warehouse with a forklift in "Boys and Girls," one of the season’s highlight episodes. Always at his side is the clueless paranoid Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), the Assistant Regional Manager ("Assistant to the Regional Manager," Michael always reminds him in one of the show’s running jokes).

One of the reasons for the show’s improvement in the second season is increased focus on Dwight’s character, who’s becoming something of a pop-culture icon right down to having his own bobblehead. He in turn provides so much good material for Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinsky) to play off of, to their own amusement. But of course, Pam and Jim’s simmering relationship is the real meat of the show, as their compatibility becomes more obvious, Jim’s feelings for her continue to grow, and Pam struggles with the impending marriage to her less-than-caring boyfriend, Roy (David Denman). Things have to come to a head, and they do nicely in the final episode, "Casino Night." As strong as the leading characters are in The Office, it’s the excellent peripheral characters that really make the show hilarious, especially dimwitted office-slug Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), long-suffering intern Ryan (B.J. Novak), office-ditz Kelly (Mindy Kaling), and ultra-conservative Angela (Angela Kinsey). As with season 1, this season contains excellent bonus features to give you an excuse to spend more time at The Office, including the fake PSAs, commentaries, Michael’s The Faces of Scranton movie, the ten stand-alone webisodes, and deleted scenes. --Daniel Vancini

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Gilmore Girls - The Complete Second Season

Actors: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Keiko Agena, Scott Patterson, Yanic Truesdale
ASIN : B0002Y4TOM
Sales Rank : 498
Director : Amy Sherman, Chris Long, Danny Leiner, Dennis Erdman, Gail Mancuso
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : WB Television Network, The
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781419801532
ISBN : 1419801538
UPC : 012569590533
Number Of Discs : 6
Release Date : December 07, 2004
Publisher : WB Television Network, The
Manufacturer : WB Television Network, The
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : WB Television Network, The
Running Time : 976

Description

Those acclaimed Gilmore Girls are back for a second season of warmth, charm, zingy repartee and heart-stopping moments of drama. In this 6-disc set are all 22 irresistible year-two episodes about the people you've grown to love: young single mom Lorelai, her super-achieving daughter Rory, her elitist parents Emily and Richard, and a whole town of dreamers and eccentrics. New faces also come to Stars Hollow, including Luke's nephew Jess, whose rebelliousness offends the town, but whose passion for books attracts Rory. Hearts break and mend, careers end and begin, folks stumble and pick themselves up in a series that's "blissfully brilliant" (Ken Parish Perkins, Fort Worth Star-Telegram).

Amazon.com

Love was in the air at the beginning of the second season of Gilmore Girls, as both Gilmores found themselves in the midst of perfect, giddy relationships--or so they thought. Lorelai (Lauren Graham) had accepted the proposal of English teacher Max (Scott Cohen) and was excitedly planning her first wedding; Rory (Alexis Bledel) was back on happy footing with townie hunk Dean (Jared Padalecki) after a dust-up near the end of season one that prompted a mini-break for the teen twosome. However, series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino had anything but smooth sailing on the horizon for her heroines, giving Lorelai a severe case of cold feet and Rory a major distraction in the form of Jess (Milo Ventimiglia), the bad boy newly arrived in town. Soon, Rory found herself extremely attracted to Jess, while Lorelai rekindled the flame of passion that once burned long ago with Rory's father, Christopher (David Sutcliffe), who made his way back into her life despite a girlfriend in the wings.

After the minor romantic speed bumps of the first season, the introduction of actual conflict into the second season of Gilmore Girls helped give the happy-goofy atmosphere of Stars Hollow a decided tension, as Rory tangled with her emotions over Jess and began the first tiny steps away from her good-girl persona. The episode "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," centered around the annual town auction of picnic baskets, was a wonderful portrait of Rory's conflicting adolescent feelings for both Dean and Jess. However, it was Lorelai's simmering chemistry with former flame Christopher, only hinted at in the first season, that gave the show its energy as well as its heartbreak, culminating in the stellar season finale "I Can't Get Started." But lest you think Gilmore Girls was centered only on romance, the second season also gave the expansive ensemble cast many hilarious moments, ranging from the hallway politics of Rory's private school to the town antics that shaped the Gilmores' daily lives. Through it all, the appealing Bledel and the radiant Graham exuded wit, charm, and a way with snappy patter not seen since the golden days of '30s screwball comedy. --Mark Englehart

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One Tree Hill - The Complete Fourth Season

Actors: Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Galeotti, Paul Johansson
ASIN : B000NA1PUG
Sales Rank : 512
Director : Bethany Rooney, David Jackson, Gregory Prange, Janice Cooke-Leonard, John Mallory Asher
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0085391161820
UPC : 085391161820
Release Date : December 18, 2007
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 880

Description

Goodbye, Tree Hill High. Graduation nears. And with its approach comes the realization that, for students and parents alike, life is changing forever. There are new loves to nurture, old scores still to settle. The longtime triangle of Lucas, Peyton and Brooke finally comes down to two. The memory of Keith - or is it his spirit? - inspires Lucas and Nathan, and haunts Dan. Peyton is terrorized by a stalker. Two expectant mothers are about to raise Tree Hill's population stats. Lucas begins to wonder what really happened the terrifying day Keith died. And the Ravens - led by Coach Whitey Durham - have one last chance for hoops glory and the state championship. Live for now. Make way for what's to come. Hello, future...

Amazon.com

One Tree Hill: The Complete Fourth Season finds the dramatic final year of high school for the series' major characters full of grudges, pregnancies, partner-switching, big mistakes, and dashed hopes. But there are also renewals of friendship and new possibilities in love and independence. The season is overshadowed by the murder of Keith Scott (Craig Sheffer), uncle to brothers Lucas and Nathan Scott, neither of whom realizes that the killer was their own father, Dan (Paul Johansson), Keith's brother. While Dan is haunted by his conscience over his misdeed, Nathan himself feels Keith's ghostly presence during a season-opening crisis in which he dives into a lake to rescue Rachel (Danneel Harris) and Cooper (Michael Trucco). Nathan, struggling to understand the meaning of his experience, puts a strain on his new marriage to Haley (Bethany Joy Galeotti) and becomes the target of Rachel's predatory sexual advances. Rachel's friend Brooke (Sophia Bush) breaks up with Lucas after the latter's close friend Peyton (Hilarie Burton) confesses she has feelings for him. (Brooke also turns her back on her old friendship with Peyton, making for several episodes of nasty, verbal volleys between the girls.) Lucas' sudden availability puts the possibility of romance with Peyton in play, but she's also busy dealing with the discovery of a brother she didn't know she had--a guy who isn't quite what he appears to be.

As if that's not enough, there are pregnancies and presumed pregnancies galore in season four: Haley and Nathan, for sure, plus Lucas' mom Karen (Moira Kelly), who is carrying Keith's child. Two other characters either believe or maintain they are pregnant. Meanwhile, Nathan's mom, Deb (Barbara Alyn Woods), develops a personality-altering drug addiction and carries around a loaded pistol; Lucas' pal Skills (Antwon Tanner) gets a shot at playing basketball for the Ravens; and Mouth (Lee Norris) gets drunk and complains that girls only want to be his friend. Everything heads, inexorably, toward graduation day, which finds several crises simultaneously overlapping with the joy of moving on. As with every One Tree Hill season, The Complete Season Four is easy to get hooked on, with a very good cast and audacious storylines.--Tom Keogh

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Weeds - Season One

Actor: Mary-Louise Parker
ASIN : B000FFJYE8
Sales Rank : 553
Director : Burr Steers, Lee Rose
Brand : Lions Gate
Studio : Lionsgate
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0031398188056
UPC : 031398188056
Release Date : December 11, 2006
Publisher : Lionsgate
Manufacturer : Lionsgate
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Lionsgate
Running Time : 283

Product Description

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/06/2007 Run time: 283 minutes Rating: Nr

Amazon.com

With its fantastic comedy series Weeds, cable network Showtime finally gave up its also-ran status to HBO and found itself with a controversial, buzz-worthy show that was as hilarious as it was dark, one about a truly desperate housewife. A recent widow with two growing sons, Nancy Botwin (Golden Globe winner Mary-Louise Parker) looks like a typical resident of the affluent Southern California suburb of Agrestic. She keeps a clean, upscale house (with the help of a live-in maid), attends PTA meetings, goes to her kids' soccer games, makes frequent stops at the local coffee franchise.... and sells marijuana in order to make it all possible. Left with no way to support herself after her beloved husband's fatal heart attack, Nancy turns herself into the "suburban baroness of bud," dealing to her neighbors in the area, with the help of her supplier Heylia (Tonye Patano) and point man Conrad (Romany Malco). Nancy's clients run from the local councilman (Kevin Nealon) to the just-barely-legal students at the local community college, but many in Agrestic are still in the dark as to how she keeps her family afloat, including her best friend, the sardonic Celia (Elizabeth Perkins), a wife and mother whose blistering, withering put-downs could make Dorothy Parker cringe in fear. But like many small-business owners, Nancy yearns for more success and cash, and like her workaholic neighbors, finds keeping a balance between work life and home life to be extremely precarious at best.

While Desperate Housewives yearned to be a suburban satire with bite, Weeds was the real deal, skewering upper-middle class mores with a sharp eye, a keen wit, and a mostly forgiving heart. In episode after episode, the show's creative team (led by creator Jenji Kohan) pulled back the layers of Agrestic's superficiality to show what lies beneath the squeaky-clean exteriors and smiling faces; it turns out that hunger, fear, desire, and, yes, desperation aren't that far down. However, Weeds forsakes pulpiness and florid drama for biting yet affectionate humor--its heroine is a woman with sliding morals, but one you'll root for to the very end. The effervescent Parker, the only actress who can mix perkiness with morbidity in just the right amounts, anchored the show with her amazing turn as Nancy, who by the end of the first season had become a kind of soccer-mom version of Michael Corleone, entering a corrupt world with both trepidation and fascination--and totally enamored of the power it brought her. Also perfectly cast, Perkins found the role of a lifetime as the bitterly hilarious Celia, and entering the show in its fourth episode, Justin Kirk (Parker's co-star in Angels in America) proved to be a potent secret weapon as Nancy's brother-in-law Andy, a slacker who wasn't above peddling t-shirts to elementary school kids. As icky as these characters might appear on the surface, Weeds made them all immensely appealing and great company to be around. Don't say we didn't warn you: one hit and you'll be hooked on this show. The DVDs feature six episode commentaries with cast and crew, outtakes, original featurettes, a music video, and most enjoyably, Agrestic Herbal Recipes (for entertainment value only, we assume) and the "Smoke and Mirrors" marijuana mockumentary. --Mark Englehart

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24 - Season Six

Actors: Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Gregory Itzin, DB Woodside, William Devane
ASIN : B000MR8W92
Sales Rank : 110
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : Fox Network
Region Code : 1
Format : DVD-Video, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0024543462927
UPC : 024543462927
Release Date : December 04, 2007
Publisher : Fox Network
Manufacturer : Fox Network
Availability : Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
Label : Fox Network
Running Time : 1050

Product Description

At the end of Season 5, Jack Bauer was kidnapped, beaten, and taken captive in retribution for his involvement in a raid on the Chinese Consulate eighteen months earlier. Now, there's a new president, Jack Bauer is missing, and the U.S. is under siege from terrorist attacks more threatening than anything we've ever encountered! There is only one thing that can save the nation: Jack Bauer must die.

Amazon.com

Always innovative and utterly addictive, the thrilling sixth season of 24 picks up twenty months after last seasons shocking season finale and features even more unthinkable and shocking plotlines that take place in another heart-stopping 24 hour period. Nominated for his sixth consecutive Best ActorDrama Series EmmyAward, Kiefer Sutherland continues to ignite the screen as the rugged hero Jack Bauer, along with gripping performances from the series returning ensemble cast. The seven-disc 24: Season Six DVD set includes all 24 one-hour episodes plus is packed with hours of special features including an exclusive Season Seven preview, over 25 minutes of deleted scenes, numerous cast/crew episode commentaries, more than 20 behind-the-scenes webcast diaries, "Day Six Debrief" mobisodes, several on-the-set featurettes and more.

Beyond 24: Season 6

The 24 TV Series
24 Community on Amazon
More from Fox TV

Stills from 24: Season 6

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Gilmore Girls - The Complete Fifth Season

Actors: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Keiko Agena, Scott Patterson, Yanic Truesdale
ASIN : B000BB1MIC
Sales Rank : 661
Director : Amy Sherman, Daniel Palladino, Eric Laneuville, Jackson Douglas, Jamie Babbit
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : WB Television Network, The
Region Code : 1
Format : Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781419811135
ISBN : 1419811134
UPC : 012569706866
Number Of Discs : 6
Release Date : December 13, 2005
Publisher : WB Television Network, The
Manufacturer : WB Television Network, The
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : WB Television Network, The
Running Time : 957

Description

Gilmore rising: Lorelai. The Dragonfly Inn is a huge success. And Lorelai's romance with Luke (the just-gotta-be relationship fans have waited for!) steams up Stars Hollow. Gilmore going down: Rory. College, boys and career plans crash and burn, leaving the once-confident golden girl reeling. Fasten your seat belt for a fabulously funny and heartbreakingly dramatic Season 5. The wit, charm and eccentricity that have created legions of Gilmore Girls devotees are on glorious display in all 22 episodes of the hit series' fifth year. Adding more sparkle is the brilliant array of totally off-kilter, totally engaging supporting characters: Sookie, Paris, Lane, Kirk, Michel, the imperious Gilmore pere et mere and a townful more. See you in Stars Hollow!

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:By Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino on Wedding Bell Blues Episode.
Documentaries:The Gilmore Girls Turn 100 - a in-depth look at the making of the 100th episode.
Easter Eggs
Featurette:Behind the Scenes of the 10tth Episode.
Other:Who Wants To Talk Gilmore - montage of Season 5's best dialogue exchanges.
Theatrical Trailer

Amazon.com

Perennially one of the WB's highest-rated series, Gilmore Girls hit its creative high point to date with its stellar fifth season, which started out with young Rory (Alexis Bledel) feeling the fallout of doing something terribly non-Rory-like: sleeping with Dean (Jared Padalecki), her married ex-boyfriend. Rory's indulgence in adultery put, for the first time, a serious, sharp wedge in her relationship with her mother, Lorelai (Lauren Graham), who was both shocked by her daughter's behavior and worried Rory would repeat the mistakes Lorelai made at her age. But while Rory jetted off to Europe with her grandmother (Kelly Bishop) for the summer, Lorelai finally got her relationship with diner owner Luke (Scott Patterson) into a serious groove, starting with an official (and incredibly sweet) first date and others that involved, if you can believe it, a Swedish Pippi Longstocking movie. And as Lorelai navigated romantic terrain in Stars Hollow (terrain that of course did not run smooth), Rory found life more complex in her second year at Yale, as her relationship with Dean became increasingly strained. Not only that, she found her attention turned towards preppy Logan (Matt Czurchy), a spoiled rich kid who represented everything Rory couldn't stand--and was of course immediately attracted to. Little did Rory know that Logan's entrance into her life, and her interaction with his family, would be the catalyst for one of the most momentous decisions she would ever make.

With this season of Gilmore Girls, creative forces Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino finally found a way to make the Stars Hollow-Yale dichotomy work perfectly, as each location still stood alone but had decided repercussions on the other. Gone were freshman-year anxieties for Rory and in their place were more adult romantic concerns as well as a class consciousness that, for the first serious time, found Rory on the side of the haves and not the have-nots. While the Rory-Dean drama played itself out nicely and succinctly, it was the devilish Logan who lit a fire underneath this Gilmore girl; the episode "You Jump, I Jump, Jack" was a lovely twist on the '30s romantic comedies that found rich folk at play with words and deeds. Bledel started to fully blossom as Rory grew from ingénue to leading lady, and she was matched peerlessly by Graham, whose passion, anger, stubbornness, and ravishing beauty all came to a head in "Wedding Bell Blues," which featured her two greatest nemeses: her mother and Rory's dad, Christopher (David Sutcliffe). The show's trademark eccentricities were all in place--including a Pulp Fiction party and an elementary school production of Fiddler on the Roof, among other things--but it mined the best drama of its run with the season's last four episodes, which found Rory's confidence shaken to the core. To give any of the proceedings away would spoil the drama, but suffice it to say you will be glued to the TV for this season's final four hours; it's Gilmore Girls at its phenomenal best. --Mark Englehart

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Lost - The Complete Seasons 1-3

Actors: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Dominc Monaghan
ASIN : B0017HZZP0
Sales Rank : 503
Director : n/a
Studio : Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Region Code : 1
Format : NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0786936772272
UPC : 786936772272
Release Date : December 29, 2008
Publisher : Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Manufacturer : Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Running Time : 3115

Description

Lost Season 1:
Stranded on an island that holds many secrets, 48 people must band together if they hope to get home alive. Now you can experience the nonstop excitement and mystery of every episode, from the shows mind-blowing first minute to its spectacular finale, on a 7-disc DVD set.

Lost Season 2:
4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. Push the button, and prepare to be blown away by the groundbreaking television event USA Today calls TV s best series. The multiple Emmy Award-winning drama reaches new heights in its spectacular second season as the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 discover they are not alone in their battle against The Others, and a contested decision to open the hatch reveals a new realm of mystery and intrigue. Prepare yourself for the DVD experience of Season Two, complete with over eight hours of original bonus material you can t see anywhere else including unaired original flashbacks and you ll discover for yourself why everything happens for a reason.

Lost Season 3:
Find the answers you ve been looking for in the explosive third season of the show USA Today calls the most gorgeous, audacious, expansive series on network TV. As the power of the island to both heal and destroy comes into sharp focus, the lines between good and evil are blurred and loyalties are challenged when the survivors of the crash become tangled within the lives of the Others. Plan your escape, and immerse yourself in all 23 episodes of Season Three. Go deeper than ever before in this seven-disc DVD box set, complete with hours of never-before-seen bonus features, including secrets from the world of the Others, behind-the-scenes featurettes, unprecedented access to the Lost writers room, and so much more.

Amazon.com

Lost Season 1:
Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack?

Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi

Lost Season 2:

What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that head-spinning to a minimum.

On the DVD

Commentaries by various cast members and producers reveal little other than the occasional easter egg (the Dharma logo on the shark fin, Walt's mumbling translating to "Don't push the button; the button is bad" backwards). But disc seven opens with an eerie Hanso Foundation instructional video, leading you to eight hours of bonus features, including cast members' own theories, deleted scenes, and featurettes on specific episodes. It's all well and good for Lost fanatics, but if you want the cream of the crop, check out: "Lost Connections," an interactive feature that reveals how all the islanders are actually linked (for instance, one of the officers who captured Sayid during the Gulf War is Kate's father); a Channel UK promo for the show directed by David LaChappelle in which cast members suck in their cheeks and, dressed in evening wear, tango in slow motion as if in a Calvin Klein ad (it has to be a joke, right?); and "The World According to Sawyer," which strings together each of the un-PC nicknames and pop culture references spewed by Holloway's character. Favorites include "Chewie" for Jin and "Ponce de Leon" for Ana Lucia. It's by far the cherry on top of a sweet dessert. --Ellen A. Kim

Lost Season 3:
When it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.)

Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series.

The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director's commentaries) so you won't miss a thing. "Lost Book Club" goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show's storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). "Lost: On Location" gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and "Lost in a Day" gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama's arduous production. If you're a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. --Ellen A. Kim

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