Nashville is ABC's critically acclaimed, fan favorite story of the ins and outs of the country music business centered on the city of Nashville, Tennessee. The second season has already started airing, but this set is one way you can catch up.

They say:

Behind the music of Nashville lies a web of betrayal, heartbreak, and rivalry second to none. Experience the tantalizing first season of ABC's Nashville and surrender to a seductive mix of music, intrigue, and passion that's "Pure Gold." Rayna James (Connie Britton), is the Queen of Country, but there's a new "royal" on the rise. Meet Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), a hot, young diva poised to knock Rayna off her throne - both on the charts and in the heart of Rayna's lead guitarist and former lover, Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten). Meanwhile, another sultry love triangle heats up when Deacon's niece Scarlett (Clare Bowen), a budding singer/songwriter, is torn between her boyfriend Avery and her writing partner Gunnar. Adding more fuel to the fire is Rayna's rich, scheming father, whose political ambitions for Rayna's husband hid sinister ulterior motives. Relive all 22 riveting episodes of Nashville: The Complete First Season with this spectacular 5-disc set - including exclusive, never-before-seen bonus features. It's the ultimate guilty pleasure you'll enjoy over and over again!

I say:

This show is fantastic when it focuses on the music business and the three women navigating their way through it. Connie Britton as Rayna James is perfect as the world weary and yet still enthusiastic songstress who has had a long string of success and now struggles with wanting to do something a little different beyond retreading the same old ground. Hayden Panettiere as Juliette Barnes is wonderful as the young breakout success, who is rapidly racking up career success, perhaps a little too quickly, who suffers from perhaps not needing to work hard enough and earn her place, thus not always showing the respect others deserve or the reverence for what it has taken others to attain what she has walked into. And Clare Bowen as Scarlett O'Connor embodies the role of the girl just finding her feet, finally daring to sing her songs in public and not quite prepared for the road she is suddenly put upon, despite having grown up around it most of her life or perhaps because of how it ran over her uncle Deacon.

Nashville shines brightest when it centers on these three ladies and the people around them and the industry they've chosen to make their living in, but it falters sometimes as it leaves to follow other, less interesting, characters and their less interesting stories. More importantly, it fails when it gets into politics and stories unrelated to the music industry or people directly involved in it. When we tangent off to deal with Rayna's overbearing father and his manipulation of politics to get Rayna's husband to become Mayor, or with Rayna's husband's infidelities, or insinuations that her father might have had something to do with her mother's death, those plotlines might be fine for any other soapy drama, but here it just feels like wasted time.

The music in the show isn't too bad either, if you don't mine a little country or country/pop. And by isn't too bad, I mean I've bought both of the soundtracks for the first season and listened to them a whole bunch of times. And fortunately, the desire of the show to involve music and sell soundtracks means that despite occasionally veering off into boring stories it always comes back to the music industry and the music.

The DVD set gives you a few behind the scenes featurettes, music videos and bloopers. Nothing Earth shattering, but a nice addition to what is already a solid show.