'Rhoda,' 'Dallas' seasons on DVD

Here are some of the latest series and documentaries to arrive on DVD for the first time, led by the first season of "Rhoda" and the 11th season of "Dallas."

"Rhoda: Season One" (Shout, 1974-75, four discs, $39.99). Valerie Harper was charming and very funny as Mary's wisecracking best friend Rhoda on '70s hit "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," so it seemed natural to spin the character onto her own half-hour sitcom — which was also a hit.

The set-up has Rhoda visiting her family in New York and unexpectedly meeting "the" guy, Joe (David Groh). After a few episodes of dating, they are married in a one-hour episode that brings most of the "MTM" cast to the Big Apple — and proved to be a ratings bonanza when it aired. (Moore also shows up in two other episodes of this season.)

The show holds up quite well, with big laughs provided by Harper, Groh and a great supporting cast led by Nancy Walker as Rhoda's mother, Harold Gould as her father and, as her insecure sister, Julie Kavner, who now does the voice of Marge on "The Simpsons." And, of course, Carlton the doorman (voiced by Lorenzo Music).

Let's hope subsequent seasons are also forthcoming on DVD. (And how about the rest of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" seasons that have been in limbo for years?)

Extras: full frame, 25 episodes, featurette (with co-creators James L. Brooks and Allan Burns)

"Dallas: The Complete Eleventh Season" (Warner, 1987-88, three two-sided discs, $39.98). This is a fast-and-furious series of episodes as J.R. (Larry Hagman) schemes, cheats, lies, blackmails — does just about everything except shoot a dog — to get back his oil company.

Hagman chews the scenery in rare form, along with Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray, Howard Keel and Barbara Bel Geddes, among others. And there's a season-ender cliffhanger that may seem familiar.

Extras: full frame, 30 episodes

"King Lear" (PBS, 2009, $24.99). Ian McKellen is masterful as one of Shakespeare's most enduring tragic characters, the king who is manipulated by his conspiring daughters who have greed on their minds.

McKellen performed "King Lear" with the Royal Shakespeare Company for a world tour and then in London before committing it to film. And after you see this, it will be hard to imagine anyone else in the role.

Extras: widescreen, interview with McKellen

"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