Young Cosby's humor shines in sitcom DVD

This collection of new-to-DVD TV programs (in stores on Tuesday) is led by Bill Cosby's first sitcom, which followed his "I Spy" success in the 1960s.

• "The Bill Cosby Show: The Complete First Season" (Shout! 1969-70, not rated, $39.98, four discs). This half-hour sitcom shot on film without a laugh track has Cosby playing an unmarried high school coach, and the show is a very nice showcase for the comic's gentle humor.

Social issues of the day are also addressed, right from the first episode, with Cosby jogging and getting picked up by police as a crime suspect (which doesn't end in the expected way), to one about a basketball player whose foul mouth Cosby finds offensive.

Even the theme song is unique, with Cosby grunting zany "scat" sounds. Guests include Cicely Tyson, Wally Cox, Moms Mabley and Louis Gossett Jr. And look for a very funny episode with Cosby stuck in an elevator with a stuffy English teacher — played by Henry Fonda! — and a cleaning woman who doesn't understand English (Elsa Lanchester). Fonda's hilarious as they play "20 Questions."

Extras: Full frame, 26 episodes, new interview with Cosby, chapters.

• "Veronica Mars: The Complete Second Season" (Warner, 2005-06, not rated, $59.98, six discs). This is a terrific comedy/mystery series, and a wonderful showcase for the charming and talented Kristen Bell, who plays the title character. She's a high school outcast/detective who gets involved in several ongoing story arcs — primarily a bus crash that kills several students and may have targeted her — and she also solves single-episode mysteries.

Extras: Widescreen, 22 episodes, featurettes, bloopers, subtitle options (English, French, Spanish), chapters.

• "House, M.D.: Season Two" (Universal, 2005-06, not rated, $59.98, six discs). One of the better medical series, this comedy/drama focuses on the title character, played superbly by Hugh Laurie as the quirky, grumpy, unorthodox and amazingly resourceful title character. His tentative romance with Sela Ward continues, and guests include LL Cool J, Samantha Mathis, Michelle Trachtenberg, Charles S. Dutton and Cynthia Nixon.

Extras: Widescreen, 24 episodes, alternate takes, audio commentaries, featurettes, bloopers, subtitle options (English, Spanish), chapters.

• "Invasion: The Complete Series" (Warner, 2005-06, not rated, $59.98, six discs). This series is a chiller, a variation on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," as humans are assimilated but retain memories, and mysterious deaths occur. Unfortunately, the entire series is a cliffhanger, since it was neither renewed nor wrapped up when the first season concluded.