Product Description

Dr. Craig Huffstodt is a family man and a successful psychiatrist who gets a wake-up call when one of his patients, a 15-year-old boy, commits suicide during a therapy session. Huff's whole existence - as doctor, husband, father, son, brother and friend - goes through a dramatic reawakening as he begins to question who he is, what he's made of and how he fits in --- anywhere. Having always considered himself the eternal caretaker, whose mission is to save people, Huff suddenly realizes that he can't save everyone. The lines of reality start to blur as he goes from the functionally insane at the office to the daily insanities of life with his family at home. His nurturing nature is tested at nearly every turn and soon his so-called "normal" world and family life start to become as surreal as the world of his patients.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21463 in DVD
• Brand: AZARIA,HANK
• Released on: 2006-03-21
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, Portuguese
• Dubbed in: Portuguese
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: .55 pounds
• Running time: 695 minutes

Amazon.com
Dr. Craig Huffstodt (Hank Azaria, Shattered Glass) has it all--beautiful wife Beth (Paget Brewster, Andy Richter Controls the Universe), cute son Byrd (Anton Yelchin), sleek golden retriever, silver BMW, and tastefully-appointed model home. In the pilot, an inconsolable teenager pulls a gun out of his bag and shoots himself--right in the middle of a therapy session. Suddenly, Huff starts to question everything: the job, the marriage, life. Created by Bob Lowry (Any Day Now) and produced by Scott Winant (thirtysomething) for Showtime, Huff combines drama, comedy, flashbacks, and dream sequences to examine one "rich, guilt-ridden white man's" struggle with the Abyss. Sometimes it's Frasier, sometimes The Sopranos--sometimes American Beauty.

Appearances to the contrary, Huff's well-constructed façade is not without its fissures, and as Byrd ominously quotes in episode eight ("Cold Day in Shanghai"), "If you gaze for long into the Abyss, the Abyss also gazes into you--Nietzsche." Live-in mother Izzy (Emmy winner Blythe Danner) is a judgmental busybody, younger brother Teddy (Andy Comeau, Providence) is a sympathetic schizophrenic, and best buddy Russell (Oliver Platt having the time of his life) is a pill-popping, cocaine-snorting, booze-guzzling lawyer whose moral compass has been missing "ever since my daddy's sperm hit the egg." Then there's psychotic patient Melody (Lara Flynn Boyle, The Practice), smart-talking office manager Paula (Kimberly Russell), and homeless Hungarian musician István (Jack Laufer) who keeps crossing his path. (Does he really even exist?) Other recurring characters include Huff's estranged father, Ben (Robert Forster), and Beth's terminally ill mother, Madeline (Swoosie Kurtz). In its first year, Huff garnered seven Emmy nominations and was renewed for a second season. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

simply the best
This and Weeds are the most entertaining shows on television. Hank Azaria is just incredible and the only person who could play Huff. Oliver Platt is an absolute comic genius and I am madly in love with him. He is in a class by himself and deserves his own 5 stars. The way the whole family interacts is so fascinating and complicated and keeps me wanting more. I have watched the whole first season again just because I can't get enough!!! Bring on season 2.

HBwho?
Whenever people talk about the great shows pay cable has to offer, they always talk about HBO. Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, Deadwood... Showtime never gets a mention, despite such great and innovative programs such as Dead Like Me, Jeremiah and now: Huff.

With Huff, like all their shows, Showtime manages to make a show with conflicted, real characters without resorting to graphic sex or violence. The language is still as harsh as ever, but it's nothing you probably wouldn't hear in the course of a day if you were in these situations.

Even if HBO gets all the press for their sex and violence, Showtime has another winner with Huff. Great stories, wonderfully real characters who - gasp! - make mistakes, amazing acting... Craig Huffstodt and Hank Azaria are two different people who happen to look and sound a lot alike, I must say. Paget Brewster is completely believable as the harried housewife and who would have thought Blythe Danner could be unlikeable?!

Give this show a chance. The storylines don't resolve at the end of one episode, the characters strike realistically and behave much as you'd expect while you're hoping and praying they won't be that self-destructive.

And hey, Bob Saget plays a drug-addicted former sitcom star in one episode. It's almost worth the price of the set alone. ;-D

Best Show on TV at a great price
I love Sopranos, Six Feet, etc., but I consider "Huff" the best show on television. Hank Azaria is great as usual, but the performances given by Blythe Danner and Oliver Platt are superlative, both deserving of "Best Supporting" Emmys.

With the price set at $25 (with a $25 rebate if you subscribe to Shotime), the DVD set is a great way to get acquainted with "Huff."