1980 'Shogun' is one mini-series that retains maximum impact

The TV landscape in the late 1970s and early 1980s was dominated by mini-series - unwieldy, grand, and often grandiose affairs that sacrificed story and character for spectacle. To modern viewers, these shows feel dated, hokey.

There are notable exceptions: Roots (1977) is still essential viewing. As is Shogun, a lavish, fiercely paced, five-part drama based on the James Clavell novel that aired on NBC in 1980. The 547-minute epic has been digitally restored and released by Paramount in the five-disc set James Clavell's Shogun (www.paramount.com/dvd or http://cbs.seenon.com/; $79.99; not rated).

Shot on location in Japan and set in the opening years of the 17th century, Shogun features Richard Chamberlain as an English sailor caught up in a bloody civil war waged by various feudal lords or daimyo all vying to win control of the nation.

Toshirô Mifune turns in a terrific performance as Lord Toranaga, a character loosely based on Ieyasu Tokugawa, the man who eventually unified the nation and founded a dynasty that lasted for almost three centuries.

Shogun is an exciting adventure filled with compelling characters - and it provides an unromanticized look at feudal Japan.

James Franco flexes his considerable acting chops as Beat Generation hero Allen Ginsberg in the poetic bio-pic

Howl

from Oscilloscope Laboratories (

» READ MORE: www.oscilloscope.net/films/

; $29.98 DVD; $34.99 Blu-ray; rated R), which follows the creation of Ginsberg's scandalous landmark 1955 poem, "Howl," and the obscenity trial that followed its publication.

Want to win your office Oscar pool? Bet on David Fincher's The Social Network due on DVD on Tuesday from Sony Pictures (www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/; $28.96 DVD; $34.95 Blu-ray; rated PG-13). The melodramatic morality tale stars Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The redoubtable Martin Shaw (Judge John Deed) stunned British audiences by producing and starring in one of the grimmest and most terrifying mini-series broadcast in Britain, Apparitions, now available in a two-disc set from BFS Entertainment (www.bfsent.com/; $39.98; not rated). The intelligent six-part thriller features Shaw as a Catholic priest whose vocation as an exorcist is confirmed when his friends are attacked by demons.

Actor Katie Aselton, best known for her collaborations with husband Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair), makes her directorial debut with the improvisational dramedy, The Freebie, due Tuesday from Phase 4 Films (www.phase4films.com/; $29.99; rated R). Aselton and Dax Shepard play a married couple who try to revive their flagging sex life by letting each have a one-night-stand with a stranger. Disaster follows.

Great news for Godfather fans: Italian maestro Sergio Leone's 1984 masterpiece, the four-hour gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America, has finally been digitally restored and released by Warner Home Video (www.warnerbros.com/ or www.wbshop.com/; $19.98 DVD; $24.98 Blu-ray; rated R). The all-star cast includes Robert De Niro, James Woods, and Elizabeth McGovern.

The quirky indie drama Paper Man from MPI Home Video (www.mpihomevideo.com/; $27.98 DVD; $34.98 Blu-ray; rated R) stars Jeff Daniels as an author who tries to cure his writer's block with the help of his best pal - an imaginary superhero friend named Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds).

Peter Firth, Richard Armitage, and Hermione Norris keep Britain safe in the eighth season of one of the best spy stories on screen, MI-5: Volume 8 due Jan. 25 from BBC Warner (www.bbcamericashop.com or www.wbshop.com; $39.98; not rated).

Britain's ITV network was left with a hole in its espionage lineup in 1967 when Patrick McGoohan left Danger Man. Thus was born Man in a Suitcase, a noir-meets-spies actioner starring Richard Bradford as a disgraced American spy who makes ends meet as a private eye in London. Man in a Suitcase: Set One, due Jan. 25 from Acorn Media (www.acornmedia.com/; $59.99; not rated), features 15 of the show's 30 episodes.

Wish Me Luck: Series Two also due Jan. 25 from Acorn Media (www.acornmedia.com/; $39.99; not rated), rounds out this month's espionage triumvirate. Produced in the late 1980s, it follows a cadre of mostly female spies who were dropped into Nazi-occupied France in 1943.