'Rhoda,' 'Dallas' seasons on DVD

Deseret News

Published: Sunday, May 3, 2009 6:29 p.m. MDT

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"Fallen Angel" (Acorn, 2007, two discs, $39.99). This is a rather distasteful British miniseries about a female serial killer (well-played by Emilia Fox), which plays in reverse to show us how she became the despicable character she is. Charles Dance is good as her minister father, but it's not a show that really worked for me.

Extras: widescreen, three episodes, featurette

"Pulling: The Complete First Season" (MPI, 2006, $24.98). I had similar feelings about this very dark English farce, sort of "Sex and the City" crossed with "Absolutely Fabulous," raunchy and foul-mouthed on an R-rated level. The plot has a young woman running away from her dullard fiance on the eve of their wedding and moving in with her dysfunctional pals. The title, "Pulling," is British slang for a pickup, preferably inebriated.

Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, audio commentaries, featurettes

"Rookies: The Complete Season One" (A&E, 2008, two discs, $19.95). Louisiana's Jefferson Parish and Tampa, Fla., are the locations for this police-procedural reality series. Think "Cops" with newbies, as officers right out of the academy hit the streets for the first time.

Extras: widescreen, 16 episodes, additional footage

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"Shadow Force: The Complete Season One" (History, 2008, two discs, $19.95). Special Forces soldiers take on high-stakes assignments around the world in this rousing reality show, each episode focusing on a new job with special requirements.

Extras: widescreen, eight episodes

"Gangland: The Complete Season Three" (History, 2008, three discs, $34.95). This reality show travels America to get up close and personal with gangs in such disparate places as Atlanta, Chicago, New Orleans — and Salt Lake City! Equal parts fascinating and alarming.

Extras: widescreen, nine episodes, additional footage

"Women in the White House" (History, 2002/2004, $29.95). This disc contains a pair of documentaries about, respectively, first ladies and various presidents' mothers. Titled "All the President's Wives" and "First Mothers," the two programs use interviews and archival footage to profile Martha Washington, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jacqueline Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Rose Kennedy, Hannah Milhous Nixon, Barbara Bush and others.

Extras: widescreen