EXPOSURE!! GILMORE!! PARK!! VERONICA!! CARNIVALE!! CURB!! Christmas Unleashed II!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series made Time’s list of the 100 best shows ever, right up there with “Buffy” and “The Wire” and “The Larry Sanders Show” and “Moonlighting” and “Monty Python” and “Star Trek” and “The Simpsons.” And deservedly so, I say. Harry's wife Yoko and I share a great love for this thing. The series told the tale of a pregnant, single teen named Lorelei Gilmore who fled her privileged life to raise her daughter in small-town Connecticut, far outside the influence of her rich control-freak mother Emily. Lorelei and her big-brained daughter Rory grew up to become the best of friends, and Lorelei finds herself forced to turn to Emily for tuition money when Rory is accepted into a prestigious boarding school that could change her life. For the first six of its seven seasons, the series was magic, fueled by the fierce, biting, bracing and world-class wit mastermind Amy Sherman-Palladino lent to its title characters. The banter on “Girls” was so well-crafted that an urban legend emerged suggesting that “Amy Sherman-Palladino” was actually a pseudonym for Aaron Sorkin, whose own high-octane comic dialogue was concurrently driving the acclaimed “West Wing.” Sherman-Palladino, sadly, was squeezed out of her own series over a budget impasse with Warner Bros. “Gilmore’s” showrunner for the seventh season turned out to be no Sherman-Palladino, and I confess I bailed somewhere around 7.4. Apparently others did as well; the series’ ratings plummeted under new management and the show was not renewed for an eighth season. Still, the first six seasons were gold, and the complete series price of $169.99 works out to just $24.28 per season.

An embarrassment of riches this week. Northern Exposure is not on Time’s Top 100 list, but it’s certainly on mine. Created by “St. Elsewhere” writer-producers Joshua Brand and John Falsey, it featured as a major creative force David Chase, who came out of “The Rockford Files” and went on to mastermind “The Sopranos. It was an hourlong fish-out-of-water comedy about Dr. Joel Fleishman, a Manhattan physician fresh out of med school who found himself forced to practice in the tiny Alaska town of Cicely to pay back his student loans to the state. Despite its size, Cicely turned out to be a particularly cosmopolitan place riddled with unexpected characters. It is home to both ex-astronaut/millionaire Maurice Minnifield and the even richer Native American and former movie actor Lester Haines, who seeded his fortune making cowboy movies in Hollywood. Beautiful bush pilot Maggie O’Connell turned out to be a rich girl who fled her tawny Michigan neighborhood. Thoughtful local radio personality Chris Stevens turned out to be a fugitive wanted in West Virginia. The forest-dwelling, sasquatch-like Adam, at first thought to be a myth, turned out to have a background with the CIA and as a professional gourmet chef. Local innkeepers Ron and Erick turned out to be a hilariously non-sterotypical homosexual couple. Waitress Shelly Vincoeur turns out to have been a beauty queen in her native Canada. Ed Chigliak, an aspiring teen filmmaker raised by native Alaskans, turns out to be obsessed with Woody Allen and Federico Fellini. Jack Black played Kevin Wilkins, one-third of the graduating class of Cicely High. James Marsters played a priest. Adam Ant played a lost rock star. Graham Greene was a local medicine man. Bill Irwin played Enrico Ballati, “The Flying Man.” David Hemmings played a retired Russian spy. Anthony Edwards had a memorable recurring role as “Bubble Man” Miles Monroe just before he was cast as the lead on “ER.” The biggest bonuses on the “Exposure” DVD sets are the amazing number of deleted scenes, including entire never-aired “b-stories.” The new 110-episode complete series set, which comes packaged in its own adorable sheepskin satchel, goes for $134.99, which works out to $22.49 per season or $1.23 per episode, a huge markdown from earlier sets and a great deal.

BBC2’s The Young Ones: was always worth watching if only for omnivorous violence-loving med student Vyvyan Basterd, played to sociopathic perfection by Adrian Edmondson (whom I always thought would go on to become a much bigger deal in showbiz).

Christmas Time in South Park comes with seven holiday themed episodes from the series’ first eight seasons: 1.9 "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo" (1997) 2.16 "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson" (1998) 3.15 "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" (1999) 4.17 "A Very Crappy Christmas" (2000) 6.19 "Red Sleigh Down" (2002) 7.15 "It's Christmas in Canada" (2003) 8.14 "Woodland Critter Christmas" (2004)

Ted Cassidy as Lurch. Carolyn Jones as Morticia. John Astin as Gomez. These are finest things in life. If you’re on the fence about The Addams Family: The Complete Series, have a look at the 64 episode titles included on the new set: 1.1 The Addams Family Goes To School 1.2 Morticia and the Psychiatrist 1.3 Fester's Punctured Romance 1.4 Gomez the Politician 1.5 The Addams Family Tree 1.6 Morticia Joins the Ladies League 1.7 Halloween With the Addams Family 1.8 Green Eyed Gomez 1.9 The New Neighbors Meet the Addams Family 1.10 Wednesday Leaves Home 1.11 The Addams Family Meets the VIPs 1.12 Morticia, the Matchmaker 1.13 Lurch Learns to Dance 1.14 Art and the Addams Family 1.15 The Addams Family Meets the Beatnik 1.16 The Addams Family Meets the Undercover Man 1.17 Mother Lurch Visits the Addams Family 1.18 Uncle Fester's Illness 1.19 The Addams Family Splurges 1.20 Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family 1.21 The Addams Family in Court 1.22 Amnesia in the Addams Family 1.23 Thing Is Missing 1.24 Crisis In the Addams Family 1.25 Lurch and His Harpsichord 1.26 Morticia, the Breadwinner 1.27 The Addams Family and the Spacemen 1.28 My Son, the Chimp 1.29 Morticia's Favorite Charity 1.30 Progress and the Addams Family 1.31 Uncle Fester's Toupee 1.32 Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counselor 1.33 Lurch, the Teenage Idol 1.34 The Winning of Morticia Addams 2.1 My Fair Cousin Itt 2.2 Morticia's Romance Part One 2.3 Morticia's Romance Part Two 2.4 Morticia Meets Royalty 2.5 Gomez, the People's Choice 2.6 Cousin Itt's Problem 2.7 Halloween, Addams Style 2.8 Morticia, the Writer 2.9 Morticia, the Sculptress 2.10 Gomez, the Reluctant Lover 2.11 Feud in the Addams Family 2.12 Gomez, the Cat Burglar 2.13 Portrait of Gomez 2.14 Morticia's Dilemma 2.15 Christmas with the Addams Family 2.16 Uncle Fester, Tycoon 2.17 Morticia and Gomez vs. Fester and Grandmama 2.18 Fester Goes on a Diet 2.19 The Great Treasure Hunt 2.20 Ophelia Finds Romance 2.21 Pugsley's Allowance 2.22 Happy Birthday, Grandma Frump 2.23 Morticia, the Decorator 2.24 Ophelia Visits Morticia 2.25 Addams Cum Laude 2.26 Cat Addams 2.27 Lurch's Little Helper 2.28 The Addams Policy 2.29 Lurch's Grand Romance 2.30 Ophelia's Career Lurch The Teenage Idol! What’s funnier than that? Extras, as described by one “Calvinnme” on Amazon.com:

Audio commentary for "The Addams Family Goes To School", "Morticia, The Matchmaker" and "Cousin Itt Visits The Addams Family" featuring cast members Lisa Loring, Ken Weatherwax and Felix Silla with "The Addams Chronicles" author Stephen Cox and director Arthur Hiller. Thing and Cousin Itt select scene commentary on "Thing is Missing", "My Son, the Chimp", "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counsellor", "My Fair Cousin Itt" "Morticia's Dilemma", "Ophelia Finds Romance" and "Lurch's Little Helper". Commentary by Steven Cox, author of "The Addams Chronicles" on "Morticia Meets Royalty" and "Morticia the Decorator". Tombstone Trivia on "Morticia's Romance" (Part I) and "Cat Addams". "You Rang, Mr. Addams" - featurette "Snap, Snap" - featurette "The Addams Family Portrait" featurette including on-camera interviews with John Astin. "Mad About The Addams" featurette "Guest Star Séance" with Parley Baer, Milton Frome, Vito Scotti, Elizabeth Fraser, Richard Deacon, Sig Ruman, Margaret Hamilton, Elvia Allman, Eddie Quillan and Peter Bonerz. Theme Song Karaoke Still galleries featuring original drawings and photos

As Harry points out, you can buy the entire series for less than $50.

A huge fan of Michael Mann as a writer and director of motion pictures, from “Thief,” “The Keep” and “Manhunter” through “Heat” (my favorite film of 1995), “The Insider” and “Collateral,” I never had much use for Mann’s Miami Vice series, but it might be fun to revisit Edward James Olmos’ performance as boss Martin Castillo now that we’ve grown more familiar with his abilities via “Stand and Deliver,” “The West Wing,” and of course “Battlestar Galactica.” The 2006 movie is not included, but I will say the box this new set comes in, covered with simulated white alligator skin (an homage to Sonny Crockett’s shoes?), is gorgeous.

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