Arguably one of the best documentary series on TV is PBS’s American Experience. And while the network has been criticized for what many charge as political interference during the Bush years, this show has remained the place to tune in for well-told non-fiction TV. Now on DVD is their exhaustive series on American leadership, The Presidents. Ten of the finest and the worst leaders pack this box, including the shows on FDR, Jimmy Carter and the Kennedys.

Perhaps most fun is watching the greasy, sleazy Nixon—I mean, we all know the feeling (especially potent in the past eight years) of looking at someone in power and wondering, “How the hell did this guy get elected president?” But Nixon was so unappealing on every level—and this volume includes his laundry list of madcap mischief, from the secret bombing of Cambodia to the Watergate cover-up to his backstabbing and paranoia. It begs the question: is there anything this guy didn’t do?

While the recent Get Smart movie got mixed reviews and did only so-so box office, many of those who did see it are too young to know the source material. And that’s a big shame, given the inventive fun that was packed into the original show, season one of which is now out. Co-created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the original Maxwell Smart was invented as a James Bond spoof.

But while Smart, played so brilliantly by Don Adams, was a bungling ball of slapstick, there was always political bite behind the show. One early episode has Smart explain to fellow agent 99 (Barbara Feldon) that, indeed, they were obliged to kill people because, after all, they were Americans and therefore stood for all that’s good in the world. How can you go wrong with a show that critiqued American foreign policy and featured a shoe phone? The sequel movies and subsequent short-lived ’90s TV series are also available on DVD, but don’t bother