DVD Spin Doctor

'The Prisoner' captured in Blu-ray format

"The Prisoner" is making a break for Blu-ray, after several years of rumor and speculation about the cult British TV show going high-def. 

A&E Home Video has just confirmed it will release "The Prisoner: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]" on Oct. 27. 

Patrick McGoohan created and starred in the series, which has been fully restored from the original film elements. There's newly remixed 5.1 audio as well as the old-school mono.

"The Prisoner" seems to have survived in good shape, based on previous DVD releases. Expectations for the transfer to Blu-ray will be high, given the show's imaginative, odd and colorful sets and costumes, as well as its gorgeous seaside locations. 

I'm good with any excuse to revisit "The Prisoner" (even at its 15-hour running time) -- the occasion of an HD release works just fine.

Here are some of the bonus features, either new or not previously released in the U.S.:

• Two new featurettes, "The Pink Prisoner" and "You Make Sure It Fits!"
• Feature length documentary "Don't Knock Yourself Out," featuring most of the key players in the production. (McGoohan died early this year.)
• A newly restored original edit of the first episode, "Arrival," with an optional music-only track featuring "Wilfred Josephs' complete and abandoned score."
• The original edit of "The Chimes of Big Ben" (The previous box set had a "rare alternate" version of the episode.)
• Commentaries from production veterans on seven episodes.
• Image archive with more than 1,200 stills.

"The Prisoner" is contained on five discs. Full-boat retail is $100. 

The British series, which first confused and delighted viewers in 1967 and '68, enjoys a "Star Trek"-like following of those dedicated to its rat's nest of mysteries and intrigues.

All 17 episodes of "The Prisoner" have been out there for most of the DVD era, with five volumes unleashed in 2000/2001 and "vThe Prisoner: 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition" coming in 2006.

Patrick McGoohan dies; 'Prisoner' lives on

Patrick McGoohan did a lot more than just create "The Prisoner," but that alone would be plenty for most lifetimes. The actor and writer died the other day in Los Angeles. He was 80.

The British series, which first confused and delighted viewers in 1967 and '68, enjoys a "Star Trek"-like following of those dedicated to its rat's nest of mysteries and intrigues. 

"The Prisoner" tells of a secret agent (McGoohan) who resigns in anger, then finds himself velvet-coffined in a Kafkaesque seaside resort where people are known only by their numbers. Escapees are hunted down by what seems to be a giant marshmallow. 

"I am not a number!" our man bellows. "I am a free man!" Well, sort of. 

The good news is the surreal spy series "The Prisoner" is out there complete, in a big DVD box set from A&E Home Video.

(McGoohan's earlier "Secret Agent" series also was released by the label.)

"The Prisoner" seems to have survived in good shape. A transfer to Blu-ray would be sensational given the show's imaginative and odd colorful sets and costumes, as well as its gorgeous seaside locations.

Update: Patrick McGoohan's "The Prisoner" is due in the Blu-ray format on Oct. 27, 2009.

There have been two A&E releases of the cult favorite on DVD: five volumes in 2000/2001 and "The Prisoner: 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition)" with all 17 hourlong episodes in 2006. 

The '06 version is mostly a repackaging of the earlier set. A&E dumped the clamshells for slim cases, and threw in a map of the Village and a nicely done 60-page episode guide. "The Prisoner" sets' numerous but mostly unexceptional extras were ported over.

 I heard from one "Prisoner" expert and hardcore fan, who said he was in possession of various rare and cool materials but couldn't get them into the rerelease. 

Here's hoping for release No. 3.

DVD reviews: 'Studio One,' 'Sunset Blvd.'

The shows are up to 60 years old and some look every bit their age, but there's no taking your eyes off the top-tier episodes of "Studio One: Anthology."

The live CBS show was among the top anthology shows of the 1950s and a pure product of the Golden Age of Television. Broadcast from 1948-58, the show overflowed with stars and soon-to-be stars. 

Westinghouse sponsored ("First in nuclear power!"), with sleek spokesmodel Betty Furness educating America about new refrigerators and light bulbs.

 Actors in the 17 shows of Koch Entertainment's "Studio One: Anthology" alone include Charlton Heston, Elizabeth Montgomery, Sal Mineo, Art Carney, Jack Lemmon, Eva Marie Saint, Theodore Bikel, Lorne Green ... and so on. 

Writers include Gore Vidal and Rod Serling (both twice), George Axelrod and the prolific social realist Reginald Rose.

The toplined episode here is the famed live broadcast of "Twelve Angry Men," an original written by Rose for "Studio One." Long thought lost, a kinescope was located in the private collection of a judge who had admired its realistic look at jury deliberations in a murder trial. Henry Fonda turned the Emmy-winning episode into a feature film; the source material lives on today in regional theatrical productions.

Koch and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences screened "Twelve Angry Men" a few weeks back, with the small-screen drama holding up well on ATAS' big screen, especially the performance of Robert Cummings as the probing juror No. 8. 

Afterward, a panel of "Studio One" veterans -- including Jack Klugman, Dick Van Patten and Jayne Meadows -- talked about their experiences in live TV. The elderly stars shared stories of things going wrong before a nationwide audience, and how the actors' split-second improvisations kept things moving along. As much as anything, the casual panel session showed how fragile the memories of this TV era are in the new century. 

Meadows talked about all footage of "The Steve Allen Show" deliberately buried at sea, via some sort of network subterfuge. Likewise, much of "Studio One's" output was destroyed. In the DVD set's docu, the actress Cloris Leachman recalls: "The president of CBS told me he was just sick that they all burned."

In 1997, however, a worker found a cache of CBS boxes at an old Westinghouse factory. Inside were hundreds of hours of live TV programming.

The televised plays and adaptations presented here come from kinescopes, basically low-grade films made off the monitor. They suffer from all known forms of video wear, although the mid-'50s material fares reasonably well. Audio is just OK, at best.

My favorite episode in "Studio One: Anthology" is Gore Vidal's "Summer Pavilion," featuring live-TV regular Elizabeth Montgomery (young and striking) and hard-charging Miriam Hopkins. ("All are gone now," Vidal writes in the DVD booklet.) The well-preserved broadcast from 1955 has Vidal name-checking William Faulkner but evoking Tennessee Williams in the tale of a crumbling aristocratic New Orleans family.

"Since we -- so many actors, writers, et al -- all lived in Manhattan, we had access to many stars of film and of theater," Vidal writes. "This went on until live television plays were cut by the networks, generally in favor of game shows which did not appreciably raise the IQs of the national audience."

Another winning DVD episode was "Confessions of a Nervous Man," a clever and satirical reminiscence by George Axelrod of the days before and after the debut of his hit play "The Seven Year Itch." Art Carney is terrific as the jittery playwright. Jacqueline Susann shows up as an interviewer.

"1984" brought George Orwell's authoritarian future to America's TV sets in the age of Joseph McCarthy. Director Paul Nickell recalls "there had been difficulty" over the content. He says the McCarthy parallels were "subconscious" on his part, but "I hope it came through." Ignorance is strength, the sign said. Another good-looking episode, shot with five(!) cameras.

I also enjoyed Shakespeare's "Julius Ceasar," the third staging of the play at "Studio One." Theodore Bikel falls victim to the Ides of March.

The DVD set's extras include the brief documentary about the show, a run-on "Studio One" panel session and an extended interview with director Nickell. In general, the bonus materials sound boomy and muffled. The set comes with a handsome booklet that examines each episode.

("12 Angry Men" photo courtesy of Photofest)

* * * * *

Paramount has rereleased Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" as part of its "Centennial Collection," building upon the extras from the studio's fine "Special Collectors Edition" of 2002.

Images and sounds on the 2002 DVD were outstanding; there appear to be some minor upgrades here, but I wouldn't swear to it. Most of the minor imperfections I checked on the older disc are repeated on the Centennial version. There appears to be a slight bit more information on sides of the images.

"Sunset Boulevard: The Centennial Collection" adds a second disc of extras. The main attraction is the making-of documentary, which adds a good deal of footage to the docu from the older disc. The docu is spread over multiple chapters, adding up to a feature-length effort. The credits list separate crews for 2002 and 2008 interviews, which have been combined. It's a solid and drawn-out documentary, but you do wonder why some of the interviewees are included. Perhaps next time we'll get a fresh look at the classic.

New extras of note include the fine "Mad About the Boy: A Portrait of William Holden," in which his frequent co-star Nancy Olson tells some interesting stories about the famed actor and their professional relationship. "The City of Sunset Boulevard" visits locations used in the film, such as the Alto Nido apartments (still peering over Hollywood). Good stuff -- too bad it runs only 5 minutes. The new DVD booklet is a big step up, with dramatic b&w photos.

Ported over from the 2002 "Sunset Boulevard" DVD is the opening morgue sequence. Silent clips accompany script excerpts in which Joe's body visits the L.A. morgue and makes chat with the local stiffs. Wilder deleted the opening because audiences found it funny. The new DVD short "Recording Sunset Boulevard" visits the sessions for a new soundtrack album that includes the 9-minute cues for the morgue sequence.

Ed Sikov, author of "On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder," does the feature commentary with a chatty, often awkward tone that will put off some Students of Film. He's clearly reading from notes. (His talk is another holdover from the 2002 DVD.)

Sikov has the film down cold and views it with a great eye -- check out his description of Norma (Gloria Swanson) as a claw-handed Nosferatu in the shot at 20:45. (This is "a monster movie at times," Sikov notes.) Or how he calls attention to former silent actress Norma disdainfully brushing away a boom mike that ruffles her feather during the visit to Stage 18.

Sikov doesn't confuse Wilder with Bergman, and provides plenty of dish, including how William Holden's angry wife called "cut!" on the set when the director playfully let a kissing scene go on far too long, and how there was no love lost between Wilder and fellow director Cecil B. DeMille, who wanted a new car as partial compensation for playing his great self.

And check out Sikov's comment on Holden's hack writer, face down in the pool again in the final scenes, "He's been narrating 'Sunset Boulevard,' but he's understood nothing of what he's experienced."

Other recently released titles in Paramount's Centennial Collection are two Audrey Hepburn classics: "Roman Holiday" and the marvelous lovers-triangle tale "Sabrina."

New DVDs: Ricky Nelson, John Mayer

"The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" wasn't much of an adventure for viewers.

The Nelson family -- Ozzie, Harriet, and the boys David and Ricky -- spent their weekly 26 minutes fumbling with some minor domestic crisis or another. A show about next-to-nothing. Viewers were just stopping by for a visit.

No family puzzler proved too easy for Ozzie, whose character helped institutionalize the bumbling sitcom father. "Think I'll go out and polish the car and think this over," he'd say when confronted with the slight and the obvious.

In real life, Ozzie Nelson was a sharp guy who'd parlayed his long-running sitcom radio show into a decade-long TV contract with ABC. "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" ran from 1952-1966, part of the '50s TV trinity that included "Leave It to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best." They were America's families and we loved them.

In 1957, Ricky was a rich kid with the Elvis bug. He recorded Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin' " and performed it, stiffly, on the TV show. The song shot up the charts, selling more than a million units. Ricky Nelson instantly became the franchise player in the family business.

Shout! Factory's follow-up to last year's "The Best of the Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" brings us the "Best of Ricky and Dave." But there's no mistaking that this is Ricky's show, with each of the four discs offering breakouts of his lip-synched musical performances.

The 12 songs include the hits "Hello Mary Lou," "Stood Up" and Fools Rush In." Unfortunately, there is no play-all option, so working through the six numbers on disc 2 is a bit of a chore.

Nelson's early performances show him stone-faced, playing to some guys and gals in the living room. When we get to "Fire Breathing Dragon" from the mid-'60s, Nelson is still plenty stiff -- but his eyes are dancing and he's fronting a hot band. The guitar body announces he's just "Rick."

Shout! Factory's DVDs come licensed from family survivor David (unlike the "public domain" releases out there). The black-and-white images are OK, kind of flat, not too much damage. The audio is pretty good, good enough.

The episodes range from May 1953 to March 1966, so the experience of watching the boys grow up on TV is available in a mere seven hours.

* * * * *

If there's a Ricky Nelson type out there these days, it could be John Mayer, the young romantic with a thing for wrist watches and Jimi Hendrix.

Sony's "Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live In Los Angeles" provides three hours of the camera-pleasing Mayer and band performing at L.A.'s Nokia Theatre.

The "Where the Light Is" Blu-ray is a gorgeous disc, something for showing off the system. The TrueHD audio delivers that silky sound of skin on steel strings, with some LFE punch when called upon. The black-and-blue-dominated images (it's "A Film by Danncy Clinch") are high on the contrasts but the effect is smooth and narcotic.

The three-hour show comes in three parts: acoustic, trio and full band.

Mayer appeals to a dominantly female audience, but guys could do worse than being dragged along to a show. The guitar slinger quotes Hendrix throughout and does two of the rock god's songs: "Wait Until Tomorrow" (a weak Jimi song made weaker) and "Bold As Love" (cool). Mayer also takes on the blues, flirting with white-boy parody. His slow acoustic cover of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin' " emphasizes the narrator's jerkiness, an interesting reading.

The fans' patience is rewarded with Mayer's middle-of-the-road hits such as "Daughters," "Why Georgia" and "Waiting on the World to Change."

The main extra is a post-show analysis by Mayer, who sits atop a Hollywood hill, playing guitar, having satisfied his inner critic, the guy with the "dictionary of music in his brain." (The disc hooks into BD-Live for a bonus song, "Belief.")

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are two summer-movie tie-ins: Universal's repackaging of the original "The Mummy" and Fox's "The X-Files Revelations."

New and notable:

Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet: Best of Ricky & Dave (Shout! Factory)
Batman Begins (various configurations, Warner)
Cannon (Paramount)
Fastlane (Warner)
Flakes (Genius Products)
I Dream of Jeannie, season 5 (Paramount)
Jake and the Fatman (Paramount)
Jet Li's Fearless: Director's Cut (Universal)
Mon oncle Antoine (The Criterion Collection)
The Mummy: Special Edition (1932, Universal)
The Mummy: Deluxe Edition (1999, Universal)
The Mummy Returns: Deluxe Edition (Universal)
Punk's Not Dead (MVD)
The Ruins (Blu-ray, Paramount)
Stargate: Atlantis, season 4 (Paramount)
Stop-Loss (Paramount)
The X-Files Revelations (Fox)

'The Man From U.N.C.L.E' on DVD: a preview

The TV producer Norman Felton tells how he once encountered a woman in swinging '60s London who demanded to know why all leading men in Hollywood had to be handsome, muscular and all-American. He didn't know.

Soon after, when Felton put together the TV spy show "The Man From U.N.C.L.E," he decided to discard that template. He cast a British actor, David McCallum, in the role of a Russian. The star, Robert Vaughn, had the looks but not the bulk of a typical leading man.

"They were both slim, not ballsy men," Felton recalls today. And, "They were younger than most of the heroes than you saw in the western shows."

NBC saw the pilot and wanted to get rid of McCallum. It wasn't because he was "Russian." It was because he had long hair.

The kids understood. Vaughn and McCallum were treated like rock stars as they flacked the hip new show. The cops once closed off Time Square so McCallum could escape a Beatlemania-like mob of female admirers. "U.N.C.L.E" soon became a smash hit.

Now, those fans are aging baby boomers with wallets full of credit cards, which will come in handy as "U.N.C.L.E." makes its highly anticipated debut on DVD. The Time Life set goes for $250, sold exclusively on the Time Life website and via direct-response television commercials.*. In return, you get 41 DVDs packaged in a format similar to the award-winning "Get Smart" collection from Time Life. The series comes packaged in a silver "attache case" that holds every original, unedited episode from all four seasons of the series. That's 105 shows.

The shipping date for "The Man From U.N.C.L.E. -- The Complete Collection" now appears to be Monday, a week's delay, so there are a few days left to ensure you're first on the block. The operatives at Time Life leaked a preview disc to DVD Spin Doctor, however, and here's what we found hidden inside:

The two sample episodes looked and sounded fine, especially considering they came from 40 years ago. Wear was present but quite tolerable.

The black-and-white comedy episode "The Never-Never Affair" guest-stars Barbara Feldon as an U.N.C.L.E. go-fer looking for fun and adventure. Cesar Romero plays a visiting French (huh?) evil-doer from THRUSH. Vaughn sends wannabe Feldon on a bogus mission that turns real as she bumbles about Manhattan. The action includes a Hitchcockian shootout in a movie theater. Feldon was so good they built a similar role for her as Agent 99 on "Get Smart!"

The color pilot, "The Vulcan Affair," is a more traditional spy adventure that kicks off with a cool and tense armed invasion of U.N.C.L.E. headquarters. You know, the place hidden beneath Del Floria's Tailor Shop. The intro identifies the show as "Solo." (The pilot project also went by the name "Mr. Solo.") "Vulcan" isn't as clever or fun as "Never-Never" but it benefits from some 007-like tuxedo action.

Executive producer Felton explains in the DVD bonus featurette "The Cloak & Swagger Affair" that the Napoleon Solo name (of Vaughn's character) came from James Bond creator Ian Fleming, an early collaborator. The novelist failed to mention that he'd liked the name so much he'd used it for a bad guy in "Goldfinger," due shortly in theaters. And so we have "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," a title born with a TBA acronym.

Fleming came up with a few key concepts but mostly liked to chat about his own adventures. He cheerfully sold Felton his interest in the show to for a pound.

The Q&A extra "Double Agents" brings Vaughn and McCallum together for what's billed as their first joint interview in decades. The men apparently were cordial co-workers during the show but became close friends after its run.

The interview isn't deep (EPK-style graphics provide the questions) but it's interesting to see the old agents interact. They both agree the show was a "wonderful" experience. Vaughn calls it "the best four years of my life."

McCallum has this to say about the unusually good writing: "When I think of television back in the days of 'U.N.C.L.E.' it was a total high-high respect for the written word and the script. ... There was always a family kind of feeling between the writers and the actors. The scripts were written wonderfully and we stuck to them."

Vaughn says, "The first year of shows were better. They were adventure and romance with a little bit of humor. And that's where the show unfortunately didn't stay. And that why the show went off the air -- because it became a farce." Fortunately, Time Life also plans an 11-DVD release of season 1.

I'm not making a recommendation based on a sampler, but from what I've seen this looks like a first-class revival. See you at the tailor shop.

* There's a coupon code for free shipping on the box set: TLUNCLE.

'Get Smart,' Muppets top TV on DVD awards

Time Life's box set of the complete "Get Smart" was a shoe-in for the top honor at Home Media magazine's TV on DVD Awards. Also repping the good old days were The Muppets, which wrapped up three awards.

Last year, I was a judge for this competition, which was fun to do but incredibly hard on the eyes. Classic shows won the majority of awards this time, perhaps because consumers voted on many of the winners.

Best in show winner "Get Smart: the Complete Series" was co-produced by Time Life and HBO Video. The judges liked the phone-booth packaging and the ambitious extras. (Time Life's next project -- "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." -- looks to be of similar quality -- and of similar high price at $249.)

"It’s good to see the care and consideration that fans should expect put into this DVD set," Home Media chief Thomas K. Arnold said. "So many catalog TV DVDs are just thrown out there with little added value beyond the episodes themselves." Amen.

Here's a complete list of winners, as posted on homemediamagazine.com:

Best of Show: Get Smart: The Complete Series, Time Life/HBO Video
Best 2000s Series: Heroes: Season 1, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Best 1990s Series: Seinfeld: Season 8, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Best 1980s Series: Fraggle Rock: Season 3, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment/HIT Entertainment
Best 1970s Series: The Muppet Show: Season 2, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Best 1960s Series: Get Smart: The Complete Series, Time Life/HBO Video
Best 1950s Series: Adventures of Superman: Seasons 5 & 6, Warner Home Video
Best Animated Series: The Simpsons: Season 10, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Best Children's Series: The Muppet Show: Season 2, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Best Reality Series: Survivor: Vanuatu, CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment
Best Variety Series: The Best of Chappelle’s Show, Paramount Home Entertainment/Comedy Central
Best One-Season Wonder: The Dresden Files, Lionsgate
Best Miniseries or Made-for-TV Movie: Roots: 30th Anniversary Edition, Warner Home Video
Best Foreign TV Series: Doctor Who: Series 2, BBC Video
Best TV Documentary: Planet Earth, BBC Video
Best Bonus Materials: Lost: Season 2, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Best Complete-Series Set: M*A*S*H: The Martinis & Medicine Collection, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; Get Smart: The Complete Series
Judges' Special Citation for Best Packaging: The Greatest American Hero: The Complete Series, Starz Home Entertainment/Anchor Bay

'Prime Suspect,' 'Cracker' sign off

Why mourn two aging British cop shows?

In the case of "Prime Suspect," the episode "The Final Act" meant last call for Helen Mirren's greatest character, the police detective Jane Tennison. The series spread over 15 years, with 22 hours of superb TV assigned to seven telefilms.

"Prime Suspect" was arguably the toughest, most precise and best-acted cop series on any continent.

The telefilms were always specialty items in the States (airing on PBS' Mobil Masterpiece Theatre), so their availability on Region 1 DVDs is most welcome. HBO Home Video had rights previously, but Acorn Media has released "Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act." (Take this detour to the full DVD review.)

Unlike the slick but detailed police procedurals that rule the U.S. airwaves, "Prime Suspect" makes no overt concessions to show business -- or its audience. These stories are all rough rides, told with an aesthetic that feels more indie film than network TV.

"Final Act" tells of Tennison's pending retirement and raging alcoholism. Her final days on the force are filled with the case of a missing teen girl, presumed murdered. Across town, Tennison's father battles terminal cancer.

"Don't call me mum. I'm not the bloody queen," Mirren's Tennison says to a street cop, without apparent irony. The line is a touchstone of the series, but of course Mirren triumphed last awards season for her work as Elizabeth II in "The Queen."

"Prime Suspect's" track record of outstanding casting continues this time out with teenage Laura Greenwood (terrific as the dead girl's best friend) and Heshima Thompson (the prime suspect, a young ladies' man). Mirren herself signed off on casting and scripts.

The extent to which the series revolved around the actress is made clear in "Prime Suspect: Behind the Scenes," an robust ITV docu that served as plug for the current show and a epitaph for the series. It reunites many of the series' key contributors, including police detective and adviser Jackie Malton, whose real-world adventures parallel those of DLC Tennison.

"Cracker," another ITV telefilm series starring Robbie Coltrane, sees its bloated bleary-eyed hero return after seven years in Australia.

Wordsmith Jimmy McGovern, who did the first three telefilms returns for duty on "Cracker: A New Terror." The result is among the strongest of the "Cracker" narratives, even if its anti-Iraq war message feels heavy-handed.

The killer is known from the start -- a British street cop who served as a soldier in Northern Ireland. He takes to mudering visiting Americans in retaliation for their country's invasion of Iraq.

Fitz, distracted by his daughter's wedding and his usual temptations of booze, women and gambling, tries to keep his act (and marriage) together while burrowing into the murderer's brain.

Despite the "Final Episode" tag on the DVD, Coltrane does say in its "Behind the Scenes" featurette that he might be up for another ("if Jimmy's doing it").

"Prime Suspect" fans, alas, should entertain no such hopes.

Read this DVD blog's full review of "Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act" and "Cracker: A New Terror."

'The Man From U.N.C.L.E' DVD affair

Back when the Beatles and 007 ruled the world, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." gave Americans their weekly fix of James Bond-style adventure. The Monkees weren't the Fabs, and "U.N.C.L.E." was no match for Bond, but everyone seemed to have a good time with these high-spirited U.S. knockoffs.

The NBC secret-agent show starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum resurfaced on schedule on VHS and laserdisc, but the series has been MIA on DVD in its home country.

Not for lack of demand -- there's plenty of money to be made off nostalgia for this cool series, which ran from (1964-68) Unfortunately, the rights were tied up with MGM/UA (an video biz backstory that would make Ian Fleming's head spin).

Finally, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin are back in action: The series resurfaces Nov. 27, via the operatives at Time Life and Warner Home Video. There's a catch, of course. "The Man from U.N.C.L.E. : The Complete Collection" is a Time Life exclusive that's scheduled to hold until this time next year, when WHV begins mainstream releases. "U.N.C.L.E." outlets for now are the Time Life website and direct-response television commercials.

The Time Life set looks well worth seeking out -- and perhaps paying the $250 ransom. The series comes packaged in a silver "attache case" that holds every original, unedited episode from all four seasons of the series. That's 105 shows. The extensive bonus features include a 90-minute "reunion" chat with Vaughn and McCallum. Also interviewed are director Richard Donner and various writers and producers.

"Revisiting 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' for the DVD release was wonderfully satisfying -- this show represents the best time of my life," Vaughn recalls.

The color version of the U.N.C.L.E. pilot ("Solo") and the quickie theatrical ("One Spy Too Many") are in the mix. There are nine featurettes, including the promising "The Cloak and Swagger Affair: The Untold History" and "Cold War, Hot Spies: U.N.C.L.E. and the Cold War." "U.N.C.L.E." girls aren't quite up there with the Bond Girls, but we'll get to do the time warp there as well. The set appears in line with WHV's high standards.

Time Life also intends to market all four seasons individually, according to its retail web site.

Top DVDs: 'Grey's Anatomy' makes cut

It's the start of a new TV season. Let us now return to the glory days of last season.

For the second week, a TV collection tops DVD sales. Last week it was Universal's "The Office"; now we have "Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Third Season," from Disney.

Paramount's slippery "Blades of Glory" remained in the silver position in sales, while "The Office" took the bronze.

In rentals, it was "Blades," chick flick "Georgia Rule" (Universal) and the sad-sack comedy "Delta Farce" (Lionsgate).

"Grey's" Katherine Heigl, pictured, repped the show at Sunday's Emmys, winning best supporting actress in a drama series. Both "Grey's" and "Office" were up for best series based on the work in these DVD releases, but they ended the night stamped "Honored to be nominated."

Before last week, a TV-on-DVD title hadn't topped the charts in almost a year.

Thomas K. Arnold has the story over on The Reporter's site.

Holiday DVDs: Make a list, check it twice

What's that swoooosh I hear? The sound of 2 million air conditioners trying to beat that 105-degree heat wave in L.A.? Nope, it's jolly old Saint Nick's sleigh, out making some early holiday DVD deliveries.

In the alternative Video World, Halloween comes about Labor Day, and the end-of-year holidays are in full swing come Halloween. Your friendly DVD blog will be tracking all the cool Christmas DVD titles. It's kind of chilly sitting here under the A/C vent so let's get started. Ho.

Dennis the Menace Christmas comes from the new straight-to-video production unit Warner Premiere. This time out, Robert Wagner does the scowling as Mr. Wilson. Louise Fletcher adds some class as Mrs. Wilson. Maxwell Perry Cotton is the "newly defined Menace" while funnyman Godfrey limns Bob the Christmas Angel. Dennis is on a quest to be gifted with the Raleigh Mite-Y-Max bike. Yikes! He'll throw his leg out. Retail $20.

The Pink Panther: A Pink Christmas debuts on DVD via MGM (Fox). Fritz Freleng and John W. Dunn wrote the teleplay for this 30-minute TV toon from 1978. The Panther must scheme his way into a holiday dinner in cold old Manhattan. Filling out the disc are Freleng's "Pink Panther: The Olym-pinks" (1980, 30 mins.) and "Pink at First Sight" (1981, 30 mins.). Retail $15, out Nov. 6.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is based on the children’s book by Susan Wojciechowski. Nothing says holiday cheer quite like an appearance by Tom Berenger, who plays Toomey, a cranky wood carver with a "mysterious secret past." A boy (Luke Ward-Wilkinson) and his widowed mother (Joely Richardson) move to town. The long-term forecast is for warm and fuzzy. From Genius Products, out Oct. 23 at $15.

The Year Without a Santa Claus (deluxe) -- a remastered version of the stop-motion animation special first beheld in 1974. Santa decides to slack off and skip a year. A child shall lead him out of the gloom. Extras include a docu on the legacy of Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, purveyors of fine seasonal TV specials. From Warner Home Video, out Oct. 2 at $20. (Pictured above)

Christmas Television Favorites from Warner. Presented in "unique, eye-catching, collectible packaging reminiscent of a classic book with foil accents," the four-disc, eight-title set goes for $40. The TV specials are "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" "Horton Hears a Who!" "The Year Without a Santa Claus (see above)," "Rudolph’s Shiny New Year," "Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, " "Frosty’s Winter Wonderland," "‘Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July." "Grinch" is the terrific 50th anniversary remastered edition from last year. Two discs appear to be previously released two-fers from a ways back.

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