Official Synopsis:

Numbers: The Complete Fourth Season (September 30) –

NUMB3RS is a drama about an FBI agent who recruits his mathematical-genius brother to help the Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles. The two brothers take on the most confounding criminal cases from a very distinctive perspective. Inspired by actual events, the series depicts how the confluence of police work and mathematics provides unexpected revelations and answers to the most perplexing criminal questions.

CSI: NY The Fourth Season –

The evidence never lies. In this 21-episode collection of CSI: NY The Fourth Season, Detective Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and his brilliant team - Stella (Melina Kanakaredes), Danny (Carmine Giovinazzo), Sheldon (Hill Harper), Lindsay (Anna Belknap), and Flack (Eddie Cahill) - get their game on when the clues in a woman's murder lead them to one of the web's most addictive virtual worlds. And as murders in Times Square, Central Park, and even on the Statue of Liberty test their mettle, the whole team battles Mac's nemesis, the mysterious 333 Stalker.

Rob & Big: The Complete Third Season –

MTV's favorite modern-day odd couple is back for their wildest season yet with more off-beat adventures of professional DC Shoes skateboarder Rob Dyrdek, his best friend and bodyguard Christopher "Big Black" Boykin, their bulldog Meaty, and their mini-horse "Mini". The new season kicks off as Rob and Big's house, otherwise known as "Three Layers of Heaven", goes on security lockdown when the guys discover a mysterious item drifting in their swimming pool. Other season highlights include Rob and Big throwing a "Super Sweet 14" birthday party for their beloved bulldog Meaty, a road trip up the California coast to enter Mini into a mini-horse show, and an educational quest leading Big to teach Rob what it's like for a big man in a small man's world.

High School Musical 2: Two-Disc Deluxe Dance Edition -

The phenomenal Disney Channel Original Movie is bigger and better than ever with awesome exclusive bonus features that will get you up out of your seat! Think you have the moves to groove with the East High Wildcats? Let the stars show you what they've got in an interactive dance-along that lets you control the action, and relive your favorite parts of the movie with an incredible virtual scrapbook! It's the movie you love and so much more! High School Musical 2: Deluxe Dance Edition brings you inside the world of the Wildcats with "Bigger, Better, Best" bonus features - including deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes special and a first look at the highly anticipated big-screen bash High School Musical 3: Senior Year!

Our Take:
Of all the procedural shows on TV, Numbers remains one of my two favorites (the other being Fox’s Bones). I’m not a math geek by any stretch of the imagination (I had to take Algebra II twice in high school), but this show manages to be accessible to even the least math-oriented people on the planet. Math is just the gimmick to the concept; the heart of the show is the cast and the keeps-you-guessing mysteries. Numbers manages to find the perfect balance between police (or in this case, FBI) procedures and the character’s personal lives, and that’s why I like it so much. I’m kind of tired of these procedurals that just give us case after case and never allow even the tiniest glimpse into the lead characters’ personal lives. Numbers doesn’t have that problem.

Season Four focuses on crises of faith. In addition to a weekly crime, the characters all seemed to go through a crisis of faith at one point or another. Ultimately, Diane Farr’s character leaves the show at the end of the season, ostensibly as a result of one of these crises. Aside from that, though, the show never devolved into hand-wringing or melodrama, just characters questioning if what they were doing is right or not.

The Numbers: The Fourth Season DVD collection includes the usual array of extra features, including five making-of featurettes.

CSI: NY – The Fourth Season doesn’t delve into the personal lives of the CSIs like Numbers does, but it does give us at least a little bit of a personal approach on the show. I’ve kind of run dry on the CSI franchises, but New York is at least still a solid effort. I enjoyed the two multi-episode arcs that run through the season, the 333 caller and the Cabbie Killer. In shows like this that are so episodic and formulaic, it’s neat to see the occasional storyline run through a lengthier bout of episodes.

CSI: NY - The Fourth Season comes with a standard complement of extra features, including four making-of featurettes.

Rob & Big is car wreck television, pure and simple, and I don’t mean that as a bad thing (necessarily). You just can’t look away from it once it’s on, no matter how ridiculous you know it to be. The names of the first four episodes alone should tell you everything you need to know: “Poop In The Pool,” “Racing Turtles,” “Mini-Horse Road Trip,” and “Meaty Goes To Hollywood.” You know this isn’t high-art television you’re watching. Heck, it’s not even Celebrity Apprentice. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t somewhat addicting. I guess that’s how a show that makes no sense on paper got greenlit in the first place. That being said, the Third Season seems a little more forced and not quite as fun as the first two shorter seasons. Maybe it’s getting a little stale, or maybe I’m just reality-TV-ed out.

Rob & Big: The Complete Third Season comes with some decent special features, including audio commentaries by Rob and Big on all 15 episodes, over 30 deleted scenes, and a recap special that was shown on MTV. The last one’s a waste, but the commentaries and deleted scenes should be fun for fans.

Normally, a High School Musical release would be a big enough deal to warrant its own featured review. However, when that release is a simple double dip that’s clearly designed to promote the upcoming theatrical release of High School Musical 3, I don’t feel as inclined to pump my efforts into the Disney marketing machine. Kudos for including a free movie ticket to HSM 3 in the DVD case, but just like the special edition of the first High School Musical (which was a double dip in its own right), High School Musical 2: Two-Disc Deluxe Dance Edition is mostly marketing. I like the High School Musical movies, so I guess I can’t blame the films themselves for being tricked out by the studio to help bolster the bottom line; they are ridiculously popular after all.

However, I have to give credit where credit is due, and I will say that at least this time, Buena Vista actually included some substantial extra features. In addition to a dance-along version of the film (which I think seems silly, but I’m guessing tweens will love it), you get new deleted scenes and five new making-of featurettes, along with the inevitable and all-important Sneak Peek at HSM 3. I guess if Disney’s going to double dip, at least the fact that they made it somewhat worthwhile is a respectable thing.

Of the four releases above, the only one that ranks as a solid “RECOMMENDED!” would be Numbers: The Fourth Season. CSI: NY and Rob & Big have their merits as well, and parents should just accept that they’re going to be re-buying High School Musical DVDs until Disney runs out of ways to repackage them.

Overall Picture:
Show (Numbers/High School Musical): A-/B+

Show (CSI: NY, Rob & Big): C+
DVDs (all): B+

- Mike Spring

Editor