Hart of Dixie: The Complete First Season

Rachel Bilson stars as Dr. Zoe Hart, an ambitious, abrasive (in a cute way) Manhattan medical resident who leaves the Big Apple to take a position as a general practitioner in the kind of quaint, quirky, aggressively Southern small town that exists only on TV. Hart of Dixie comes across like Northern Exposure south of the Mason-Dixon line, with Zoe as the obligatory urban fish-out-of-water who clashes with socialite Lemon Breeland (Jaime King) and Lemon's country-doctor father, Brick Breeland (Tim Matheson), who also happens to own the other half of the medical practice. Zoe finds herself instantly attracted to golden-boy lawyer George Tucker (Scott Porter), who is Lemon's fiancé (of course), while a rough-around-the-edges charmer named Wade (Wilson Bethel) hides his attraction to Zoe under a barrage of insults. This is a show where the laidback mayor (Cress Williams) is a former NFL star, Zoe's fondness for short shorts is a favorite topic of the gossip mill, and the local mascot is an alligator named Burt Reynolds. Zoe is befuddled by her new acquaintances' folksiness and obscure aphorisms (they roll their eyes at her big-city ways), but in the end they all kind of fall in love with one another. Compiling all 22 debut season episodes from 2011-12, DVD extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes, and a gag reel. Utterly unsubstantial and completely harmless (southern) comfort TV, this is an optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)