NEW YORK (AP) – Are you worried there will be nothing to look at once the holiday decorations come down?
Here, in no particular order, is a list of 10 home-video goodies to fill the gap. They may not fit so well in loved ones’ stockings, but they’ll look just great on a video screen. (More good news: All can be purchased online and are typically available for less than the suggested list price provided here.)
– “Batman: The Complete Television Series.” (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. DVD, $199.70; Blu-Ray, $269.97.) In the later films, Batman was the Dark Knight. “I’m the Bright Knight,” says Adam West, who starred as Batman (alongside Burt Ward as Robin) in this campy, cartoonish romp that aired for three seasons on ABC in the early 1960s. The set includes all 120 episodes completely remastered and featuring guest stars including Julie Newmar, Liberace, Vincent Price, Bruce Lee and Frank Gorshin in its first-ever home video release.
– “Hill Street Blues: The Complete Series.” (Shout! Factory. $199.99.) Before “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” before “The Sopranos” and “Lost,” before any viewer dreamed of a new Golden Age of TV Drama, the seeds were planted and blossomed as “Hill Street Blues.” Boasting serial narratives, tragicomic tales and a brilliant ensemble, it aired from 1981-87, reaping 26 Emmys and paving the way for the great dramas we’ve been watching ever since. Now all 144 episodes are available in a 34-DVD set telling the full saga of a racially torn, crime-ridden precinct of an urban metropolis where it’s always smart to “be careful out there.”
– “Downton Abbey – Seasons 1-4.” (PBS Distribution. DVD, $99.99; Blu-ray, $109.99.) The perfect warmup for Season 5 of this grand soap opera returning to the air in January. Following the Crawley family and their servants from pre-war England through the storms of World War I and into the social upheaval of England in the 1920s, the lavish episodes – a dozen discs’ worth – feature a cast led by Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery and Maggie Smith.