'GIDGET: THE COMPLETE SERIES'

'THE FLYING NUN: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON'

You can see how Sally Field got her reputation as that spunky gal next door. Just watch her in her first big break, playing "Gidget," the irrepressible surfer girl. The first -- and only -- season of the 1965 series is now on DVD (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $39.95).

Gidget's mother was dead, but that didn't seem to affect her sunny disposition. She was extremely close to her wise yet liberal English professor dad, played by Don Porter. Her older sister, Anne, provided much comic relief as the overbearing mother figure.

"Gidget" was a sitcom, but dig deeper and you may find it touched on more than fun in the California sun. This wasn't "The O.C.," but the sexual revolution wasn't ignored. Gidget remained a "good girl," but topics of sex were at least alluded to, not outright discussed. The show also included modern psychology but seemed to poke fun at it in the form of Anne's overly earnest husband, John, a psychology student.

Don't worry too much about Gidget's upbringing. She grew up to become ... "The Flying Nun"? What would psychologist John say about that? Two years after "Gidget," Field played Sister Bertrille, a newly arrived novice at a convent in San Juan. The first season is also on DVD (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $39.95).

Sister Bertrille's ability to fly came not from holy power but from aerodynamics. The winds of San Juan merely lifted the 90-pounder, a matter of "when lift plus thrust is greater than load plus drag," she explained.

The flying "effects" were cheesy at best, but the series included Latin hottie Carlos, played by Alejandro Rey, a disco owner who became a patron of the convent and a friend to the sisters. And it's a treat to see a young Shelly Morrison of "Will & Grace" as Sister Sixto.

Both DVD sets feature Field speaking on the roles. "Gidget" was absolute "glee," and she conveys her excitement of landing the job. But on the "Flying Nun" extra, she reveals she didn't want the part but finally accepted out of fear of never working again. She discusses the danger of doing her own stunts and how the stress of the job and the character being "the laughingstock of the nation" wiped out her self-esteem. It sheds a whole new light on that "you like me" speech at the Oscars.

-- Karen Carlin, Post-Gazette staff writer

'HUFF: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON'

Blythe Danner is not just Gwyneth and Will's mom anymore.

The dizzyingly prolific actress, whose "children," both real (Ms. Paltrow -- of "let's name the baby 'Apple' fame") and make-believe (Mr. Truman, of "Will &Grace" fame) have most recently stolen her spotlight, renders a striking rendition of conflicted WASP entitlement in "Huff" (Sony Pictures, $39.95) -- for which she was awarded an Emmy last year.

The show on the whole, which tells the story of Dr. Craig Huffstodt (Hank Azaria), a wealthy shrink who re-examines his life in the wake of a patient's suicide is, as luck would have it, as watchable as Danner. Something like following "The Sopranos' " Dr. Melfi home from the office. But with fewer deaths.

Extras include deleted scenes, three featurettes and a creator's commentary, which reveal interesting tidbits like the fact that portions of the show are shot in HD-video, that creator Bob Lowry wrote the pilot only because his agent demanded he produce something that was "either a 'West Wing' episode or something new."

-- Philip A. Stephenson, Post-Gazette staff writer

'OVER THERE: THE COMPLETE SERIES'

It's easy to say that a show is a "historic television event" or otherwise falsely inject our entertainments with importance, but in the case of "Over There" (20th Century Fox, $39.98), the description applies, as it was actually the first scripted television series set in a current, ongoing military action involving the United States.

The show follows the soldiers of a unit in the 3rd Infantry deployed to Iraq and manages, while sidestepping any political position on the war as adroitly as a 4-year-old broadjumping cowpies, to craft stark and emotionally resonant outlines of the "blackandwhiteandgrayallover" world of the Army grunt.

It was not, as was pointed out by many a soldier during its one-season run on FX, a particularly accurate portrayal of a soldier's life -- but neither was "M*A*S*H." Extras include three episodes' worth of commentary and behind the scenes documentary "Tour of Duty: Filming Over There," both of which mostly drive home how impressive it is that they shot the whole thing in California.

-- Philip A. Stephenson, Post-Gazette staff writer