'LOST: SEASON FOUR'

4 stars = Outstanding
Ratings explained

The "Lost" DVD boxed sets are always terrific and this year's season four release ($59.99 or $96.99 on Blu-ray, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) is no exception. But this release has an added nugget -- beyond the many hours of bonus features -- that makes it a winner. The set includes an Oceanic Airlines safety card, just like the safety instructions found in seatback pockets on real jetliners. This one is knowingly tongue-in-cheek: "If the plane is forced to crash-land on a deserted island, expect chaos and a series of flashbacks."

In addition to the show's stellar fourth season, this DVD release includes more bonus features than any reasonable person could watch in a single sitting. Eight featurettes (plus one hidden Easter Egg) go behind the scenes on assorted season four scenes, including Hurley's papaya massacre and the introduction of Rebecca Mader's Charlotte. "The Island Backlot" shows how Hawaiian locations have doubled for cities around the globe. "Right to Bear Arms" chronicles attempts by the show's producers to keep track of which characters on the show have guns at any given moment.

Additional features look at the show's music, the flash forward story-telling device, filming on the freighter. The DVD set also contains the "Missing Pieces" mobisodes and a pitch-perfect faux conspiracy theory documentary on The Oceanic Six.

-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor

'SWINGTOWN: THE COMPLETE SERIES'

2 1/2 stars = Average
Ratings explained

Bonus features on "Swingtown: The First Season" (CBS Home Entertainment, $42.99) make the four-disc DVD set worth watching.

Set in the summer of 1976, "Swingtown" explores how the era's social and sexual revolutions played out in suburbia, through the eyes of three couples.

In the feature "The Spirit of '76: The Making of 'Swingtown'," producers discuss how the show was developed for cable, but landed on CBS, where network executives wanted partner-swapping postponed until midseason. Show producers vetoed that idea.

"One of the reasons it was so important to us that the Millers actually sleep with the Deckers in the pilot was because we didn't want the show to devolve into 'when are they going to do it?' or a 'will they or won't they' kind of situation," said executive producer Alan Poul, an Emmy-nominated director for his work on "Six Feet Under." "By making that happen in the pilot, it took a lot of the focus off sexual issues, which is never what we wanted the show to be about."

In the bonus feature "Have a Nice Revolution: Sex & Morality in 1970s America," producers discuss how they created and developed characters to reflect the shift in mores and societal norms. Other extras include deleted scenes, a gag reel, and audio commentaries on the pilot and the season/series finale.

-- L.A. Johnson, Post-Gazette staff writer

'DEADWOOD: THE COMPLETE SERIES'

4 stars = Outstanding
Ratings explained

Most die-hard "Deadwood" fans already own the previous iterations of David Milch's doomed, but beautiful series on DVD. Still, you'll want to consider investing in this stunning repackaging of all 36 episodes, including six hours of bonus material. "Deadwood: The Complete Series" ($179.97, HBO Video) fits all three seasons of HBO's acclaimed series on 19 discs. The discs fit snugly into the sleeves of a gorgeous, period piece photo album that sparkles like gold at the bottom of a prospector's pan. The package art includes photos of key characters juxtaposed against daguerreotypes of the historical figures they're based upon.

In its infinite wisdom, HBO canceled the series before Sheriff Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and manipulative saloon owner Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) had their final showdown with robber baron George Hearst (Gerald McRaney). Walking the streets of the abandoned set, David Milch explains what his intentions were for a fourth season and how the story might have resolved itself. It is a heartbreaking soliloquy about the disconnection between an artist's vision and a media corporation's short-term interests.

Highlights include a panel interview with the cast at the Paley Center for Media and a brilliant "audition reel" featuring Titus Welliver as "David Milch" interviewing American film icons eager to play Al Swearengen. Welliver plays Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, Robert Duvall and Robert DeNiro to perfection.

-- Tony Norman, Post-Gazette staff writer

• More TV on DVD: "Get Smart: The Complete Series"; "Gunsmoke: The Third Season, Volume One"; "Happy Days: The Fourth Season"; "Rawhide: The Third Season, Volume 2"; "The Wire: The Complete Series."