Get your kicks with 'Route 66' — now on DVD

"Route 66" is a vintage semi-anthology series that some of us thought might never come to DVD, but lo and behold it arrives on Tuesday ... albeit in one of those frustrating half-season sets.

TV series

• "Route 66: Season One, Volume One" (Infinity, 1960-61, b/w, four discs, $29.98). Martin Milner is Tod Stiles, a Yale graduate who is broke except for his shiny new Corvette. So he teams up with Buz Murdock (George Maharis), and they travel across the country (sometimes wandering quite a distance from Route 66), getting in and out of scrapes each week — some dramatic, some thrilling, some romantic and some comic.

Guests in these episodes include Lee Marvin, Inger Stevens, Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, Jack Lord, E.G. Marshall and Joey Heatherton.

Trivia note: Milner starred in the entire four-season run, while Maharis left part way into the third season and was replaced by Glenn Corbett. And the catchy Nelson Riddle theme song was a radio hit in 1960.

Extras: Full frame, 15 episodes, featurette, vintage commercials, photo gallery

• "Veronica Mars: The Complete Third Season" (Warner, 2006-07, six discs, $59.98). The final season of this funny, smart show about a college student who moonlights as a private eye (Kristen Bell) is better than the second season but still has a few too many subplots spinning. Still, fans (myself among them) mourn its demise.

Extras: Widescreen, 20 episodes, deleted scenes, Webisodes, featurettes, bloopers

• "The Ruth Rendell Mysteries: Set 2" (Acorn, 1995-97, three discs, $49.99). This anthology series features six more of the crime writer's solid mystery yarns, primarily about betrayal leading to tragedy.

Extras: Full frame, six episodes, text biography/filmographies

• "The Sopranos: Season 6, Part II" (HBO, 2007, four discs, $99.98). This is perhaps the most written-about show in TV history, and this final half of the last season ends in a climax that caused fans to argue endlessly. If you missed it on HBO, now you can decide for yourself whether it was enigmatic or frustrating.

Extras: Widescreen, nine episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes