TV on DVD: the silly and the gritty

Plenty of old television shows have been resurrected for DVD release this week, including a few that rabid fans have been yearning for.

• "Significant Others: The Series" (Columbia/TriStar, 1998, not rated, $24.96, two discs). Perhaps the most interesting oddity is this Fox series that lasted only three episodes before being yanked due to poor ratings. Six shows were produced, however, and they are all on this two-disc set.

What makes the show worth watching now is the presence of Jennifer Garner among the ensemble. She's not the star, but she certainly brightens this comedy-drama about whiny, self-centered twentysomethings . . . sort of more serious "Friends."

Garner, of course, has a successful series now, "Alias," which begins its fourth year in January; she was a breakout character in "Daredevil," and will star in a sequel; and earlier this year she made a tremendous impression doing broad comedy in "13 Going on 30." There's no question that she's poised for major stardom. Which is no doubt why this brief series was resurrected on DVD.

She plays Nell, who works at an ad agency and has a horrible fear of commitment, and, like "Friends," she and her co-stars have interconnecting relationships, fear of commitment and modern jobs (one writes porno for the Internet). It's adult stuff and only fair. But seeing star-in-genesis Garner may be worth the effort for fans.

Extras: Full frame, six episodes, interview with Garner, trailers, chapters.

• "Sliders: The First and Second Seasons" (Universal, 1995-96, not rated, $89.98, six discs). The first two seasons of the sci-fi series "Sliders" are by far the best, and this set is a winner, as Quinn (Jerry O'Connell), Wade (Sabrina Lloyd), Professor Arturo (John Rhys-Davies) and Rembrandt (Cleavant Derricks) travel to "alternate Earths" to try to find their way back home.

What makes this series fun, aside from some mind-boggling plot switches, is the sense of humor it employs. There are some hilarious ideas at work in a "what if?" kind of way — in one world, the British rule modern America; in another JFK and Elvis have made it to old age, etc.

An inventive show that offers a lot of fun.

Extras: Full frame, 23 episodes, audio commentary on pilot (with co-creators/writers Tracy Torme and Robert K. Weiss), making-of featurette, photo gallery, optional subtitles (English, Spanish, French), chapters.