4K, Blu-ray and DVD gift ideas for television show lovers

Here’s a selection of top gift ideas for the TV binge-watchers in the family who own 4K, Blu-ray and DVD players.

Friends: The Complete Series (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, rated TV-14, 4,800 minutes, 23 4K discs and two Blu-ray discs, 1.78:1 aspect ratio, $249.99) — One of the most critically acclaimed and popular sitcoms in the history of television debuts in the ultra-high definition format to celebrate its 30^th anniversary.

From 1994 to 2004, viewers were privy to the lives and loves of a core set of best friends living in Manhattan including fashionista Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston); analyst Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry); Bohemian artist Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow); actor Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc); and siblings, paleontologist Ross (David Schwimmer) and chef Monica Geller (Courteney Cox).

Creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman’s often laugh-out-loud plotlines for the Gen Xers over the 10 seasons spanned the complexities of love, aging, jobs, births, loss and the importance of gathering to enjoy a great cup of boutique coffee. The series concluded with nuptials for a pair of the friends.

A bevy of notable actors also appeared on “Friends” over the show’s run distinguished by Elliott Gould as Ross and Monica’s father Jack; Tom Selleck as one of Monica’s boyfriends; Paul Rudd as one of Phoebe’s boyfriends; Sean Penn as Phoebe’s sister Ursula’s fiance; Julia Roberts as Chandler’s childhood friend; Teri Garr as Phoebe’s birth mother; Bruce Willis as the father of one of Ross’ girlfriends; and Gary Oldman performing with actor Joey on stage.

The set includes all 236 episodes of the show, taking advantage of previous remasters from the 35mm film source but now with high dynamic range enhancements delivering quite the sharp and vivid visual experience.

Best extras: Start first with the 28 optional commentary tracks featuring executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Ms. Kauffman and Mr. Crane highlighted by the first and last episodes of the series; and the two-parters “The One with Ross’s Wedding,” “The One Where Rachel Has a Baby,” “The One in Barbados,” “The One with Monica and Chandler’s Wedding” and “The One With The Proposal.”

Owners also get two bonus Blu-ray discs adding another couple of hours of mainly previously released extras led by a 22-minute visit by the cast to “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” during their final season and the 42-minute Discovery Channel documentary “The One That Goes Behind The Scenes” covering the creation of the episode “The One After Vegas.”

Equally worth a look is a roughly 70-minute-long, three-part “True Friends” documentary and a 26-minute retrospective, all featuring Mr. Bright, Ms. Kauffman and Mr. Crane.

Also notable are roughly an hour’s worth of gag reels and segmented scenes for each season covering guest star appearances.

The discs also include a pair of new but forgettable featurettes: 15 minutes on props and costumes as explained by Warner Bros. archivist Matt Truex; and a seven-minute, seven-question trivia challenge.

Ahsoka: The Complete First Season Collector’s SteelBook Edition (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated TV-14, 356 minutes, 2 4K discs, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $75.99) — Anakin Skywalker’s mysterious padawan was granted her own live-action series on the Disney+ streaming service in 2023 and now home theater-based fans get quite the treat with its special release.

Ahsoka Tano’s (Rosario Dawson) adventure places the now legendary Jedi in a time after the fall of the malevolent Galactic Empire and in the rebuilding phase of a New Republic.

Of course, the forces of evil still lurk throughout the galaxy and her ultimate mission is to secure a map that could lead to the missing Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), one of the few remaining icons that could help resurrect the Empire.

Throughout her journey she gets help from a group of familiar “Rebels” (wink, wink from the animated series originating this narrative) such as Gen. Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead); former padawan Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo); while battling a pair of fallen Jedi (Ray Stevenson and Ivanna Sakhno) and one of the Nightsister witches in hopes of also reuniting with a young Jedi Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray) who helped displace Thrawn.

Viewers get all eight episodes of the show presented in magnificent ultra-high definition as they are plunged into a fully retro Star Wars universe, post “Return of the Jedi,” and loaded with canon moments including a chilling reunion between master and padawan.

Best extras: The two-disc set first offers exclusive optional commentary tracks with series creator Dave Filoni on the episodes “Shadow Warrior” and “The Jedi, the Witch and the Warlord.”

Digital goodies continue with four featurettes (averaging 10 minutes each) exploring the history of Ahsoka, the master-apprentice relationships, influences from the “Rebels” cartoon and the villains (also paying tribute to the late Stevenson).

For the sets gift-worthiness, admire the beautifully designed Steelbook case featuring new artwork by Attila Szarka using a mooted grey, white and blue color pallet.

The outside image features Ahsoka, thighs and up, wielding her dual lightsabers, a profile of Thrawn and full body images of Wren and the pair of fallen Jedi with lightsabers ready for a duel on a rocky shore.

The interior has a full-color photo spread with close-ups of a furious Ahsoka in mid-battle with fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll.

The package also includes three, full-color, postcard-sized pieces of art looking very much like they were adapted from concept illustrations used for the production.

They focus on Ahsoka walking through a forest, meeting with Anakin and walking toward a temple again.

Of course, Walt Disney Home Entertainment has additional 4K disc sets tied to some of its more popular Disney+ streaming series with one certain to further appeal to Star Wars fans.

Owners can now appreciate The Mandalorian: The Complete Third Season Collector’s Edition ($75.99) in Steelbook packaging, with all eight episodes chronicling the adventures of a famed bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his Force-enabled partner Din Grogu (aka baby Yoda) as they team up with Mandalorian leader Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and her warriors to stop Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito), a leader of a faction of the fallen Galactic Empire, from building an army.

Ted Lasso: The Richmond Way (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, not rated, 1,447 minutes, seven Blu-ray discs, 2.00:1 aspect ratio, $84.99) — A fictional coach starring in a series of commercials for NBC Sports back in 2013 eventually became a worldwide sensation through an uplifting dramedy on Apple TV+ that chronicled three seasons of the life of Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis).

The critically acclaimed series that won 11 Emmy Awards now debuts in the high definition format to explore through 34 episodes about the fictional English Premier League soccer team, AFC Richmond.

The tale found the current owner of AFC Richmond, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), hiring Mr. Lasso, a mediocre American football coach from Wichita, Kansas, to lead her players hoping for absolute failure as payback to her former philandering husband, the previous owner of the team.

Instead, Mr. Lasso uses determination, optimism and unorthodox coaching methods to not only win over Ms. Welton, but make his ragtag team of quirky players — such as egotistical striker Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), curmudgeonly veteran midfielder Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein) and ebullient Mexican fielder Dani Rojas (Cristo Fernández) — believe that they can succeed.

This addictive and heartwarming series also starred Brendan Hunt as assistant coach Beard, Jeremy Swift as director of Football Operations Leslie Higgins, Juno Temple as the team’s marketing manager Keeley Jones, and Nick Mohammed as the team’s assistant coach turned rival coach Nathan Shelley.

Best extras: Almost incomprehensible and worth multiple headshakes, the set contains zero digital extras. Still, it was one of the best shows in the digital realm and an absolutely welcomed gift for fans of soccer.

The package does contain a full color, double-sided poster with one side offering a cast compilation photo and Mr. Lasso’s inspirational words “doing the right thing is never the wrong thing” and the other, the word “believe” (pivotal in the series), but that’s hardly a consolation.

Dexter’s Laboratory: The Complete Series (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, not rated, 1,791 minutes, 12 DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, $69.99) — One of the key first wave of television series that helped turn Cartoon Network into an innovative animation powerhouse arrives for the first time on a home entertainment disc medium

Never mind its release in the painfully inadequate DVD format, viewers still get all 78 short episodes (roughly seven minutes in length) of the show as well as the full-length TV movie ” Dexter’s Laboratory: Ego Trip,” which completely gave children back in the mid-1990s a reason to love science.

Specifically, the series covered the exploits of pint-sized third-grader Dexter’s work in his super-secret, high-tech lab hidden in his bedroom. An annoying string-bean sister Dee Dee as well as archrival Mandark threaten to stifle his creativity in building amazing inventions and solving the complexities of living as a genius.

The first two seasons were brilliantly concocted by Genndy Tartakovsky (“Samurai Jack” and “Star Wars: Clone Wars”) with the illustrative might of future legends such as Craig McCracken (“Power Puff Girls”) and Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy”).

Mr. Tartakovsky and the crew left the show for the remaining seasons that not only shifted away from traditional cel animation but were less edgy and more familiar than brilliant.

Best extras: Well, here we go again, the release of an influential series on home entertainment and nothing is offered in the way of extras.

I almost find it incomprehensible that Mr. Tartakovsky, who owes his career to Cartoon Network and Warner Bros., could not be cajoled to sit down and offer a retrospective look at the show.

It is worth noting that the slipcover is kind of cool with a full version of Dexter and a reflection of his lab in his glasses and when removed reveals his laboratory with Dee Dee in the middle pushing a button to the scientist’s annoyance.

Welcome Back Kotter: The Complete Series (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, not rated, 2,130 minutes, 12 DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio, $39.98) — Comedian Gabe Kaplan’s homage to his high school years in Brooklyn, New York, returns to the antiquated DVD format to give the few remaining fans of the infamous “Sweathogs” a nostalgic sitcom gift.

The entire four seasons of the show that ran on ABC from 1975 through 1979 offer a 95-episode run showcasing the shenanigans at the fictional James Buchanan High School.

Gabe Kotter (Mr. Kaplan), a graduate of the tough school, returns a decade later to teach a remedial academics class featuring a trouble-making and ethnically diverse group of students known as the “Sweathogs.”

The cast included Marcia Strassman as Gabe’s wife Julie; John Sylvester White as Vice Principal Michael Woodman; and the Sweathogs, portrayed by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington), Robert Hegyes (Juan Epstein) and Ron Palillo (Arnold Horshack).

And in his first TV role, the up-and-coming superstar John Travolta played the heartthrob and irascible leader Vinnie (“up your nose with a rubber hose”) Barbarino.

The show was a pop culture phenomenon and even featured guest appearances by George Carlin, James Woods, Pat Morita and John Astin as well as delivering a No. 1 hit for John Sebastian with his theme song “Welcome Back.”

Best extras: Viewers get absolutely nothing in digital goodies which is a bit head-scratching since a Shout Factory release of the entire series back in 2014 had some actor screen tests and a 23-minute retrospective.

The West Wing: The Complete Series (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, not rated, 6,732 minutes, 28 Blu-ray discs, 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 aspect ratio, $139.99) — While existing in one of the most toxic political environments in the history of the United States, Americans may find respite binge-watching a television series that ran on NBC from 1999 to 2006 chronicling the calmer adventures of President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet and his administration.

Now available in the high definition disc format, all 156 episodes of the seven-season run of creator Aaron Sorkin’s expertly crafted drama are available in one boxed, calm-shelled set.

Taking place mainly in the early 2000s and when a Democrat controlled the White House while Republicans held the Congress, the narrative covers the daily grind of the executive branch of the federal government.

Subplots range from the president suffering from multiple sclerosis to an assassination attempt, nominations for the Supreme Court, a contentious reelection and the kidnapping of the president’s daughter.

The series, which won 26 Primetime Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Drama Series for four consecutive seasons), starred Martin Sheen as the president; Stockard Channing as first lady Abbey Bartlet; Rob Lowe as Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn; Allison Janney as press secretary C.J. Cregg; Richard Schiff as Communications Director Toby Ziegler; John Spencer as Chief of Staff Leo McGarry; Bradley Whitford as Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman; Janel Moloney as staffer Donna Moss; and Dulé Hill as president’s aid Charlie Young.

Special guest stars included Jimmy Smits as Texas Rep. Matt Santos, Alan Alda as California Sen. Arnold Vinick, Glenn Close as Chief Justice Evelyn Baker Lang, James Brolin as Florida Gov. Robert Ritchie, J.K. Simmons as Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Harry Ravitch, Hal Holbrook as Assistant Secretary of State Albie Duncan; and Lily Tomlin as Debbie Fiderer, the executive assistant to the president.

Viewers should also do themselves a favor by avoiding all of the main actors’ social media pages ripe with their irrelevant political opinions as not to taint their often award-winning performances.

Best extras: All compiled from the series’ various season DVD releases over the years, the collection first delivers 21 optional commentary tracks.

They feature an assortment of cast and crew depending on the episode and include Mr. Sorkin (on 15 of the tracks), Mr. Whitford, Mr. Sheen, Mr. Spencer, producers Thomas Schlamme and John Wells, director Christopher Misiano and television anchor Lawrence O’Donnell Jr.

Also included are hours’ worth of featurettes found mainly on the fourth disc of each season highlighted by a the 42-minute NBC special celebrating the show and featuring interviews with Presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford and other real former White House staffers; and a 50-minute overview of the live “The Debate” episode as seen through the work of the director and crew.

Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Series (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, not rated, 3,600 minutes, 24 DVD discs, 1.78:1 aspect ratio, $119.99) — Larry David, the curmudgeonly co-creator of “Seinfeld,” offered HBO subscribers a new level of access to his hilarious life in an adult sitcom that ran for 12 seasons on the cable network.

The comedy showed a mostly fictionalized but sometimes all-too-real look at the self-absorbed man behind the myth with cast members including Cheryl Hines as his wife, Jeff Garlin as his manager, Susie Essman as Jeff’s wife and J.B. Smoove as his uninvited roommate all improvising off of Mr. David’s loosely scripted adventures.

The entire series, all 120 episodes, now arrives via the horribly antiquated DVD format but that will not stop fans from embracing the laughs tied to such themed seasons as Mr. David starring in the Broadway hit, “The Producers”; Mr. David getting the entire “Seinfeld” cast back together for a reunion show; and Mr. David opening a spite coffee shop to take down archenemy Mocha Joe.

Ensemble cast members also included Ted Danson, Richard Lewis and Vince Vaughn. Guest stars ranged from Mel Brooks to Rosie O’Donnell, David Schwimmer, Lucy Lawless, Michael J. Fox, Jon Hamm, Clive Owen, Bruce Springsteen and even the entire original cast of “Seinfeld.”

Those in love with Mr. David’s shenanigans will covet this as a welcomed gift of episodes from arguably one of the funniest shows on television.

Best extras: Start with the essential optional commentary track on the first episode “The Pants Tent” with Mr. David, Mr. Garlin, Ms. Hines and director Robert B. Weide.

Highlights of the other previously released extras: A 22-minute conversation between Mr. David and Ms. Essman recorded at New York City’s 92nd Street Y cultural center; a vintage 30-minute interview with Mr. David by Bob Costas; a 90-minute roundtable (hosted by news anchor Brian Williams) with Mr. David, Ms. Essman, Mr. Garlin and Ms. Hines; and roughly 60 minutes of footage from the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen with cast and crew interviews.

The new 12th season discs also offer some behind-the-scenes looks at the last day on the set.

Additionally, and importantly, included is the hourlong HBO Comedy Special, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” from 1999 that was the basis for the series.

Worth noting, the discs come packed in an unwieldy, clamshell case that when opened has DVDs often flopping out. Mr. David would appreciate the unorganized irony when trying to reclose the case and would probably stomp on the package and toss it out of his second-floor window.

Young Sheldon: The Complete Series (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, not rated, 2,730 minutes, 14 DVD discs, 1.78:1 aspect ratio, $99.99) — A spinoff from the wildly popular sitcom “Big Bang Theory” offered television viewers a look at the early years of one of the series quirkiest characters.

The coming-of-age comedy ran on CBS for seven seasons, and now all 141 episodes are available in the woefully inadequate DVD format.

Running from 2017 to 2024, the show chronicled the life of child prodigy, 9-year-old Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) growing up with his very normal family in the fictional town of Medford, Texas, during the late 1980s and mid-1990s.

Specifically, very religious mother Mary (Zoe Perry, the actual daughter of Laurie Metcalf who played Sheldon’s mom on “Big Bang”) and high school coach dad George (Lance Barber) balance faith, family and football while raising son Georgie (Montana Jordan), daughter Melissa (Raegan Revord) and the socially awkward anomaly devoted to the unwavering pursuit of science, aka, the super-genius Sheldon.

They get help with the kids from Mary’s mother Connie “Meemaw” Tucker (Annie Potts) who lives across the street and, as Sheldon ascends academic excellence (attending college by age 11), mentors such college physics professors John Sturgis (Wallace Shawn) and Grant Linkletter (Ed Begley Jr.) and president of the East Texas Tech college, Linda Hagemeyer (Wendie Malick).

Suffice it to report, older viewers will feel like they are reliving the days when “Happy Days” ruled the evening airwaves, “Big Bang Theory” fans will appreciate the references to the show (and narration by the actor who played the adult Sheldon, Jim Parsons), and fans of family-friendly sitcoms will absolutely embrace this heartwarming series.

Best extras: Warner Bros. only offers a paltry six featurettes (roughly 45 minutes) that were culled from the previous individual season releases to home entertainment, covering the origin of the show, the young cast, the time period setting and a reflection on the first 100 episodes.

Mildly considered new of the collection, since the final season was released to disc a few months ago, is “Sheldon’s Secret Origins and Easter Eggs” offering 11 minutes of cast and crew talking about the winks and nods in the shows to the original “Big Bang Theory” and Sheldon’s adult life.

Veep: The Complete Series (HBO Home Entertainment, 1,857 minutes, 13 Blu-ray discs, rated TV-MA, $112.99) — As a fitting companion to this year’s election season, HBO has collected the entire misadventures of former Vice President Selina Meyer into one high definition collection worthy of gifting to lovers of comedy.

Through seven seasons (65 episodes) of the seven-time, Emmy Award-winning series, viewers can appreciate the biting comedic talents of Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing Ms. Meyer, a bumbling politician who eventually ends up as commander-in-chief.

Her shenanigans were highly complemented by an ensemble cast that included Tony Hale as personal assistant Gary Walsh; Anna Chlumsky as occasional press secretary Amy Brookheimer; Reid Scott as campaign manager Dan Egan; Kevin Dunn and Gary Cole as strategists Ben Cafferty and Kent Davison, respectively; Matt Walsh as speech writer Mike McClintock; and Timothy C. Simons as resident imbecile Jonah Ryan.

Anyone in need of eye-watering laughs after a brutal presidential contest will embrace this sophomoric political satire.

Best extras: Lovers of optional commentary tracks can dive into the three dozen available here that often feature Ms. Louis-Dreyfus and her amusing castmates.