It's a pleasure to be reminded, after years of increasingly lazy movie performances, that Martin Lawrence was once a hungry, crackling young comic. His 1990s sitcom Martin, in which Lawrence played a radio shock jock juggling the demands of his friends and his girlfriend, was nothing new--it's your basic "gee, men and women sure are different" setup with an African-American flavor. But Lawrence threw himself into the show with gusto. In addition to the central character of Martin Payne, Lawrence played Payne's mother, his trashy neighbor Sheneneh, pompous player Jerome, and numerous others, some of whom were integrated into the main stories, some of whom just appeared in stand-alone segments at the opening of the show. (Ironically, many of the show's fans are more enthusiastic about these side characters than about Martin Payne.) No one will ever accuse Lawrence of subtlety, but his reckless energy is undeniable. That, combined with a good supporting cast (including Trisha Campbell as Gina, his long-suffering girlfriend; Saturday Night Live's Garrett Morris as Stan, his penny-pinching boss; and Carl Anthony Payne II, Tomas Mikal Ford, and Tichina Arnold as Martin and Gina's friends), gave the show a solid dynamic that raised it above the often formulaic scripts. Martin: The Complete First Season includes all 27 episodes; the extras, unfortunately, are only a highlights feature and a standard blooper reel. --Bret Fetzer