Girlfriends: Season 5

• Factory sealed DVD.

A pregnancy, career change, and the unraveling of a relationship are front and center on the fifth season of Girlfriends. The sitcom, which is executive-produced by Kelsey Grammer, takes a more serious approach this year. Yes, the jokes and physical comedy are all still here. While the friends have more than their share of issues to work out, Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross), Maya (Golden Brooks), Lynn (Persia White), and Toni (Jill Marie Jones) remain best friends. A former high-powered attorney, Joan finds herself navigating unchartered territory when she opens a trendy restaurant called the J Spot. Her good friend William (Reginald Hayes) has already made a financial investment in the business and now he's ready to give romance a . While the relationship is played somewhat for laughs, the actors inject poignant realism into their evolving roles. Clearly they're aware that should the romance fail, their platonic friendship could suffer. Meanwhile, Toni has mixed feelings about her estranged husband, Lynn becomes acquainted with her birth her, and Maya reinvents herself as a writer. Each of the four girlfriends have romantic entanglements, but Maya's is the trainwreck we can't stop rooting for. In a scene reminiscent of the Friends episode where Rachel plots to stop Ross from marrying Emily, Maya tries to figure out how to get her ex-boyfriend Darnell back. The guest stars this season range from musician Tricky (who toys with Lynn's fragile heart) to Reverend Al Sharpton (who helps jumpstart Maya's career as an author). Tricky is particularly good playing the bad boy that every woman should stay away from, but can't resist. All 22 episodes--which originally aired during the 2004-2005 television season--are included in this 3-disc set. With two seasons remaining before the series finale, Girlfriends has done a nice job of setting up the ladies' future. --Jae-Ha Kim