How I Met Your Mother - Season Three

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No other sitcom is as gleefully inventive as How I Met Your Mother. The basic setup is familiar stuff: Five charming, good-looking twentysomethings pal around New York City seeking love and happiness. But many episodes have a narrative trick. For example, when his friends try to persuade Ted (Josh Radnor) from going on a date with the doctor removing the butterfly tattoo he got while drunk, their justifications send the show careening back and forth among three interconnected flashbacks. Other episodes repeat scenes from different perspectives, or leap forward, or interrupt scenes to provide necessary exposition. None of this is groundbreaking, but it is consistently smart and clever--and when combined with crisp comic dialogue and zippy performances, it's pure sitcom delight. This is a show that manages to make a gang's in-jokes actually funny. Season Three is absolutely essential for any fan of the show, because this is the season we actually meet the title character; after two years of preamble, the mother to Ted's unnamed kids finally appears! But there are abundant other reasons to get this season, including Marshall (Jason Segel, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) buying a crooked apartment, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) getting the yips and getting slapped, and the return of Robin Sparkles, Canadian teenybopper alter-ego of Robin (Cobie Smulders). There's a wee bit of unfortunate stuntcasting (though she doesn't embarrass herself, Britney Spears still sticks out by dint of sheer inescapable celebrity), but it's a minor flaw in an all-around superb season. Add in an abundance of commentaries, featurettes, music videos, additional scenes, and How I Met Your Mother: Season Three is clearly a must-have for fans and a great introduction for newcomers. --Bret Fetzer

Band of Brothers [Blu-ray]

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An impressively rigorous, unsentimental, and harrowing look at combat during World War II, Band of Brothers follows a company of airborne infantry--Easy Company--from boot camp through the end of the war. The brutality of training takes the audience by increments to the even greater brutality of the war; Easy Company took part in some of the most difficult battles, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the failed invasion of Holland, and the Battle of the Bulge, as well as the liberation of a concentration camp and the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest. But what makes these episodes work is not their historical sweep but their emphasis on riveting details (such as the rattle of a plane as the paratroopers wait to leap, or a flower in the buttonhole of a German soldier) and procedures (from military tactics to the workings of bureaucratic hierarchies). The scope of this miniseries (10 episodes, plus an actual documentary filled with interviews with surviving veterans) allows not only a thoroughness impossible in a two-hour movie, but also captures the wide range of responses to the stress and trauma of war--fear, cynicism, cruelty, compassion, and all-encompassing confusion. The result is a realism that makes both simplistic judgments and jingoistic enthusiasm impossible; the things these soldiers had to do are both terrible and understandable, and the psychological price they paid is made clear. The writing, directing, and acting are superb throughout. The cast is largely unknown, emphasizing the team of actors as a whole unit, much like the regiment; Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston play the central roles of two officers with grit and intelligence. Band of Brothers turns a vast historical event into a series of potent personal experiences; it's a deeply engrossing and affecting accomplishment. --Bret Fetzer

Gossip Girl - The Complete First Season

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Product Description
Want to know a secret? A really juicy secret? Look no further than the latest message from Manhattan's notorious blogger Gossip Girl. She keeps tabs on the city's most elite teens as they make the rounds from the preppiest school events to the most lavish, decadent parties. And between Serena and Blair's explosive friendship, Dan and Serena's budding romance, Nate and Blair's fairytale relationship (or is it?), Chuck's escapades and Jenny's introduction to the glamorous life, there's a lot to track! In this 5-disc, 18-episode Season One, friends, lovers, rivals and enemies abound. Even the darkest secrets don't stay hidden for long. You know you love it. XOXO!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Amazon.com Exclusive)

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On the DVD
If you've already watched or downloaded Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a number of bonus features might entice you. There are two commentary tracks: Harris, the three Whedons, Tancharoen, Day, and Fillion recorded a spirited track discussing the movie, and there's also "Commentary! The Musical" in which they ignore the movie and sing about the writers' strike and each other (e.g., Fillion sings "I'm Better than Neil")--the songs aren't as good as the Horrible songs, but it's good silly fun. A 20-minute making-of discusses the cast, the recording sessions, and how the movie became a phenomenon, and 10 videos (a half-hour total) were recorded by fans who want to join the Evil League of Evil. And when's the last time you wanted to pause the FBI warning? --David Horiuchi

Fireproof (2008)

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Product Description
Lt. Caleb Holt lives by the old firefighter's adage: Never leave your partner behind. Inside burning buildings, it's his natural instinct. In the cooling embers of his marriage, it's another story. After a decade of marriage, Caleb and Catherine Holt have drifted so far apart that they are ready to move on without each other. Yet as they prepare to enter divorce proceedings, Caleb's dad asks his son to try an experiment: The Love Dare. While hoping The Love Dare has nothing to do with his parents' newfound faith, Caleb commits to the challenge. But can he attempt to love his wife while avoiding God's love for him? Will he be able to demonstrate love over and over again to a person that's no longer receptive to his love? Or is this just another marriage destined to go up in smoke?