The perfect antidote to reruns and reality shows can be found in "Slings & Arrows," a sparkling Canadian series that ran for three too-brief seasons ending in 2006. Acorn Media recently released "Slings & Arrows: The Complete Collection," a seven-volume DVD set featuring all three seasons, as well as a bonus disc of interviews, bloopers and extras; the Sundance Channel is also rerunning the series throughout the spring.

The enchanting comedy stars Paul Gross as Geoffrey Tennant, an actor who reluctantly becomes artistic director at the New Burbage Theatre when the company's longtime creative leader Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette) runs afoul of a ham truck.

Shakespeare fans will relish the clear and constant affection for the Bard evinced by "Slings & Arrows," in which the New Burbage players mount one of the playwright's productions in each season. First up: "Hamlet," the very play that led Geoffrey to an emotional breakdown several years before on the New Burbage stage. He wound up leaving his then-fiancee, leading lady Ellen Fanshaw (Martha Burns), and running out on his mentor, Oliver.

As Geoffrey wrestles with his own doubts about tackling the famously doubting Danish prince, up pops Oliver in the form of an appropriately Shakespearean ghost, prodding and provoking Geoffrey with all sorts of unwanted advice.

The twitting, increasingly Oedipal interplay between the ectoplasmic mentor and his protege is amusing enough, but "Slings & Arrows" turns out to be an improbably absorbing if comical drama when it throws a cast of hugely appealing supporting players into the mix.