Lots of this week’s top offerings are in the “TV” category including the latest season of Doctor Who complete with Neil Gaiman’s second Who episode, the underrated detective drama Longmire, and the DVD debut of the stylish 1990’s Beetlejuice animated series, plus the old school horror film Dark Skies and a retrospective of the excellent U.K. detective series Inspector George Gently.
 
TV on DVD
 
The top release this week is Doctor Who: The 7th Series, Part 2 (BBC, 360 min., $24.98, BD $29.98), which contains eight episodes, but no “Christmas Special.”  The good news is that Neil Gaiman’s second Doctor Who episode “Nightmare in Silver” is included in this set.  The bad news is that BBC is offering the 2012 “The Snowmen” Christmas Special (BBC, 60 min., $14.98, BD $19.98) separately.  No word yet on whether the “Christmas Special” will be included in the full 7th Series set when that is released, but fans who haven’t purchased The 7th Series, Part 1 might want to wait for the release of the complete series, though the lure of Gaiman's Cybermen episode "Nightmare in Silver" is strong.
 
Among the contemporary American series due on Tuesday is Longmire (Warner Bros., 450 min., $39.98), a detective series that debuted on the A&E cable network with little fanfare, but which has generated that net’s best ratings ever.  Based on the detective novels of Craig Johnson, Longmire follows the adventures its namesake lawman, the sheriff of a huge rugged county in contemporary Wyoming.  This series has a great sense of place about it and it just might develop into a real gem as weaves murder mysteries that are solved in each episode with an overriding multi-episode plotline as the Sheriff is challenged by one of his deputies, the scion of a powerful local family.
 
Longmire has been renewed for a second season that begins this June, but Red Widow: The Complete First Season (Disney, 301 min., $29.99) was cancelled by ABC after just 8 episodes were aired.  Based on a Dutch TV series (Penoza), Red Widow is the story of the wife of a gangster who has to keep the family business going after her husband is murdered.
 
Covert Affairs: Season 3 (Universal, $49.98) stars Piper Perabo as a twenty-something CIA operative with serious linguistic skills who is suddenly promoted to perform major operations.  The suspenseful espionage series has been renewed for a 16-episode fourth season.
 
Suits: Season 2 (Universal, 696 min., $44.98) collects the sophomore session of another solid USA Network series.  Patrick Adams and Gabriel Macht star in this legal drama about a brilliant college dropout (Adams) who lands a job as lawyer at a big legal firm and his cynical boss (Macht).  Those who enjoy legal dramas might want to check out this cable series that have been renewed for a 16-episode Third Season that debuts this July.
 
Animated offerings due this week include one with some serious geek cred, Beetlejuice: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 2160 min., $99.99), a box set that collects all three seasons of the animated series that was loosely-based on the Tim Burton feature film. Burton produced the stylish TV series, which focused on the life of the Goth girl Lydia Deetz and her undead friend Beetlejuice was filled with delicious tongue-in-cheek humor and satire.  This deluxe 12-disc box set represents the DVD debut of the Beetlejuice animated series.  In fact only part of the first season has ever been released to home entertainment before on a series of VHS tapes issued by Warner Bros. in 1993.   Unfortunately it appears that the Complete Series Box Set will only be available (at least for now from Amazon).  For those who don’t fancy shopping with the online giant or don’t want to buy the entire series at once, Shout Factory is also releasing Beetlejuice: Season One, a 2-disc collection that will be available for an MSRP of $19.93 at a variety of retailers.
 
The other interesting animated offering is The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange: Season One (Salient Entertainment, 330 min., $29.93), which collects the first season of the Cartoon Network series based on the popular Internet series The Annoying Orange.  The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange, which is aimed at an older audience that Saturday morning fare, is rated “TV-PG” by the FCC and Cartoon Network—warning parents will definitely find this show annoying, which only makes it more appealing to teens..
 
The top non-Whovian U.K. offering this week is Inspector George Gently: Season 5 (Acorn Media, 354 min., DVD or BD $59.99), which collects four feature-length mysteries starring Martin Shaw as Inspector George Gently, an London detective who is sent to Northumberland in the mid-1960s.  Few contemporary series have mined the 60s for the social tumult that can provide such a vibrant backdrop for murder—and none as well as Inspector George Gently.  The 1960s period is essential to the action and extremely well done in the George Gently episodes and it is complement by superb acting throughout.  The quality of this production definitely merits Blu-ray for those who are so enabled and Acorn has made the choice easy by pricing BD and DVD versions the same.
 
The same pricing policy holds sway with the Inspector George Gently: Series 1-4 (Acorn Media, 975 min., DVD or BD $99.99).  This set includes 11 feature-length Inspector George Gently mysteries on six discs that all feature the incorruptible detective and his headstrong young assistant Sergeant John Bacchus (Lee Inglesby).  All of the movies in this box set have been previously released in single-series sets.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
There’s not a lot of options among the theatrical releases this week, but those who enjoy old school science-fiction horror movies might want to check out Dark Skies (Starz/Anchor Bay, “PG-13,” 97 min., $28.98, BD/DVD Combo $39.99).  Keri Russell (Felicity) stars in this suburban haunted house drama that is as much about family tensions as it is about the unseen force that disrupts the life of this suburban family.  The same critics who decry the blood and gore of “torture porn” movies are quick to turn around and refer unfairly to Dark Skies as “tame” or “boring” and give the film just a “34% positive” rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.  There are some shocks here and mostly they are well-earned. Though it is far from perfect, this is a solid genre effort that horror aficionados should at least take the time to see.

While Dark Skies got 34% positive rating, the Keanu Reeves-starring Generation Um (Phase 4, “R,” $29.99), which, as its title suggests is one of those stammering  mumblecore indie dramas, has yet to receive a single favorable notice.
 
The art house movie of the week is Lore (Music Box Films, “Not Rated,” 108 min., $29.95, $34.95), the harrowing story of a 14-year old girl who leads four siblings across a war-ravaged Germany in 1945 after her parents, who were ardent Nazis, are interned.  In addition to the suffering she sees all around her the girl at last begins to realize her complicity and that of her parents in the events that have befallen their country.
 
Anime
 
It’s slim pickings this week, but there are two interesting releases including Phi-Brain: Puzzle of God (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 300 min., $59.98, BD $69.98), the first half of a 2011 series from Sunrise directed by Junichi Sato (Sailor Moon, Sgt. Frog).  This series has proven popular in Japan and a second 25-episode series aired there in 2012.
 
Also due this week is Okamikakushi: Masque of the Wolf Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 300 min., $49.98), a 12-episode series produced in 2010 by AIC, which features elegant character designs by the manga author duo Peach-Pit.