DVD Pick of the Week: April 24, 2007

I'm extremely excited for April 24, because that's the day one of my most anticipated titles is released. No, it's not WKRP, which is plagued with music-licensing issues. It's the BBC release of Planet Earth. This 11-episode series explores our planet like no other series has done, from the North Pole to the South Pole, it's all covered in this program. They spent $25 million and 2,000 days in the field shooting material for the program, and they did it all using high-definition cameras. Narrated by the legendary David Attenborough (the Discovery Channel version is narrated by Sigourney Weaver), this series is being released on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD, and all formats are among the top sellers on Amazon (as of now, DVD is No. 1, HD DVD No. 8 and Blu-ray No. 19 - their list is updated hourly). The DVD set also includes a bonus program, "Planet Earth: The Future," and 110 minutes of behind-the-scenes material that isn't available on the higher-priced Blu-ray and HD DVD releases.
The long-awaited WKRP in Cincinnati Season 1 set is also coming next week, but many fans have taken it off their "must-buy" list due to the music-licensing issues that resulted in most of the original songs being replaced. I guess that's looking at the situation negatively; the upside is that Fox released a series they said wouldn't come out at all due to the music, but now fans who just want to see the episodes, no matter the form, can pick up the set and enjoy the series.
MGM is releasing the first season of Flipper - the 1960s version, not the '90s version with Jessica Alba (I'm surprised that isn't out to capitalize on her newfound stardom). The set includes all 30 Season 1 episodes, but the only extra is a trivia game.
I spent last night watching the first four episodes of Kidnapped, Sony's failed series that was cancelled after five episodes, leaving eight unaired episodes for the DVD set. Don't worry about a cliff-hanger ending: We're told the series wraps up in the final episode, titled "Resolution." It's likely the show could find more fans on DVD than it found on TV.... Could it be people are just getting sick of shows that are one continuous story?
Head over to TVShowsOnDVD.com for the complete list of April 24 releases.
Do you agree with my pick? Think it should have been something else? Post a comment and let everyone know what your favorite set is for next week, and why.
Gord