TV on DVD

As promised in my summer guilty pleasures post, here's what to catch on DVD if you want some quality television with your summer. A lot of boxed sets are available to watch instantly on Netflix, if you have an account (if you don't, I'd advise getting one - it'll change your life a little, and it's relatively inexpensive). Otherwise, check video rental stores. Also, older seasons of DVD will often be ridiculously cheap at places such as Target or Best Buy...

LOST - If you missed this glorious show the first time around, check it out now. Season Six, the final season, will be released August 24th, so you'll be able to zoom through the first five season before running out of material. This show is the definition of brilliant, one of the greatest shows television has ever seen. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past six years, you've heard of this show. Certainly not for the faint of heart or mind, but Lost is worth the investment. Sure, the series is maddeningly frustrating at times, but that's part of the fun; you have so let yourself go, and enjoy the ride of the dense mythology. The series finale seems to have polarized the fan base, but it stands as one of my favorite two hours of television. Head to the Island, fall in love with the misfit group of castaways. You won't regret it.

THE WIRE - This epic vision of every facet of Baltimore's drug scene is a show that sadly went under-watched and under-appreciated when it's five seasons aired on HBO (hey Emmy voters, awful job here). However, The Wire constructs it's vast web of characters with masterful flow, portraying a world that almost feels like documentary. You'll think you have the good guys and bad guys straightened out... until something changes the entire game. The Wire isn't afraid of brutal storytelling, killing its characters, or throwing its audience through the emotional ringer. This is powerful, mature television.

MAD MEN - As stated in my summer television post, Mad Men returns at the end of July with Season Four; The first three season are on DVD now. Mad Men builds New York in the 1960s with beautiful precision, creating characters who are morally gray in their actions - Don Draper is the epitome of an antihero. Thank God this show is filled with such an incredible ensemble of actors, carrying of their difficult material like pros, subtly developing their character with each episode. The infamous Matthew Weiner is the creator and executive producer (he was heavily involved with the final two season of The Sopranos), and the man knows how to construct a story - it might take a while before anything huge happens, but he develops his show with an irresistible slow burn.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - No, I am not talking about the short-lived series from the '80s, but Sci-Fi's (Syfy's?) stunning (yes, stunning) reboot. Many people are turned off simply by the idea of science fiction television. While the series looks a lot like Star Trek in the beginning, and the miniseries that begins the series seems a bit turgid, BSG takes science fiction as a genre and reboots everything you know. This is a show about relationships, hope, redemption, and political struggle... disguised as intelligent science fiction. While I think the finale season drops the ball on a few promising moments, the entire show achieves something that I have never seen with a sci-fi television series, and stands as a crowning achievement for all of television, regardless of the genre. If anything, watch for Katee Stackhoff (given a lame role in 24 two seasons ago) and Mary McDonnell; these woman bring it. Mary McDonnell was robbed of an Emmy (and she wasn't even nominated!) for the finale season. And apart from the acting, there are badass CGI space fighting sequences thrown in for good measure.

BUFFY: THE VAMPIRE SLAYER - Yes, I am pulling out all the stops with underrated television! When I tell people I am a huge Buffy fan, people often scoff. However, especially with the recent vamp craze, Buffy deserves a revisit. This is a brilliant twist on the teen soap, and Sarah Michelle Gellar is believable and wonderful as the young girl forced to defend the world from the forces of evil. Joss Whedon is a master at his craft; his most famous television endeavor is filled with such wit and spunk, it's impossible not to fall madly in love with this show and these characters. Season One is not as focused as the rest of the series (each episode basically stands alone, and many are throwaways). However, the end of Season One into the start of Season Two, the show is unstoppable. This is the one show that people judge before they've seen a single episode, and it can be incredibly frustrating. Open up - episodes like Becoming, Hush, The Body, Restless, and Once More, with Feeling push television to explore something new and exciting, especially in the early 2000s. This show was ahead of its time.

VERONICA MARS - My good friends are probably sick of me trying to push this show on them. Oh well. Regardless, there's only two seasons to watch! It's quick! Technically, a third season aired on the CW's inaugural year, but I pretend that season never existed; CW heads forced series creator Rob Thomas (nope, not that Rob Thomas) to change the construct of the show to attract new viewers. It didn't work. Vom. Season Three is still good television, but Season One of VM is about as close as I've seen to a perfect season of television. Kristen Bell plays Veronica Mars, a teenager in California who's dad who is a private investigator; obviously, over time, Veronica has come up with a few tricks of her own. Each episode deals with an individual mystery Veronica is called upon to solve, while each episode brings about new clues in the hunt to find who murdered her best friend. Veronica is also dealing with a few personal mysteries she needs to clear up, but I'll leave those as a surprise for the pilot to explain... I'm passionate about this show because its first two seasons (Season Two's overarching mystery deals with a bus full of students that crashes off a cliff into the ocean) are unreal, visceral television. It's like Nancy Drew for grown-ups. Don't knock it.

If these six don't suit your needs, check out: Friday Night Lights, Dexter, Arrested Development, The Sopranos, Alias, Breaking Bad (which I need to catch up with myself...), and The OC. Sound off in the comments about series you love - maybe you can introduce me to something new too!