TV/American

It's more of the same in this box set from the third season of The Bob Newhart Show. That's altogether a good thing, as the mid-'70s series (these 24 episodes, compiled on three discs, come from 1974-75) remains a model of restraint in a sea of sit-com overkill, then and now. What a pleasure, not to mention a relief, it is to watch a comedy that manages to be more than a frantic cavalcade of shrill one-liners, would-be witty repartee, and endless sexual innuendo. Not that the show (the first of his two long-running series; Newhart followed in 1982), isn't funny.

In its sophomore season, The Bob Newhart Show became an integral part of CBS's phenomenal Stay Home Saturday lineup of now-immortal shows that included All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Carol Burnett Show. Audiences were initially slow to pick up on Bob, but by its second season, the show was on a roll, and enjoyed the highest ratings of its six-year run.

The first season (of six, on CBS until August 1978) offered the same high quality as The Mary Tyler Moore Show (also produced by Moore's MTM Enterprises) and established many of the memorable characters who contributed to the show's enduring greatness. Bill Daily (late of I Dream of Jeannie) would thrive as the Hartley's divorced neighbor Howard (his uninvited "Hi Bob!" intrusions inspired that infamous drinking game), while married neighbor Margaret (Patricia Smith) would disappear by season's end. Among Bob's hilarious group-therapy patients, the miserable misanthrope Mr.

They've traveled millions of miles and defied relentless attackers, but nothing will prepare the human race for what lies ahead as Battlestar Galactica 4.0 arrives on DVD! In ten gripping episodes, relive each pivotal moment as the civil war amongst the Cylons escalates and the quest for Earth continues. Loaded with riveting bonus features, this 4-disc set includes the unrated, extended version fo Battlestar Galactica: Razor that never aired on television.

The adventure of one of television's finest dramas continues with the complete third season of the Peabody Award-winning Battlestar Galactica. The Colonies' survivors have found their hopes of eluding their Cylon pursuers dashed by an invasion and occupation of their new home. As the fate of all human life hangs in the balance, friends become enemies, enemies become unexpected allies, and decisions are made that will haunt some people for the rest of their lives. Relive all 20 episodes of the season that challenges everything you thought you knew about the Battlestar Galactica universe.

The axe of cancellation dangled perilously over Arrested Development during its second season, but the award-winning comedy fought against fate to deliver a hilarious if scattershot 18 episodes (reduced from the original show order of 22), and stayed alive for the beginning of a third season. Most likely, the creators and actors knew the clock was ticking down, so they didn't hesitate to throw their all into these manic, hilarious episodes, which have only the thinnest of plot arcs but an electrifying energy that makes them hard to resist.

Arrested Development--one of the greatest comedies in the history of television--went out in a blaze of glory. The truncated final season packed more biting humor per minute than ever before.

Winner of the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy its first year out, Arrested Development is the kind of sitcom that gives you hope for television. A mockumentary-style exploration of the beleaguered Bluth family, it's one of those idiosyncratic shows that doesn't rely on a laugh track or a studio audience; it's shot more like a TV drama, albeit with an omniscient narrator (executive producer Ron Howard) overseeing the proceedings. Holding the Bluths together just barely is son Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman), the only normal guy in a family that's chock full of nuts.

Such a simple idea--yet so fiendishly complex in the execution. 24, as surely everyone knows by now, is a thriller that takes places over 24 hours, midnight to midnight, in 24 one-hour episodes (well, 45-minute episodes if you subtract the commercials). Everything takes place in real time, which means no flashbacks, no flash-forwards, no handy time-dissolves. Every strand of the plot has to be dovetailed and interlocked so things happen just when they should, in the right amount of time. Not that easy.

This classic series-ending collection highlights the show's mastery at mixing mythic gods and ghastly beasts. these wildly imaginative storylines are brought to vivid life through the dynamic performances of Lucy Lawless as the indomitable Xena and Renee O'Connor as her loveably irrepressible companion. For fans of the Warrior Princess, Xena's sixth and final season is an unforgettable curtain call.