Newhart's comedy TV series among DVD releases

Stand-up comedian Bob Newhart had a one-season variety show in the early 1960s, but it was his first TV sitcom in 1972 that kicked his show-biz status up a level, and "The Bob Newhart Show" remains one of the best comedy series of all time.

Now it has finally come to DVD, along with a number of other TV shows (some in stores now and a few others scheduled for release on Tuesday).

"The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete First Season" (Fox, 1972-73, not rated, $29.98, three discs). Psychologist Bob Hartley (Newhart) and his substitute-schoolteacher wife Emily (Suzanne Pleshette, whose star also rose with this show) live in a high-rise apartment in Chicago in this very funny sitcom, which boasts great writing and fine comic chemistry among the cast members.

In true sitcom fashion there is an eccentric neighbor, airline navigator Howard (the hilarious Bill Daily), and Bob has several eccentric co-workers and patients — the receptionist (Marcia Wallace), the dentist across the hall (Peter Bonerz), and patients Carlin (Jack Riley) and Mrs. Bakerman (Florida Friebus). And various others who come and go, including Emily's best friend Margaret (Patricia Smith), who was only in this first season.

Highlights here include the first show, in which Emily reveals she is terrified to fly (with Penny Marshall as a stewardess), a pleasure cruise that is anything but, and the pilot episode, which was the ninth episode to air and had a different character (and actor) as the Howard-type role.

Extras: Full frame, 24 episodes, language/subtitle options (English, Spanish), chapters.

"Miracles: The Complete Series" (Shout! 2003, not rated, $49.98, four discs). Often compared to "The X-Files," this one-season show also resembles the new program "Revelations." And sometimes it's more like "The Twilight Zone" — especially the excellent second episode, about a plane that disappears for 64 seconds.

Skeet Ulrich plays a debunker of miracles for the Catholic Church, but in the pilot episode, when he just can't explain how a young boy can heal others — nor why, after an accident, his own dripping blood spells out "God is now here" — he teams up with a former cop who has a bullet lodged in her head (Marisa Ramirez) to work for a paranormal researcher (Angus Macfadyen).

The show is just as goofy as it sounds, but it's also quite compelling, with twists and turns, and a dark edge, as the researchers try to discover the meaning of some mysterious dark "event" that is coming.

Too bad the show never built the audience it deserved. (This DVD set includes seven episodes that never aired on U.S. televison.)