When Doctor Who returned in a blaze of ratings and critical glory a couple of years ago, it set off a race to find the next big British genre series to help capitalize on that success. We've had some winners come out of that race (Being Human, Torchwood: Children of Earth) and we've had some disappointments come out of that race (any season of Torchwood that isn't Children of Earth).

Somewhere in the lower to middle half of that is Primeval, as series that isn't quite as frustrating as Torchwood but one that rarely hits the creative peaks that Doctor Who or Being Human does.

The BBC's Merlin has been a solid hit in the UK and a staple of SyFy's Friday night line-up for its past two seasons. And while I have nothing against the show, I have to admit it's not one that's made my DVR's season pass list.

Before In Time hit theaters, director Andrew Niccol said this movie could be considered a spiritual successor to his influential sci-fi epic Gattaca. And while both films do deal with questions of what it means to be human, if you're going into In Time expecting another Gattaca, you could be severely disappointed.

Disjointed storytelling detracts from solid voice casting and some stunning visuals.

When news broke that a Green Lantern movie was coming to the silver screen, the on-line casting couch targeted actor Nathan Fillion as someone who might make a good candidate for the lead role. One enterprising fan even went so far to create a trailer with Fillion as Hal Jordan.

Alas, it wasn't to be and Warner Brothers and DC cast Ryan Reynolds instead.

Some interesting ideas buried in as story with a talking cactus

Fan opinion on Tom Baker's final season as the Doctor has always been a bit divided. There are those who don't care for it and the radical tonal shift from the previous season. And then there are others (like me) who like the tonal shift and the fact that producer John Nathan-Turner reigned in the excesses of Baker's performances from the past two seasons, resulting in some of the best work Baker did on the series.

A welcome return of one of the best animated series of all-time. A must-have for fans.

While many will debate whether or not The Simpsons is running out of steam creatively, most animation fans would agree that Futurama got cut down its prime on Fox. Canceled after five seasons of being pulled all various time slots and often pre-empted by other programming, Futurama went on to find a solid audience thanks to repeats on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

That lead to first a set of DVD movies and now to the series coming back from the grave earlier this year on Comedy Central. Fans of the show rejoiced.

For decades, Doctor Who has been built on change and reinventing itself. From the second season on, the series has changed lead actors, supporting actors and production teams.

Heading into the fifth series of the relaunched Doctor Who, the stakes were as high, if not higher than when the show triumphantly returned in 2005. A new Doctor, a new companion and whole sale changes in the production team. In fact, the only thing that really remained from the era run by Russell T. Davies was the musical contributions by composer Murray Gold.

As I said in my review of the complete first series of the BBC's Being Human, on the surface the premise behind this show sounds a bit like the start of a joke.

"A werewolf, a vampire and a ghost all share a house together."

And while you might expect wacky hi-jinks to ensue, that isn't the case with Being Human. If the end of series one left you hanging, curious as to what was going to happen next, the good news is that series two starts with a bang and never looks back.

If you're like me, you may have been on the fence about whether or not upgrading to Blu-Ray and having to replace all your old DVDs was going to be worth it.

Then along comes a release like the box-set "Alien Anthology" and you realize, yes, it is worth it.

Released together as a Cybermen themed box-set in the UK, "Revenge of the Cybermen" and "Silver Nemesis" are the last two classic series stories to feature the popular baddies to hit DVD. That's probably because neither is highly regarded in the fan community and both are viewed as the story that sticks out like a sore thumb in what is otherwise a pretty good season for their respective Doctors.

Of the two, "Revenge of the Cybermen" is probably the stronger story, but neither is a shining example of classic "Doctor Who" at its best.

Love it or hate it, "Battlestar Galactica" was a huge hit for SciFi. So, when Ron Moore announced that he'd decided to wrap it up after four seasons, it's easy to see why the network would want to continue to offer viewers the chance to revisit the universe.

That led to "Caprica," a prequel series looking at the creation of the Cylons some seventy-odd years before the events of "Battlestar Galactica."

Fans of any long running series will agree that their favorite show has its highs and lows. What it may be harder to find agreement on is where the highs are and where the lows are.

Like another favorite series of mine, "Doctor Who," "The Simpsons" is a product of the creative team behind the show. And, of course, whether you like a particular creative team's run on the show is a matter of personal preference.