Among the extraneous extra scenes is a longer version of the sequence where Carrie's going through her closet and trying on dated ensembles from years past. This rendition has each of the four girls taking her turn prancing up and down the closet corridor in some truly heinous fashions, but it's nothing so amazing that you feel like you missed out in the theater release -- unless you happen to enjoy seeing Charlotte done up like an eighties rapper. Which I do not. There's also an entirely new scene in which Carrie goes trick or treating with Charlotte, Harry and Lily, a scene in which Carrie yaps to Stanford on the phone on New Year's Eve, and one with Samantha's hot neighbor where you actually do see a hint of his wang, rather than merely the intimation of it. Talk about extended footage.

For the SATC obsessive, King's commentary is really the high point of the DVD's offerings, because it provides a truly in depth, insider-y look at the way that the movie was made, the way the scenes were shot, his reasons for including or editing out certain things, and funny anecdotes about the production. Whether you're a Carrie or a Charlotte or a Miranda or a Samantha (you whore!), watching with the commentary at least once is a must for any SATC fan worth her weight in Manolos. (Sorry, it was too easy). As for the rest of the special features, they're meh:

A Conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker and Michael Patrick King
This is a sit down with MPK and SJP, and to be honest, it's a bit of a snore. MPK waxes poetic about how great the movie was, how it exceeded his expectations and was just so fabulous, and SJP effuses in turn. It's all very self-congratulatory, and with few exceptions, no new information is revealed that wasn't included in the director's commentary.

The Fabulous Fashion of Sex and the City
This is a pastiche of interviews with each of the four main actresses, plus one with stylist par excellence Pat Field, who's been costuming the girls since the series' inception. It's interesting to hear the concepts behind each girl's particular styles and tastes, the way their clothes had to change over the years to reflect their personalities and their own process of maturation. And the sheer volume of fabulous clothes and shoes and accessories that the movie necessitated is a feast for the eye.

Additional Scenes (with and without Commentary by Michael Patrick King)
These include a scene where Carrie and Big eat dinner out and discuss having their wedding at the public library, a cute sequence between Samantha and Smith where they talk about cheating and subsequently have le sexytime, a pointless sequence involving drunken revelry in Mexico and one really contrived scene in which Miranda brings Brady over to Carrie and Big's for a sleepover so that they can discuss Steve's cheating. Again, it's not hard to see why none of these made the final cut, as they don't do much to add to the overall plot, but those who were clamoring for more even after the interminable movie proper will likely enjoy savoring even these fluffy scraps.

Fergie in the Studio
Ugh. Totally superfluous studio footage of Fergie "recording" the tarted-up theme song "Labels or Love." Sorry if you like her stupid ass. The best is when she sits behind the production console during the playback, like she's the one twiddling the dials to make the song sound perfect. As if! There's also some awkward exchange between The Duchess and Michael Patrick King and some predictable anecdotes Fergie regales us with about how much she loved Sex and the City growing up. Yeah, because it's not like she was forty-five when they were on TV a decade ago or anything.

Buy It Now

Looking Back with Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme
This is a lengthy interview with the two brains behind the show, intercut with Dan and Casey scenes, I guess to draw a comparison between the two friendships. They talk about their partnership, mutual admiration, how they never fight, and explain the laugh track (it was the network's fault!), among other things. The laugh track gets explained about a hundred times throughout these extras, so if it's been keeping you up nights for the past 10 years, you will finally be able to sleep after this, I assure you.

Gag Reels
There are two of these, and they really are a joy. This looks like the most fun anyone's ever had making a television show in the history of television shows, plus Peter Krause prances around the set in leopard print spandex, apparently just for giggles.

Episode Commentaries
There are a bunch of these, and Sorkin, Schlamme, and pretty much the entire cast (with the exception of Huffman and Robert Guillaume) participate. Highlights I heard: Sorkin and Peter Krause used to bartend together in NYC with Camryn Manheim, of all people; Joshua Malina's nickname is "Gollum," hilariously; and the crew members Dan and Casey thanked on the air in the Christmas episode were the show's real crew, adorably. The laugh track is also explained in these, and much lamented by both the cast and crew whenever it's heard.

Inside the Locker Room
This is the technical featurette, which explains how the hell they managed to go back and forth between steadicam, 3-camera set-ups, crane shots, and all the other impossibly complicated camera-work that went into the show, and it really isn't an overstatement to say this series changed the half-hour sitcom forever with its innovations. Actors and numerous directors also comment on the challenges of reciting several minutes of rapid dialogue in one long take without screwing it up, which is something near to splitting the atom, from the sounds of it.

Face Off: SportsCenter vs. Sports Night
This is exactly what it sounds like! A compare-and-contrast of ESPN's SportsCenter and the Sorkin-verse of Sports Night. The best part of this is that the real guy who Jeremy's character is based on is interviewed and is a huge fan of the show and also still at SportsCenter, pretty much running the joint now. A lot of ESPN staffers and anchors are interviewed, and they're all pretty interesting, actually.

Original Promos
These are funny and charming, and I can't believe they didn't inspire more people to tune in.

The Show
This is a series of interviews with the cast (Huffman and Guillaume do appear here), the producers and Sorkin about how the show came to be, how it was made, and what it means to them. Robert Guillaume's stroke and how the decision to write it into the show was made is explained in detail, and, I shit you not, Peter Krause gets choked up when interviewed about it. It's endlessly endearing. There's also a clip of a video Sorkin and Schlamme made for Guillaume while he was recuperating, joking about all the actors they were going to get to replace him ("How about Ben Vereen? He could be like a singing, dancing boss!" "How about Wilford Brimley? He could get a tan for it!"), which was hilarious and also crocodile tear-inducingly poignant, just like the show itself.

So there's this billionaire playboy genius, Tony Stark, and he makes weapons, but only sells them to the good guys... or so he thinks. Then things go wrong and he gets kidnapped and -- oh, the hell with it, no one needs the plot of this one. Robert Downey Jr. + Metal Body Armor + Explosions + Gadgets + Hot Girls = Awesome.

The Ultimate 2-Disc Special Edition (which is what us mere mortals, who haven't yet had a rich relative die so we can afford Blu-ray, can get) is packed with extras. According to the circular in my local paper this weekend, there's a really cool collector's edition that comes in an Iron Man mask head available exclusively at Target. It looks pretty awesome. Anyway, the one that we got is so jam-packed with stuff, that any Iron Man junkies, be they fans that just like the movie, or true geeks that adored the comic book too, will be overloaded. There's truly something for everyone. Since it boasts four-plus hours of extras, it really should.

The first disc holds the movie, sans commentary, which was a bit of a letdown, but given that disc two has every possible thing they could have talked about in the commentary and was actually filmed during the making-of process, it's sort of OK. Sort of. And also the obligatory deleted/extended scenes. Normally I shrug these off, but there were some really cool ones in here, including an entire party scene in Dubai where Tony throws a party (and invites some ladies to have a foursome) as part of a diversionary tactic. Oh, and there's more on the airplane with the stripping stewardesses. Oh, and for the sickos, there's a longer version of Obadiah's demise. Also on Disc 1 is a commercial for the kid-friendly version of Iron Man which is coming soon from NickToons. Doesn't quite jive with the tone of this very adult movie... but it's there.

Disc 2 is packed. As mentioned before, there's the making-of process, here billed as "I am Iron Man: the Journey Begins." There's a Jon Favreau (pre-weight loss for the film) getting everything set up, talking about Marvel's first foray into film as a studio, casting the unlikely Robert Downey Jr.... just lots, and everything is lengthy and well thought-out and insanely detail-oriented with few stones unturned. My favorite was Peter Billingsley (executive producer, Christmas Story star, Favreau right-hand man) shaving his head, with Jeff Bridges watching, for his role in the film. Honestly, I didn't even recognize him on-screen. He looked so dramatically different. Quite the transformation.

Then there's "Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man." Which, as expected, goes at length into how they made the film look how it looks, with a blend of real action sequences and CGI. There's segments on each of the three companies tasked with different aspects of bringing this film to life, and looks at how the suit got made to look so damn badass, and how those neat sliding computer graphics came to be. This was a little too detailed for this casual fan who just wanted to see how stuff blew up, but for you fanatics out there, have at it.

Next up "The Invincible Iron Man," a history of the character in painstaking detail. Featuring such comic icons as Stan Lee, John Romita Jr. and Warren Ellis, among many others, talking about how Iron Man was created, why he had such an impact and why they gave him a drinking problem. It's interesting, but there's a lot of it. But again, if comics are your thing, then this is a dream.

I was personally in heaven when I landed on the Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test extra. Hands down my favorite part, because you could see that 1) Downey Jr. wasn't a diva about coming in to audition for a role, and 2) that he was born to play Tony Stark. From the very beginning, he just really nailed his takes with such intensity, even without fancy costumes or special effects. Just him in an empty room, and it was utterly compelling.

But wait... there's more! "The Actor's Process" is scenes from rehearsal, where again you can see how Downey Jr., and the rest of the cast, prepped for their scenes under the guidance of director Favreau.

Lastly, there are galleries of posters, stills, and concept art -- the concept art being really enjoyable to check out, as it gives a different perspective on the evolution of the metal suits and even things like Stark's house.

Phew. You'll definitely get your money's worth with this DVD set. Probably more so if you buy the Blu-Ray, which has even more extras. The only thing that's really missing, even though it may have been a bit redundant, is a commentary. I find Favreau utterly fascinating, and I could listen to Downey Jr. for days -- pairing the two of them together to talk about the film, now that would have been amazing. Heck, I'd have been happy to listen to Jeff Bridges, Peter Billingsley and Terrance Howard watch the film, since they all seemed really into making it. Other than that. I've got no complaints, and that's pretty rare.

The flick, if you haven't seen it, and likely you haven't because despite the cult following for Pegg after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, this one didn't break any box office records. There's a reason. It's your everyday romantic comedy that happens to have a few glimpses of hilarity. Basically Pegg plays Dennis, a lovable loser who freaks out on his wedding day and runs off on his pregnant bride, Libby (played by Thandie Newton). Five years later, he's a security guard living in a basement apartment and barely able to pay his rent. Libby's got a new guy in her life, the rich schmoozer Whit (Hank Azaria), who can offer Libby and her son everything that Dennis can't. In an effort to compete with Whit, Dennis joins a marathon for charity and predictable chaos ensues. The highlights and funniest moments of the entire film happen when scene-stealing Dylan Moran and Harish Patel are helping out as Dennis' trainers.

First up, deleted scenes. You can watch them with or without commentary by David Schwimmer. If you care to know why they were cut, watch them with monotone Schwimmer talking over them. But you may enjoy them more as outtakes without his annoying voice. Unless you are a huge fan of the former Ross Geller, and then, whatever. I don't know what to tell you. This may be your favorite DVD set ever. Other than Schwimmer's commentary, there's really not much here to write home about. Just a couple kinda amusing scenes that hit the cutting room floor for timing/pacing reasons.

Then there's something called "Goof." I saw this and got excited, thinking it was crazy flubs, because frankly, I can imagine that Pegg's a cut-up during filming and therefore this would have real potential. However, this is not a blooper reel. Instead, it is footage from a press interview, where Thandie plays a practical joke on Pegg right as he's about to go do an interview. It's pretty amusing, but I would have liked to see more of Thandie's silly side. Pegg says she's quite the prankster.

Lastly, there's the feature commentary. Which again involves Schwimmer... so proceed at your own risk. Newton and Pegg are there as well to lighten things up a little bit. Even Pegg's mom is in the background, for some barely explained reason. There's a lot of talk about where things were filmed, Thandie's wig, Pegg's fatsuit and their love of all their costars. It's fine, if you are a die-hard fan, but it's not a laugh riot.

That's really all this DVD has to offer. Nothing from Michael Ian Black, who seemed to distance himself from the script (probably wisely) after changes were made. Nothing from Hank Azaria, who disappointingly plays the straight man in this. Though if he'd done the commentary, perhaps he could have done it in a variety of Simpsons voices to jazz things up a bit. It does kindly offer you the option of watching in Full-Screen or Widescreen... which I found particularly hilarious in this day in age. Who still watches things in full-screen when widescreen is available? Aside from my mother, who doesn't like those little black bars taking up all of the TV.

Commentary Track
McBride, director Jody Hill (who also plays Mike) and production designer Randy Gambill comment on the film and provide some of the great trivia that you can only get from a low-budget movie. For instance: which friend of the director owned the dojo they used, when the director's mom shows up in frame as an extra, which friend of the director's father loaned them his Ferrari, etc. You also find out how the band Pyramid got to do all of the music for the movie (Ben Best, who plays martial arts legend Chuck "The Truck" Wallace, is a member). Also, you get to hear the clicking of lighters at the beginning as the commentators blaze up.

Behind the Scenes Featurette
Not really a featurette so much as an artsy music video for the band Pyramid. The black-and-white behind-the-scenes footage -- with no sound, only some somber music - makes it seem like the entire cast and crew were killed in a horrible accident after the movie was completed, and this is some kind of memorial video.

Bloopers
In a refreshing change, the blooper reel consists of two scenes that were ruined by laughter, one where Fred talks to Mike on the phone and one where Fred and Mike meet Chuck the Truck for the first time. Refreshing, but not necessarily worth watching.

Additional Scenes
There are 20 alternate or extended scenes, three from the awkward first-act dinner scene alone. A few scenes present a different arc for Fred's wife Suzie, where we see her continue to live with Fred for a while after the HJ incident, ultimately leaving after he spies on her with Henry. And rather than being introduced in his demo at Fred's dojo, the mysterious Mike is first seen in an underground fight club, where he brutally snaps a man's neck before taking a phone call from Fred. A couple of new characters are introduced, as well: a neighborhood kid with a ninja costume and a minibike that Fred has a rivalry with, and a student with a small bladder who pees himself, causing Fred to show a more sympathetic side.

Alternate Ending: Fred Murders Suzie
Um... this is exactly what it sounds like. I guess they figured that America wasn't ready for the comedic murder of an unfaithful spouse. It was pretty funny, though -- possibly funnier than the actual ending. But wrong. So very wrong.

Mike Myers and the Love Guru: An Inside Look
I had hoped that this featurette would include some early footage of Mike Myers workshopping his guru character in comedy clubs, but no luck. There wasn't even mention of the Austin Powers movies, where the Love Guru was originally slated to appear. Instead, it's an explanation of who the character is, and who the rest of the characters are, and how great Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake are, and how the Guru Pitka isn't specifically an Indian religious figure, although it's really kind of hard to see him as anything but. Also, Mariska Hargitay talks about how her name became a chant, and how happy she is that everyone will now pronounce her name correctly.

One Hellava Elephant
I was prepared for a cutesy feature about how great the elephant they used in the movie was, but it turns out that for many of the shots, when they only needed the elephant's back, they used a mock elephant. A special effects house in Toronto takes us inside the fake elephant, as well as inside a fake ostrich butt that gets about five seconds of screen time.

Hockey Training for Actors
I'm a sucker for sports comedies, so hockey coordinator Dave Ellis is a favorite of mine for playing a coach in The Replacements, where he complains to the ref that the hero team's stripper-cheerleaders are spanking each other. It turns out he also oversaw hiring all the hockey extras and training Romany Malco and JT to be hockey players for this movie, and he was impressed by Malco's dedication and JT's roller-blading skills. Unfortunately, we don't see Verne Troyer learning to skate, because his one ice-skating scene was cut from the movie (it's here, under Deleted Scenes) and it's entirely CGI. Don't they make skates his size?

Deleted and Extended Scenes
In addition to the one scene of Verne Troyer "skating," there are about a dozen other scenes, some not bad, but most wholly unnecessary. In one, we see an extended version of Stink Mop, where we're introduced to a rival school for gurus, then in a cut call-back we see Pitka meet a cabbie from the rival school, and they have a third-eye fight in the parking lot of a strip club. We also see The Daily Show's Samantha Bee as a Cinnabon cashier (a cameo cut entirely from the final film) and a pre-final game interview with Mike Myers and Kanye West, where Myers desperately tries to keep West from saying anything embarrassing on the air. It's as uncomfortable as it sounds.

Bloopers
The best thing about the blooper reel is that it focuses on the film's secondary characters, including John Oliver as Pitka's manager. Jessica Alba, certainly seems to have had a hard time with her lines, and Myers is always there to tease her or play off of them. However, no one can beat Verne Troyer's off-the-cuff line during the film's credits; when the director says that all he can see in one Troyer-centric shot is asses, Troyer bounces back, "Welcome to my world." Classy.

Back in the Booth with Trent and Jay
This outtakes reel may be worth the price of the DVD. Stephen Colbert and Jim Gaffigan, playing dueling sports commentators (Colbert is a former drug abuser, who later relapses), riff off of one another in a series of awkward and hysterical exchanges. It's only five minutes long, but Colbert getting dragged off the soundstage by security while ranting about how he cannot be burned or drowned seems to last for eight all by itself.

Outtakes
In case Myers explaining and telegraphing his jokes wasn't enough for you, now you can watch him do it six or seven ties in a row, but a little differently each time. Fantastic. Not for those who have recently considered ending their lives.

Basically the plot of Mother of Tears is this: a Pandora's Box of sorts is opened, resulting in the people of Rome acting out in random spurts of deranged violence, and Asia Argento has to stab a naked swimsuit model in a sewer to stop all of it. I'm not really joking here; the plot and writing is pretty much as lazy as that, but this movie's not about those things. As a gorehound who is rarely satisfied by the degree of bloodshed in any given movie, I was satisfied by this one, and even let out an "Ew!" in one scene, which I probably only do once a decade. So there. I enjoyed it. If gore is your thing, I promise you will enjoy this one too. And if you're an Argento super fan, there are some nice, albeit sparse, details in the DVD extras.

The Making of Mother of Tears
This one is pretty cool. Interviews with Asia about growing up as "The Princess of Horror," as dubbed by Italian gossip rags, videos of how they made and tested all the skulls they squished, raw footage of extras trying to sell looking possessed, etc. Not the greatest behind the scenes of all time, but fun nonetheless (what about an Argento project isn't?).

A Conversation With Legendary Filmmaker Dario Argento
I love when they have to say "Legendary" like I'm renting a Dario Argento movie without knowing who he is, like it's The Ruins or something. Anyway, he talks about his love of the novels the trilogy is based on, and working with his daughter again, and how satisfying it was to finally complete the trilogy after nearly three decades of waiting for financing. He's interesting and sincere, though I wish they'd let him just do the interview in Italian, with subtitles. His accent is crazy thick, and I think we all would have been more comfortable without having to struggle with the language barriers.

And that's it, folks! There are also the U.S. and Italian trailers, but sadly, no commentary or even better, a gag reel. I say it's still worth at least a rental though.

Because of the writers strike, the season was cut short, so there are only 15 episodes on the two-disc sets, and they didn't exactly blow the budget on the extras. There's really just the bare minimum.

Commentary
Christina Applegate is joined by executive producers Donald Todd and Peter Traugott as they chat about the pilot. It's the only commentary on the set, and it is mostly just talking to them about how the show got started and how much they just love working together and how much fun it is to make streets look shiny. They also go on and on for a bit about how they just had to cut so much because of time. But now they can put the extra nine minutes, which they painstakingly shot and then cut, on DVD... or so they seem to think. Applegate is her perky self and seems happy enough to be chatting about the show, but it is only twenty minutes, it's not like there's a lot of insight going on.

Deleted Scenes
My hopes were kind of high, given that the commentary talked a lot about all of the extra footage they had created. Really, it's just a handful of scenes, with intros by EP Donald Todd. He explains why these perfectly good scenes (his phrase, not mine) were axed from the original airings. His most frequent reasoning is because of timing issues. They were all apparently hard to cut, because they involved either the word monkey (comedy gold), women's underwear (who doesn't love that?) and fake snakes (more surefire laughs). None of them really changed the flow of the show, or had me laughing out loud. Though I'll happily watch more of doorman Frank anytime.

Samantha Whoops
As Christina Applegate revealed during the commentary, her stomach tends to growl a lot. In these bloopers we get to hear it for ourselves. Then it is just your usual every day ordinary giggle fest for a few short (very short) minutes.

And that's it. The entire set. It comes in a slim little box with a flippy thing to go between the discs, but really... that's all she wrote.

Blooper Reel!
Who doesn't love a gag reel? Highlights include Rachel Griffiths and Matthew Rhys accidentally slipping into their respective Australian and British accents and calling themselves out on it (delightful!), and Rachel Griffiths breaking character in one scene to bluntly ask, "Is everyone just going to sleep with everyone on this show?!" Hilarious and valid, Rachel! Ooh, but yikes -- there are also several instances of Balthazar Getty going up on a line and fixing it by pretending to make out with many of his female co-stars, which would be funny, but in light of his recent philandering... is not. Can't win 'em all, Balty.

Deleted Scenes
Most of these scenes are your average 43 second waste of times, but two do stand out. One is a scene in which Justin tries to speak at his old high school about the horrors of war but has a panic attack and runs out in the middle of it. I have a pretty thick skin, but it was very difficult to watch, and I can see why it was cut.

The other scene is amazing and there is just no excuse for cutting it. It's from the episode where Kitty, Sarah and Nora crash that random wedding, and while Kitty is ordering a drink at the bar a bouquet flies out of nowhere and smacks her in the head -- hard. Then while she's marveling at it all dazed like, "Heyyy, prettyyyy" she gets clotheslined by a couple seething bridesmaids and fights tooth and nail for the bouquet. She is eventually victorious, and it is great television. Calista Flockhart hit over the head with flowers and jumped by a bridesmaid gang??? How do you cut that?!

Commentary
There were only a few, and they're honestly not that great. My personal favorite was one with Ken Olin, Patricia Wettig and Matthew Rhys, which concluded in a fake fart noise contest between Olin and Rhys because they're 12, with Patricia Wettig trying to get them to be mature for two seconds of the commentary, to no avail (she's married to Ken Olin in real life, so it was actually pretty endearing somehow.)

Guest Book
This is a featurette about all the amazing guest stars this season, with many of them talking about why they love the show and wanted to be on it. There is also an explanation from writer David Marshall Grant (who tortured Vaughn in Alias Season 5, and I still haven't forgiven him for it) about why EP Ken Olin joined the cast, which was helpful, and Rob Lowe literally gets teary-eyed on camera talking about how magical having Garry Marshall at his wedding was. That last one is beyond adorable and not-to-be-missed.

"TV Dinners" and a Set Design Featurette
The last two features are a behind the scenes of the lady who makes all the crazy food that's in each episode, with interviews from the cast on how they eat all day in every scene without getting fat, and a look at how they make all the sets that I didn't care about because I do not work at Home Depot.

Spritle in the Big Leagues
Spritle, of course, is Speed Racer's little brother, who hides in the trunk all the time with his pet monkey, Chim-Chim. If following a chubby 12-year-old child actor around doesn't sound like fun to you... you're right. But there're actually some interesting tidbits in this feature, if you can make it through all 15 minutes. As actor Paulie Litt wanders around the Berlin set, avoiding a security guard who looks like the mechanic from Raiders of the Lost Ark, we see all aspects of production, from stuntwork and costumes to the special effects department and... yes, monkey training. And as Litt asks his own questions, we also get Pop-up Video-style boxes that give us interesting facts, like that lead ninja and ninja stunt coordinator Philip Tan was European disco champion two years in a row! I cannot make that up. It would have been cool to see that as a feature on the regular film, but oh, well. Also, singer/dancer Rain does the moonwalk. Take that, Stephen Colbert!

Speed Racer: Supercharged
The second feature on the disc is a car-by-car, driver-by-driver, sponsor-by-sponsor and track-by-track breakdown of the world of racing, explaining who all the players are and what the layout of each race is like. Treated like straight-up, futuristic sports commentary, it seems like it could have been cool sprinkled throughout the movie, but then they probably would have had to cut some contract negotiations. Basically, it's an excuse to show off the creativity put into each of the car and track designs, taking the computer-generated images and spinning them around, stripping away the exteriors to show the intricate 3-D framework beneath. Some of the sponsor names are pretty funny, but the highly detailed techno-babble gets a little annoying after a while. Not knowing anything about cars, I wasn't sure what was real and what was made-up, and after a while I didn't care.

Aside from a download-able digital copy of the film, that's it for the one-disc DVD release. The three-disc Blu-ray edition, however, sports a few more items, including a 30-minute "making-of" doc on the elaborate "car-fu" car fights that occur throughout the races. There's also a regular DVD copy on the second disc and a video game on the third disk. Still no commentary track, but considering that the Wachowskis don't show up on any of the features, it's not really surprising.

Buy it now.

Audio Commentary
The only person on the commentary track is director Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes, Righteous Kill), which is too bad, considering the great cast he was working with, and how many of them are old friends of his. I mean, I kind of understand Al Pacino not wanting to sit through the entire film and talk about it, but Alicia Witt, as Pacino's teaching assistant, is on-screen almost as much as he is. Couldn't they at least get her, or did her Law & OrderBoomtown, plays a serial killer and is a huge presence in the film. Was he not available? The upside is that, with no one else to shoot the breeze with, Avnet gets into crazy detail on the film, revealing which scenes were shot in Seattle, the film's actual setting, and which were shot in Vancouver, or even Los Angeles. He calls out all of the actors, mentioning where he's worked with them before (he's worked with a lot of them), and the rest of the time gushes bout Pacino's acting style and rehearsing style and basically how awesome he is. (He is pretty awesome.)

Alternate Ending
There are no deleted scenes on the disc, but the alternate ending is basically a huge epilogue that would have come after the film's resolution, which pretty much goes to the credits as soon as the bad guy is defeated. In the following scene, Pacino would have talked to Witt, and Witt would have asked him about the accusations of coaching witnesses. Pacino pretty much admits to it, saying that she would have done the same thing... as would any lawyer, I guess. Don't all lawyers coach their witnesses to some extent, even when they're telling the truth? Weird. Anyway, then we see the killer die by lethal injection, and we see Pacino give a speech to his students, about how this is not a day for celebration, and how he doesn't actually support the death penalty, but he believes in justice for the victims of crimes. It's interesting, especially the death penalty revelation, but there's no commentary track, so we have no idea why it was cut. (Avnet doesn't mention it on the regular commentary, either.)

Director's Point of View
This is just an interview with Avnet, with behind-the-scenes clips, where he talks about his trepidation of working with Pacino, and what sort of feeling they were going for in the movie. He talks about the plot and about themes and about the actors, and there's very little here that isn't on the commentary track, although there is some.

The Character Within
This is the same thing as the "Director's Point of View" feature, but with Pacino himself being interviewed. He talks about the character, and how the movie creates a feeling of paranoia, and how it's the kind of role any actor would like to have. He also talks about how great William Forsyth and everyone were to work with, and how nice it was doing a movie where you go out and have dinner with everybody the night before and do your rehearsing then. ...That actually does sound pretty fun.

Previews
I'm usually with my boss Angel on this one, agreeing that previews shouldn't count as special features, but an archive of movie trailers like this one deserves to be recognized. There are over 20 different trailers here, including mainstream ones like Quantum of Solace, Zohan, Pineapple Express and Step Brothers; artsy ones like The Fall, Redbelt and Felon, featuring Val Kilmer as a creepy con; and trashy straight-to-DVD ones like The Art of War 2 and Zombie Strippers. Who could ask for anything more?

There are only nine episodes, and while I didn't rewatch them all, the ones I did, I hated less this time around. It is like they are growing on me. The premiere is an extended episode, and even though I watched with the commentary, I only saw one scene that was new footage, and it was Addison dancing around foolishly in a towel. Because everyone needs more of that. The commentary was fun though. It was Grey's creator Shonda Rimes, with exec. producer Betsy Beers and Kate Walsh. Sure there was talk about casting and lighting and stuff, but the majority of the chatter was about how hot the guys on this show are. Oh, and I discovered the most of the handbags on this show are faux (looking great doesn't have to be expensive, ladies.) They practically spit drool through the screen when they spot Taye Diggs and call the Lowell "spicy" and Daly "steamy." I began to see how those nicknames on Grey's evolved. Best quote is about Diggs and how nice he smells: "he's a man who bathes." I also learned that Shonda Rimes's stomach doesn't growl. Ever. But Beers and Walsh more than make up for this.

There are a couple other eps. with commentary. One with Brenneman and Edelstein, and another with Lowell and Diggs, who more than make up for the guy oogling in the premiere, by discussing the ladies on this show at length during the finale. They take time to truly admire Kadee Strickland (who runs the nearby hospital). Though they try and be fair and balanced by jokingly discussing Edelstein. Diggs: "Paul's got a nice hairy chest. He keeps in shape." OK then. They have a great banter between them, which mostly ends up with Lowell being all self-depreciating, but at least he knows that he had bad highlights. Own it. It's OK. It's happened to the best of us.

Aside for the commentaries there are some other features. First up, "Kate Walsh: Practice Makes Perfect." You have to be a really devote Walsh fan to sit through all of this lovefest. It's her family and friends talking about her. Everything from her birth to getting the gig on Private Practice. Including Walsh reciting from a play she wrote in middle school. It's ... for true die-hard fans who really wanted to see what she looked like at age 6. Then there's "Alternative Ensemble: Behind the Scenes of Private Practice." Which is misleading, because as much as I could suffer through, wasn't exactly behind-the-scenes, it was more like, this is how we put together the cast, and here's what my character is like, interviews and such. Whatever. It's missable.

There's also the obligatory deleted scenes, though they are OK. If you really can handle more of this show after watching nine episodes straight. And then Bloopers, which are silly, goofy... as you'd expect, and show what Taye's character Sam really saw when Addison dropped her towel at the window in the premiere. Nothing earth-shattering, but it does look like a fun place to work.

See below for another PP bonus feature

If you, like me, have been desperately awaiting more, I advise you head directly to "Enter the Penthouse: A VIP Tour" and check out how the amazing set designer came up with the Darling family abode on the cheap. Mere mortals may be able to afford some of these lavish styles (I want that glass bubble chandelier!). And then hop on over to "Haute Couture: Dressing the Darlings," which is the companion piece, all about the clothes. I will now be staring at Donald Sutherland's feet, because apparently his shoes are very fancy.

If you are a newbie, you may want to test the waters with "Road to Excess: Making Dirty Sexy Money." It's like DSM 101. With interviews with the cast about their characters, etc... I found it unnecessary, but if you just want to stare at Peter Krause talking for a while... go for it.

One interview I did really love though was in the segment "The Other Woman: Candis Cayne," which put the spotlight on the fabulous transgender actress who plays Carmelita. She's playing the transsexual hottie who is having a steamy affair with Billy Baldwin's senator in training, Patrick. There's a lot of chat about casting and even some on the street interviews about why people really love her character. Perhaps it is because Patrick's actual wife is a cold bitch? Maybe that's just me.

There's commentary on a few of the episodes. I didn't make it through all of them, because, well, commentary just isn't my favorite thing, but there's a big group of people and they all really, really seem to have a great time making this show sing. There's also the obligatory deleted scenes... most of which go on way too long. And in my book, watching Samaire Armstrong's Juliet in a snit is not something I needed to see more of. So glad she'll be pouting less this coming season. Oh, and watching Nick (Krause's character) sweetly put his daughter to bed was endearing and made me like him even more.

The best of the bunch? "Tripp Ups: Dirty Sexy Bloopers." Appropriately named for Sutherland's character, because while he is in few of the flubs, the final shot of is of Sutherland's Tripp looking very unique in an item from Juliet's closet.

And extra credit to the graphics department, who clearly had fun with the episode guide sleeve, which is done up like a trashy tabloid with stories on the entire cast. Very clever.

Watch a bonus clip from the show below.

The DVD offers a number of bonus features that wouldn't be a big deal for most movies, but because it's Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, they end up feeling like true extensions of the film. They are:

Alternate Ending: You'll understand why this was the alternate ending when you watch. Not to say it's awful, but certainly it's contrived and a little too pat for people who enjoy the dry humor Fey normally displays. I won't give it away, but think Jolie-Pitt.

Deleted Scenes: There are a decent amount of deleted scenes, and they're all fairly funny, but the best by far involves a birthing class instructor with a major speech impediment (she calls Tina's character Katie a "career woman" but it comes out sounding like "queer woman") explaining how long it's appropriate to nurse for. Trust me, this scene alone is worth the cost of the DVD.

Saturday Night Live: Legacy of Laughter: Sort of a shrug here. Basically this is just a coupla short interviews with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler about working at SNL and how awesome it is to work with Lorne Michaels. Whoop dee doo.

Commentary: This is probably the best feature offered on the DVD, because you've got writer/director Michael McCullers and Lorne Michaels and Tina and Amy all just riffing on the scenes, and it's almost like an improv skit in and of itself. You get a sense that they really had a good time making this movie. Tina and Amy are clearly best girlfriends and it's a treat to hear them bouncing stuff off each other -- sort of an insight into how they probably worked on SNL and other projects. They also both seem newly initiated into the world of major Hollywood films, so there are equal levels of wonder and self-deprecating humor when they discuss the technical aspects of making the movie (extras, stand-ins, locations, props, etc.). All in all, it's endearing and totally worthwhile.

Buy it now.

Audio Commentary
Not every episode gets a commentary, but a respectable six out of 17 episodes do, and one of them even gets two different tracks. Series creator Marc Cherry, executive producer Bob Daily and consulting producer Jeff Greenstein comment on the first episode, "Now You Know," where Edie pretends to hang herself. They reveal some interesting behind-the-scenes factoids, like the fact that Standards and Practices didn't allow them to show her with the noose around her neck, which is why it was artfully shot with close-ups. The other commentaries are all "Couples Commentaries," with the couples of Wisteria Lane each talking about an episode. "Now I Know, Don't Be Scared" has commentary by Marcia Cross ("Bree") and Kyle MacLachlan ("Orson"), "Distant Past" has commentary by Delaney ("Katherine") and Fillion ("Adam"), and "Something's Coming" has commentary by Eva Longoria Parker ("Gabrielle") and Ricardo Antonio Chavira ("Carlos"). Also, "Welcome to Kanagawa" has commentary by Felicity Huffman ("Lynette") and Doug Savant ("Tom"), and "Mother Said" has two commentary tracks, one by Teri Hatcher ("Susan") and James Denton ("Mike") and one by Nicolette Sheridan ("Edie"), Marc Cherry and director David Warren. For such a big cast, getting to hear from pretty much the entire ensemble, plus the creator and director, is pretty great, even if it's only for one episode each.

Getting Desperate: From Beginning to End
This making-of documentary follows the creation of the tornado episode, "Something's Coming", from beginning to end, including script, music, fight choreography, practical effects, computer effects, voice-overs and whatever department is in charge of stabbing John Slattery with a fence picket. Although cheaper to make than the original sweeps idea of a flood would have been, it was still the most expensive episode they've ever done, and it took the longest to shoot. The feature is pretty interesting, especially when they show how they messed up Wisteria Lane to depict the tornado's aftermath. Apparently, they destroyed the McCluskey house with glee, because nobody liked it, and some of the rubble they used came from a recently broken-down Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull set. (I looked for a beaten-up refrigerator with an old man crawling out of it, but no luck.)

Spare Time: Hanging With The Men of Wisteria Lane
On a show where the women are the stars and the men are the arm candy, this is the equivalent of a regular show doing a bikini car wash feature. All of the guys from the show get together at a bowling alley and haphazardly roll some balls while swapping insults with each other and their high opinions of the women on the show. (Thanks to editing, nearly every roll is a strike.) There's a whole lot of goofing off -- and pondering when their characters will get killed off -- but no real behind-the-scenes information, although it's worth watching to hear Nathan Fillion doing his spot-on Christopher Walken impersonation.

Cherry Picked: Creator Marc Cherry's Favorite Scenes
This is pretty much self-explanatory, as Cherry chooses scenes that spotlight each of the Housewives (except Edie, strangely) and explains why he loves the actresses so much. Most of them are just really funny, slapstick-y scenes, like Bree getting stabbed in her fake belly with a barbecue fork and Susan getting a gynecological exam, but there are also a couple of serious scenes, like Lynette getting her cancer diagnosis and Katherine having her first face-to-face with Wayne. There's a little bit of interesting information, like the fact that Bree was originally supposed to just fall on her belly, and the fact that the exam scene was the first scene Teri Hatcher had with Nathan Fillion after meeting him. Awk-ward!

Alternate Ending
Marc Cherry shows the original scene he ended the season with, which has the women talking about their new "Five Years Later" lives in a walk down Wisteria Lane, but only really takes us into Susan's home life. Apparently, ABC president Steve McPherson was disappointed in the ending and told Cherry there should be more to tease the next season, so Cherry got the gang back together to film four new scenes that went into everyone's home... a week before the episode aired on television! As stressful as that must have been on everybody, it was totally necessary -- the original ending is really pretty dull. (Ironically, they seem to have had the same problem with last season's cliffhanger, according to the episode 1 commentary. As it was originally written, Bree's fake belly was the big shocker, and Edie hanging herself was a network-mandated, back-to-the-drawing board solution.)

Deleted Scenes
While there are about a dozen deleted scenes, most of them are just short, funny moments that were cut for time, although some of them were also cut for not being funny enough. The original lead-in to the episode "You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover" shows Bree and Orson coming up with an elaborate story for why their baby doesn't look like them, even though nobody seems to notice -- it was filmed before an entirely new, shorter teaser was written.

Bloopers
Yeah, there's a blooper reel. What can I say about Teri Hatcher mispronouncing things that hasn't been said before? It's adorable?

The bonus goodies are plentiful, including an entire disc of "Declassified" segments, one devoted to each episode. These lengthy segments (around 30 minutes) are filled with cast interviews about each of the 13 episodes, behind-the-scenes footage and even soundbites from the creators, writers, stuntmen and other various crew members. These are basically a substitute for any sort of commentary track, and frankly, they're more engaging than the majority of commentary tracks. Unless you get someone truly comical or engrossing, it's just watching the episode with someone talking. Here you get so much more, and lots of pretty visuals to support the conversation.

In the first "Declassified," James Marsters (who any self-respecting Buffy fan should know) talks about his portrayal of Capt. Jack's rival, Capt. John. It was a role written specifically for him. Cool, right? And Marsters babbles with his actual American accent, which still takes me off guard every time I hear it, and there's footage of Marsters and Barrowman rehearsing for the fight scenes, and filming their kissing (yup, kissing) scene. It's good fun. I haven't brought myself to watch the final "Declassified" about the heartbreaking season finale yet, but the others that I've seen have all been as well-produced and entertaining as this one.

My other favorite segment was "The Life & Deaths of Captain Jack," narrated by the lovely Freema Agyman (a.k.a. Martha Jones, a former Doctor Who companion and Torchwood guest star). This should probably be titled "Captain Jack: 'I Can't Die'" for all the times that he repeats that, but it is a nice history of how Jack came to be a time agent, turned Torchwood employee and gifted with everlasting life. Series creator, Russell Davies, describes Jack as "the hero every man wants to be and every woman wants to snog." I'll buy that. There are interviews with the adorable David Tennant (the current Doctor) and even funny chats with Barrowman's adorable stunt double, who seems to genuinely love getting killed off in various manners.

As all DVD sets should have, there are outtakes (or bloopers). Watching these though, it is a wonder that any work gets done around here. The impish looking Barrowman seems to be quite the goofball, cracking jokes, flubbing lines, playing pranks and just generally having a ball. The best is the Torchwood staffers spontaneously breaking out into a chorus of "Bohemian Rhapsody" when they realize they are posed similarly to the famous Queen video.

And the obligatory deleted scenes are included as well. Nothing earth-shattering in here, though there's a touching (and insanely lengthy) extended version of Owen by the deathbed of the guy who was holding "the pulse," which goes on too long, but is really quite wonderful in retrospect.

Torchwood arrives on DVD on Tuesday, September 16th. It's a must-have for any fan, and even if you aren't a Who or Torchwood fanatic, a great way to jump in.

Said special feature is Pie Time: Time for Pie (redundant much?). It's essentially a featurette about the series, but it's set up as a rather cute pie table. You select a pie that correlates to an episode of the show, and then you can select from several different slices of pie for said episode, each one containing a different clip of cast and crew interviews interspersed with clips of the show. The only problem with the setup is that you select an episode, and then there's no description about what you'll be getting with each pie slice. It would be nice if they were titled, so that if you wanted to watch a segment about, say, how they came up with the show, you'd know to select a specific slice of the "Pie-Lette" strawberry pie. Or if you were interested in how they got Molly Shannon, you could watch a specific slice of "Bitter Sweets" kiwi pie. It also would be nice if you could select "View All" and watch all of the clips together. Instead, you actually must watch them short clip by short clip. There's no other alternative. While there's lots of good material here, it's a pretty frustrating experience wading through it all, because you can't just sit back and relax; you must be sitting remote-in-hand, ready to flip to the next clip.

Oh, and there's a preview of the second season to start Disc 3, but it's made up of clips from the first season, with a voiceover from Jim Dale indicating there will be more mysteries and plot development next season. If only he'd also added that the second season DVD set would have more special features, I'd be sold already.

It's disappointing that a series this good couldn't come up with a better DVD set. Clearly they have the creative minds. Doubt it? Just watch the show. Or look at the DVD packaging. Maybe they should have focused more on the contents of the DVD and less on the packaging. Because as much fun as it is to call my discs "Apple Pie," "Berry Pie," and "Pumpkin Pie" instead of Disc 1, 2, and 3, respectively, I think I'd rather have boring-looking discs with more fun extras.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Focus Features has graced us with the requisite 10th Anniversary edition, which my research tells me comes housed in a resplendent faux bowling ball, but which the press douchebags at the aforementioned studio didn't deem me worthy of receiving for my meager reviewing purposes. How very un-Dude of them.*

No matter, the pee-on 10th Anniversary edition includes two whole discs -- one of the feature, obvi, and an entire separate disc devoted exclusively to bonus features. Let's take a tour of them, shall we?

The Making of the Big Lebowski This is a sit-down with the Coen Brothers, and while fascinating to hear how the story came about, it's nothing that you don't get on other, non-deluxe versions of the DVD. Perhaps the highlight is the interview with Jeff Bridges, which was clearly conducted during the making of the film, as his hairdo resembles that of a Swiss milkmaid. It's clear that while the character the Dude is a composite sketch and is loosely based on a man the Coen brothers know, Jeff Bridges and the film version of the Dude are pretty much interchangeable. It's the kind of revelation you always hope is true with your favorite movie characters. The obvious missing piece here is an interview with the man who actually inspired the character -- much as I love listening to a couple of nerdy Jewish guys talk about how Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler have informed their work, some face time with the Real Dude would've breathed a little more life into this feature.

The Lebowski Fest -- An Achiever's Story This is simply an extended excerpt from the forthcoming documentary The Achievers, which chronicles the yearly Lebowski festivals and its quirky, obsessive attendees. Based on the voice-over, this doc is about as amateur as you can get, which isn't necessarily a bad thing -- some of the slickly produced ones have a tendency to ring false, after all -- but the filmmaker behind the camera doesn't seem to share the passion for the movie and its followers that would be required to treat the special Lebowski subculture with the adoration and humor it deserves. And really, how long can you sit through nerdy personal anecdotes about how The Big Lebowski has made an impact on someone's life? That's called every night of the week at my local bar, and this DVD doesn't come with a shot of tequila.

Flying Carpets and Bowling Balls -- The Dream Sequences of the Dude After some boring chit-chat from the Coen Brothers about how the dance number dream sequence was inspired by Busby Berkley, we get a charming anecdote from Jeff Bridges about his unfortunate decision to invite his wife and daughters to the set on the day of the dream sequence shoot because he thought it would be fun and harmless, not realizing that part of the scene required him to glide on a skateboard underneath the crotches of a number of dancing bowling pins. To lighten the mood -- or because he's a total perv, you pick -- he decided that he'd take a picture of one lucky lady's vadge for posterity. The image is shown, and it's a beaut! He then reveals that he was rather awed by the "jungle of pubic hair" that was bursting from the girls' costumes until they inform him that it was just a joke the costume department was playing on him. Merkins! Come on, this is L.A. -- he should've known better than to believe that any of the extras had gone native.

Interactive Map From the looks of it, this is a must-have for any Lebowski enthusiast planning a Dude-centric tour of Los Angeles, and it may well be the coolest feature the DVD offers -- an inside look at where key moments in the movie were shot. I say from the looks of it because in addition to not sending me the cool bowling ball version of this 10th anniversary edition, the poopfaces at Focus apparently sent me a faulty disc. I was only able to watch the portion of the map that discussed the exterior shot of the Dude's house. Also included on the map -- but unable to be enjoyed by me due to the aforementioned circumstances -- are Hollywood Stars Lanes, Sobchak Security, and Johnie's Coffeeshop, among other sites.

Jeff Bridges' Photo Book As was hinted at earlier in the bonus features -- what with the crotch photo and all -- it seems Jeff Bridges fancies himself an amateur photographer. Using some fancy-style wide-lens camera, he actually documented the making of the movie and then gave a little photo book to each member of the cast after the movie wrapped. Cute! He takes us through his photos -- and manages to squeeze in a shameless plug for his CD, available on iTunes -- from his very first meeting with the Coen brothers at the Broadway Diner in Santa Monica to a couple of precious snapshot of the man, the myth, the guy who inspired the Dude. Jeff Dowd. It's both charming and insider-y to hear him talk about each picture, -- like listening to an old war story from a favorite uncle -- except less boring.

In sum, this is a no-brainer for Lebowski lovers, if only for the packaging (which, ahem). Happy birthday, Dude!

*Turns out, the edition that's housed in a bowling ball is a Limited Edition collectors' 10th anniversary edition, not the regular old 10th anniversary edition, so I guess it's my fault for failing to specify that when asking for a review copy. Still though! Anyway, let's all take this as a lesson. Don't make the mistake I did. Buy the rad collectors item here.

Perhaps my hopes were just too high. I recently got the book and found it totally unique and filled with great insight into the show, all presented as a big issue of Mode magazine. It's gorgeous. It's chock full. It's really funny and a must-have for any collector. But this set, while being something a true fan will buy because they want the episodes, is lacking Betty magic. The only thing that remotely came close to being as inspired as the book was the pull-out map/episode guide, which had famous Betty-centric locations, like the Wicked theater and Studio 54 and the carriage ride locales, highlighted with little pics.

Even the official website is more fun than the extras on the DVD set, what with fashion centric features, podcasts and games. And one of the extras on the disc, the show within a show telenovelas, are already accessible online.There's lots of Betty's crazy life and more Daniel and Alexis and wicked Wilhelmina. Just don't expect any commentaries or insight into what went on while this show was getting made.

That said, there are a few fun things. My favorite being "On Set with the Besties," featuring the fabulous Marc (Michael Urie) and Amanda (Becki Newton) giving a behind-the-scenes tour. It's fun to watch them fool with the fake elevator, and it's done all pop-up video style, so you can learn facts, like that the official Mode colors are Bunny Gray and Rumba Orange. And did you know that one of Fey's couches in the secret sex room was made out of duct tape? That stuff's amazing. Silly. Fluffy and light, but these two could sit and read the Oxford English Dictionary and I'd be cracking up.

Papa Suarez (Tony Plana) is left mostly to his own devices to take us on a tour of Betty's home. Pretty dull, until Justin (Mark Indelicato) shows up and starts showing how the freezer door doesn't open. Still, not as fun as hanging with "the besties."

Then there are two features that I kind of found to be a waste of my time. First is, "Wilhelmina Slater: Love to Hate Her" and it is the cast and crew talking about the show's most flamboyantly over-the-top villainess. Even the outtakes from the Betty White encounter were kind of blah. And then there's "I Heart Betty." It's a little package about Betty's love life. If you've seen the show before, you can skip this.

Finally there is a blooper reel -- I always love a good blooper real -- and a handful of deleted scenes, none of which are particularly remarkable or earth-shattering. Though Marc square-dancing and Marc's reaction to a basketball were fun to watch. Could Marc and Amanda do all of the extras next time? That'd be awesome. Commentary by them. Random footage of them being silly. Whatever. That I'd happily shell out money to watch.

Disc 1: The unaired (or "x'd," if you will) scenes from the "Pilot" include Dan's phone ringing (really; that's the entire scene); Serena telling Nate to tell Blair he'll never see Serena again, which gives him doing that a whole new weight; Blair going into a restroom to throw up (so the bulimia thing was there all along, apparently); and Serena and Eric talking about why he tried to kill himself; Jenny in a cab on her way to the party; and Jenny and Chuck pre-attempted rape (this is the scene that would have had people saying, "She was totally asking for it," because she is making out with him and a lot more willing to go to the roof with him, if you get my drift). None of these are earth-shattering, though the bulimia thing would have helped that not be such an out-of-left-field plotline later in the season. Oh, and the last scene with Chuck and Jenny has some overdubbed voices that are not Taylor Momsen and Ed Westwick. That's a little jarring.

There is one x'd scene from "The Wild Brunch": Dan being asked to wait outside by a doorman because he won't stop fidgeting, which is why he comes upon Bart and Lily before they're open about their relationship.

Disc 2: "The Handmaiden's Tale" and "Victor/Victrola" both feature x'd scenes: The one from "Handmaiden" is a pretty cute one of a masked Dan being hit on by Blair's friends at the masked ball. When he rejects them, they have this exchange: "Gay." "Totally. Next." From "Victor/Victrola," we get an x'd conversation between Serena and Lily that would have made viewers like Lily much sooner in the series; she says kind things to Serena about Dan and gives her a hug.

Disc 3: More x'd scenes. From "Hi, Society," we see Dan's mom get a "cover for me" text from Jenny intended for Dan. And in "School Lies," there's a scene between Jenny and Dan that felt like it had already happened, so... nothing new. And one between Nate and Jenny that also felt like it was in the episode, except for the part at the end when Chuck walks up and asks Nate to smoke pot before school. He's so cool.

Disc 4: Every one of the four episodes on this disc includes one x'd scene: A cute scene in which Dan and Serena talk about whether Lily will marry Bart; Dan walking in on his dad's overnight lady friend early in the morning (Sasha; did we even know she exists?); Nate giving Vanessa flowers for taking the SAT and then admitting he doesn't even know what the movie Pretty Woman is; and Serena actually looking for Georgina.

Disc 5: The bulk of the extras are on this last disc. The disc opens with an original preview for the first season of Gossip Girl followed by a trailer for a really ridiculous knockoff movie The Clique, or, as the announcer says, "Tyra Banks Presents: The Clique." Seriously?! Are we supposed to consider that a selling point? Anyway, on to the actual extras:

There's one x'd scene from the finale, "Much 'I Do' About Nothing": Vanessa putting on a dress from Little House on the Prairie for the wedding until Jenny talks her out of it and gives her one of her own designs. Jenny says, "Good thing you're a sample size," but doesn't add anything like, "And good thing I'm here to save you from dressing frumpier than we've ever seen you for the most high-society event you've gone to." I love this show, but sometimes it tests my limits.

The Beginning, xoxo is a featurette about how Gossip Girl started, from the very beginning -- Cecily von Ziegesar talks about how she came up with the idea for the book series -- on through how it became a TV show (the books were put into the hands of The O.C. wunderkind Josh Schwartz). They talk about how the concept of the books is 12 or 13 years old, so von Ziegesar was very "forward-thinking." They then go on through what came next: Even though the network brought the show to Schwartz and co-producer Stephanie Savage, they had to pitch with a script. Then they head on through the casting process, including audition footage (the casting people saw 975 actors and actresses for what ultimately became these six roles). They then walk through the cast one actor at a time. The most interesting tidbit is that they almost recast Chuck at the last minute because Ed Westwick could not get a visa to work in the States. Blake Lively, surprisingly, was the one person they had in mind for Serena from the beginning, and they had to get her interested in the books and script to convince her to do TV. Oh, and Connor Paolo (Eric) is the only New York native of the main cast. They discuss the set design, the color palette, the music, everything you might possibly have a question about. Then they have the cast and crew talk about seeing the pilot, and their reactions to it. For clocking in at only 23 minutes, it's just about the most complete featurette you could ever imagine.

The one thing not discussed in The Beginning featurette is wardrobe, and that's because there is a separate short doc, Gossip Girl Couture, dedicated to just that. It's pretty much what you'd expect: They all rave about how excellent the fashion is, that they have the best wardrobe in television, and how important this show has become in the fashion world. I'm guessing you've heard this one before, so I'll skip the nitty gritty details. I will say this: Fifteen minutes and some intense detail about how they choose Dan's and Chuck's shoes is way more than most TV fans will care about (though if you're into fashion, this is definitely the featurette for you).

A Gossip Girl Wedding is a five-minute featurette about how they made and filmed the wedding. It's interesting in that you think it's very extravagant, but you forget that the budget on a TV show is not nearly as large as a high-society couple such as Bart and Lily would spend on their actual wedding. They tell us how they made this wedding look like it cost a million dollars when it actually didn't.

There's a gag reel -- titled, appropriately, lol -- and it's terrific. It's long (12 minutes!) and includes short candid moments and bloopers. It even has an entire section dedicated to filming in New York, which obviously presents its own challenges (honking horns, people screaming, etc.).

Two music videos from The Pierces ("Boring" and "Secret") are included, as is the audiobook of the first Gossip Girl book by von Ziegesar.

In other words, buy this DVD. Everyone who's anyone should have one.

xoxo...

Disc 1: The only special feature on this disc are "Declassified Scenes," what the clever Chuck marketing folks are calling their deleted scenes. It's just two short scenes, both from "Chuck Versus the Wookiee," and one is especially -- dare I say? -- Awesome! It's a scene in which Ellie and none other than Captain Awesome find a passed-out Morgan, and Awesome gives him a pep talk on getting Carina, who Ellie describes as, "You mean the one who's way out of your league?" But Captain Awesome is more equal-opportunity and tells him to go get her back. In a word: Awesome.

Disc 2: This disc also has only "Declassified Scenes" as extras, but it has scenes from each of the three episodes on the disc. Two scenes from "Chuck Versus the Sizzling Shrimp" mostly just fill in the episode's gaps. You'll probably feel like you've watched them before; they were that implied in the episode without even being left in. The only scene from "Chuck Versus the Sandworm" is a BuyMore assistant manager interview, which makes it clear why over-the-top manager Harry really needed to leave the show (even though he did have his funny moments; see Disc 3). From "Chuck Versus the Alma Mater," there's a really pointless scene of Morgan wanting to go to the Stanford game with Chuck. Basically, more of Morgan being a whiny baby. Nice editing, Chuck powers that be.

Disc 3: There are more "Declassified Scenes" (from two of the disc's three episodes) in addition to a featurette called Chuck's World. First, the deleted scenes: One from "Chuck Versus the Truth" and one from "Chuck Versus the Imported Hard Salami." One is a throw-away scene in which some sort of government suit reprimands Casey and Sarah for ruining a case he'd been building for years. The other, though, is a genuine treat. It's a moment when Morgan climbs in Chuck's window and catches Chuck and Sarah "in bed," and then he proceeds to talk about the manager's ex-girlfriend's upgrade in size (he's talking about TVs, but that's not what it sounds like to an eavesdropping Harry). It probably would have added nothing to the plot, so it's clear why it was cut for time, but it's laugh-out-loud funny, even if it's been almost a year since you've seen the episode.

Chuck's World is a featurette about all of the cast and characters of Chuck, broken up into short (around three minutes each) takes about each character (Chuck, Morgan, Sarah, Casey, Ellie, and Devon, a.k.a. Captain Awesome). These include interviews with the producers and actors and the audition tapes. Zachary Levi's audition footage is particularly wonderful, because you can see exactly what the producers saw when they watched the one minute of footage: Zach IS Chuck. No question. These takes on the characters might be short, but they're filled with highlights and information that you might not otherwise know: Adam Baldwin was the first actor cast; Captain Awesome originally was meant to be in only one or two episodes and then was going to be written out as a Russian operative, but he became too important to the ensemble; and so on.

Disc 4: The bulk of the features on this set are on this, the final disc. There are two more "Declassified Scenes," a serious one from "Chuck Versus the Crown Vic," in which Casey tells Sarah to keep it in her pants because Chuck is the intersect (no, really, he says, "Keep it in your pants" to a woman), and a throw-away one from "Chuck Versus the Marlin," involving bribing Big Mike with some sort of fish as a Christmas gift, to avoid working weekends. Easy editing there, right?

"Chuck on Chuck" is a cool point-counterpoint in which Joshua Gomez (Morgan), Zachary Levi, Josh Schwartz (series co-creator/executive producer) and Chris Fedak (co-creator/executive producer) have chosen three of their favorite scenes from the show to discuss and debate. It's sort of set up as the actors versus the creators, but there is actually less debate than they build up for, because it's clear they all really like and respect each other, and the show. This is actually a lot more fun than watching any entire episode with commentary, because instead of having to sit through the silences between scenes the commenters really love to talk about, they choose what they like, so the discussion and information about the scenes never stops. A few highlights here: Zachary talking about his "preparation" for kissing Yvonne (eating lots of cheesesteak sandwiches), finding out that Harry Tang left only because they lost the actor to Dexter, and many more. It's a half-hour of laughs and conversation that makes you realize more than anything how much fun these people have making this show.

"Chuck Versus the Chuckles" is a seven-minute gag reel.

For good measure, Warner Bros. also threw in a handful of clips that originally created for the web: "Meet Jeff," a hilarious one-minute clip of one of the tertiary Buy More workers talking about how much more there is to his life than working there (bingo with his grandma, fantasy football online and off, ping pong, hot dog eating contest); "Morgan's Vlog: Movie Villains" is actually the exact same footage from the Morgan character video portion of "Chuck's World," so there's nothing new to see there; "Anna's Amazing Talents" are two very short (we're talking less than 30 seconds) videos of Anna demonstrating funny, but useless, karate and sword skills in front of the Nerd Herd desk at the Buy More.