By Sean Axmaker
Special to MSN Entertainment

There's more TV than ever coming out on DVD, from vintage shows to last week's special event. Hit shows are released before the new seasons begin and cult shows are resurrected in deluxe treatments. There's a TV set for everyone on your gift list. Here are some of the best collections, offbeat offerings and coolest editions out there this season.

THE LONG RUN: COMPLETE SERIES
"Seinfeld: The Complete Series"
Sony
Buy It
For a sitcom about nothing, this exhaustive collection of all nine seasons of Jerry Seinfeld's pop-culture phenomenon -- 180 episodes on 32 discs -- is more than just a bunch of yada, yada, yada. The discs are efficiently stored in a pair of compact, easy-to-access cases and stacked in cubbyholes in a sturdy case with a lavish 226-page hardbound episode guide with an exclusive bonus disc. What can I say? "Seinfeld" is the master of the complete series domain.

"I Love Lucy: The Complete Series"
Paramount
Buy It
The whole McGillicuddy -- Lucy McGillicuddy, that is -- is boxed up in this valentine of a collection featuring the entire run of classic TV's defining sitcom. Lift off the heart-shaped lid to find 34 discs nestled in a pair of cardboard cases that open up like accordions, featuring all 179 sitcom episodes and 13 "Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour" episodes, the never-broadcast pilot episode, "I Love Lucy: The Movie," and more.

"Star Trek: The Next Generation -- The Complete Series"
Paramount
Buy It
All 176 episodes of the second coming of the Starship Enterprise and its seven-year mission is contained in a 49-disc box set collected in a monolithic green cube that turns out to be a faceless mass of storage leafs. It's not particularly elegant (it calls to mind a Borg vessel with spring fever), but it is compact and takes up less space than most single-season collections. I just wish they would have beamed aboard an episode guide.

In Brief
"Northern Exposure: The Complete Series" collects six seasons on 26 discs in 14 thinpak cases and drops them in a fleece-lined messenger bag. "Angel: Collector's Set" is much more efficient in repackaging five seasons of the supernatural detective show in stacked DVD booklets in a space-saving (and easy-to-access) cube. MacGyver himself apparently designed the accordion cases that hold the 39 discs in the "MacGyver: The Complete Series" box set, which includes an exclusive disc of featurettes. Fans of the gentler tone of British TV may enjoy the simple pleasures of "Ballykissangel: Complete Collection" and "All Creatures Great and Small: Complete Collection."

CULT TV
"Twin Peaks: Definitive Gold Box Edition"
Paramount
Buy It
Pour yourself a cup of joe, cut a slice of cherry pie and sit back for the entire run of David Lynch's dark and delirious TV noir. This 10-disc collection collects every episode of the brief two-season run, including the long-awaited DVD debut of the feature-length pilot. It also features the extended European cut (which was released to theaters with an alternate ending), an excellent documentary and "A Slice of Lynch" -- Lynch's first-ever participation in a "Twin Peaks" release.

"The Man From U.N.C.L.E: The Complete Series"
Time Life
Available exclusively from Time Life via the Time Life website
Download photos, box cover, and press release here
TV's answer to James Bond, starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as the small screen's coolest cold warriors, debuts in its entirety on DVD -- 107 episodes on 41 discs -- in a paperboard box insidiously disguised as a secret agent attaché case. It features the original color pilot and plenty of declassified featurettes and archival clips.

"Secret Agent aka Danger Man: The Complete Collection"
A&E
Buy It
Before Patrick McGoohan was "The Prisoner," he was Agent John Drake, the cool, clever undercover operative for Britain's top secret M-9 security force. This mega-set features the complete run of both the half-hour and hour-long incarnations of the black-and-white British spy series, as well as the only two episodes made in color, in an 18-disc box set.

In Brief
Ten seasons of space-hopping through a brave new universe converge in "Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series Collector's Edition," a 54-disc box set with a distinctive packaging design: a pair of disc holders that seem to loop back on themselves. "Family Guy: Freakin' Party Pack" jams 90 episodes of the animated comedy and more (including playing cards, poker chips and pingpong paddles) into a small toy box of a carrying case. "The Masters of Horror: Season One Box Set" collects all 13 episodes of Showtime's horror anthology in a mausoleum of a case, a rather inefficient design with cheap cardboard sleeves, but it sure looks cool.

EVENT TV
"The War"
Paramount
Buy It
Ken Burns goes to war once again to profile World War II through the perspective of the everyday Americans who fought, died and endured. Broadcast on PBS in fall 2007, "The War" became one of the most heralded television events since Burns first made history with "The Civil War" series 17 years ago. The six-disc set includes the entire 15-hour series plus 24 minutes of deleted scenes and 55 minutes of bonus interviews.

"Roots: The Complete Collection"
Warner
Buy It
The complete landmark miniseries "Roots" and the 1979 sequel "Roots: The Next Generations" are collected in this 10-disc set along with the DVD debut of the 1988 TV movie "Roots: The Gift" and two discs of documentaries exclusive to this set. It's a handsome box, but I'm not impressed with the cardboard pockets carved out for the discs, because they tend to slip out.

In Brief
Anthony Powell's landmark 12-novel cycle "A Dance to the Music of Time" is brought to the small screen in this lavish eight-hour 1997 British miniseries. HBO's Emmy-winning telefilm "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" dramatizes a small but central portion of Dee Brown's seminal nonfiction book. The most expensive documentary series in BBC history, "Planet Earth: The Complete Series," puts a new perspective on the traditional documentary with state-of-the-art high-definition cameras.

SWITCHING CHANNELS
"My So-Called Life: The Complete Series"
Shout! Factory
Buy It
It only lasted a single season, but the critically acclaimed teen angst serial that propelled Claire Danes to stardom found an almost cultlike following when MTV adopted the reruns. All 19 episodes are collected in a six-disc set filled with commentary, interviews, featurettes and more, appropriately packaged in a keepsake box.

"Not Just the Best of 'The Larry Sanders Show'"
Sony Pictures
Buy It
Hey, now! Flip through highlights from the six-season run of Garry Shandling's scathingly funny late-night TV satire on this four-disc set featuring 23 episodes, spanning from the debut to the finale, and more than eight hours of supplements. Years later, it's still the sharpest and sneakiest comedy ever made about the business we call show.

In Brief
Revisit almost three hours of highlights from Stephen Colbert's hilarious spoof of political opinion TV in "The Best of 'The Colbert Report,'" which gives you nothing but the truthiness. Discover one of the best cop dramas of the past decade and one of the most popular Canadian shows of all time with "Da Vinci's Inquest: Season 1." Also from Canada is Don McKellar's "Twitch City: The Complete Series," a bizarro sitcom of TV addiction and romantic absurdity.

FIRST SEASONS
"Heroes: Season 1"
Universal
Buy It
Not your usual superhero adventure, Tim Kring's epic serialized thriller about ordinary humans with superhuman abilities was the surprise breakout hit of the 2006-2007 season, a mix of conspiracy thriller and comic-book mythology in an epic tale that sprawls the globe. The seven-disc digipak set also features the extended, unaired 73-minute "Tim Kring Cut" of the pilot episode, which features an entire deleted subplot.

"Ugly Betty: The Complete First Season - The Bettyfied Edition"
Buena Vista
Buy It
The American adaptation of the Colombian telenovela "Yo Soy Betty, La Fea" plays like an entire season of "The Devil Wears Prada" -- a catty soap opera with a goofball twist. The box set includes breezy featurettes and many deleted scenes.

"Friday Night Lights: The First Season"
Universal
Buy It
Adapted from a best-selling book and a well-received feature film, this intelligently made series set in a small Texas town eats, drinks and breathes football. The series never grabbed big ratings, but smart writing and compelling characters make it worth a second viewing.

In Brief
Take on the apocalypse with the survivors of "Jericho: The First Season," who managed -- just barely -- to make it to a second season. Michael C. Hall is a serial killer with an Old Testament sense of morality in the Showtime series "Dexter: The Complete First Season." There were two shows in 2006 set backstage at a late-night comedy skit show: "30 Rock: Season 1" is the funny one with Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.

Sean Axmaker is a film critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and a DVD columnist for MSN Entertainment. He is also a contributing writer for GreenCine.com, Turner Classic Movies Online and Asian Cult Cinema, among other publications.

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