Numb3rs

FBI Special Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) recruits his mathematical genius brother Charlie (David Krumholtz) to help the Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles. The two brothers take on the most confounding criminal cases from a very distinctive perspective. Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) is Charlie's friend and colleague who urges Charlie to focus more on his university studies than on FBI business. Don and Charlie's father, Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch), is pleased to see his two sons working together, but fears their competitive nature will lead to trouble.

The DVD set features episode commentary by cast and crew, and a peek at the unaired pilot that starred many different actors (including Anna Deveare Smith and Michael Rooker) who were dropped when the episode was overhauled. Morrow, who wasn't even in the pilot, was cast later with Judd Hirsch as their father to replace the original (blonder) actors because, as producers admitted, casting Krumholtz as Charlie took the family in an "ethnically specific direction." The jokes also abound in a behind-the-scenes featurette, where Morrow defines the series as "Rain Man … plus an extra Jew."

Like a cross between C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation and Darren Aronofsky's indie feature Pi, Numb3rs blends crime-drama with mathematics for a smart and creepy spin on the police-detective genre. Executive produced by Ridley Scott (Alien) and Tony Scott (True Romance), the series centres on a pragmatically minded FBI agent, Don Eppes (Northern Exposure’s Rob Morrow), who invites his math-genius younger brother, Charlie (David Krumholz), to help him solve challenging cases using mathematical theories based on equations and probability. Dark and moody with a near-cinematic feel, Numb3rs has won both fans and acclaim for its innovative approach to the conventional crime-drama formula. This collection presents all 24 episodes from the show’s second series, which includes guest appearances by Mary Kay Place, Graham Greene, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Colin Hanks.