Active Duty: The cast of Army Wives at Fort Bragg, Operational Intelligence: Getting the Army's support, The Tribe: Behind the scenes with the cast, Army Wives give back, deleted scenes, bloopers, audio commentaries

Over the years Lifetime has had a series of original movies airing on their network, as well as non-original programming that originated on other networks. While the channel has certainly had its share of original series, none of them were ever overly successful. That all changed with Army Wives, which quickly gained the highest television ratings in the network’s history. ***

Kim Delaney, Catherine Bell, Brigid Brannagh, Sterling K. Brown, and Drew Fuller, star as the show’s eponymous group. The characters include a nurse raising a troubled, abusive son, a woman who is secretly serving as a surrogate mother to twins, the wife of a general and mother of two teenage daughters, a recently-married mother of two, and a man whose wife is a nurse scrambling up the military ladder. ***

Army Wives succeeds because it gives us three-dimensional characters and doesn’t glamorize events. The wives struggle to live normal lives, which is difficult due to their spouses’ professions, and the fact that they have so little in common apart from what the individuals they are married to are doing. It’s a dramatic struggle, and the series always manages to stay fresh through it all. ***

Ultimately, any fan of dramatic television will enjoy Army Wives. It isn’t hard at all to see why this show got the highest television ratings in the history of Lifetime. To any fan of the show, casual or die-hard this set is strongly recommended.

Image and Sound:

As a recent television series, Army Wives looks and sounds very good in this DVD set. The image quality is bright and clear, and free of any major negative anomalies. The picture can be a bit soft at times, but there are no major flaws worth mentioning. Audio ho lds up just as well, definitely above average for what you’d expect a TV show on DVD to sound like.

Quite a few featurettes appear in this set. There are numerous behind-the-scenes featurettes that touch on numerous aspects of the filmmaking process, including interviews with cast and crew, and getting the Armys approval in the creation of the series. Additionally, deleted scenes, audio commentaries, and a gag reel are featured. With no shortage of special features, this set will appeal to any fan of the series, casual or die-hard.

Final Words: