October Road: The Complete First Season

A sleeper hit for ABC, this unusually perceptive and thought-provoking drama fired the enthusiasm of a small but passionate cult, resulting in a renewal for the 2007-08 season. Bestselling novelist Nick Garrett (Bryan Greenberg) returns to his small Massachusetts hometown after a 10-year absence to find that both family and friends are disappointed and angry with him, largely because of unfavorable characterizations in his novel. Nick tries to reconnect with his closest childhood friends only to discover that they are greatly changed: Physical Phil (Jay Paulson) made himself a shut-in after 9/11 and refuses to leave his home; Owen Rowan (Brad William Henke) is now a devoted husband and father; Eddie Latekka (Geoff Stults) now owns a landscape business; and—most startlingly—Nick's old girlfriend Hannah (Laura Prepon) has a 10-year-old son named Sam (Slade Pearce), who just might be Nick's child. Nick's complicated homecoming is just the tip of the iceberg as he struggles to establish himself as a teacher at the local college under Dean Etwood (Penny Johnson) and forges a problematic new relationship with one of his students (Odette Yustman). Intelligently written and acted, October Road occasionally transcends its soap opera limitations and flirts with profundity, subtly commenting on the ways in which time alters relationships and tests even the strongest friendships. Compiling all six episodes from spring 2007, DVD extras here include a behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes, bloopers, and a sneak peek at season two. Recommended. (E. Hulse)