Overview: Family secrets so shocking even unlimited wealth and power can’t keep them hidden burst forth when Dirty Sexy Money: The Complete Second and Final Season comes to DVD on August 18, 2009 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

DVD Verdict: In its first, strike-shortened season,""Dirty Sexy Money" was a more-than-acceptable diversion that embraced its campy side and flaunted its eccentricities as much as its Darling family flaunt their excess. It was, quite simply, fun. Cut to the second season and the show somehow managed to systematically drain every drop of enjoyment from its vaults. What remained was a shell of a once-intriguing ride, with snoozer B-plots that were forgettable last year brought to the forefront only to remain just as sleep-inducing.

Take the yawn of a confusing subplot involving Karen Darling (Natalie Zea, who tries, she really does) seducing billionaire Simon Elder (Blair Underwood) because...well...apparently Elder is a threat to the Darling family, though he has never done anything that seems even remotely powerful or assertive except saying he's powerful and assertive while staring intensely. Underwood is a hugely charismatic actor, but seems utterly lost in the useless role, and drags the still-charming Zea down in every scene they share together.

Want more bad storylines? We've got plenty. The long-simmering story of who killed Nick's father, which only took up five forgettable minutes of every episode in the first season, was turned into some sort of umbrella arc for the season. Perhaps the writers have forgotten that viewers don't really care about a character that has never been on the show, was a scoundrel and wasn't even liked by his son, and therefore could care less about who killed him.

But despite every sign of logic screaming to stop while you are ahead, "DSM"continued to devote the bulk of most of the season two episodes to the lame mystery, dulling the usually sharp Jill Clayburgh by making her the prime suspect and bringing in Lucy Liu (who deserves much, much better than this, or "Cashmere Mafia") for no particular reason to prosecute the case.

Soon the urge to turn off the Darlings babbling on overdramatically and investing themselves in uninteresting subplots must have become too appealing for most viewers, because ABC cancelled the show midway through the season, airing the final (just as atrocious) episodes on Saturdays months later. It's such a shame that a show with, for all intents and purposes, one of the best ensembles on television, could fall so far so quickly. [RT] This is a Widescreen presentation (1.78:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

Faux Pas: Bloopers from Season 2
Deleted Scenes
“Dirty Sexy…Crafty?” – Craft Services – the official “water cooler” of every television or movie set. And nobody runs a tighter snack service than Wacky Crafty Specialist Josh. Who knows what kinds of delicious tidbits are being served today?
Directing the Darlings - Acclaimed director Jamie Babbitt shares her director’s diary cam for a step-by-step look at what it’s like to bring an hour-long drama with an all-star cast, complex story lines and multiple departments to television.
Total Knockout – Take a ringside seat for a day on set with sexy and talented Natalie Zea.