Television series
Rod Lott
IFC's sketch series of Portlandia is no longer the "OMG, this is amazing!" surprise of its initial season. With season two, we simply expect it to be, and it does not disappoint.

Television series
Rod Lott
With the arrival of fall, a whole new crop of television series has debuted. And yet, I can’t say I’ve caught many more than maybe two. See, I’ve been too busy catching up on all these shows on Blu-ray and DVD — shows such as these fine nine ...

Television series
Rod Lott
Four of the finest hours of entertainment this year can be found in The Crimson Petal and the White, an enchanting, seductive BBC miniseries based on Michel Faber’s best-selling novel. Set in London of 1874, in a time of cholera, it is, as co-star Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids) states in a bonus interview, “a love story almost entirely bereft of love.”

Television series
Rod Lott
Marrying Hollywood's current fairy-tale craze to the ever popular crime procedural is Grimm. While it works on both levels, that it blends the two into a unified whole gives the concept so much fizz, as the 22 episodes of its five-disc first season indicate. This one's perfect for marathoning.

Television series
Rod Lott
XXIV, VXI, XXX, IV, X — hell, it's all Greek Roman to me. All I know for sure is that each and every box set that has been or will be released of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is worth owning. Since the new Volume XXIV falls into that category, it, too, qualifies.

Television series
Rod Lott
Sins and sons — those are the driving themes for the sixth season of Dexter, arguably the anchor of the Showtime cable network. Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall in his Golden Globe-winning role) is a Miami Metro PD forensics analyst who moonlights as a serial killer of serial killers.

Television series
Rod Lott
I don’t watch a ton of TV shows while they’re airing. With a few exceptions, I wait for the DVD and/or Blu-ray sets so I can go on marathons — the only kind of marathons in which I’ll ever participate. Here are capsule reviews of seven such recent tubular trips.

Television series
Rod Lott
As beloved as Lynda La Plante’s long-running crime series Prime Suspect is, her Above Suspicion deserves equal adoration. It’s another example of how the British leave viewers wanting more, rather than taking the American approach of burning them out, because the first two seasons — all seven episodes between them — come collected on Acorn Media’s two-disc Set 1. This leaves two more seasons as yet unreleased, so I pray we see a Set 2 soon down the pipe.

Television series
Rod Lott
Dismiss any worries you have that the sophomore season of BBC's smash Sherlock may not live up to the first. It does. One could even argue for surpassing it, but such debate is needless; excellence is excellence.

Television series
Rod Lott
Who killed Rosie Larsen? No, seriously, who killed Rosie Larsen?

Television series
Rod Lott
Consider the lines "I'm going to T.J. Maxx for a while. I'll catch up with you guys later" and "I always thought it was a myth, like fibromyalgia." Interest piqued? If yes, Eagleheart awaits!

Television series
Rod Lott
Fans won't need much convincing (if at all) to plunk down their choice of currency for a purchase of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXIII (that's "23," dummies), because by now, Shout! Factory's rep for packing these boxes with genuine care and irresistible extras is rock-solid.

Television series
Rod Lott
Werewolves, exorcisms, vampires — and how's your family doing?

Television series
Rod Lott
At the risk of making me less popular than I already am, I don’t get the unconditional love for HBO’s Game of Thrones that suggests it is beyond criticism. A harmless crush, I understand; a vow of eternity, no. It’s too soon to be slipping a ring on its finger just yet, but as season two beckons, the potential certainly exists.

Television series
Rod Lott
From season 14 of the BBC’s crown jewel, Doctor Who, comes “The Robots of Death,” a four-part storyline, complete with cliffhangers every 24 minutes or so.