In Glorious, Eddie Izzard's stand-up routine takes a little bit of Robin Williams, a little bit of Jerry Seinfeld, even a little bit of Bob Newhart, but the final mix is absolutely his own and dizzily funny. It's not so much the subjects of his humour-though not many comics make jokes about classical mythology or evil giraffes-as it is the way he fluidly skips from thing to thing in a madcap free-associative whirl. He lulls you by seeming casual and almost sloppy, but when he needs to be precise his gestures and mimicry are razor sharp. There have been a million tired jokes made about trying to get a shower to stay at the right temperature, but Izzard manages to make even that funny. He's even funnier when he's imitating Sean Connery as Noah, trying to convince God that a speedboat would make a much better photo opportunity than an ark, or playing a beekeeper flirting with someone passing on the street. Much of the giddiness comes from his astounding sense of spontaneity. Half the show seems to have been made up on the spot, and if it wasn't, your mind boggles wondering how he could have possibly written something so ridiculous and yet appropriate. Though he uses a number of four-letter words, his humour is surprisingly clean, and even the most frank vulgarities seems like a bit of impish innocence coming out his mouth. Glorious indeed. -Bret Fetzer, Amazon. [+]

This is the pivotal season that finally, finally brings together Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves), Frasier's answer to Ross and Rachel. Daphne, engaged to Donny (Saul Rubinek), learns of Niles' unrequited feelings for her from an extremely medicated Frasier in "Back Talk. " If Daphne's impending marriage was not obstacle enough to keep them apart, there is fussy, phobic, and formidable Dr. Mel Karnofsky (Jane Adams), Maris's former plastic surgeon, who is introduced in "The Late Dr. Crane" as a romantic interest for Niles. The season culminates in the Emmy-nominated episode "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue," arguably the show's very best, and most satisfying cliffhanger, in which Niles and Daphne make like Ben and Elaine in The Graduate, only in a Winnebago. Bebe Neuwirth makes another memorable return as the dread Lilith Crane in "The Apparent Trap," in which son Frederick employs psychological warfare to try and get a mini-bike from his parents. Episodes featuring Frasier's amoral agent Bebe Glaser (Harriet Samson Harris) are always a season highlight, and "Morning Becomes Entertainment" is no exception, as Bebe and Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) team up to host a TV morning chat show (who knew that Frasier had "a way with voices," as witness his Sean Connery and James Mason impressions!). Dan Butler also returns as Bulldog in the poignant episode "The Dog That Rocks the Cradle," A welcome addition to Frasier's gallery of colorful characters in Simon (Anthony LaPaglia in an Emmy-nominated performance), Daphne's besotted brother. Frasier Crane is a witty and urbane New Yorker cartoon in a lewd, crude shock jock world. [+]

Charmed: The Complete Second Season finds San Francisco's favourite and fetching trio of witches, the Halliwell sisters, still battling supernatural forces while trying to make sense of their tricky personal lives. It has been a year since Prue (Shannen Doherty), Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), and Piper (Holly Marie Combs), were each endowed with a unique, magical ability after discovering the Book of Shadows in their attic, and while Phoebe and Piper are in the mood for celebrating, Prue is emotionally incapable of using her telekinetic gifts. Powerless to have saved her ex-lover, Andy Trudeau (Ted King), from death in Season 1, Prue's grief prevents her from cooperating with her sisters in a battle against a demon who steals the all-important Book. That's just the beginning of the Halliwells' otherworldly troubles. The second season finds the sisters also taking on brain-zapping Warlocks, a Demon of Hate, a Darklighter who inspires thoughts of suicide among the living, evil witches, and-get this-the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who turn out to be quite dapper (albeit nasty) fellows. Meanwhile, Piper struggles to raise $60,000 to open a happening new club (at a site where two other clubs have failed) while also juggling romantic feelings for two guys, one a hunky new neighbor and the other last season's handyman character, Leo (Brian Krause), who turns out to be a Whitelighter (a kind of an angel). Prue's job at the art gallery gets a bit wobbly, and she gives unintentionally mixed signals to a very nice man who likes her a lot. Phoebe, for her part, is still in school and meets a handsome prospect at a dating service-then has to save him from a succubus (a female demon who seduces men and then kills them). Season highlights include the episode "She's a Man, Baby, a Man," in which Prue-due to a botched spell-becomes a man (a clever and funny performance by Doherty). In a reversal of Tootsie's feminist theme, Prue learns how to be a better woman for having a been a man, though a lot more repairs take place at the house while she's a he. [+]

"Jen is a cheerleader and Jack's on the football team. I got sane and everyone else went crazy?" That's how Andie (Meredith Monroe) sums up the topsy-turvy beginning to the third season of Dawson's Creek, in which nothing seems to be as it should and the series takes a major turn. It's junior year at Capeside High, and Jack (Kerr Smith), the town's resident gay teen, is indeed on the football team, and Jen (Michelle Williams) finds herself the object of unexpected and unwelcome popularity among her fellow students, especially the freshman quarterback (Michael Pitt). Pacey (Joshua Jackson) finds that his relationship with Andie can't be restored, and Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes), after the events of last year, both think it's for the best that they're no longer together-they just never think it at the same time. Significant events include the friends starting to date outside their circle, Dawson's giving up some of his aspirations, a ! crisis for the school's new principal, a college tour, and the openings of the Potter Bed & Breakfast and Leery Fresh Fish. But the Dawson-Joey relationship is still the heart of the Creek, and it comes to a head in one of the series' most memorable episodes, "The Longest Day," and then the season finale. Even in its first season without series creator Kevin Williamson, Dawson's Creek still had plenty of punch. On the DVDs, executive producer Paul Stupin does his usual commentary track for two episodes, and he's joined by Kerr Smith. They discuss the series itself, Smith's character, and Smith's subsequent career more than the events of the episodes. The second-season DVD set disappointed many fans by replacing a large portion of the music, and that trend continues in the third season, most surprisingly in the loss of Paula Cole's theme song. [+]

While occasionally clumsy in the way it goes about things, the first season of Torchwood ultimately makes good on its promise to be a science fiction programme for an older market. So while it's spun out from the more family-friendly Doctor Who, it does carve out an edgy, entertaining niche for itself. The programme follows the adventures of the Torchwood agency (who we met in far more prestigious form at the end of Doctor Who's second series), a small team led by John Barrowman's Captain Jack Harkness who investigate the extra terrestrial and the paranormal. And across the thirteen episodes of this maiden season, they have a lot to look into, from the likes of a sex-craved alien and cyberwoman, through to cannibalistic foes and strange, spooky fairies. Admittedly, particularly in the early stages when Torchwood is finding its feet, there are a few missteps, and a little too much side-indulgence in exploring material that the more mainstream Doctor Who wouldn't allow. But it'd be to your folly to write Torchwood off: by the time it gallops into the second half of this first season, the quality is strong, the storylines are interesting, and the show proves to be a real winner. Intertwining with the narrative of the main Doctor Who show, Torchwood nonetheless then works as an independent programme in its own right, replete with a strong cast of characters (led by the terrific Barrowman) and scripts that have more of an experimental edge to them. It's certainly one of the most interesting science fiction shows Britain has produced in the last decade or two, and there's much to enjoy again and again in this box set. -Jon Foster.

Slick, stylish, and fast-paced, Las Vegas is a high-tech hybrid of 1970s' Vega$ and 1980s' Hotel. Set in the fictional Montecito Resort and Casino, the show revolves around surveillance expert and ex-Marine Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton). McCoy reports to the president of operations and ex-CIA operative "Big" Ed Deline (the inimitable James Caan). If Duhamel is the show's charisma, Caan is the gravitas. The attractive cast is rounded out by Vanessa Marcil as casino host Sam Marquez, Nikki Cox as event coordinator Mary Connell, James Lesure as valet Mike Cannon, Marsha Thomason as pit boss Nessa Holt, Cheryl Ladd as Deline's wife Jillian, and model Molly Sims as Deline's daughter Delinda. From the start, Las Vegas has attracted a diverse array of guest stars, from musicians, like Little Richard ("New Orleans"), to movie stars, like Sean "Samwise" Astin ("You Can't Take It With You"). Even "Mr. Las Vegas" himself, Wayne Newton, puts in an appearance ("Pros and Cons"). Other notable guests include Elliot Gould ("Jokers and Fools"), Jean-Claude Van Damme ("Die Fast, Die Furious"), and Alec Baldwin ("Hellraisers and Heartbreakers"), hot off his Oscar-nominated turn in The Cooler. -Kathleen C. [+]