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Written by Kevin Filipski
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Visions of New York City (Acorn), part of a series of breathtaking travel documentaries, gives viewers a birds-eye view of some of the greatest landmarks in—as Letterman’s announcer Alan Kalter intones every night—“the greatest city in the world.” As cameras mounted on helicopters swoop around Manhattan and show everything from the Statue of Liberty and Battery Park to Central Park and Gracie Mansion, sportswriter Frank Deford narrates in an alternately cringe-inducing and humorous manner. Although the skyscrapers and other tourist sights are present and accounted for, the program really is at its best when it shows the city at night, and the lights give it a truly spectacular glow. In addition to the hour-long original program that was shown on PBS, there’s about 20 minutes of additional footage, some of which repeats what’s already been seen, but all of it is terrifically eye-opening.
From the twisted mind of Seth McFarlane (and others), American Dad—Volume 5 (Fox) consists of 14 episodes' worth of the further vengeful adventures of a CIA agent with an anything but normal family and his one-man anti-terrorist squad (best extra: uncensored audio on select episodes); Burn Notice—The Complete Third Season (Fox) continues the South Beach exploits of the free-agent spy with the on-and-off again girlfriend, both enacted with skillful charm by Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar (best extra: stunt featurette); Everwood—The Complete Third Season (Warners) follows the Brown family (portrayed by Treat Williams, Gregory Smith and Vivien Cardone) as they settle into their new lives in the Rocky Mountain title town (best extra: deleted scenes); from the even more twisted mind of Seth McFarlane comes Family Guy—Volume 8 (Fox), with 15 episodes from seasons 7 and 8 of the animated comedy about a crazy family that leaves no one or nothing off-limits (best extra: uncensored audio on select episodes); searching for ghosts is not only a domestic pastime, as Ghost Hunters International—Season 1, Part 1 (Syfy)—which follows some paranormal hunters throughout Europe, from England to Scotland to Germany—entertainingly shows (lone extra: deleted scenes); Jada Pinkett has always been a highly watchable actress in even bad movies, and Hawthorne—The Complete First Season (Sony) shows her off to her best advantage as a hard-nosed but compassionate overworked nurse in a typical big-city hospital (best extra: Pinkett interview); How the Earth Was Made—The Complete Second Season (History Channel) presents more amazingly-detailed stories covering the billions of years that formed our world, including episodes on Yosemite National Park, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley and Mt. Everest; Ice Cold Truckers—The Complete Third Season (History Channel Blu-ray), which shows truckers traversing dangerous Alaskan highways—in stunning high-definition, of course—provides even more thrills than the previous two seasons combined (lone extra: additional footage); the guiltily pleasurable Paranormal Cops—The Complete First Season (A&E) follows a group of Chicago cops turned ghost hunters who track down shady and scary characters while they're off duty (lone extra: additional footage); Sanctuary—The Complete Second Season (E1) comprises 13 episodes of the strange but compelling dramatic series about a group of scientists studying “abnormals,” or nightmarish creatures, in splendidly-shot hi-def (best extra: cast/crew commentaries on all episodes); the talented cast of The Secret Life of the American Teenager—Volume 4 (Disney) is what makes this increasingly soapy teen drama, especially Shailene Woodley as the teen mom and Molly Ringwald as the young grandma (best extra: cast interviews); Starstruck: Extended Edition (Disney), a mediocre Disney Channel movie, fails to catch fire like High School Musical or Glee, wasting the talents of its young stars Sterling Knight and Danielle Campbell (best extra: soundtrack CD).
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