The Show
Martha Stewart on DVD is better than you might imagine. For instance, if you need to fall asleep, the disc is so warm, quiet and inviting, that you'll be asleep in minutes. If you're looking for a reason to feel completely useless in a kitchen, there's no better choice. And if you'd like to be driven mad by awkward New England pronunciations of words like "marinade" (or as Martha says it, "MarinAHd"), there's just one place to go.

Made up of almost three hours of segments from Martha's TV series, "Martha Stewart Living," this disc focuses on five different types of meals, Chicken, Meat, Pasta, Fish and Vegetarian, for 30 recipes in all. Joined by guest chefs on many of the pieces, Martha demonstrates a wide variety of cooking techniques in her own unique, Connecticut Stepford Wife style, occasionally letting her human side peek through.

No culinary rookie can step into Martha's kitchen without feeling overwhelmed. You must have at least a cursory knowledge of the world of fine foods in order to keep up. If you don't know what bulgur wheat is, or why you'd want shashimi-grade tuna, there will be many dead-ends ahead of you. Unlike a Rachel Ray, Martha goes for a higher class of dinner fare, like Tagiatelle with Bolognese Ragout (that's rah-goo, not rag out) or Salt-Baked Red Snapper. I readily admit that a good 60 percent of the meals presented here are of no interest to me, as I have no taste for gazpacho and its ilk.

There are a few moments where Martha slums with the common folk, offering a course in Meatloaf 101 or cooking up rice and beans, but even the most rudimentary recipe, like a flank steak, feels like physics homework. I'm no idiot in the kitchen, but I was getting lost repeatedly. It felt like the recipes I followed best were ones where a helper slowed down the cooking and forced explanations. The guests also seem to help out Martha, drawing out the best of her personality.

I don't think I'll be breaking out the stand mixer to make any of these recipes anytime soon, which says to me that this disc isn't working. To me, the sign of a good cooking show is how well it makes the viewer want to try out the meals shown. It may just be the kinds of meals selected, but I just wasn't feeling the pull of Martha's concepts. They're all presented cleanly, but without the energy or recreation possibilities that mark the best of the genre.

The DVD
Disc Three of The Cooking Collection, "Martha's Favorite Family Dinners" is a one-disc release, packaged in, of all things, a snapper case, with a translucent closure and sections listed on the inside front cover. The disc opens with an introduction from Martha, which leads into a simple, animated full-frame main menu with options to play the segments, view special features and adjust the subtitles. The segments are broken down first by type, then into individual pieces, along with printable pieces for each (more on that in The Extras.) There are no audio options, but subtitles are available on the segments in Spanish and French, along with Closed Captioning.

The Quality
The full-frame video is extremely solid, with proper color and detail. It may be the episodes selected, but this DVD looks crisper than I remember the show from TV. There's a slight bit of softness in the wide shots of the kitchen, but close-ups are very sharp, without any sign of dirt, damage or compression artifacts. This is an excellent visual presentation.

The audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 mix. There's nothing exceptional about this track, but it is a clean listen, with everything sounding natural.

The Extras
A couple of extras are included, which are surprisingly good. They start with almost three minutes of bloopers, which are great fun. If only this was the Martha we saw on TV. At times filthy, at other times goofy, these outtakes will make anyone laugh, no matter how they feel about Martha.

10 quick Martha-less pieces called "Tips and Techniques" can be viewed individually or in a group, and they covered a variety of "good things." Ranging from the best way to clean shrimp to how to remove a broken light bulb, the tips are a mix of common sense and smart ideas, and are quick enough (4:15) to enjoy for the information and simple presentation.

The final extras are a group of printable pieces, including shopping lists, recipes and instructions for the meals on the DVD, along with a pantry checklist and additional projects as well. These can be accessed directly from the DVD in a DVD-ROM drive, by using the InterActual DVD player software, or visiting the indicated Web site, which provides them all for free. These are extremely helpful if you intend on trying any of the dinners shown.

The Bottom Line
Watching this disc was less painful that expected, but in the end, I didn't find myself enthralled by much of anything that Martha was cooking. Perhaps my Hamburger Helper tastes are a bit too lowbrow for her kitchen, but I don't think I'll be printing out any of the recipes to try out next Sunday. The DVD presents the show in optimal quality, and even provides a few decent extras, making it an easy recommendation to Martha's fan base, but just a rental for most. You've got to see the bloopers.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.