Ellen: The Complete Season Four

I will never love sitcoms, with their overly broad humor and reliance on contrived circumstance for laughs. But I have to admit that buried under the usual nonsense in the fourth and penultimate season of Ellen DeGeneres's self-titled sitcom is a world of genuine soul-searching, poignant heartache, and intriguing self-discovery that will be recognizable to anyone who has ever felt as if she didn't quite fit in. These 25 episodes, which aired in 1996 and 1997, chronicle DeGeneres's now-famous—or infamous—coming-out odyssey, and serve as a reminder of just how far pop culture itself has come out in the ensuing decade. DeGeneres's Los Angeles bookstore owner Ellen Morgan is neurotic in the sweetest way, a woman who covers up her discomfort with an abundance of charm, friendliness, and good humor, in stories involving her parents' breakup, acquiring a house (and mortgage), friends' pregnancy scares, rescuing an abandoned dog, babysitting coworkers' kids, and more. The surface is still a lot of goofy crap, but the sneaky subtext explores the dilemmas of modern feminism, gay or straight. Guest stars include Anne Rice, Trisha Yearwood, Martha Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, Oprah Winfrey, and famous kiss partner Laura Dern. DVD extras include an audio commentary by series writers on one episode. Recommended. (M. Johanson)