If modern TV is just too fast-paced, too graphic or too complicated, there are antidotes. DVD makes old TV shows easily accessible and, thanks to full-series sets, fans can own their favorites in their entirety to watch any time they want.
Here's just a sample of the more recent complete series boxed sets that have hit the market:
• Daniel Boone, 165 episodes on 36 discs from Fox Home Entertainment, $114.95.
This action-adventure series follows the famed Revolutionary War-era pioneer hero (Fess Parker) as he fights off the British and unfriendly American Indians in colonial Kentucky.
Boone's a family man, with wife Rebecca (Patricia Blair), son Israel (Darby Hinton) and (in the first two seasons) daughter Jemima (Veronica Cartwright). But the real stories come when he strikes out into the wild on missions for leaders like George Washington and Patrick Henry, or to protect fellow settlers and friendly natives. Episode adventures might mean transporting a cannon through the wilderness or taking a stand against slavery.
He's moral, smart and strong, with a sense of humor when the occasion calls for it.
He's got his pal Yadkin (Albert Salmi) in the first season and the Oxford-educated, half-Cherokee, half-English Mingo (Ed Ames) at his side.
The setting and real-life characters do not mean, though, that it's historically accurate. The series was intended for entertainment, not so much for education.
It's not politically correct either. But it's entertaining in its own way. The first season is in black and white, the rest are in color.
There are no extra features.
• Mister Ed, 143 episodes on 22 discs from Shout! Factory, $139.99.
You've never heard of a talking horse? Sure you have.
Mister Ed is the story of an average architect named Wilbur Post (Alan Young) and his best pal -- a talking horse named, of course, Mister Ed.
Ed gives Wilbur someone to talk to and can actually come in handy from time to time. But he's also the source of a lot of problems and awkward situations for Wilbur, who can't just go around saying, "My horse talks!" without winding up in the loony bin.
The bonus features are an episode commentary, half-hour retrospective and interviews with Young and Connie Hines (who plays Wilbur's wife, Carol) and Studebaker car and U.S. bonds commercials.
• Sgt. Bilko: The Phil Silvers Show, 142 episodes on 25 discs from Shout! Factory, $129.99.
Comedian Silvers stars as Bilko, the scheming head of the motor pool at Fort Baxter in Kansas. With the help of his cohorts (including Harvey Lembeck and Allan Melvin), he runs scams and get-rich-quick schemes right under the nose of Colonel Hall (Paul Ford).
Silvers was a broad, fast-talking, somewhat abrasive comic actor and a little of him can go a long way. Of course, those who are fans of his would get a kick out of watching him go through his vaudeville-inspired act through nearly 150 episodes.
As for extras, there's a Silvers episode of The Lucy Show, an unaired episode, the original network opening segment, commercials and commentary tracks -- but only for the first season.
New this week: The Bob Newhart Show, Season 5; Canterbury's Law, Complete Series; Maude, Season 1; The Wonder Years, Season 2.
Next week: Batman, Season 2, Part 1; Hart to Hart, Season 4; Mama's Family, Season 6; Nurse Jackie, Season 6.
Style on 02/01/2015