It’s not just premiere week for the new TV season; it’s DVD box set week for the last TV season. (Because heaven knows you wouldn’t want to release last season’s set any earlier than the week the new season debuts; that might give viewers a chance to catch up, and that would be a terrible, terrible mistake.) Anyway, your intrepid correspondent recommends the Emmy-winning Modern Family, the should’ve-been-at-least-Emmy-nominated Community, and the oft-derided-but-actually-enjoyable Bored To Death. (The Community DVD is noteworthy especially for its clever set of bonus features, including a very funny and surprisingly touching “employee review” conducted by creator Dan Harmon.) If you prefer your TV a little more vintage, a couple of classic PBS docu-series are now available on DVD: Middletown and Joseph Campbell & The Power Of Myth. (Reviews of both will be coming to the DVD section in future weeks.) And if the the bleak verité of Middletown doesn’t thoroughly depress you, pick up the latest volume of Criterion’s Eclipse series—dedicated to the despairing “actuality dramas” of Canadian documentarian Allan King—and finish the job. Then, once you’ve been through the ringer, lighten the hell up with Criterion’s sparkling new Blu-ray of Charade, a stylish and frivolous Euro-adventure starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
American Beauty
Dreamworks Blu-ray, $29.99
Being Human: Season Two
BBC Warner, $49.98; Blu-ray, $59.98
Bored To Death: The Complete First Season
HBO, $39.98; Blu-ray, $49.99
Castle: The Complete Second Season
ABC, $45.99
Charade
Criterion Blu-ray, $39.95
Community: The Complete First Season
Sony, $39.95
Date For Hire
Maverick, $19.98
Desperate Housewives: The Complete Sixth Season
ABC, $45.99