We've all heard of "comfort foods," those foods that we always return to, the ones that we love and make us feel good and maybe even bring back good memories. But TV shows can be the same way. They might not be our "favorite" shows (though they very well could be), but they certainly make us feel so good we want to keep watching them (and now with DVDs, it's even easier). Here are mine:

1. The Dick Van Dyke Show: My favorite TV show of all time, but it's also a feel-good show: a positive family show and a clever showbiz show at the same time. A childhood favorite that never lost any appeal for me, even as I became an adult.

I don't know about you folks in the reading audience, but I'm really looking forward to the premiere of Love Monkey, for a number of reasons. One is that I, like Bob Sassone, was a huge fan of Ed, and I love the fact that Tom Cavanagh has chosen himself another off-beat, somewhat quirky dramedy in which to star. Another thing that excites me is the fact that Tom's character is an A&R rep for a record label, so music is going to be a very big part of the show, as is a New York City music scene that has never been examined too deeply on any TV show (Think I'm wrong? Well, let's put it this way: the fact that the Friends kids were excited about going to see a Hootie and the Blowfish concert should have gotten them all forcibly removed from the West Village).

But anyone who read Kyle Smith's book Love Monkey would know that the main character, Tom Farrell, was not an A&R guy, but a copy editor for a New York Post-like tabloid. So why the change? This article in The New York Times explains it; someone suggested to the show's creator, Michael Rauch, that making Farrell a record exec would make him a bit more of a dynamic character, and adding a musical aspect to the show would make it livelier.

Anyone who knows me knows how much of a huge Ed fan I was. I even wrote an essay about it that got me more mail than anything else I've ever written.

So, it's really great to not only see Tom Cavanagh coming back to series television (in the it-looks-a-lot-like-Ed-from-the-commercials show Love Monkey). But the good news doesn't stop there: Ed's best friend is back too. Josh Randall, who played Mike Burton on Ed, is the guy who's Courting Alex on the CBS sitcom. (Hey, both on CBS - maybe Cavanagh and Randall can have lunch in the CBS cafeteria). And let's not forget Ed's love Carol Vessey: Julie Bowen is a cast member over on ABC's Boston Legal (and has a recurring role on Lost). And Michael Ian Black's Stella over on Comedy Central.  

Now we just need Lesley Boone (Molly), Jana Marie Hupp (Nancy), Rachel Cronin (Shirley), and Justin Long (Warren) to get regular gigs on TV and fans will be all set. 

We talked about this recently, how some TV show DVDs are being held up because of how expensive it is to get rights to the songs used in the shows. This Hollywood Reporter article (via Yahoo News) talks about the problem in depth.

The best example of this is that delay in the WKRP In Cincinnati DVDs. They used a lot of rock songs on the show, and I still remember, when the show went into syndication, they replaced the music with horrible generic music in all the scenes, pretty much destroying the mood of the episodes. And if you're familiar with the music they used in WKRP (or Ed or other shows), then it really stands out. Fans were ticked that the second season DVDs of Quantum Leap were changed. Some people think that WKRP will never be released on DVD. 

What do you think? Would you rather see your favorite show released on DVD, even if they have to change the music around, or would you rather see it never released on DVD than have the music changed?