Television fans must love the holidays, because it’s the one time of year when studios unleash a host of massive box sets collecting their favorite dramas and comedies. This year is no different, with several critically acclaimed shows getting the complete series treatment. But while we like to devour an entire TV show just as quickly as the next person, sometimes a little self-discipline is required, which is why we’ve also included some less time-consuming (and more affordable) suggestions as well.

Click on the image next to each item to purchase it online, and for more gift ideas, check out the other categories in our Holiday Gift Guide.

Breaking Bad: The Complete Series

Is there anything more to be said about the late, great “Breaking Bad” at this point, other than the fact that it was one of the greatest TV series of all time and that, although it went out in a blaze of glory, it’s left a vacuum that’ll be damned hard to fill? Nah, that about sums it up. But if you’re a fan and you’re continuing to mourn, then Sony has put together a set that’s so awesome that it’s almost too much to handle… but not quite. The 16-disc set includes all 62 episodes and more than 55 hours of special features, including an all-new documentary which chronicles the making of the final season, and, of course, all of the bonus material from the previous season sets remains intact too. The whole thing comes packaged in a barrel, as well a series about a meth manufacturer should, along with a Los Pollos Hermanos apron, a collectible booklet featuring a letter from Vince Gilligan and a commemorative Breaking Bad challenge coin. We don’t actually know what a challenge coin is, but we do know that it was designed and created by Gilligan himself, and dammit, that’s good enough for us.

Dexter: The Complete Series

Loosely based on Jeff Linsday’s popular series of crime novels, “Dexter” is probably the biggest hit in Showtime’s history, which only makes its steady decline over the years that much more maddening. Though the last four seasons were incredibly uneven compared to the show’s first four years, “Dexter” continued to be appointment television every week thanks to Michael C. Hall’s brilliant, Golden Globe-winning performance as the titular antihero. It also featured an excellent rotating cast of guest stars that included John Lithgow, Keith Carradine, Jimmy Smits, Julia Stiles and Jonny Lee Miller, and at times, some of the best writing on TV. It’s actually quite amazing that a show with a serial killer as its protagonist was able to last as long as it did, and though it faltered a bit in the end, there are plenty of diehard “Dexter” fans that would kill to own this complete series set. Designed to look like the character’s iconic blood slide box (with every Blu-ray case featuring a blood drop on the bottom), the 25-disc set – which features all eight seasons and a bonus disc filled with over five hours of never-before-seen extras – is definitely one of the cooler collector’s items on the market.

Weeds: The Complete Collection

HBO has long been considered the undisputed leader of premium cable, but without shows like “Weeds” and “Dexter,” Showtime never would have become the worthy competitor that it is today. Though Jenji Kohan’s dark comedy series suffered a drop in quality during its later seasons, it delivered more than its share of subversively funny moments (as well as those of the WTF variety) over the course of its eight-year run. Constantly reinventing itself after Season Three’s game-changing finale, “Weeds” may not have always succeeded in the risks that it took with the storytelling, but it’s one of the few shows with the kind of punk-rock attitude to even consider taking such risks. And throughout its numerous highs and lows, the core cast never faltered, especially star Mary-Louise Parker, who made “Weeds” must-see TV for her crazy/sexy performance alone. For those that haven’t yet seen the series, or just never got around to picking up each season individually, now is the perfect time with this complete series set, which comes packaged in a nifty, translucent green box and features new bonus material like a cast roundtable, interviews with fan-favorite recurring characters and more.

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Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth, Izabela Vidovic

Gary Fleder

Perhaps of all the genres, action fans often feel the most cheated. If you’re yearning for a post-metrosexual, non-superhero kickass character these days, well, your choices are pretty slim. It’s enough to make you wish there were more Westerns, or for the cast of “The Expendables”… before they were eligible for Medicare. So it seems only fitting that director Gary Fleder and Sylvester Stallone set out to craft a clever and engaging action flick with a Western theme starring today’s hottest star of the genre, Jason Statham, in “Homefront.”

Phil Broker (Statham) is an undercover DEA agent tasked with bringing down a major meth operation run by a ruthless biker gang. Posing as one of the bikers, the feds finally seem to have the gang right where they want them. Converging on the bikers’ lair en masse, the agents soon discover that drug lords tend not to go down so easily. The ensuing gun battle is almost at a stalemate when Statham reveals his identity and shifts the tide of the fight. Meanwhile, the gang’s leader, Lewis (Stuart Greer), makes a break for it with his son Jimmy (Marcus Hester). Broker leads the agents in pursuit and the fight leaves Jimmy with more holes than brain cells. Lewis vows revenge and Broker walks off into the distance.

Broker tries to start life over in rural Louisiana with his daughter Maddy (Izabela Vidovic), but while the little girl didn’t inherit daddy’s hairline, she definitely got his butt-kicking gene, as she easily takes down the school bully, Teddy (Austin Craig). Teddy’s mom (Kate Bosworth) enlists her meth-dealing brother (James Franco) to put a scare in Broker, which sets off a series of events filled with revenge, gun battles, meth explosions and an all new reason to avoid Bayou real estate.

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Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad

Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee

The ending of “Frozen” flies in the face of everything that Disney heroines had previously stood for, and it is glorious. Curiously, my 4-year-old daughter did not like the ending, because it does not fall in line with the other Disney princess story lines, though that is precisely why her mother and I high-fived each other when discussing it afterwards. Princess Anna is all girl, but she has more courage and determination than the other princesses combined. Between her and Merida from last year’s “Brave,” it is encouraging to see Disney crafting women who are focused on something other than the affections of a boy.

In the Norwegian village of Arendelle, there are two young princesses named Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel as an adult) and Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell as an adult). Elsa has the ability to make snow and ice, and Anna loves to see her magic. Elsa accidentally hurts Anna while putting on a show for her, and though they were able to heal Anna (and remove Anna’s memory of the accident), Elsa was forbidden from telling Anna the truth about her powers, which basically meant that Anna couldn’t play with Elsa anymore. As they grew older, they grew apart. On the day of Elsa’s coronation to become queen of Arendelle, her inability to control her powers sends the entire village into a deep freeze. Elsa, now regarded by the villagers as a monster, retreats for the mountains, and Anna enlists an ice salesman named Kristoff (Jonathan Goff) to help her find Elsa and bring her home.

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Fans of the hit PBS show “Downton Abbey” can now enjoy wines similar to those poured by Mr. Carson for Lord and Lady Grantham. The Downton Abbey Wine Collection features two blends from the Bordeaux region of France: a “Blanc” white wine and a “Claret” red wine. Downton Abbey Blanc is a light and crisp white blend, while Downton Abbey Claret is medium-bodied red with bright fruit and a silky finish. We tried both of them and were impressed, particularly when you consider the reasonable price of $14.99 per 750-ml bottle.

Both blends use the same vines, soil and region used to produce the wines from the Downton Era and are made by the Grands Vins de Bordeaux, a family-owned winery with more than 130 years of winemaking experience in the prized Entre-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux, France. The wines are available in select stores and also at Wine.com and DowntonAbbeyWine.com.

If you know someone who is a fan of this excellent period drama, then the Downton Abbey Wine Collection will make for a very memorable gift. “Downton Abbey” returns to PBS for Season 4 in January 2014 so the timing is perfect for a gift this holiday season.

Earlier this month, I had a chance to chat with comedian Ron White – you probably know him best from his work on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour – in conjunction with his latest round of tour dates featuring a night in my home town of Norfolk, Virginia. We chatted for quite some time…enough time, in fact, for me to pull together a piece for the Pilot (“Interview: Comedian Ron White Prefers His Shows Live“), an altogether different piece for AntennaFree.TV (“Pilot Error: Comedian Ron White Reflects on ‘Señor White’ and Takes Us Through ’12 Miles of Bad Road’“), and still have a bit more material left over.

It’s not really “left over,” though, as I made a point of keeping this portion of the conversation for Bullz-Eye. I mean, come on: if Ron White talking about the tequila company he co-owns with his brother-in-law, fellow comedian Alex Reymundo, isn’t something that’s got “Bullz-Eye” written all over it, I don’t know what does. 

Once upon a time, White was quoted as saying, “There were years when I was a beer and tequila guy, then I got real fat. And then I found that you could actually go on a diet and drink scotch. Then I got hooked on scotch, and if you get hooked on scotch, then everything else just tastes wrong.” Apparently, he’s changed his tune a bit on tequila now that he’s selling the stuff. Then again, from the sound of it, this tequila probably tastes a hell of a lot better than the stuff he was swigging back then.

The topic of tequila came up somewhat offhandedly, when I asked White about his writing regimen. In the process of explaining that he writes most of his material on the road, getting input from the team of folks who travels with him, he began listing off the travelers by saying, “I’ll have an opening act, usually my brother-in-law, who’s also my partner in my tequila company. He and I own a company called Number Juan Tequila. Best tequila in the world.” He didn’t mention it again after that, but having thrown that tidbit into play, I decided to pick it up and run with it a few minutes later.

Bullz-Eye: So how did this tequila company come about?

Ron White: Well, my genius brother-in-law, Alex Reymundo, has been working on it for probably four years, going down to Mexico. He’s from Mexico. My wife (Margo Rey) is his brother, and they were all born in Acapulco. Their father was a cliff diver – no shit – and they moved down here when Margo was one or two and were raised in Texas, but he’s always had this connection. They always went back on long holidays, extended holidays, especially at Christmas, where they’d get in the station wagon, all seven of ‘em, and plow on down to Acapulco, which is, uh, not very close to here if you’ve ever looked at a map. [Laughs.] It’s way down there. I can’t even imagine, ‘cause I’ve driven in Mexico before, and this was back in the ‘70s. But they did it, so their connection to Mexico was always real. They all speak Spanish fluently, and they all speak English fluently.

So he started going down there, and he talked to a buddy of his who said, “You’ve just gotta come taste this tequila!” And Alex went and tasted it, and he said it was the best tequila he had ever tasted, and he wanted to meet the people that were making it. So he went to Jalisco, Mexico, and went out in the fields and kind of studied tequila for a while. I mean, one of our ads for radio was gonna be, “We don’t always drink tequila.” [Laughs.] “Nah, we’re just fucking with you. We always drink tequila!” But he went down there and met this family, and they were making this tequila but only selling it in Mexico. They sold it in resorts, and it was really, really, really expensive stuff. Like, ridiculous. Like, $150 or $300 a bottle or whatever. But they had the capacity to make a lot of it. I mean, not compared to Patron, but compared to what they were making. But they had no presence in the United States.

So Alex went down there and made a deal with them, which took a while. [Laughs.] He had to convince them that they could trust him to do a good job. But he’s done an amazing job. We’ve already won two gold medals for our Extra Anejo, we won the Santa Barbara Tequila Harvest and the Mexico Spirits Competition in San Diego, which is use. In that one, we won the Gold for our Extra Anejo, our Blanco and Reposado both won Silvers, and we won Best in Show for Packaging for the whole thing. And he did all that! I mean, he did it. He picked out and had the bottle made, the labels, everything it takes. The box, the pictures… It was a lot of stuff that he did just out of passion.

So I always said… [Starts to laugh.] Because, you know, I didn’t know what he was doing, but I knew he believed in it, so I always just kind of said to myself, “If he gets it on the shelf, I’ll come on board.” And I did. And I love the tequila, and…it’s fun. It’s a fun story. And neither of us need it to live, you know, so it’s not like we’re living out of a car while we’re trying to figure out somebody to buy this juice. But it’s a fun project, and my son’s involved, so he gets to go out there to great bars and go, “Hey, this is my dad and my uncle’s tequila!” But to watch people’s face when they taste it… It’s just an amazing-tasting tequila. It’s really a cognac-y tasting stuff. The old one is. It’s five years old, the Extra Anejo. What else can I tell you about it? [Laughs.]

BE: Well, I was just going to say a moment ago that I associate you so much with scotch that it was surprising to hear that you’re partners in a tequila company, but it definitely sounds like some upscale stuff if you’re comparing it to cognac.

RW: Oh, yeah, it is. Give it a try! You can order it online. And we need the sales. [Laughs.] The Number Juan Extra Anejo is my favorite, but the other two are winning awards, too. It’s really amazing just how long America bought just really shitty tequila – I mean, really shitty – when you consider what could’ve been done just by waiting seven years to harvest the plants. It tastes different every year up until the seventh year. If you take no short cuts and you really know what you’re doing… They’ve been harvesting plants, this family, for a hundred years, and they’ve had small distilleries for 35 years. But now they have… The uncle has a much bigger, more modern distillery right down the street, so if we run into volume problems, he’s not running at capacity, either, and he’s making almost exactly the same thing from the exact same plant.

So that’s Ron’s take on the Number Juan line, but in the interest of equal opportunity, we thought we’d close by offering up this video featuring Mr. White’s business partner and brother-in-law, Alex Reymundo, filmed as he was prepping for a photo shoot that spotlighted the Number Juan brand. It’s not terribly long, but he does provide a bit of tequila history that ties nicely into some of Ron’s remarks.