Lupe Alvarado and her fellow employees share lunch with the cast of the hit television series “Lost” all the time. The junior communications major started watching the show during her lunch breaks at a Wells Fargo Bank after a fellow co-worker brought in the DVD of the first season.

“There’s a TV in the break room, so someone brought the DVD in,” Alvarado said. “When you watch the first episode, you just need to know what happens next.”

DVDs have surpassed the old VHS way of watching movies at home, but today, DVDs aren’t just about movies. Watching TV shows on DVD has become popular for many college students and Americans across the country.

“There’s just been a huge boom over the past two years, just a huge explosion,” said Eli Turner, an employee for Blockbuster on Arden Way. “It’s like every TV show is on DVD.”

Long-time series’ “Smallville,” “Seinfeld,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Friends” are already on the store shelves. Older shows such as “MacGyver,” “Hogan’s Heros” and “21 Jump Street” have also been released. More recent shows like “Lost” and “House, M.D.” are making their way onto the shelves as soon as a couple months after the season has finished.

“A lot of people are just turned off by watching TV at home,” said Laurie Hoch, assistant manager for Hollywood Video on Folsom Boulevard. “Why watch it on TV when they can wait until the end of the season and not be tied in to having to be home on a specific day of the week?”

Flexible time management tends to be a popular reason for watching TV shows on DVD.

“It’s mostly popular because it’s not time constrictive,” said Maggie Parsons, a senior psychology major. “I don’t have cable, so when I do watch TV it would most likely be on DVD.”

The ability to watch a series at any time is what makes the TV-on-DVD idea so popular. Because people get busy with school or work, some don’t have any time to watch their favorite shows at regularly scheduled times, according to Best Buy sales associate Justin Lutz.

“I’ll work nights so if I wanted to watch ‘Lost,’ I would have to request every Wednesday off and I can’t do that,” said Turner. “DVD is the only way I can really watch my favorite shows.”

“People don’t work regular 9-5 hours, so their schedule isn’t the same every week,” Hoch said. “That’s where the video market takes all the slots.”

People flock to the nearest video store or electronic haven like Best Buy or Fry’s in hopes of getting their favorite show on DVD.

“It just depends on how dedicated you are to the television show in the idea of catching it on a certain time on a certain day,” Hoch said. “I don’t really see that dedication in TV so much anymore, especially if the really popular shows are coming out to rent.”

Some people prefer catching their favorite shows on DVD because they can skip commercials.”My sister refuses to watch the show ’24’ in any way other than buying it on DVD,” Parsons said. “There’s no suspense and you don’t have to wait a week to see the next one. ’24’ is the most suspenseful show ever.”

“24” is currently one of the most popular selling TV-on-DVD, with all four seasons holding spots on Amazon.com’s list of 25 top-selling TV shows on DVD.

“Usually what’s popular on TV is going to be popular on DVD,” said Lutz, who also majors in government at Sac State.

HBO shows like “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City” and “Six Feet Under” remain widely popular. Other popular titles include “Desperate Housewives,” “Nip/Tuck” and “CSI.”

“Movies are kind of ‘hit and miss’ but if you like a TV show, you like it,” Hoch said. “You like the show, you like the characters, so you’re interested in what they show you.”

An alternative to renting would be buying and Lutz said comedies are the most popular sets. MTV and Comedy Central shows boom in this area. “Chappelle’s Show” is the all-time bestselling TV show on DVD, according to www.tvshowsondvd.com.

“Everyone I know has at least one series, like ‘Family Guy,'” Parsons said.

The success of the “Family Guy” DVDs inspired Fox to bring the show back on the air after cancellation. Most shows aren’t so lucky. When a program gets cancelled for good, being released on DVD can be a blessing for viewers.

“When a show gets cancelled and it’s over, that used to be it,” Turner said. “Now you can go back and if you really like an episode you don’t have to have it on tape.”

“You can buy the set and watch it without commercials from start to finish without having to wait each week,” Turner said.

The only hard part about catching shows on DVD is waiting for the next season to come out on DVD as well. The second season of “Lost” is currently in progress, so DVD fans of the show, like Alvarado, just have to wait until that gets released in a few months if they want to watch all of the episodes in sequence.

“Now that we’re finished with the first season, we’re back to watching ‘Divorce Court,'” Alvarado said. “That’s the only thing that’s on. Either that or ‘Cops,’ but you get sick of that too.”

Aleesa Camagong can be reached at [email protected]