'THE SOPRANOS: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON'

Polly Bergen may have a half-century of acting to her credit, but she's not above reading for a role and, later, donning a red wig. This was "The Sopranos," after all.

Actor Steve Buscemi, who directed the episode called "In Camelot," and series creator David Chase talked about casting Angie Dickinson or Gena Rowlands as the mistress of Tony's late father. But Bergen won the plum.

In that same episode from the fifth season (HBO Video, $99.98), you can find a Pittsburgher named Fred Caiaccia as Uncle Zio. He is the real-life uncle of Buscemi's wife and he factors into the episode about Uncle Junior's fascination with funerals, the mistress and the descent of a writer (Tim Daly) into debt and addiction.

The four-disc set has no deleted scenes but commentary on five episodes -- by directors Buscemi, Peter Bogdanovich, Mike Figgis and Rodrigo Garcia, plus actress Drea de Matteo. She provides the back story to "Long Term Parking," which killed her character but won her an Emmy.

Her acceptance speech, she says, was "so awful" due to nervousness. She uses the commentary to thank the folks behind Adriana, from the hair, makeup and wardrobe crew to "my godfather, David Chase ... crazy but the best."

-- Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette movie editor

'FATHER OF THE PRIDE: THE COMPLETE SERIES'

What do Eddie Murphy, Lisa Kudrow, David Spade, Garry Marshall, Andy Richter, Kelsey Grammer, Christina Applegate, Dom Deluise and Danny DeVito have in common?

They all made guest appearances on "Father of the Pride" ($29.99, DreamWorks Home Entertainment), and you weren't watching.

The computer-animated show featured the domestic exploits of the white lions in Siegfried and Roy's Las Vegas show, and, despite a reported cost of more than $1.5 million per episode and star power in excess of that of our own sun, this ambitious and at the very least solidly amusing envelope-pusher was canceled after barely a season.

All of that, could bode well for this DVD, since there's no other way to see the show. Extras include the unaired episodes, including the pilot and a black-and-white sketch story-boarded episode animated in the stop-motion fashion of the Paddington Bear series.

-- Philip Stephenson, Post-Gazette staff writer

'THE X-FILES: ABDUCTION'

What a smart idea: Fox Home Entertainment is repackaging all 60 mythology episodes of "The X-Files" in four boxed sets. First up, "The X-Files: Abduction" ($39.98) features 16 myth-arc episodes from seasons one through three.

Five of the episodes include new commentary tracks, and part one of a new four-part documentary, "Threads of Mythology," spends 27 minutes discussing how the mythology came to be. Producer Frank Spotnitz explains how star Gillian Anderson's real-life pregnancy in season two altered the course of the series forever.

If nothing else, this re-release saves on shelf space for fans who only want the series' most important episodes.

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

'DAVEY AND GOLIATH VOLUME 1'

Oh, Davey!

The stop-motion animated Christian-themed 1960s children's show "Davey and Goliath" comes to DVD ($19.99) for the first time with a two-disc collection of five episodes.

Extras include a read-along story and a 60-minute documentary, "Oh Davey! The History of the Davey and Goliath Television Series," cheesily hosted by Clifton Davis ("Amen") and Mary McDonough ("The Waltons"). It's not a bad documentary, but would it have killed them to edit out the minute of dead air where a commercial went when the doc played on TV?

The documentary includes interviews with many of the people responsible for creating the series, which was produced by the Lutheran church "to give children a clear understanding of God by telling them what God is like." Interesting trivia: The voice of the dog Goliath was provided by Hal Smith, who played Otis the town drunk on "The Andy Griffith Show."

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

'HOME MOVIES -- SEASON TWO'

In its second season, "Home Movies" dispensed with Squigglevision (a quirky animation style that was an acquired taste that most viewers never really acquired) and used the more conventional Flash animation, but the comedy remained as edgy as ever.

The three-disc DVD set ($34.98, Shout Factory) continues the story of third-grade filmmaker Brendon Small (voiced by creator Brendon Small), his friends Melissa and Jason, his less-than-perfect mom and his ill-suited soccer mentor, Coach McGuirk.

Often irreverent, occasionally sweet and always hilarious, this is a show about kids, but it's no kids' show -- unless your kids are sophisticated connoisseurs of intelligent comedy.

What you get in the collection that you don't get on TV are the bonus materials. They're not all winners, but there is an interesting look at the "Audio Anatomy of a Scene," extended versions of some of the original songs (and a lesson on how to play the theme song) and interviews with Small, producer Loren Bouchard, co-star Melissa Galsky and a host of guest stars, all of whom display a dry wit and an uncanny ability to improvise. Sadly, there is no interview with Jon Benjamin, who voiced the two oddest characters, Jason and Coach McGuirk. There's always hope for the Season Three set.

-- Brian Hyslop, Post-Gazette staff writer