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We've been told that we're living in a new golden age of television, and suddenly we're expected not only to watch but to read essays, think about, and discuss one-hour nighttime dramas like "Desperate Housewives" and "Dollhouse." Watching these shows is like joining the Masons, requiring the memorization of arcane trivia, the parsing of cryptic plot twists and near-fanatical loyalty. We can't just watch these shows -- we must be devoted to them in the same way that John Hinckley was devoted to Jodie Foster. But the DVD box set is the worst way to worship. For committed fans, they're easy-to-use video scrapbooks that let you revisit your favorite scenes of Jeremy Piven walking quickly and cursing on "Entourage." As a gateway drug to initiate virgin viewers, all that box sets do is proclaim that the emperor has no clothes.Gossip Girl Season 1-4 DVD Box Set

Television episodes were never meant to be viewed in rapid-fire order. "Mad Men" often ends with its lead character, Don Draper, stranded impotently in the gloomy, underlit front hallway of his suburban home. Viewed once a week, this is a weighty image of existential angst. Viewed three or four times in a row, it makes you want to scream, "Buy some light bulbs!" "Curb Your Enthusiasm" plotlines are actually all the same plotline, which you'd never have guessed until you watched six episodes straight. And four episodes back-to-back of the lachrymose "Battlestar Galactica" will convince you that the show should have been retitled "Crybabies in Space."The Simpsons Seasons 1-22 DVD Box Set

Television should be a glorious time waster, but being given three seasons of "Lost" on DVD is like being given a prison sentence. You slog through the first season, and not only is the hefty second season waiting around the corner, but it has brought its friends: Seasons 3, 4, and 5. Box sets have transformed television from light entertainment into homework. Deadwood Seasons 1-3 Box Set 17DVD