Touched By An Angel (DVD) Review

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes and 12 Emmys, including two by Della Reese for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, Touched By An Angel built a sizeable and loyal audience with its upbeat themes and inspirational storylines. The brainchild of John Masius, creator of Providence (1999) and writer for such hit series as St. Elsewhere (1982) and LA Law (1986), Touched By An Angel follows in the footsteps of Michael Landon's successful series Highway To Heaven, which chronicled the exploits of a single angel who wandered across the United States providing support for lost souls in need of aid. Touched By An Angel is quite similar, but the series uses multiple angels to achieve its purpose. Like Highway To Heaven the series utilizes a contemporary setting and modern problems, allowing the show reach a broad audience who enjoy its themes of love, hope, and redemption…

Touched By An Angel follows the exploits of several angels sent to Earth as "caseworkers" so as to bring God's message of love, peace, and hope to the distressed people of the world. When the series begins, Monica (Roma Downey) is a novice caseworker still in training (having just been promoted from "search & rescue"). Assisting Monica, and a caseworker in her own right, is Tess (Della Reese) who lends the wisdom of her many years of experience in dealing with the problems afflicting humanity at large. Together, these two angels interact with people on Earth, easing the burden of each soul with which they come into contact. In later seasons, Monica and Tess would be joined by Andrew (John Dye), the Angel of Death who also fills in as a caseworker to help lighten the load, and in the final two seasons (2001-2003), Gloria (Valerie Bertinelli) would join the trio as a regular recurring angel character… Overall, Touched By An Angel filled a desperately unmet need along the TV programming landscape. With much of today's programming fixated on sex, violence, and "reality," the hour-long CBS drama provided deeply probing family-oriented content which always left its viewers with a positive and upbeat feeling…

The Touched By An Angel DVD features a number of touching episodes including the series premiere "The Southbound Bus" in which Monica is prepared for her first case since being promoted from angel "search and rescue". While on the southbound bus, she befriends a young boy named David who tells her the story of his sister and mother's death in a car accident. But when Monica is hired as David's nanny, she soon learns the truth. David's mother is still alive, and Monica's assignment is to reunite her with her family… Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Cassie's Choice" in which Monica and Tess help a teenager deal with the birth of her child and the decision of whether or not to give her baby up for adoption, and "There, But for the Grace of God" in which Monica is stripped of her angelic powers in order to learn a lesson of her own while on a case working with several homeless individuals…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Touched By An Angel (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (The Southbound Bus) Air Date: 09-21-1994
Episode 2 (Show Me the Way Home) Air Date: 09-28-1994
Episode 3 (Tough Love) Air Date: 10-12-1994
Episode 4 (Fallen Angela) Air Date: 10-19-1994
Episode 5 (Cassie's Choice) Air Date: 10-26-1994
Episode 6 (The Heart of the Matter) Air Date: 11-02-1994
Episode 7 (An Unexpected Snow) Air Date: 12-07-1994
Episode 8 (Snow) Air Date: 12-14-1994
Episode 9 (Fear Not!) Air Date: 12-25-1994
Episode 10 (There, But for the Grace of God) Air Date: 02-25-1995
Episode 11 (The Hero) Air Date: 03-04-1995