Here are the latest vintage TV shows to land on DVD with full- or half-season sets, led by the first "official" release of "Petticoat Junction."
"Petticoat Junction: The Official First Season" (CBS/Paramount, 1963-64, b/w, five discs, $40.99). This beloved show was part of the rural-sitcom trend of the 1960s (following the unexpected success of "The Beverly Hillbillies"), in which country folk regularly outwitted city-bred visitors who underestimated them.
Bea Benaderet, after years as a very funny second banana ("The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show," "The Beverly Hillbillies") and a versatile voice actress on radio, stars as Kate Bradley, widowed owner/operator of the Shady Rest Hotel in Hooterville. She is assisted, sort of, by Uncle Joe (veteran character actor Edgar Buchanan) and her three lovely daughters, Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo and Betty Jo (Jeannine Riley, Pat Woodell and Linda Kaye, whose father, Paul Henning, created the show).
I hadn't seen this show in many years but found it surprisingly warm and winning, with an amusing array of secondary characters. And Benaderet is wonderful as the glue that holds it all together. (Look for young guest stars Dennis Hopper and Adam West.)
Extras: full frame, 38 episodes, intros and interviews (with Kaye and Woodell), featurettes, ad spots, photo galleries
"Daniel Boone: The Final Season" (Liberation, 1969-70, seven discs, $49.95). Fess Parker, in his second series as a Western hero in a coonskin cap (after Disney's "Davy Crockett"), is still enjoyable in this sixth and last season of the show. He's also enjoyable and forthcoming in the roundtable interview with a super fan among the bonus features. Great lineup of guest stars includes Jodie Foster (when she was a child), Kurt Russell (when he was a teenager), Gloria Grahame, Mariette Hartley, Cesar Romero and Jill Ireland, among others.
Extras: full frame, 26 episodes, featurettes, photo gallery
"Cannon: Season One, Volume Two" (CBS/Paramount, 1971-72, four discs, $39.99). William Conrad is authoritative and amusing as the portly high-priced detective with a passion for the culinary arts. One of the better private-eye series of the '70s, emphasizing brains over brawn but with plenty of action in each episode. Guest stars include Martin Sheen (two episodes), Tab Hunter and Vera Miles.
Extras: full frame, 13 episodes, promos
"Gunsmoke: The Third Season, Volume 1" (CBS/Paramount, 1957-58, b/w, three discs, $39.99). The Big Daddy of Western TV series (in its original half-hour, black-and-white form) is still top of the line with a fine cast led by James Arness and Dennis Weaver). Barbara Eden, Robert Vaughn, Jack Lord, Morey Amsterdam and Jack Klugman are among the future TV stars who show up in this set.
Extras: full frame, 19 episodes, ad spots
"Rawhide: The Third Season, Volume 2" (CBS/Paramount, 1961, four discs, b/w, $39.99). Clint Eastwood is still charismatic as he plays second-fiddle to Eric Fleming, and this set has some superior episodes, with some grade-A guest stars, including John Cassevetes, Jack Lord, Woody Strode, Leonard Nimoy and Utahn Marie Windsor.
Extras: full frame, 15 episodes
"Happy Days: The Fourth Season" (CBS/Paramount, 1976-77, three discs, $39.99). This beloved sitcom set in the '50s hadn't "jumped the shark" yet (that comes in Season 5), and Ron Howard and Henry Winkler in their senior year of high school make for high comedy, with the entire cast in exceptional form. Also included is an anniversary clipfest.
Extras: full frame, 23 episodes, special: "Happy Days: 3rd Anniversary Show"
"Jake and the Fatman: Season One, Volume Two" (CBS/Paramount, 1968, three discs, $39.99). Although I love William Conrad in "Cannon," I'm not as taken with this show, in which he plays a disheveled L.A. district attorney with a pet bulldog in his office. Joe Penny costars as his investigating detective. OK for fans.
Extras: full frame, 11 episodes, promos
"The Minotaur's Island" (Acorn, 2003, 24.99). The title mythological character — half man and half bull — is a major figure in this documentary about Crete, hosted by Bettany Hughes, who ponders the archaeological evidence of an advanced civilization (really advanced, to a surprising degree), which seemingly disappeared overnight.
Extras: full frame
"Crime 360: The Complete Season One" (A&E, 2008, three discs, $29.95). Think of this documentary series as "CSI: The Reality Show," or maybe "Cops: The Gruesome Side." Real murders are investigated by real detectives in Cleveland, Ohio, and Richmond, Va., using up-to-date forensics, computer re-creations and old-fashioned knock-on-doors gumshoe work. Fascinating but sometimes difficult to watch.
Extras: widescreen, 12 episodes, additional footage
E-mail: hicks@desnews.com