Arts & Entertainment
 

TV series released onto DVD this week

By Udochi Igbokwe
The Daily Cougar

This weekis DVD releases feature everything from the original kings of TV comedy to serious events in our national history. 

Photo courtesy of Buena Vista Home Entertainment

The DVD version of Sweet Home Alabama, starring Americais new sweetheart, Reese Witherspoon, is a romantic comedy that would be great for a night at home with friends. Witherspoon is Melanie, a young fashion designer that leaves her small Alabama town for the glamour and fame of the New York fashion world. Sheis successful in business and in love. So when her boyfriend, the son of New Yorkis mayor, proposes, it should be a happy moment, but Melanie can't marry him until she gets a divorce from her husband, still in Alabama. 

For original comedy lovers is the release of Sanford and Son ? The Second Season. The DVD features the i70s show in its second year. The show was a success as an African-American hit, following in the footsteps of The Jeffersonis and Good Times.

Sanford and Son provided a showcase of black talent from all generations while it was on the air between 1972 and 1977. It featured guest stars like Lena Horne and episodes written by Richard Pryor. 

HBOis popular Six Feet Under, a Golden Globe-winner, hits stores today. Six Feet is considered to be TVis dark and twisted comedy, filled with sex, drug usage, profanity and violence. The DVD features extras from the show and some commentaries from the directors and actors. The dysfunction in this family series is what keeps viewers engaged in the plot. This DVD comes in handy for fans whoive missed a couple of episodes during the first season.

For war enthusiasts thereis the DVD Gettysburg, directed by the critically acclaimed Ronald Maxwell. Gettysburg is a film about the bloodiest battle fought on American soil. Itis about the strategies, calculations, mistakes and heroism that turned the tide of the Civil War. This is a film Civil War buffs will find indispensable. The movie stars Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels and Richard Jordan.

The DVD release Gathering Storm, set in the mid-1930s, shows the great politician and orator Winston Churchill out of favor and struggling to make his robust voice heard by the English people. Wrestling with his personal demons, Churchill attempts to warn the nation of an impending threat from Hitler's Germany. Albert Finney plays Churchill in this HBO original movie.
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