Family Home Theater

Most of the new releases this week are R-rated, so it looks like a good week for outdoor play and indoor games.

The few exceptions:

The final season, Glee: Season 6, comes out on Tuesday, but many fans abandoned the series after cast changes and a split plot that went back and forth between Ohio and New York City. The musical comedy-drama about a high school glee club dropped 55 points in the Nielsen ratings the following year. At its second-season peak, Glee drew close to 12 million viewers; Season 6 attracted just 2.5 million. Still, if you haven’t seen all the previous episodes, Season 6 won’t seem so “been there done that,” because it’s still entertaining and the music remains the biggest attraction. Of course “Gleeks” will still want to round out their collections with this one, which is only available on DVD.

For tongue-in-cheek sophisticated comedy there’s Welcome to Sweden: Season 1, starring Amy Poehler’s brother Greg as a love-struck American accountant-to-celebrities who drops everything to move to Sweden to live with his Swedish girlfriend (Josephine Bornebusch). It’s all about culture clash, and the humor often pokes fun of both Swedish and American stereotypes. Aside from a few male backsides seen running off to a seaside frolic, it’s suitable for families with high school age children. Tonally it’s low-key, kind of like an indie film version of a sitcom, but the characters and basic situations are interesting enough—even if you get the sense that the series could have been funnier. Not rated, it would be TV-14 for adult situations, and it’s only available on DVD.

If your family likes old sitcoms, CPO Sharkey comes to home video for the first time this week featuring comedian Don Rickles as a Chief Petty Officer at a Naval training facility. The premise makes for a perfect showcase for Rickles’ politically incorrect insult humor, but for that very reason this one is for teens and older. The 1976 TV series also starred Harrison Page as Sharkey’s African-American best friend and Peter Isacksen as his towering aide. And it’s still pretty funny. Look for it on DVD only.

After that it’s two releases aimed at preschoolers. Maya the Bee Movie is an Australian-German animated adventure that seems geared especially toward little girls. Rated G, it’s about a warm-hearted bee who proves that hornets and bees CAN get along. It’s available on 3D/Blu-ray combo and DVD.

The second release is the better-known Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie’s Pet Salon, which features the title episode and four other pet-related episodes from the popular Disney Jr. show for preschoolers: “Daisy’s Pet Project,” “Pluto’s Puppy-Sitting Adventure,” “Donald’s Ducks,” and “Pluto Lends a Paw” (Amazon link).

They’re not exactly American Sniper, which tops this weeks R-rated Blu-ray and DVD releases, but you can always pick up Clint Eastwood’s celebrated-but-controversial film to watch after the kids are in bed (Amazon link).