'CRIME STORY'

The dark and brooding police drama "Crime Story" was TV noir at its best, with the struggle between good and evil often muddying into shades of gray. It premiered in 1986 with some very good bloodlines. Executive producer Michael Mann was the force behind "Miami Vice."

Although "Crime Story" never achieved its older sibling's popularity, the show rang true in the crime genre because it was firmly rooted in reality: Both star Dennis Farina and series creator Chuck Adamson were veterans of Chicago's Major Crimes Unit squad.

And like "Miami Vice," "Crime Story" skillfully blended music and action. Its neon-drenched opening credits, set to Del Shannon's "Runaway," are still fun to watch.

Criticized by some for its violence and nihilism and revered by others for its realistic, gritty portrayal of the law vs. mob struggle, "Crime Story" lasted only two seasons. Both, along with the two-hour pilot, are out on DVD. There are no extras on either box set. A short four-page booklet in each $39.98 volume provides some additional background on the show.

This well-paced, well-written crime series is set in 1963 Chicago and Las Vegas. Farina stars as Mike Torello, a Chicago police lieutenant whose friend is murdered by Ray Luca (Anthony Denison), a wiseguy on a ruthless and bloody ascent through the ranks of the mob. Torello's relentless, Ahab-like pursuit of Luca drives the series.

Many notable actors passed through as guest stars, including David Caruso, Pam Grier, Ving Rhames, Eric Bogosian, Lorraine Bracco and Vincent Gallo.

Both seasons ended with some of the most over-the-top cliffhangers in TV history. Luca -- and his hyper-coifed pompadour -- somehow survives an atomic blast in the Nevada desert and lives on to season two. How -- or if -- the principal characters get out of year two's final episode alive remains one of TV's great unsolved mysteries.

-- Adrian McCoy, Post-Gazette staff writer

'THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, VOLUME 1'

"The Beverly Hillbillies, Volume 1" contains 26 newly restored episodes, including an extended pilot episode that never aired. The four-disc DVD collection ($34.98, MPI Home Video) is taken from the 1962-63 black-and-white first season (minus the Christmas episode, coming out later in a separate boxed set), and the simple comedy, in which Ozark mountaineers confront the excesses of wealthy Californians, holds up surprisingly well so many years later.

In the first episodes, especially, Granny emerges as a wry commentator on modern-day life, where people who have everything done for them no longer can do for themselves, and where people have fancy telephones but no real friends to talk to on them.

The set boasts a "heapin' helpin' " of bonus extras, including original network promos, an interview with Max Baer Jr. (who today, for some reason, sports a painted-on Clark Gable mustache), as well as a documentary about creator Paul Henning, who died earlier this year. The whole collection, in fact, is focused on Henning, perhaps to the detriment of the fine cast.

Most interesting, however, are the "sponsor commercials" in which Elly May and Cousin Jethro fight over Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and Granny, Jed and Mr. Drysdale stand around and chain-smoke Winston cigarettes, commenting that Winstons "taste good, like a cigarette should."

-- Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette staff writer