PLAY CATCH UP
MAD MEN (AMC)--This drama unfolds in the highly competitive advertising world of 1960s Madison Avenue, focusing on the men who ruled that universe and the women who put up with them. In between marketing everything from cigarettes to slide projectors, the characters cheat, lie, scrap and scheme, all while dressed to the nines. Seasons 1 and 2 are available on DVD, and Season 3 is scheduled to air next month.
FOYLE'S WAR (PBS)--This murder-mystery series follows British police detective Christopher Foyle and his efforts to keep law and order along the south coast of England during World War II. The New York Times calls it "one of the most satisfying dramas on television."
ENTOURAGE (HBO) --A guy from Queens makes it big in Hollywood, brings his pals out to the West Coast and hilarity ensues. Supposedly, President Obama watches it. The sixth season just started.
TRUE BLOOD (HBO)--Vampires, shape-shifters and mind readers star in this drama set in rural Louisiana, where regular folks and the newly uncloseted undead are just trying to get along. It's a fun series with, hands-down, the creepiest opening sequence of all time. Season 2 started this summer.
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (CBS) --A la "Friends," this comedy examines the ups and downs of young romance, largely through flashbacks starring a cast of 20-somethings. It wrapped up its fourth season in May.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (NBC)--Football is everything in Dillon, Texas, the setting for this critically acclaimed drama. But you don't have to love the game to enjoy the show, which revolves around the town's high school football team and just about anyone connected to it--coaches, players, cheerleaders, other students and their families. Season 3 just ended.
GAVIN & STACEY (BBC)--Now in its second season, this sitcom follows an unlikely couple that meets online and then pursues marriage. Their friends and family provide hilarious story lines. Sadly, only the first season is available on DVD in this country.
IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA (FX)--This show's dysfunctional gang, ruled by poor judgment and questionable morals, operates an Irish pub in Philly. It's a comedy that'll have you constantly repeating, "I cannot believe they just did that!" The DVD release of Season 4 is slated for September.
DAMAGES (FX)--Billed as a legal thriller, the show stars Glenn Close as a ruthless New York attorney. The series, with two seasons under its belt, is a little bit "The Firm" and a little bit "Law & Order."
DEXTER (Showtime)--The "good guy" of this series is a serial killer with a moral code, killing only those "who deserve it"--child molesters, deadly drunk drivers and other serial killers not as service-oriented as himself. Season 4 starts in September.
WHY ARE YOU WAITING?
SOPRANOS (HBO)--Off the air since 2007, this series won 21 Emmys over six seasons for a reason. Tony Soprano is a New Jersey mobster with a weakness for women and sfogliatelle. His colorful associates give him agita. His wife gives him agita. His kids give him agita. His therapist gives him agita. He has a lot of agita. But you can't help but root for the guy just a little.
THE WIRE (HBO)--If you're one of the few who hasn't seen this gritty Baltimore-based series yet, stop what you're doing and rent the DVDs. Set on drug corners and shipping docks, in police briefing rooms and foundering classrooms, the show is an unflinching look at a city in crisis. Its characters are richly developed, everyone from the crooked state senator on down to the lowliest drug fiend. The only disappointment is when, after five seasons, it ends.
30 ROCK (NBC)--It might be one of the funniest shows on TV right now. "Saturday Night Live" veteran Tina Fey plays the head writer of an SNL-like show with a wacky cast and crew. Naturally, they all answer to a network exec, played hilariously by Alec Baldwin. Seasons 1 and 2 are on DVD now, and the Season 3 disk is coming out in the fall.
THE OFFICE (NBC)--In the American version, starring Steve Carell, a documentary film crew captures the antics of a rather bizarre group of paper company employees. The in-your-face humor can make you shift uncomfortably in your seat. The British version, which came first, has the power to mortify. Season 5 of the American show comes out on DVD in September.
LOST (ABC)--You can't just occasionally tune into this series if you hope to have any idea what's going on. Each episode reveals some new intrigue about the passengers on Oceanic flight 815 and the mysterious island they crashed on. The first four seasons are on DVD (season 5 will be released in December), and watching them back-to-back ensures you won't miss any subtle clues.
MINISERIES WORTH SEEING
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (PBS)--Told largely as a flashback, this 11-part drama, which originally aired in the early '80s, was named the 10th greatest British TV program of all time by the British Film Institute. The show offers a glimpse at how the other half lived in 1920s England, with scenes at Oxford, a family estate and aboard a luxury ocean liner.
BAND OF BROTHERS (HBO)--Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg collaborated in 2001 on this 10-part series about a U.S. Army Airborne unit known as Easy Company and its actions during World War II. Some of the DVDs include interviews and commentary from surviving members of the unit, who, among other things, participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and the liberation of a concentration camp.
GENERATION KILL (HBO) --The makers of "The Wire" put together this seven-parter about a Marine unit during the first 40 days of the war in Iraq. Despite its title, it's not all that bloody. Inept commanders, ever-changing rules of engagement and equipment shortages dog this unit, whose tale originally appeared in a series of articles in Rolling Stone magazine.
OLDIES BUT GOODIES
SEINFELD (NBC) --Marble rye? Master of your domain? The Soup Nazi? Death by envelope-licking? This stuff is still really funny. All nine seasons are on DVD.
MAD ABOUT YOU (NBC)-- This sitcom about newlyweds, played by Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser, was hilariously funny for its first five seasons. Then the baby arrived, and it dipped to mildly humorous for the last two. Since only the first three are available on DVD, no worries.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (WB/UPN)--Long before "True Blood" and "Twilight" made vampires a hot commodity, Buffy was battling the undead, often in high heels. The series grew darker in its last seasons but always boasted a huge following.
THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW (CBS)--Nearly 50 years after it originally aired, this show, set in fictional Mayberry, N.C., is as refreshing as a root beer float on a hot summer day. The first five seasons, in black and white, are by far the best.
GONE, NOT FORGOTTEN
WONDERFALLS (Fox)--Though critics called this 2004 comedy "an unexpected treat," it lasted only one season. Episodes chronicle the bizarre existence of a Niagara Falls gift shop cashier who takes direction from talkative inanimate objects. What? Like you've never done it.
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (Fox)--This comedy never drew the fan base needed to keep it on the air more than three seasons, but critics adored it. Produced by Ron Howard, it starred Jason Bateman and Michael Cera as part of a dysfunctional, once-wealthy family fallen on hard times when the patriarch is charged with defrauding investors.
DEADWOOD (HBO)--This Western drama is set in lawless Deadwood, S.D., in the late 1800s, where fortunes are made in brothels and gold-mining camps--and lost at poker or at gunpoint. The language used over the course of three seasons is colorful to say the least.
HUMAN GIANT (MTV)--Allegedly, the creators of this sketch comedy show have been offered the chance to do a third season, but it's up in the air. You'll recognize lots of familiar faces from "The Office" and "Saturday Night Live."
THE SHIELD (FX)--The New York Times called this show one of "the greatest crime dramas ever on television," and its critic practically wept when, in 2008, it ended after seven seasons. The series focused on the unorthodox--and often illegal--practices of a corrupt anti-gang police force. | 
