Media Room

This American Life: The First Season (Paramount, $19.99) — In an era when even star-spangled banners are made in China, we long for that which is still truly and uniquely American.

Well, we can call off the search party.

“This American Life,” hosted by Baltimore native Ira Glass, is just that.

Showtime’s adaptation of the long-running public-radio program features more than a dozen short, quirky vignettes, artfully filmed and tightly edited, about ordinary Americans who triumph — and sometimes fail — in their one-of-a-kind experiences, which are told through personal narratives.

There’s Ralph Fisher, the Texas rancher who so loved Chance, one of his domesticated bulls, that when the animal died, he had it cloned. Despite the identical DNA, however, the cloned bull — fittingly named Second Chance — lacked the gentle temperament of his namesake.

Second Chance brutally and repeatedly attacks his owner. Yet even from his hospital bed, Mr. Fisher is unwilling to let go of his dream.

The program’s 10- to-15-minute vignettes are organized under themes. The one about Second Chance is filed under “Reality Check,” a chapter about people who concoct schemes to make their dreams come true, only to be boomeranged back to reality by unpleasant outcomes.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Plenty of stories are humorous and sweet. What’s remarkable, though, is that no matter the mood, a wonderfully respectful thread always runs through the words and pictures.

No one is out to make fun of these Americans. It’s clear Mr. Glass and company just want to authentically share — and make sense of — their tales.

“This American Life” runs 168 minutes, but its special features are limited to a photo gallery and commentary by Mr. Glass, who created the series, and director Christopher Wilchaimdb, sted Wilca.

101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure Special Edition, 101 Dalmatians (Note: not the original animated Disney flick but rather the 1996 live-action version) and 102 Dalmatians — (Disney, $29.99 each) — These classic good-against-evil favorites — in which Pongo, Perdita and Patch do battle with the wicked Cruella De Vil — are packed with special features, including music videos, bloopers, behind-the-scene takes and games.

In “101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure Special Edition,” for instance, viewers can learn about London geography and landmarks by helping Patch find keys in various locations. (He’s trying to find and free his siblings, who have been kidnapped by you-know-who.) We also learn that the Tower of London consists of several towers and is one of the oldest forts in the world and that Covent Garden is a premier place to catch street performers in the city of Big Ben.

All three stories — aside from being sprinkled with good messages and reassuring, innocent narratives — also feature some great appearances and voice performances. There’s Eric Idle as a wisecracking macaw (“102 Dalmatians”), Glenn Close as Cruella (in “101” and “102”) and an unforgettable Martin Short as the pretentious German artist Lars (“101 Dalmatians II”).

Gabriella Boston

CSI: NY The Fourth Season — (Paramount, $72.99) The fourth season of the Manhattan branch of the hit CBS franchise featured one of the show’s best episodes to date. In “Down the Rabbit Hole,” Mac (Gary Sinise) and the gang traveled to the online virtual world Second Life to hunt down a murder suspect. Let’s just say the younger cast members had better luck than Mac in enticing the killer with a female avatar. The season’s 21 episodes are all here on six discs — enabling you to catch up just in time for Wednesday’s fifth-season premiere.

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