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Best TV on DVD

Part 3 of 5

By Laura Reineke, Blogs Editor

February 5, 2008 | 2 p.m.

There’s not a whole lot going on in this TV dry spell, so if you’re like me and want to avoid watching “American Gladiators,” check out some more of my picks of the best TV on DVD.

”Dead Like Me” Seasons 1-2 (Showtime, 2003)
Everybody dies, including Georgia Lass (the awkward but amazing Ellen Muth), a sullen college dropout killed by a piece of debris from the MIR space station. At the start of her afterlife she is given the job of Grim Reaper, forced to work alongside an eccentric but loveable group that includes the mysterious Rube (Mandy Patinkin), beautiful Daisy (Laura Harris), hard-ass Roxy (Jasmine Guy) and druggie Mason (Callum Blue). Despite some slow-moving subplots, this show is darkly funny and incredibly addicting. Catch up on the two-season series before the movie hits theaters sometime this year.

”Battlestar Galactica” Seasons 1-2 (SCI-FI, 2004)
Despite my (probably unfair) misgivings about the sci-fi genre, I couldn’t help but get drawn in to this retooling of the classic '70s series. This show is one of the most critically acclaimed in recent years, full of well-crafted characters and complex mythology. Unlike other excellent series that pound the same formula into the ground until cancellation, "BSG" is constantly reinventing itself by analyzing hot-button issues like abortion and the death penalty as they apply to a civilization desperate to survive – and if that's not must-see TV, I don’t know what is. The third season will arrive on DVD in March, and the fourth and final season is set to premiere in April.

“Reno 911!” Seasons 1-4 (Comedy Central, 2003)
It started out as a "COPS" parody but has turned into so much more. This little gem from Comedy Central is a mockumentary about a (thankfully) fictional group of absolutely ridiculous police officers. The cast is hilarious, especially Thomas Lennon as the bicycle-riding, short-shorts wearing Lt. Jim Dangle and Kerri Kenney-Silver as the clearly unstable Deputy Trudy Weigel. The awesome roster of guest stars includes comic heavyweights Patton Oswalt, Nick Swardson and Oscar Nunez.

For more from the mind of Laura Reineke, check out her main blog, OH HONESTLY, at http://ohonestly.blogspot.com.