Today, Sony Pictures is releasing Masters of Sex: Season One on Blu-ray, featuring all twelve episodes of the acclaimed Showtime series.  The year is 1957, and Dr. William Masters (Michael Sheen) is an obstetrician fascinated with human sexuality, involved in groundbreaking research alongside his assistant Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan).

But the controversial study is at the mercy of funding from Barton Scully (Beau Bridges), the provost of the teaching hospital, and Dr. Masters faces personal turmoil from his wife (Caitlin FitzGerald), who is struggling to get pregnant.  While finding participants for the study, Johnson has to balance her career with raising two kids, attracting attention from the womanizing Dr. Ethan Haas (Nicholas D’Agosto).

The attention to period detail is impressive, and the twelve episodes help illustrate just how far we have come in terms of equality and understanding sexuality.  With psychologically complex characters and some fascinating commentary about evolving gender politics, Masters of Sex is an entertaining and emotionally engaging TV series, anchored by brilliant performances from Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan, who breathe new depth into the famous real life team of Masters and Johnson.  The second season starts on July 13th.

The Blu-ray also includes commentary on the pilot episode, deleted scenes and behind the scenes featurettes, as well as a look at the actual research behind the show.

Masters of Sex: Season One is 676 minutes and rated 14A.

-John Corrado