Mississippi Masala is a tale of how prejudice makes victims and instigators of us all. In 1972, Indian Jay (Roshan Seth), a resident of Uganda, is forced by the bigoted Amin regime to take his family and flee the country. He vows to hate and distrust all blacks--at least until he is able to reclaim the real estate stolen from him by the Ugandan government. Flash-forward to 1990: Jay and his family have settled in Mississippi. Seth's daughter Mina (Sarit Choudhury) makes the acquaintance of African-American Demetrius (Denzel Washington), the prosperous manager of a carpet-cleaning business. At first attracted to Mina because he is fascinated by her African background, Demetrius slowly falls in love with her. The situation causes Jay to exercise the same racial prejudice by which he was himself victimized. Ironically, Demetrius behaves just as foolishly, blaming Jay's ethnic chauvinism for a drop in his business. Both Jay and Demetrius must learn to bury their pasts and their prejudices to go on with their lives.

A retired dancer (Patrick Swayze) and his two former partners must put aside their differences and resurrect the performance that previously ended their careers in this cinematic labor of love from dancer-turned-director Lisa Neimi and husband Swayze. Following the death of its longtime owner, the renowned New York dance studio of Alex McGrath is about to close its doors for good. Though it's been years since embittered dancer Travis has performed professionally, the prospect of his old haunt falling prey to the wrecking ball is simply too much to take. Reaching out to old dance partners Chrissa (Neimi) and Max (George de la Pena) in a last-ditch effort to save their mentor's studio, the trio decide to stage a performance of the very show that drove them apart nearly a decade ago.

F Troop's arrival on DVD with a complete first-season package on six discs is a bit unexpected -- after all, the series, a Western parody that helped mark the end of a cycle of television oaters that began a decade earlier with Gunsmoke, only ran for two seasons. But it has done well in syndication across the decades and made an impression on popular culture, sufficient to leave phrases from its scripts ("It is balloon!") in the collective unconscious. And it is still funny, in large measure, owing to the presence of Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch, Frank DeKova, James Hampton, and Ken Berry. There's also a cheerful innocence about the series when seen today, and pre-politically correct humor in connection with popular notions of the Old West. The show looks and sounds sensational in these transfers. The contrasts are rich and the details are amazing, right down to the fabric in the uniforms of the troopers. The episodes get no chapter breakdowns, but the plotting is so brisk and straightforward that little is needed in the way of outlining. Each of the six platters opens automatically on a simple, easy-to-use menu that advances automatically as each episode concludes, and also includes a "play all" option. The volume is nice and loud and the audio is so clean that the lyrics to the opening theme -- which explain how Wilton Parmenter (Ken Berry) went from private to captain and was given command of Fort Courage -- are even easier to understand than they were originally. The presence of such guest stars as Jack Elam, George Gobel (whose guest appearance is probably the best of the season and the second best in the run of the series, only slightly less entertaining than Lew Parker's episode in a second-season episode), Henry Gibson, and Edward Everett Horton only adds to the appeal of this season of the show.