Overnight guests have arrived. Distract weary travelers with the always hysterical Arrested Development, which remains a touchstone for smart and sly comedy. Or how about the fun and frothy Sex and the City? Both you and your guests can pretend that you’re out on the town, sipping neon-colored Cosmopolitans with Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker). Just be sure to avoid the gut-wrenching Season 3 episode “Running with Scissors,” in which Carrie and Big’s affair takes some hurtful turns. Guests whining about minutiae? The perfect antidote is Seinfeld, available in a 32-disc collection containing all 180 episodes and over 104 hours of bonus material, which might help you change their shrill complaints into little more than yada, yada, yada. And if you want to feel like people are worse off than you, watch Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s mordantly funny Extras, about the friendship between two struggling actors, or put on the Extra Special Series Finale if you want to truly laugh… and cry your eyes out.
Countdown to turkey has commenced, along with elevated stress levels. Escapist fare is what’s needed, particularly shorter-run series that can be paused. For cutthroat family dynamics, travel back in time for some sex- and violence-fueled antiquity with Rome: The Complete Series, released this month on DVD. Get sucked in by vendettas, orgies, power-grabs, and Polly Walker’s ruthless Atia, a woman so desperate to hold onto power that she’s willing to sacrifice everyone around her. Or forget about the lackluster (and mercifully short-lived) American version and travel back to the 1970s with the original UK Life on Mars, the second season of which is on DVD this week. While in pursuit of a serial killer, Detective Sam Tyler (John Simm) is struck by a car and finds himself in 1973 Manchester. Sam Tyler’s trippy situation, as it unfolds over 16 gripping episodes, is half the fun—the show’s vintage soundtrack, featuring David Bowie, The Who, and Blue Oyster Cult helps it along.
BBC/Kerry Brown
Sated by copious amounts of turkey, settle in for more Rome or Life on Mars, both of which also have short second seasons. Or for a taut political thriller, there’s the gripping six-episode BBC miniseries State of Play, which has the benefit of not starring Ben Affleck. Like the recent, cruddy feature film, the 2003 miniseries follows the political and domestic fallout after a married MP’s secret girlfriend tumbles onto the tube tracks, and newspaper journalists seek to uncover the real story behind a possible high-level conspiracy. Starring British icons David Morrissey, John Simm, Polly Walker, James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, and Kelly Macdonald, State of Play is a labyrinthine mystery that will keep you guessing from its stunning opening until the final moments. In other words: the perfect diversion after a day of culinary gorging.
JOSS BARRATT
Carve up some leftovers and serve it with a healthy dose of compelling and engaging dramas that will wake your brain up from its tryptophan-induced slumber. Start at the very beginning of mind-bending drama Lost (make everyone wonder about that monster in the jungle) and try to work your way through all four intense seasons of the show on DVD. (Added bonus: Season 5 comes out in two weeks, so you can save it for the December holidays.) Or, get classy with the first two slick seasons of period drama Mad Men, which will put your family’s dysfunctional relationships into stark perspective while also offering gorgeous clothes, stylish ad men, and pitch-perfect drama. Take a cue from Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and have the kids mix drinks for the adults while you watch.
Two days of cooking and reheating and breaking up fights have likely left their indelible mark on your mental state. Think you’re having a bad day? Check out what Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is up to on 24. Watch as he has to save the nation without getting a bathroom break, marvel at the writers’ decision to have daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) be stalked by an actual cougar, and try to guess which supporting character is the CTU mole that season. (But whatever you do, avoid the ludicrously over the top sixth season.) Or, you could make everyone feel thankful for what you have by staying up and watching the 23-disc The Wire: The Complete Series, which unfolds with serpentine elegance. Nothing like a swift kick in the gut after two days of stuffing your face.
Paul Schiraldi
Feeling cramped and claustrophobic? Get caught up in Ronald D. Moore and David Eick’s four-season opus Battlestar Galactica, which depicts the survival of the human race in the face of impossible odds, as they flee from bloodthirsty robotic Cylons, who have one hell of a grudge against the humans (and nuked their civilization). As the men and women of the Galactica struggle to survive and find a way to Earth, the producers cannily work in metaphors for the war in Iraq, holding up a dark mirror to our own society. Be sure and watch Season 1’s astonishingly tense “33,” in which the fleet is attacked roughly every half-hour. Plus, trying to figure out who is a Cylon will keep you suspicious enough to stay up into the wee hours of the night.
Justin Stephens
Put the Thanksgiving weekend behind you by celebrating some television from a country that doesn’t celebrate the holiday. Take a comic trip through history with comedy Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition in which Rowan Atkinson plays the conniving upstart Black Adder in during the medieval, Elizabethan, and Regency periods and WWII as he attempts to wriggle his way into power (or out of danger). Or check out vintage British comedy with the irreverent 12-episode Fawlty Towers, newly remastered and just re-released on DVD. John Cleese and Connie Booth’s classic comedy remains hysterical nearly 35 years later. There’s something reassuring about watching hotelier Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) deal with unwanted guests. Not that you'd know anything about that.
