Army Wives (TV Series) (DVD)

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10) "Duplicity." Frank tries to patch up his marriage but with Getty in the wings it's not an easy task. Meanwhile, Joan has some problems with her pregnancy.

11) "Mothers and Wives." Roxy panics when it comes time to take the GED exam. Meanwhile, Claudia gets a surprise visit from her mother.

12) "Great Expectations." This episode it's Claudia's father who visits. Meanwhile, Joan starts to get anxious about motherhood and an upcoming baby shower only makes it worse.

13) "Safe Havens." Pamela has a fan who's turned into a stalker, only now he's approaching her children. Meanwhile, Trevor's addiction worsens, and characters come and go this episode.

14) "Payback." Trevor is in a fender-bender. Meanwhile, Denise and Frank decide to separate, and Frank goes back to Iraq.

15) "Thank You for Letting Me Share." Denise still tries to shake up her image. Meanwhile, yet another parent visits-this time, Roland's mom.

16) "Sacrifices." Roland learns how to be Mr. Mom.

17) "All in the Family." Roxy's mom stirs things up.

18) "Departure Arrivals." Big decisions and life-defining moments fill this episode, which is full of tragedy and emotion.

19) "Duty Calls." More changes for everyone: the Holdens go to Europe, Pamela copes with loss, and Joan worries about her daughter.

You have to admire the people who serve in the military and the loved ones they leave behind. Their lives are a constant struggle, and the bonus features attached here reveal that such struggles are typical of military families. But this show is far too reliant upon emotion for the sake of emotion, and the melodramatic structure and clichés can be a little tough to take.

Video:
"Army Wives" has bright colors and a fair amount of detail for a DVD. It's presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and "enhanced" (i.e., stretched) for 16x9 televisions. No complaints here. The picture looks good enough to showcase better-than-soaper production values.

Audio:
The audio is probably overkill, with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround mostly delivering dialogue and music. And there are times when you wish the music didn't keep playing in such clear, crisp tones. What's wrong with silence sometimes?? Subtitle options are in Spanish and French.

Extras:
Three commentary tracks are included: "Would You Know My Name" features a commentary by executive producers Deborah Spera and Marshall Persinger, along with actors Kim Delaney, Sally Pressman, Brigid Brannagh, and Brian McNamara. "The Hero Returns" features Persinger with actors Catherine Bell, Drew Fuller, Terry Serpico, and McNamara. "Safe Havens" has a commentary by Persinger, director Lloyd Ahern, and actors Delaney, Sterling Brown, Wendy Davis, and Jeremy Davidson. I did not listen to all of what they had to say, but found myself wishing for a few less participants. It can get a little confusing and the level of information pretty ordinary.

Better are the featurettes. "Active Duty: The Cast of 'Army Wives' at Fort Bragg" is a nice location piece that pretty much does what the title says, while "Operational Intelligence: Getting the Army's Support" is also self-explanatory (and equally interesting), and "The Tribe" focuses on the tightly knit group that formed among the spouses.

If you like reality TV then you'll like five Lifetime segments on "'Army Wives' Gives Back," in which Brigid visits real Army wife Vanessa, Catherine visits LaTrice,
Kim visits Chelsea, Sally visits Jetta, and Wendy visits Kelly." These mini-Lifetime episodes are angel stories featuring the series stars as they fulfill small dreams of real Army wives who've written to mylifetime.com to describe their situation (and, one suspects, give the writers additional material for future episodes). One wife gets a bedroom makeover, another gets the wedding she never had when her husband was called up, another is a breast cancer survivor who gets a tour of the set, another who says she and her friends (also Army wives) get together to watch the show gets surprised by a visit at home with Vespas for everyone, and wife who spends two to three hours a day talking to families of military gets a Blackberry phone and unlimited nationwide calling.

Rounding out the bonus features are deleted scenes and a blooper reel.

Bottom Line:
"Army Wives" was made for soap-opera lovers, and as such the premise and the characters will be enough to keep people coming back for more IF you're into soaps. Season 2 offers more of what viewers saw the first season, and the quality is about the same. Once again, clichés abound, there's an excess of melodrama (with long, lingering shots, drawn-out emotional moments, sad-faced music, etc.). There's an audience out there for this type of TV show, but even for melodramas it's pretty middling.

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