Well, I've never seen the series, so I can't be sure. But, when I studied Biology in school we had to learn certain things. Some I still remember are: memorize the names of all the bones in the body, memorize & understand classifications (kingdom, phylum, etc), dissect some animals, etc. Nowadays, my young friends are learning about cell respiration in high school biology! (which is totally over my head!). I have trouble imagining how a video series could cover those materials so that the kid could learn them in a passive way. A video series might be a great supplement, but I have trouble seeing it as a good spine.
The drawback of entertainment-as-education is that the young person might not have the background information to truly get the MOST from the videos. If the narrator says, "This animal is a Mammal" but the kid doesn't understand classifications, and doesn't know about kindgom, genus, species, etc - does the video explain that on their level? Also, a lot of pretty pictures can distract some viewers pretty badly from understanding & digesting the content.
If I were considering such a package, I would google several biology syllabi (they're all over the internet!) and read exactly what a young person should know from the course - and see if the DVD series covers those concepts - and covers them in depth. (BTW, I've never seen any substantial difference between a well-done high school course & an introductory college course. Go ahead & look at the college syllabi)
I would also be planning some checks to make sure the material was being learned in depth - quizzes, tests, flash card reviews - whatever method you usually use. And, plan some drawing of diagrams, labeling of skeletons, etc.
I've known kids who were total junkies for the animal shows on cable - but they still had a lot to learn when they took biology. I don't deny that they were probably ahead of the game, tho.
If you don't care for dissection (I don't) - this organization offers some good biology resources - many of which they offer in a free lending library
http://www.navs.org/education/alternati ... dissection