Monday, September 28, 2009

Mysteries on TV: Cagney & Lacey, CSI NY, Foyle's War, Life on Mars, and Midsomer Murders, New This Week on DVD

Mysteries on TV

, your source for the most complete selection of detective, amateur sleuth, private investigator, and suspense television mystery series now available or coming soon to DVD, is profiling two series that have complete set DVDs and three series that have season DVDs or movies being released this week.

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Five years after the series ended, a made-for-television movie that aired November 1994 reunited . In the movie, starring Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly as the titular characters, Beth Lacey has quit the police force but having little success finding work, and Christine Cagney is now married to a District Attorney. The movie remained true to the series, offering quality drama that concentrated on the personal lives and the interaction between two complex women dealing with a tough and dangerous job.

And it was a hit with viewers. Three films followed, two in 1995, one in 1996, and this collection is affectionately known as "The Menopause Years".

The Cagney & Lacey: The Menopause Years DVD set of 4 discs contain these four movies: The Return, Together Again, The View Through the Glass Ceiling, and True Convictions.

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The evidence never lies to Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and his brilliant team -- Stella (Melina Kanakeredes), Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo), Sheldon (Hill Harper), Lindsay (Anna Belknap), and Flack (Eddie Cahill) -- in .

In this fifth season, the crime scene investigation team get their game on when they must hunt down a murderer on a commerical airline flight; they seek the cause when a woman dies in the middle of a street parade; a serial killer is loose in Manhattan; and the team must connect the pieces -- literally -- when an eyeball falls from the sky.

The CSI: NY: Season Five DVD set of 7 discs contain the 25 episodes that aired on CBS from during the 2008/2009 television season.

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In what may be our favorite crime drama series, is available this week as a complete set titled "From Dunkirk to VE Day".

Foyle's War aired on a somewhat irregular basis from October 2002 through April 2008. Each episode, which is dated chronologically as the series progresses from may 1940 to May 1945, involves the investigation of a local crime that often has some connection to the war. The appeal of the series is in its terrific cast, clever scripts, and high production values. The series was developed and written by Anthony Horowitz.

A three-part spin-off called Foyle's Peace has reportedly been shot, but no air dates have been announced.

The Foyle's War: From Dunkirk to VE-Day DVD set collects all 5 sets of the series, which is comprised of 19 episodes.

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After a hit-and-run accident in modern-day New York City mysteriously transports police detective Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) back to 1973, Sam finds himself in the cultural hotbed of New York City in the tumultuous times of the Vietnam War, Watergate, women's lib and the civil and gay rights movements -- without a cell phone, computer, PDA or MP3 player in , a US version of the popular UK series.

Stuck in 1973 and working out of the rough and tumble 125th Precinct in Manhattan, Sam has to contend with the urban wilderness of New York, complete with a hard-living bully of a boss (Harvey Keitel) and colleagues who never met a rule they wouldn't break to catch a bad guy. The good cop/bad cop culture of the ‘70s put this 21st century hero on high alert, but before he can change the world, he has to learn to survive in it.

The series never caught on with US audiences and was cancelled during its first season.

The Life on Mars (US): The Complete Series DVD set of 4 discs contain the 17 episodes that aired on ABC from October 2008 through April 2009.

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Murder, mystery and mayhem return to the cozy villages of Midsomer County as Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) and his earnest protégé Detective Constable Ben Jones (Jason Hughes) unravel four confounding feature-length cases in . This long-running series is based on characters created by mystery author Caroline Graham.

The Midsomer Murders: Set Thirteen DVD set of 4 discs contain the following episodes: "Dance with the Dead" in which a lovesick young man’s murder touches off a search for his girlfriend and partner in ballroom dancing classes; "The Animal Within" in which an unannounced visit by a niece to her wealthy uncle's estate surprises everyone as she was thought to have died in a place crash 3 years earlier; "King's Crystal" in which the owners of an artisan glassworks harbor relationships of positively Shakespearean complexity; and "The Axeman Cometh" in which a band's revival holds promise -- until someone sounds a discordant note by killing off the musicians, one by one.

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Visit the Mysteries on TV website to discover more currently available on DVD.

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