'Cagney & Lacey,' other TV series out on DVD

Another long-requested television series finally makes it to DVD this week. "Cagney & Lacey" will be released on Tuesday, along with a slew of other TV shows.

TV series

"Cagney & Lacey" (MGM, 1982-83, four discs, $39.98). This smart, addictive buddy-cop series about two female New York police detectives broke some genuine ground, building on the "Police Woman" breakthrough of a few years earlier. And the show holds up wonderfully.

Cagney (Sharon Gless) is a single woman often unlucky in love, while her partner Lacey (Tyne Daly) is a wife and mother. And together they struggle to be treated like equals among their male peers while solving serious crimes, and occasionally bickering among themselves.

The downside is that although this is touted as "Season One," it is actually the second season ... sort of. There was a 1981 TV-movie pilot (with Loretta Swit as Cagney) and then a brief run in early 1982 (with Meg Foster as Cagney). It would be fun to see those for contrast, but they are not included here. (With "Season Two," maybe?)

Extras: Full frame, 22 episodes, featurettes

"The Waltons: The Complete Fifth Season" (Warner, 1976-77, five discs, $39.98). Mary Ellen (Judy Norton-Taylor) becomes the first Walton child to marry, Grandma (Ellen Corby) has a run-in with the local minister (John Ritter) and John-Boy (Richard Thomas) offers an eyewitness account of the Hindenburg disaster in this fifth season of the beloved family-friendly series.

Extras: Full frame 24 episodes

"That '70s Show: Season Six" (Fox, 2003-04, four discs, $49.98). Fez is married, Eric and Donna make decisions about college, Kelso enrolls in the police academy and Kitty gets a job in this wacky series set during an inherently wacky decade. Guests include Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan, Brooke Shields, Billy Dee Williams and Luke Wilson.

Extras: Full frame, 25 episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes, promos

"The 4400: The Third Season" (CBS/Paramount, 2006, four discs, $42.99). More adventures with those alien abductees in a season that's not quite up to the first two, which were unexpectedly engrossing, but still makes for an interesting ongoing series.

Extras: Widescreen, 12 episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes, bloopers

"McLeod's Daughters: The Complete Second Season" (Koch, 2002, six discs, $59.98). This is a satisfying season of the Australian series about two half-sisters who work a huge cattle ranch with an all-female crew.