Back for reruns, but why?

“The Sopranos,” “The Simpsons” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” were all hits when released on DVD. So it’s hardly surprising studios seem to think that digital-age couch potatoes will watch any TV series, miniseries or small-screen movie that comes out on the booming format.

But are there really that many people who are going to fork over their hard-earned dollars for the entire first season of “The Man Show,” or a 1974 British comedy series called “Thick as Thieves” which features a young Bob Hoskins when he still had a head of hair, or the disappointing sequel to “The Avengers?”

This current trend likely won’t slow down until some of the bona fide turkeys prove to be as unpopular on DVD as they were on TV. For now though, the studios seem to be content to continue to empty the vaults. Just this week, Columbia TriStar announced the release in September of every episode of Fox’s comedy series “The Tick,” which was canceled before it even went on the air.

The latest batch of TV shows on DVD includes some classics, stylish recent series and a few programs that should have been left undisturbed in their resting place.

One of these would be “Thick as Thieves” ($80), a rather lame eight-part comedy series unearthed by Acorn Media, which specializes in British TV shows. It is worth watching only to catch Hoskins as well as John Thaw, of “Inspector Morse,” early in their careers. Hoskins plays a mid-level thief who returns home after a three-year stint in prison to find his wife (Pat Ashton) living with his best friend and partner in crime (Thaw). Though Hoskins wants his wife to give up the affair with his friend, she refuses and all three find themselves living under one roof. It was written by veteran comedy writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.

The first season of Comedy Central’s insulting, crude comedy series “The Man Show” (Red Distribution, $30) -- hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla and featuring a lot of big-breasted women in bikinis -- is now a three-disc DVD. The collection features some extra sketches that are pretty tasteless including Kimmel’s spoof of the newest Laker, Karl Malone.

NBC preempted its gritty detective series “Boomtown” earlier this year for its ambitious, acclaimed six-part series “Kingpin” (Lions Gate, $30), which has just been released on DVD in a producer’s cut. The drama revolves around a Mexican crime family overseeing a powerful global drug cartel. Yancy Arias stands out as the low-key, but no-nonsense leader of the family, Miguel Cardena. It would have been great to have the filmmakers or even some members of the cast provide commentary, but the only extras on the three-disc set are routine interviews with the cast and producer.

A far more satisfying collection is Warner’s six-disc set ($99) of the complete first season of “La Femme Nikita,” USA Network’s cult hit based on Luc Besson’s 1990 French thriller about a homeless woman who is trained to become an assassin. The series, which aired from 1997-2001, is a slick, glossy, entertaining show powered by Australian actress Peta Wilson, now in “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” as a young street woman who is unjustly accused of murder.

Facing a death sentence for the crime, she’s given the option to work for a secret, underground spy network called Section One, where she trains to become an anti-terrorist operative and assassin. Roy Dupuis also stars as the enigmatic man who trains her and to whom she is increasingly attracted.

The handsome set features commentary on the pilot from executive consultant and director Joel Surnow and executive producer/writer Robert Cochran (they’ve since created and are executive producers on “24”), and director Jon Cassar, as well as Surnow’s commentary on the season finale. There are also numerous deleted scenes with commentary by Surnow and an above average documentary on the making of the series.

The tongue-in-cheek British spy series “The Avengers,” with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg as witty, sophisticated British agents, was a huge hit in America in the late 1960s and has lived on thanks to repeats on TV and release on home video. Despite the presence of the always-dapper Macnee, “The New Avengers ‘76” pales in comparison to the original. This Tuesday, A&E; releases a four-disc set ($80) featuring all 13 episodes from the first season of the lackluster sequel, which also stars Joanna Lumley of “Absolutely Fabulous” and Gareth Hunt of “Upstairs, Downstairs” as Macnee’s partners in solving crime.

Also new Tuesday from A&E; is the first season of the 1996-2001 NBC series “Profiler” ($100), a stylish thriller influenced by “Silence of the Lambs.” It featured a strong female protagonist, Samantha Waters (Ally Walker), a former profiler for the FBI living in seclusion with her daughter and best friend since the death of her husband three years earlier at the hands of a psychotic genius who had been stalking her. She’s called back into action when her mentor (Robert Davi) tracks her down to help him on a case involving a serial killer.

The set features all but one episode from the premiere season -- the fourth episode is missing because of the very expensive music rights for the Police classic “Every Breath You Take,” which is prominently featured in the episode. The DVD features separate commentary tracks from Walker and Davi.

“Bonanza” was one of television’s best-loved and longest-running Westerns. Telecast on NBC from 1959-73, “Bonanza” was the first network Western to be broadcast in “living” color and featured David Rose’s great theme music. The series revolved around the Cartwright clan who lived on the Ponderosa ranch near Virginia City, Nev.: Patriarch Ben (Lorne Green) and his three sons -- each had different mothers -- Adam (Pernell Roberts), Hoss (Dan Blocker) and Little Joe (Michael Landon).

Artisan has released the first volume of “The Best of Bonanza” ($25), a two-disc set featuring eight remastered episodes from the show’s early seasons. Among the guest stars featured are Jack Carson, Barry Sullivan, Lee Marvin, Howard Duff and Ida Lupino. But truth be told, the show hasn’t held up very well. It’s fun to hear the soaring music and to see the four Cartwrights bonding, but it’s all pretty pokey. And let’s not even discuss the racist portrayals of Asian Americans and American Indians....

After “Bonanza” ended its run, Landon went into another successful series, the hourlong family drama “Little House on the Prairie,” which aired on NBC from 1974-83 and also starred current Screen Actors Guild president Melissa Gilbert. Based on the novels of Laura Ingalls Wilder about her family’s struggle to make a home on the plains of Kansas, “Little House” was steeped in sentimentality and awash with warm, fuzzy feelings. Audiences couldn’t get enough of the series, even during the height of the disco era.

Goldhil has recently released the DVD of the 1974 pilot movie ($15), which also stars Karen Grassle and Melissa Sue Anderson, as well as sets of the first two seasons of the show ($50 each).