These days, there's no better way to enjoy your favorite shows than through DVD box sets. If you're putting together the ultimate collection, you'd be wise to start with these suggestions.

COMEDY

Chappelle's Show: Season 2 – Uncensored (Paramount): Comedy so biting, so deep that it sent its creator to Africa. Keep your passport handy. Extras: Unaired footage, including an hour's worth of bloopers and deleted scenes. And it's all bleeping uncensored.

Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series (Shout! Factory): Creator Judd Apatow provides revenge for the nerds in a sitcom that hits all too close to home. The follow-up, “Undeclared,” is a worthwhile grad course. Extras: A geek's dream, with 29 commentary tracks for 18 episodes, plus all the original music.

Friends: The Complete Second Season (Warner): Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) finally hook up – and how couldn't they after the heartwarming ending of “The One With the Prom Video”? Extras: Commentary by the producers and an interactive tour of the big apartment.

MASH: The Martinis and Medicine Collection (Fox): If you don't want to pony up for the whole series, sign up for Season 6, when David Ogden Stiers injected new (blue) blood into the long-running show as Maj. Charles Winchester. Extras: The Robert Altman film that inspired the series, two discs of bonus material and a book.

Seinfeld: Season 4 (Sony): The master year of the sitcom's domain with help from Teri Hatcher, Bubble Boy and John Cheever – not that there's anything wrong with that. Extras: Interviews, commentary, deleted scenes, promos, notes, yadda yadda yadda.

Taxi: The Complete Third Season (Paramount): Hail network television's greatest sitcom, with episodes that have Rev. Jim (Christopher Lloyd) overloading on TV and Latka (Andy Kaufman) overloading on “funny” cookies. Extras: Unfortunately, this “Taxi” offers a no-frills ride.

DRAMA

The Sopranos: The Complete First Season (HBO): The first chapter in this Mafia epic is an offer you can't refuse. Extras: A big-name fan, director Peter Bogdanovich, coaxes a 78-minute interview out of series creator David Chase.

The West Wing: The Complete Second Season (Warner): President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) takes on an assassin's bullet, his wife, the Republicans and even God in his most dramatic term. Extras: Commentary by creator Aaron Sorkin, Sheen and others, deleted scenes and bloopers.

The Wire: The Complete First Season (HBO): This complex drama was made for DVD, where the rewind button will help you figure out the story lines and revel again and again in the juiciest dialogue. Extras: Commentary, deleted scenes and – gulp – a gag reel.

GENRE FARE

Lost: The Complete First Season (Buena Vista): Who could keep track of all the ins and outs of ABC's popular desert-island serial without this essential set? Extras: Expert debate on the show's secrets, audition footage, deleted scenes and oodles more.

Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 2 (Paramount): “The Trouble With Tribbles” – that unforgettable episode is all you need to know about this must-have set of the legendary sci-fi show. Extras: A look at the trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, a season recap and more.

Twilight Zone: The Definitive Edition – Season 1 (Image): The first step into a new dimension remains the most dazzling. Extras: Stunning image quality and loads of bonus material, including the essential book The Twilight Zone Companion (but you might have to hunt for that version of the set).

The X-Files: The Complete Second Season (Fox): The truth is out there in Chris Carter's thrill-a-minute fan favorite, which earns a special mention for being the show that started the whole season-set trend on DVD. Extras: Comments by Carter, season retrospective, deleted scenes and promos.

ANIMATION

Schoolhouse Rock! (Buena Vista): The cartoon shorts that taught us about everything from conjunctions to the Constitution. Extras: A peek at the faces behind the voices and how the shorts were created.

The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season (Fox): It's hard to pick from all 18 seasons, but this wins out by a hair – a blue hair – as Marge takes on the monorail and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Extras: Commentary on all 22 episodes and loads more, all compiled by creator Matt Groening. D'oh!

MINISERIES

Band of Brothers (HBO): What Saving Private Ryan ” was to cinema, this HBO miniseries was to TV – an unforgettably realistic depiction of World War II combat. Extras: Three pithy documentaries and an interactive field guide.

MUSIC

Saturday Night Live: 25 Years of Music (Lions Gate): Many great live performances aren't here, but this five-disc set provides a great place to start. Extras: Some music-related sketches.

TALK/VARIETY

The Ultimate Carson Collection (Carson): Heeere's Johnny at his very best, with stars, skits and deadpan takes. Extras: “Danger Johnny” segments and behind-the-scenes footage.

The Daily Show: Indecision 2004 (Comedy Central): The big winner of the last presidential vote had to be Jon Stewart et al., who are at their best during convention time. Extras: An entire bonus disc, including an unforgettable “Star-Spangled Banner.”

Late Night With Conan O'Brien: The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (Lions Gate): His comedy might be tasteless, but the insult-spewing puppet pooch wins best in show. Extras: Additional “poopings.”

The Oprah Winfrey Show: 20th Anniversary Collection (Paramount): Six discs of extras as the talk-show queen takes you on a 20-year tour of her biggest, funniest and unseen moments. Extras: A free car! (For the studio audience.)

BRITISH

The Office: Complete Series 1 and 2 and the Special (BBC): Yeah, the American version is just fine, but it's impossible to beat the overall squirminess of the British original. Extras: Deleted scenes with essential funny bits if not plot points.

Black Adder: The Complete Collector's Set (BBC): A pre-”Mr. Bean” Rowan Atkinson takes viewers on a wild ride through British history as the many incarnations of one Edmund Blackadder. Extras: Essential guides to who's who and what's what, and a sing-along.

Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection (BBC): The riotous escapades of rude hotelier Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) produced only 12 episodes, but it's no insult to want to watch them again and again. Extras: Middling fare, but you'll like it – or else.

© 2006, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.