This week is Sleeperdisc TV Sweeps Week! And today, Deuce dips into the mighty Grab Movies catalog and recommends a TV series that may have slipped your notice.

Today's Sweeps Week Selection: Firefly

The recent release of Serenity is probably puzzling for many - why has a movie been created about a failed TV science fiction series that didn't finish airing its first season? The answer lies in its creator, Joss Whedon Whedon, creator and driving force of cult classics Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel turned his attention to the stars in 2002 with this series about a band of rag-tag survivors trying to make their way and fortune along the rim of the galaxy.

Despite being a science fiction series, Firefly is more deeply entrenched with the fundamentals of the American western - the ship's captain, a veteran of the losing side of a Galactic Civil War, still harbors his secessionist tendencies as he keeps his sidearm close and his sarcasm sharpened. Maybe it appeals to my family's Southern heritage (I have distant family who died at the Battle of Shiloh), but how can you not love that. His crew consists of misfits picked up along the way, from a scrappy sunny-sided chief mechanic, an upper-class "courtesan" and a pleasant albeit mysterious priest.

And then River gets involved, and all hell breaks loose. River, the sister of a traveling doctor, is on the run from the government as a "human test subject" with abilities that make her dangerous and slightly crazy. Okay, very crazy. What did the government do to her, why is she so special? What does she have buried in her fractured psyche? All of these questions get answered in the new Serenity movie, which doesn't require you to be well-versed in the series to enjoy. All the same, I recommend you pick it up before you go see the film (and definitely go see the film.)

It's funny and irreverent in the Joss Whedon style, and the cast is perfect in their roles. Special props go to Adam Baldwin (no, not a Baldwin brother), who is perfectly and insanely cast as the scheming yet obtuse mercenary Jayne, whos gleeful amorality never fails to make me laugh. Oh, I hope he gets recognized as the underutilized character star he could be.

That's today's recommendation. Keep coming back this week for more Sleeperdisc Sweeps Week selections.