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After HBO bungling their original TV programming couple of years back by cancelling “Deadwood” (without resolution), “Carnival” (without resolution) and “Rome” (with a second season that jumped all around without a satisfying resolution), they managed to somewhat redeem themselves with the “Big Love” which proved that polygamists that pray together stay together. With a prayer and a healthy dose of Viagra, Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) manages to keep his three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin), start shopping for wife number 4 and keep his shifty father-in-law (Harry Dean Stanton) at bay. ---

Image & Sound:

This show certainly gets the love from HBO (it’s also one of the few worthwhile original series that HBO has kept around despite the controversy associated with the series and protests from the Mormon Church). Colors pop and the detail is extremely good on the DVD set. There are occasional compression artifacts but as with previous HBO series by limiting the amount of episodes per disc and using a high def transfer, the show looks remarkably good all around. ---

For new fans of the show the “Their Stories So Far” featurette where the characters of Bill, Barb, Nicki and Margene relate what’s happened to them over the course of three seasons is a helpful Cliff’s Notes backgrounder on the show. ***

We also get three “mini”-dramas with “Three Past Midnight” focusing on the government crackdown on polygamy and how it impacts our main characters in the show. This is an original “episode” so-to-speak and while it doesn’t add to the story arc, it does give us some insight into the characters much as the webisodes for shows like “The Office” and “Battlestar Galatica” did. ***

The lack of commentary tracks and additional featurettes dealing with the continued objection from the Mormon Church are disappointing. While the creators did address some these issues early on in their commentary tracks for the first season set, as the story as become more complex, I would think that they would want to address some of the other issues associated with the show. ---

Final Words: