The glories of TV on DVD.

One of the many discussions our group had in Australia was a conversation about Television shows on DVD. It seemed that the general consensus was that people absolutely loved TV on DVD. There's no commercials and you don't have to wait until next week for the next episode. You can simply marathon it munching on food the whole way.

I for one agree with this whole heartedly, and any one who knows me knows I like my TV box sets. So with that in mind I thought I would share whats been on my TV DVD viewing agenda (in no particular order).

The Office: Season Two

I know, I know...'the British version is better'. I hear it constantly, and I'm not here to debate that. I would however suggest to those British version purists out there that you might be letting your complete devotion to one show blind you to the similar yet unique charm of the American version. Steve Carell is always amazing, who doesn't love Rainn Wilson as Dwight, and you can't forget to mention Jim and Pam. But its not just the main characters that bring this together, the cast of other characters all are excellent, rounding out a program that is always guaranteed to make me laugh.

Season Two technicially isn't out on DVD, but for those of you who use itunes you can purchase the entire season through them. Season Two picks up where season one left off and never looks back. The episodes just kept getting better and better. Some of my personal favorites would include: 'Booze Cruise', 'The Injury', and 'Drug Testing'.

Arrested Development: Season One
I'm a late comer to the Arrested Development bandwagon. Well sort of. Due to my usually crazy schedule I didn't often get a chance to actually catch this show while it was still airing on FOX. However, the few episodes I did see were excellent. Then, in Australia, one of my friends had the DVD set which was watched on several occasions, so now I'm back here in Boston watching the entire season on my own copy of season one.

Its good stuff, and if you haven't given this show a chance than you don't know what your missing out on. Now if someone would just hurry up and pick up the show we could all rest easy again.

The Pretender: Season One

I absolutely loved this show when it was on the air. It was fun, clever, and always left you with more questions than answers. NBC, in their great wisdom, decided to cancel the show and thus my Pretender fix was brought to an end....until now. The entire show, with the exception of the movies, has now been released on DVD.

It's been so long I'm excited to get started on this show since it will be like watching it for the very first time again.

If you never got a chance to see 'The Pretender' the basic story line is that Jared was kidnapped by a secret organization when he was a kid because of his incredibly high IQ. This organization used his brilliance to harm thousands of people without him knowing.

Jared has escaped and spends his time hiding from "The Centre" while trying to track down his parents. In between he helps people he comes across as his way of making up for all the hurt he inadvertantly caused during his years of captivity at the Centre.

We'll see if I enjoy it as much as I did a few years ago, but I have the feeling 'The Pretender' won't have lost any of its charm.

Rescue Me: Season Two

Who knew Denis Leary could write this well? I certainly didn't. Sure I've always found him funny, but there's a fair bit of difference between being funny and writing an excellent one hour weekly drama. Yet the proof is undeniable. 'Rescue Me' is absolutely fantastic.

After 'Six Feet Under' ended there was something a void for me in the TV Drama category. 'Rescue Me' comes closer than anything to not only fill that void but to make it its own.

With superb writing, and excellent ensemble cast, and compelling storylines 'Rescue Me' is quite possibly my favorite show on TV. My only problem is that I recently finished season Two and now I have to wait for season three to come out on DVD since I don't actually get the FX channel.


....so what are you watching?