by Mathew Muratore

'Desperate Housewives' The Complete Fifth Season is out now.

Fans of ‘Desperate Housewives’ were left in shock at the end of season four when the show unexpectedly leaped forward five years into the future  giving  ’Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fifth Season’ a fresh new start for the residents of Wisteria Lane.

The lives of the main housewives has changed dramatically Bree (Marcia Cross) has now received Martha Stewart type fame with a successful catering company and a cook book on the way, Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is now dealing with her rebellious teenage sons, Susan (Teri Hatcher) has separated from Mike (James Denton) and Gabrielle (Eva Longoria Parker) has undergone the most significant change losing her looks as a result of having two children.

Eva Longoria Parker was the real standout of the season the transformation her character had undergone was in typical ‘Desperate Housewives’ fashion both humorous and touching at the same time. Its fascinating looking back on the way Gabrielle was in season one to what she had become in season five even though Gabrielle re-gains her looks she never fully reverts back to her old self with many lessons learnt along the way by dealing with financial struggles, her husband’s blindness and raising her two daughters.

Despite the lives of the housewives sustaining enough interest across thye 24 episodes it is unfortunate that the mystery does not live up to ‘Desperate Housewives’ standards. The mystery surrounding Edie’s (Nicollette Sheridan) husband; Dave Williams (Neal McDonough) seeking revenge for the death of his wife and daughter was predictable and the individual he was after was obvious from the beginning and it lacked any of the show’s trademark twists and turns.

The show celebrated its 100^th episode during season five and the episode remains a standout of the entire series. The episode involved a series of flashbacks centred around resident handyman Eli Scruggs wonderfully played by Beau Bridges and how he touched the lives of each of the housewives. The flashbacks allow us to see the return of old favourites including Rex Van De Kamp (Steven Culp), Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook) and one of the few appearances of Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong).

The various flashback episodes including the episode ‘Mirror Mirror’ that fills in the gaps during the five year jump are the real standouts of the season including a tribute episode after the surprise death of one of the housewives.

Special Features

The amount of special features is impressive with audio commentary with cast and crew on the premier episode “You’re going to love tomorrow” and the 100^th episode “The best thing that ever could have happened.” There is also an interesting look at the celebrations surrounding the 100^th episode along with Marc Cherry’s favourite scenes, Bloopers, deleted scenes and a feature on Teri Hatcher.

Summary

Spanning across eight discs ‘Desperate Housewives: The Red Hot Edition- the Complete Fifth Season’ is a must for any fan and a great way to introduce new viewers to the show with its fresh start. Despite some of the season’s short comings including the lack of Katharine Mayfair (Dana Delany), the predictable mystery and the sometimes sitcom style the show evoked the fifth season is a great starting point for a new chapter of the show with only better things to come.

4 out of 5 stars

'Brothers and Sisters' The Complete Third Season

‘Brothers and Sisters’ is a grand family drama in the greatest sense of the word. It encapsulates everything a good drama should — uniquely defined characters, raw heartfelt emotion and of course humour.

At the centre of the Walker’s story, is the betrayal of William Walker. The patriarch of the Californian family, who’s affairs have rocked the family’s foundation to its core.

While William’s deceit and death have long passed, his actions still plague his family, including his wife Nora (Sally Field) and their five children Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), Kitty (Calista Flockhart), Tommy (Balthazar Getty), Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Justin (Dave Annable).

Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig), William’s mistress, serves as a living reminder of his deceptions — having conveniently weaved her way back into the Walker’s lives. Her daughter, Rebecca (Emily VanCamp), was once even thought to be William’s illegitimate love child. When the truth was finally revealed at the end of season two, another affair was uncovered — in which William did actually father a child, a boy named Ryan Lafferty (Luke Grimes).

Season three brings everything out into the open — the latest earth shattering secret bubbles to the surface in the big season opener. As the season progresses, the family tries to readjust to welcoming a new member to the family, which doesn’t necessarily go down too smoothly. Tension grows as relationships are tested, financial burdens take over and medical emergencies rock the less than settled boat.

The show doesn’t always take itself so seriously, as some might expect. It frequently diverts to comedy, giving you a break from all the drama. Just look to any of the trademark chain phone calls and you’ll likely find yourself grinning. It’s actually these lighter moments which make this show so effective — you really get a sense that this is a real family.

Video and Audio

The 22-episode season is presented in a 16:9 (1.78:1 aspect ratio). The picture sharp and vibrant, despite the softer colour palette. There’s a little grain here, but not enough to be distracting. Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound with English, Italian and Spanish dubs.

Bonus Features

Included on the 6-disc set are a number of bonus features, including interviews, deleted scenes, bloopers and audio commentaries. Nothing out of the ordinary here, but fans will appreciate them none the less.

The “In-Between Scenes” featurette is a nice little addition giving viewers an insight into the behind-the-scene antics of the cast, while “The Ojai Experience” documents a cast visit to a real family winery in Ojai, California.

Conclusion

What makes ‘Brothers and Sisters’ work so well is the show’s amazing cast. There are some truly brilliant performances, no more so than from Academy award winner Sally Field, who shows her immense versatility as an actor. Add to that supporting performances by Calista Flockhart, Rob Lowe, Ron Rifkin and Australia’s Rachel Griffiths, there’s really no weak link in this big ensemble drama.

Thanks to its healthy balance of drama and comedy, ‘Brother and Sisters’ continues to prove itself as a solid first rate television series — one that will evolve and retain its relevancy against society’s ever changing social and political standpoints.

4 out of 5 stars

'Dirty Sexy Money' The Complete Second Season is out November 4.

‘Dirty Sexy Money’ returns for another gut busting season of lies, deceit, murder and adultery.

Lead by family patriarch Trip Darling played by the incomparable Donald Sutherland, the series also stars Peter Krause, Jill Clayburgh, William Baldwin, Glenn Fitzgerald, Seth Gabel, Zoe McLellan, Blair Underwood, Natalie Zea and Lucy Liu.

As the Darling’s family attorney, a role which he inherited from his father, Nick George (Peter Krause) finds himself thrown into all kinds of crazy situations orchestrated by the family’s outlandish antics. The biggest head banger is Nick’s personal connection with the family, with several members being key suspects in his father Dutch George’s murder. While this mystery is ultimately solved by series end, it’s long drawn out reveal slightly diminishes its eventual impact.

Perhaps one of the more outrageous story lines on the show is Patrick Darling’s (William Baldwin) affair with his transexual lover Carmelita Rainer (Candis Cayne). After discovering Patrick’s deceit, his wife Ellen (Bellamy Young) confronts Patrick over the affair — however this ultimately leads to her accidental death.

In an attempt to cover up Patrick’s political reputation as a New York senator, he and his father conspire to cover up Ellen’s death by planting her body in the family’s burning country house estate. Definitely a mouthful to say the least.

This second season of ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ also introduces Nola Lyons (Lucy Liu) the hard-ass prosecutor in Nick’s father’s murder trial, who’s determined to bring down the Darling family. But because that clearly isn’t quite juicy enough, she also becomes romantically involved with the Darling’s playboy youngest son Jeremy Darling (Seth Gabel).

Like all series that debuted that previous year, ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ was heavily impacted by the 2007-2008 writers strike. The 100-day production halt is likely the main reason for the show’s cancellation, following its return to low ratings post-strike.

Had the series continued for a full season the previous year, I think the show would have started out much stronger creatively in it second season. The momentum built up surrounding Dutch George’s murder mystery was unfortunately lost between the first and second seasons. Having said that, it does do a modest job of trying to re-engage viewers and eventually wrap up all loose ends.

The 3-disc set contains a couple of extras, including behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes and a bloopers reel. Nothing particularly ground breaking here. It would have been nice to have an audio commentary from the show’s cast and crew, particularly to hear their views on how the writers strike impacted their original story arc.

‘Dirty Sexy Money’ is probably worth a look for fans of juicy mind-bending soap opera. It’s delicious characters make it thoroughly entertaining, if not just for your disbelief over what these characters get away with.

2.5 out of 5 stars

'Family Guy' Season Eight

Seth McFarland’s hilarious animated satire returns with ‘Family Guy’ Season Eight.

The 3-disc set brings 13 more episodes to DVD, following the outrageous Griffin family (Peter, Lois, Chris, Meg, Stewie and Brian) as they take poke fun at even more pop cultural references.

Part of what makes ‘Family Guy’ so successful, is its ability to find humour in our society and culture.

It draws heavily from the truth — exploiting our most transparent absurdities.

From our society’s attitude towards religion, corporate structure and homosexuality, ‘Family Guy’ exploits it all.

The show even looks back at war torn Poland in 1939, during the rise of Nazi Germany.

As controversial as the material is, it’s hard to find faults with a show that speaks so honestly about our society’s flaws.

Having said that, its not without its own flaws. Generally, a lack of direction in the overall storyline sense, though common with most animated series.

As far as bonus features go, ‘Family Guy’ Season Eight is packed. Like previous season releases, every episode comes with an audio commentary from the show’s cast and crew. With such controversial subject matter, it’s great to get an insight into the mind of the makers and their individual opinions on these topics.

There are also several deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes featurettes, giving fans even more insight into the hit series.

For those not fortunate enough to visit Comic-Con in San Francisco, like me, the DVD set also includes the entire panel session from the 2008 convention.

The biggest problem with this DVD set is the way Twentieth Century Fox have decided to structure their ‘Family Guy’ releases. In the US, Fox began to distribute the show in half volumes, splitting seasons into multiple releases.

This not only becomes confusing for watchers, but local distributors have seemingly also become confused. This “season eight” release is actually the last 4 episodes of season six and the first 9 episodes of season seven.

Apart from the inherent cataloguing problems, ‘Family Guy’ Season Eight makes a given addition to any ‘Family Guy’ DVD collection.

The only question is: when can I get Season Nine (aka Season Seven Part 2)?

3.5 out of 5 stars

‘Everwood’ The Complete Second Season

‘Everwood’ is one of my favourite shows ever. Like many others, I fell in love the small town of Everwood, Colorado back when it aired on The WB and subsequently on the Nine Network in Australia.

The Complete First Season was released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment back in September 2004. It was a number of new teen dramas headed to DVD, including Josh Schwartz’s ‘The OC’.

A few years went by and there had been no word on the second season of ‘Everwood’. Despite ‘The OC’ seeing several later season hit shevles.

The initial response from Warner Bros. was that they had no plans to release future seasons of ‘Everwood’ because of poor sales on the first season.

So naturally, when it became apparent that the second season would never come out on DVD, I was absolutely devastated.

Then in July last year, there were a couple rumblings of a release, with music artist Will Derryberry stating on his blog that some of his songs would be featured in episodes of ‘Everwood’ headed for TheWB.com video portal and on DVD.

At this point it became apparent that Warner Bros. were working on acquiring licences for the music featured in the series, plus a number of additional music replacements.

Finally in September last year, the news was confirmed by Warner Bros. Vice President of TV marketing during the online Home Theatre Forum chat. Finally!

So here we are, five years later and ‘Everwood’ The Complete Second Season is finally out on DVD and boy was is worth the wait.

The second season picks up exactly where the first season left off, where we were let wondering many questions, including: Did Colin survive the surgery? Will Amy and Ephram finally get together?

The answer to one of these questions becomes apparent within the first five minutes, but not before a convincing daydream sequence, which leads us to believe otherwise.

We see how these characters, which we’ve grown to love, deal with the loss of such a pivotal character during the show’s first season. We see them through their ups and downs and ultimately how their small town universe is suddenly altered.

Existing relationships are tested with the reversal two key relationships. We also see new relationships develop out of all the chaos of last season.

Season two also introduces a number of new characters, including Dr. Linda Abbott, a new love interest for Dr. Andy Brown (Treat Williams), played by the incomparable Marcia Cross (‘Desperate Housewives’).

Deliah’s new baby-sitter Madison (Sarah Lancaster, ‘Chuck’), who becomes an interesting influence on the adolescent Ephram (Gregory Smith).

Finally, bad boy Tommy (Paul Wesley, ‘The Vampire Diaries’), who leads Amy (Emily Vancamp) down a dark path as she struggles to deal with her loss.

Here we have 22 brilliantly crafted episodes, dealing with such topical social issues including adolescent sex, depression and AIDS;  all though the microcosm of a small mountain town.

‘Everwood’ is poetic, eye opening and makes for an unbeatable television experience.

The images are sharp and presented in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, preserving the original broadcast presentation. Some music has been replaced for this home entertainment version, but nothing too detrimental to the overall experience. Fortunately the series features a lot of original music composed by Blake Neely, including the series theme song, all of which is still intact.

Bonus features are pretty sparse. There’s just a batch of deleted scenes, some of which are great additions, others not so much.

I guess that’s what happens when you wait five years to release a series on DVD. Hopefully for future releases, Warner Bros. will make more effort in producing cast and crew interviews, commentaries and behind the scenes featurettes.

It’d be of particular interest to hear from series creator Greg Berlanti, whose since gone off to produce ‘Brothers and Sisters’, ‘Dirty Sexy Money’, ‘Eli Stone’ and co-write the upcoming blockbuster ‘The Green Lantern’.

“Everwood’ The Complete Second Season is a rare example of a family drama which is smart and topical, all the while being cool and entertaining.

Let’s hope Warner Bros. fast track the release of the final two seasons of this outstanding series.

5 out of 5 stars

'Smallville' The Complete Seventh Season

‘Smallville’ is one of the few shows that I watch exclusively on DVD. Originally not by choice, but because the show was jerked around so much by the networks here in Australia.

How can one honestly expect fans to follow a show over three different channels over seven years in various timeslots? Those who remember, the Warner Bros. series originally started out on the Nine Network, where it played out on and off in various timeslots for three seasons. It was then on-sold to Network Ten where it remained for a season or two. The series was then shafted to the now defunct Ten HD, which was the last time ‘Smallville’ was seen on free-to-air television in Australia.

Thanks to the popularity of TV shows on DVD, fans can finally catch up on Clark Kent’s younger years in ‘Smallville’ without the interruption of a lousy network.

Funnily enough, despite being a fan of the show, I never seem to give it enough credit. Perhaps the fact that my viewing habits for the show are somewhat sporadic due to the yearly gaps between DVD releases, I’m often one to say that the show should’ve been cancelled years ago. Looking back on this, I now acknowledge that the reason why used to say this was because I just hadn’t seen the show in over a year.

So when season seven of ‘Smallville’ finally came out on DVD last month, I was pleasantly surprised as just how wrong I was about this show. It was still just as engaging and addictive as ever.

What’s great about ‘Smallville’, is that you know where the show is heading. You know that Clark Kent will eventually become a clumsy spectacle ridden reporter for the Daily Planet. You know that Clark Kent is finally going to realise who his true feelings are for. And you know that one day Clart Kent is going to don the red cap and the blue tights and save the world.

With all these things in mind, watching the show is like watching the pieces of a puzzle slowly coming together.

Season seven reigns in some new series regulars and guest stars, including Clark’s tenacious Kryptonian cousin Kara played by Larua Vandervoort, the adorkable Jimmy Olsen played by Aaron Ashmore, who was only a guest star last season and Grant Gabriel, played by Michael Cassidy (‘The OC’, ‘Privileged’) who takes post as the new editor of the Daily Planet.

I’m always nervous when television shows bring in new characters, because I often feel as though the newbies are somehow invading an already formulated group of characters.

Understandably, the introduction of new characters on a series is to a) mix up the existing world of the characters and b) give the writers of the show something new and different to work with when constructing story lines.

Fortunately for ‘Smallville’, they’ve never introduced a new character which I didn’t end up liking by the end of the season.

So as expected, the introduction of Kara opens up a cavalcade of new story lines and plot twists which ultimately allow Clark to learn more about his birth parents and his home planet Krypton. Thankfully, we’re also not overwhelmed by these alien story lines and are given a more grounded relationship driven story arc between Chloe and Jimmy.

Let’s face it, this show needed a new power couple, I can’t even describe how much I despise the never ending Clark and Lana lovefest.

A particularly intriguing story arc this season follows Lex’s discovery of his father, Lionel Luthor’s secret society, Veritas. A group of wealthy society figures who protect the secret of the Traveler (Clark), and ultimately hold the power to control him.

This season also hints at what’s to come in Superman’s crime fighting future, with another taste of the Justice League. We’re introduced to Dinah Lance, also know as Black Canary, played by Alaina Huffman.

Other returning guest stars this season include James Masters as Brainiac, Dean Cain as Dr. Curtis Knox, Justin Hartley as the Green Arrow and Sam Jones III as Pete Ross.

The 6-disc set comes with a couple extras including:

• Audio commentaries on 2 key episodes
• “Supergirl: The Last Daughter of Krypton” featurette
• “Jimmy on Jimmy” featurette
• “Smallville Legends: Kara and the Chronicles of Krypton” mobisodes
• “Smallville: Visions” digital comic book

Season seven is an exciting mix of intrigue, action and drama, which sets up a thrilling launch pad for season eight.

If only I didn’t have to wait a whole year for the next season to roll around on DVD.

3.5 out of 5 stars