Hot Sheet: Rufus, and

DVDs
 

Lucy Calls the President — We still love eternal gay fave Lucille Ball, even in lesser works like this tale of an Indiana housewife who calls up then-president Jimmy Carter to complain about a housing project scheduled to be built at the site of the local camp for underprivileged children. This 1977 TV special would mark her final pairing with frequent costar Vivian Vance.

Party Down: Season One — Out actress (and current star of the TV phenomenon Glee) Jane Lynch and perennial scene-stealer Jennifer Coolidge help elevate this frequently amusing workplace sitcom about the titular catering company. While the workplace changes with each episode, the misfits who make up the catering crew remain hopeful that something better will come their way.

Pirate Radio — A talented cast, including Bill Nighy and Philip Seymour Hoffman, headlines the latest from Love Actually writer-director Richard Curtis, about a ship full of renegade English DJs in the 1960s. Curtis gets props for handling the homosexuality of a character (in this case, a lesbian crew member) as nonsensational a manner as possible, but the editing of material deemed too British-specific for U.S. audiences (this was released as The Boat That Rocked in the U.K.) keeps the film from sailing.

Falcon Crest: The Complete First Season — Often the forgotten prime-time soap behind Dallas, Dynasty, and Knots Landing, Falcon Crest deserves its second life on DVD if for no other reason than the late-in-life bravura performance by Jane Wyman. The show also introduced audiences to Lorenzo Lamas and Susan Sullivan, later a scene-stealer on Dharma & Greg.