The first season of 'United States of Tara' ended with Tara, a mother with Dissociative Identity Disorder played by Emmy and Golden Globe winner Toni Collette, on the road to recovery and surrounded by her dysfunctional but supportive family.

As season two begins, Tara seems to be winning the battle to suppress her alternate personalities, but tragedy soon strikes next door and her "alters" reemerge, more destructive and real than ever before.

Collette's performance, again nominated for a Golden Globe this year, is probably the best reason to recommend the second season of 'Tara' on DVD, but it's not the only one. The Showtime dramedy, created by Diablo Cody and produced by Steven Spielberg, is a smart, funny and engrossing look at a family dealing with a complex problem and learning to accept that the word "normal" means different things to different people.

The series returns to Showtime for a third season next year, so catch up with the Gregson family and Tara's growing stable of alters now.

Check out the other new releases available on DVD, Blu-Ray and Netflix Watch Instantly this week, after the jump ...

A new season of Top Gear, one of this particular gear head's favorite shows, is headed to BBC America on January 25. And, to build buzz for the show's upcoming 13th season, BBC America is giving away DVDs for the new releases of Top Gear Season 11 and Season 12.

One of the modern stalwarts of British TV, Top Gear is a popular import to the U.S. with its mix of super cars, stunts and less than politically correct humor. For viewers like me, it's fantasy fulfillment and as close to some mammothly powerful cars as we'll ever come.

We're a season behind here in the U.S., as U.K. fans already worked their way through Season 14. But, the show's ongoing success on U.S. screens means this franchise should drive on a little farther.

Doctor Who went from regular production to sporadic specials last year to freshen up the show and to give former lead David Tennant a shot at playing Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The end results of that year of specials are headed your way on DVD in a five disc set.

Doctor Who: The Complete Specials features what proved to be a mixed bag of special episodes that became a sort of de facto fifth mini-season for Tennant. While you're not going to find a bad piece of television anywhere on this disc (or anywhere in Doctor Who's 21st century rebirth), last year's programs got weaker as they marched toward Tennant's regeneration.

The line-up includes The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars and The End of Time, Parts One and Two. The first two stand alone, but the last three create a sort of trilogy documenting the 10th Doctor's final days.

Most American TV viewers know Edward Woodward from his run as Robert McCall as The Equalizer. But, British TV aficionados know he trained in backside-kicking on the dark, gritty British spy series, Callan.

Written by James Mitchell, the show featured David Callan -- a spy working for an ultra-secret arm of the British Intelligence service specializing in assassinations. Unfortunately, the former soldier and convict was cursed with a conscience that led him to hate his job, his superiors and himself.

Woodward was perfect in the role -- blending haunted humor with genuine menace to create an intelligent, tortured man who you believed could kill anyone without having to look like Rambo while he did it.

Plenty of freshman (and drunken upperclassmen at most state colleges) get lost on university campuses every day. But, the developers of the new Lost: Season Five Blu-Ray set want you to lose yourself in its "school" willingly.

Opening for "classes" December 8, Lost University is a special feature of the Blu-ray offering a "captivating new immersive bonus experience powered by BD-Live technology. A series of interactive "lectures" expands "the world of Lost, giving viewers around the world an unprecedented interactive experience unlike any other before it."

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment arranged a strong collection of "professors" to teach the university seminars. Cast members include Naveen Andrews, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Emerson and Henry Ian Cusik.