By Peter Covino
Entertainment Editor

Who needs a 3D TV when you can have The Princess and The Frog and Nurse Jackie and even some vampires on Blu-ray?

I think it will be sometime yet before I am sold on the idea of 3D TV. We are just getting settled in with our HDTV sets and now we are supposed to replace those with an even more premium priced gadget for 3D when there is hardly any programming for said device? I don't think so.
But I repeat, who needs 3D TV anyway.

My HDTV got a whole lot brighter with Disney's first old-school animated film in years, The Princess and The Frog (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, release date March 16).
Even if you haven't made that HDTV purchase (and you will, it is just a matter of time) the Blu-ray combo pack is the only way to fly.

Not only do you get this fast-paced, beautifully animated film in Blu-ray, but you get a standard DVD disc and a digital copy as well for the laptop or  iphone etc.

When Disney announced the release of The Princess and The Frog, last year I was less than impressed. Another princess movie?
But this is not your ordinary princess movie.
Tiana, the ninth Disney princess, lives in New Orleans in the 1920s. And The Princess and The Frog is a glowing tribute to the Crescent City as much it is to the animation that Walt Disney became famous for in films such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. It's a walk down Bourbon Street with a stop a Cafe du Monde for coffee and beignets.

Tiana is a young girl with a dream. She's black. Her best friend is upscale and white and lives in a mansion where she is treated like a princess. Tiana has but one dream: to open her own grand restaurant in New Orleans. The years go by, and as it always happens in fairy tales, fate steps in, and Tiana kisses a frog, and because voodoo is in the works, is transformed into a frog herself.
It's a great excuse for an adventure in the bayou, with a jazz-loving alligator and more as Tiana and her frog friend (who, of course was a prince) look for the one person who can change them back again, a voodoo priestess.

There are some really nice songs by Randy Newman (who has close New Orleans ties) that fit the story perfectly.

It makes The Princess and The Frog a welcome addition to the long line of Disney animated films.
The Blu-ray version has lots of bonuses including all the Backstage Disney stuff expected in Disney films such as Magic in the Bayou: The Making of a Princess with co-writers and directors John Musker and Ron Clements. There are more bonuses on the return to hand drawn animation, audio commmentary, deleted scenes as well as a close-up look at Disney's newest princess.
The single disc DVD version also features deleted scenes and audio commentary.

oooo
 If you don't have Showtime, you can finally catch up on one of the best comedies on TV — Nurse Jackie has come to DVD.

Edie Falco puts to rest her Carmela Soprano persona, but not her bedside manner as she plays a decidedly flawed nurse who has a good heart.

Jackie Peyton works at an urban Catholic hospital. She pops prescription drugs, supplied to her by her pharmacist boyfriend (sex at noon is always on the  schedule)  and after a hard day at the office, hurries home to her husband and two young daughters.

A day with Jackie is anything but typical. Like the time a violent sociopath with diplomatic immunity beats up a woman (she did fight back and cut off his ear) and shows up at the emergency room.  He even boasts of his actions. So Nurse Jackie flushes the ear, which was supposed to be surgically reattached, down the toilet.

Other Nurse Jackie “acts of kindness” include forging the signature on an organ donor card after a young bike messenger is killed so his organs can be put to use.

The show is helped immensely by a good cast  Eve Best, Peter Facinelli, Merritt Wever and even Paul Schulze (as the pharmacist.) Schulze played the flirtatious priest on The Sopranos for a couple of seasons.

And the directors (including The Soprano's Alan Coulter and Steve Buscemi) also help make this a first-rate production.
Nurse Jackie Season One (Lions Gate/Showtime) is a three-disc set and includes audio commentaries on a few episodes as well as some bonus features including a look at Edie Falco by her co-stars.

Nurse Jackie is available in both Blu-ray and standard DVD formats.
The DVD release also is timely. Season two of Nurse Jackie premieres March 22.

oooo
Get out the sax and that tapping shoe — it's time for part one, season two of My Three Sons (CBS Home Entertainment.)

One of the classic TV shows of all time, My Three Sons was at the height of its creativity its first five seasons, when Mike (Tim Considine) was still part of the family and William Frawley (Bub) was the surrogate mother.

Season two continues the usual light-hearted strife in the domestic comedy which starred Fred MacMurray as the dad. There is the episode where Steve (MacMurray) and Bub are out of town and college student Mike finds out how hard it is running the household; or the time a neighbor kid gets a fancy dog and Tramp, their dog, is embarrassed until he inadvertently becomes the hero alerting everyone to a fire downstairs; another episode has Mike embarrassed because his friends have seen Bub parading around in his new ridiculous lodge outfit.

Another episode is worth watching because of who is in it. Steve  needs some time off from the family and goes to a woodsy retreat. Waiting for him are Irene Ryan (The Beverly Hillbillies), Ed Begley (Academy Award-winning actor for Sweet Bird of Youth) and Jan Clayton (the mom on Jeff’s Collie).
There is nothing not to like in the family humor from one of the longest running shows in television history.
The restoration of this classic undoubtedly makes My Three Sons look so much better than it ever did when these episodes originally ran some 50 years ago.

About the only thing wrong with this three-disc set is like CBS Entertainment did with season one, it is only one-half of the season. It would be cheaper to box the whole season as one set. But even one-half a season of My Three Sons is still 18 episodes.
oooo
Also coming out Tuesday is The Fourth Kind (Universal Studios Home Entertainment.) Overshadowed by Paranormal Activity, this horror film is reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project for its pseudo documentary style.

It's a nice set up: There have been numerous missing persons in remote Nome, Alaska (according to the film), far more than normal for a city its size. The talk around town is it could be alien abductions — the encounter of the fourth kind. The film follows an “actual case study” from psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich). There is video footage and recordings, some of it visually disturbing.
All the assembled archival footage as well as the accompanying story try to build a case for the truth behind the disappearances.

The film works better in theory though, but fans of Blair Witch and similar movies may be really intrigued by the premise.

It's available in both Blu-ray and standard DVD. Bonus  Blu-ray features includes Pocket Blu, Universal's new pocket application for use with iPhone and iPod touch. Pocket Blu gives access to several bonus features such as advanced remote control for your Blu-ray player.
oooo
If you are looking for a better vampire tale than the painfully shallow Twilight series, give Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant a look (Universal Studios Home Entertainment.) Vampires have been putting the bite on TV and theaters in seemingly record numbers of late and The Vampire's Assistant (like Twilight, based on a series of books) is better than average.

John C. Reilly is the chief vampire here, and the good guy vampire. There are, of course, some villainous ones. But the story focuses on high school students and best pals Steve (Josh Hutcherson) and Darren (Chris Massoglia) who become mixed up in all this vampire business after going to a freak show.

The two buddies both become vampires, but alas, join opposing sides, setting the stage that will end a 200 year old truce.
There are lots of interesting characters particularly at the circus of freaks, where Darren is living  including  a snake boy (Patrick Fugit from Almost Famous), a monkey girl and  a variation of the sideshow bearded lady played by Selma Hayek.
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant is available in both Blu-ray and standard DVD.
oooo

There is more adult animation now available from HBO Home Entertainment with The Life & Times of Tim: The Complete First Season. The DVD contains all ten half-hour episodes well as bonus shorts.
The creation of Steve Dildarian (who also created the Budweiser Lizards campaign), Tim is a 20-something guy (voiced by Dildarian) just getting by in New York City.
The show has achieved cult following status for episodes that include Tim having to deal with an angry hooker who demands  to be paid for nothing (she shows up in other episodes as well) even after his girlfriend and her parents show up for dinner; or the time Tim's boss forces him to pretend he is the new Hispanic vice president at the office with the usual backfiring results. Tim's boss is always causing problems. Like the time he has to take the boss's daughter to her senior prom.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, is easy in Tim's world.
Each 30 minute episode in the series is actually two 15 minute unrelated segments.
Season Two of The Life & Times of Tim is currently airing on HBO.