Show: The Girls Next Door, Season 3 (Fox)
Format: DVD
What is it?: Considering this reality show is all about the three beautiful woman currently dating “Playboy” publisher Hugh Hefner, it’d be easy to dismiss it as just eye candy. And it is. After all, the women in question are easy on the eye and usually pretty sweet. But watching their wacky adventures—which this season included them shooting a calendar and celebrating Christmas at the Mansion—you realize that they’re as funny (though sometimes unintentionally) as they are foxy. And the fact that we secretly wish we were Hef has nothing to do with it. Seriously.
Number of discs/episodes: 3 discs/14 episodes
Extras: Audio commentary by the girls; deleted and extended scenes; optional uncensored audio track.
Price: $29.98
Buy, borrow or ignore: Borrow.
Show: Barney Miller, The Complete Second Season (Sony)
Format: DVD
What is it?: On TV, police work is usually taken very seriously. Or at least semi-seriously. Which could explain why this sitcom about a bunch of NYC cops still stands out. With a cast that included Hal Linden in the title role, Max Gail as Detective Stan “Wojo” Wojciehowicz, Ron Glass as Detective Ron Harris, Jack Soo as Detective Sergeant Nick Yemana and, of course, the incomparable Abe Vigoda as Detective Phil Fish, the show boasted one of the best and most diverse ensemble casts of any ’70s sitcom. But it was the realistic and still hilarious writing that really made this show so unique.
Number of discs/episodes: 3 discs/22 episodes
Extras: None…unless you count previews of “Charlie’s Angels” and “The Facts Of Life.”
Price: $29.98
Buy, borrow or ignore: Buy.
Show: Torchwood, The Complete First Season (BBC Home Video)
Format: DVD
What is it?: British sci-fi has always been a cult fascination here in the colonies, be it “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” or “Doctor Who.” So it’s a bit surprising that “Torchwood”—a “Who” spin-off about a group of alien/paranormal investigators and fighters that plays like a British “X-Files”—would be the biggest thing on BBC America since the original “Office.” Well, until you watch a couple episodes and realize it’s a smart and unflinching sci-fi show that more than lives up to England’s sci-fi legacy. And ours as well. The episodes on this collection slowly but subtlely build to a conclusion the writers of “Lost” would envy.
Number of discs/episodes: 7 discs/13 episodes
Extras: Audio commentaries; deleted scenes; numerous featurettes on the characters and the creatures; surround sound; “The Captain’s Log Video Diary”; “Torchwood Sex, Violence, Blood and Gore”; “Torchwood: On the Road.”
Price: $79.98
Buy, borrow or ignore: Buy.
Other TV DVDs out this week:
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Book 3 Volume 2 (Nickelodeon)
Banacek, The Second Season (Arts Alliance)
ER, The Complete Eighth Season (Warner Home Video)
Hawaii Five-O, The Third Season (CBS/Paramount)
Hustle, Complete Season 4 (BBC Home Video)
Hustle, Complete Season Four (BBC Warner)
Jeff Corwin Experience, Season One (Animal Planet/Genius Products)
Make Room For Daddy, Season 6 (S’more Entertainment)
Masterpiece Theatre, Northanger Abbey (WGBH Boston)
Noein, To Your Other Self, The Complete Series (Manga)
Swamp Thing, The Series (Shout Factory)
The Catherine Cookson Anthology (Koch)
The Kingdom, Series Two (Koch)
The Odd Couple, The Third Season (CBS/Paramount)
The Simple Life Goes To Camp (Fox)
Tokko, The Complete Series, Volume 1-3 (Manga)
Editor’s note: Actual releases may differ; Metromix is not responsible for injury, loss of life or wasted time if you go to the store to buy one of them and the clerk says, “Uh, no, that’s not coming out until next week.”
