TV on DVD: It's 'Hammer' time

MIKE HAMMER

SERIES Darren McGavin plays Mickey Spillane's two-fisted detective in this delirious '50s half-hour. It's hard-boiled yet humorous, brutal yet buoyant. He fires guns, flirts with the dames, pistol-whips baddies or shoves 'em down stairs, and of course protects the weak, innocent and just plain dense, all while delivering neo-noir narration with a sense of camp. Keep your eyes peeled for 1958 New York location shots. And for young incarnations of Angie Dickinson, Marion Ross, Robert Vaughn, many other TV stars-to-be.

EXTRAS None

LIST PRICE $90 for 78 episodes on 12 discs, from A&E Home Video.

Also out:

QUEER AS FOLK: COMPLETE UK COLLECTION Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") and Aidan Gillen ("The Wire") star in Russell T. Davies' original gay drama (later Americanized by Showtime), with extras, booklet; $50, Acorn.

THE EVENT NBC's once-promising tale of government/alien conspiracies is out in its entirety, with making-of, commentary, deleted scenes, more; $60, Universal.

THE CAPTAINS William Shatner discusses the role of a lifetime with subsequent Trek skippers Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, Chris Pine; $20, eOne.

CALL ME FITZ Jason Priestley's DirecTV comedy about a sleazy car salesman (Season 2 starts Nov. 3); $40, eOne.