New releases

By Stephanie Schorow, Globe Correspondent  |  October 6, 2008

Tina Fey is riding so high off her too-close-for-comfort Sarah Palin impressions on "Saturday Night Live" that it's way too easy to forget that she also stars in "30 Rock," the spoof of a sketch comedy show that will begin its third season on Oct. 30 on NBC (and Oct. 23 online). The Emmy-winning show is a hit with critics, not so much with audiences, so we can't help but hope that maybe a certain VP candidate makes a surprise visit to the "30 Rock" set to complain about the mimicry on "SLN." Ah, TV imitating life, imitating TV.

Family: Sleeping Beauty
Comedy: You Don't Mess With the Zohan
Drama: The Visitor
Classic: The Picture of Dorian Grey
Classic: Rear Window
TV: Mission Impossible, Season 5
TV: Robot Chicken, Season 3
TV: The Simpsons, Season 11
TV: How I Met Your Mother, Season 3

Elephants... Teeth Sinking into Heart (Warner Bros)
Four years after her first album, waif singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata releases "Elephants. . . Teeth Sinking Into Heart," a two-CD release that promises to deliver the emotional punch of her debut, "Happenstance," with a bit more grit and a lot more rock. Yamagata, whose songs have been used in TV shows ranging from "ER" to "How I Met Your Mother," takes a non-commercial turn on the new album, an exploration of heartbreak.

Pop: Sarah McLachlan/ Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan (Arista)
Alternative: Oasis/ Dig Out Your Soul (Reprise)
Rock: The Pretenders/ Break up the Concrete (Shangri-La)
Holiday: The Brian Setzer Orchestra/ The Ultimate Christmas Collection (Surfdog)
Folk: Bob Dylan/ Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 (Sony)
Metal: Tesla/ Forever More (Tesla Electric Co.)
Jazz: Jon McLaughlin/ OK Now (Island)
Punk: Rise Against/ Appeal to Reason (Interscope)
Indie: Margot & the Nuclear So and So's/ Not Animal (Epic)

Multiple Platforms (2K Sports)
Just as the champion Celtics have started practicing for the next season, another version of the popular basketball game is back for the 10th season with enhanced graphics and an online "living rosters" feature that allows gamers to keep up with players' ratings and tendencies. As the NBA season goes on, players will be able to change moves, adapt their offensive and defensive rotations, and shift starting lineups to match what's happening on the real court.

John le Carré (Simon and Schuster)
The master of the espionage novel ("The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," "The Little Drummer Girl," "The Constant Gardener") has had no lack of material, even after the end of the Cold War. In his new novel, le Carré turns his pitiless eye on the war on terror and the lives of well-meaning men and women caught up in the cause. A young Russian, who says he's a Chechen Muslim, sets the plot rolling in his quest for asylum in Germany, aided by an idealistic young lawyer. But is the Russian a victim, or a potential terrorist? As always, le Carré eschews stereotypes to probe moral dilemmas.