Monitor Picks

Global gourmet

We missed the first season of Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie – but we won't make the same mistake with Season 2. Starting in southern India, this fabulous meditation on food and travel follows foodies from around the world as they explore the cuisine of their own countries. And there is always a trip through Gourmet's test kitchen, where editor Ruth Reichl and her team interpret exotic recipes for American kitchens.

Romantic rendezvouz

Sorry, Leo and Kate, but no shipboard love affair compares with that of the late Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant in An Affair to Remember. A 50th-anniversary reissue includes reminiscences about the stars, and a featurette on the belated popularity of this initially overlooked classic. All that's missing is a complimentary pack of tissues.

A becoming Jane

Fans of Regency-era romance – and Empire-waist costumes – will need little persuading to watch "Persuasion" (l.), the first of six Jane Austen adaptations on PBS over the next two months. The Complete Jane Austen (premièring Jan. 13, check local listings) includes fresh British productions of "Sense and Sensibility," "Northanger Abbey," and "Mansfield Park." A bonus treat: "Miss Austen Regrets," a dramatized biography of the ever-popular author.

The playoffs play on

Never mind the Jaguars versus the Patriots, the weekend's most thrilling playoff game promises to be the clash between the Dallas Cowboys (with injured star Terrell Owens) and the New York Giants (with rising star Eli Manning) on the 13th, 4:15 p.m. on Fox.

Fret not!

Guitarinstructor.com caters to those strumming a six-string for the first time as well as those ready to master a new level of fretboard gymnastics. Online video lessons from the likes of Joe Bonamassa and Eric Johnson cost $1.99 each.