It seems that DVDs have the power to produce miracles. They can make comedian Dave Chappelle seem even funnier than usual. When they arrive at our homes in tasty red envelopes, they have the capacity to create untold joy. DVDs have even resuscitated a comatose television show.

That’s what happened when Fox pulled the rug out from under "The Family Guy," which landed on its feet in syndication land via late-night programming on the Cartoon Network.

Then, in stepped the prodigious power of DVD. Millions of fans snatched up discs of the cult hit and Fox executives resurrected the dearly departed series to rousing ratings.

While "The Family Guy" is — so far — the lone example of an outright revival, it is evidence of the growing influence of TV DVDs. With impressive sales, the discs can make a dead show dance and deliver mouth-to-mouth for programming on the brink.

These seasonlong collections have democratized television viewership by giving consumers another way to express their allegiance to a program.

Consider the numbers. This burgeoning niche has grown exponentially in the last three years to a nearly $3 billion slice of the $24 billion DVD rental and sales pie. That’s compared with a $1 billion take just two years ago, said Scott Hettrick, editor and chief of DVD Exclusive, a monthly magazine.

"TV DVDs have been the fastest growing category for the home entertainment market for the last three years," he said.

More than ratings

Studio chieftains are taking notice. Gone are the days when weekly ratings were the sole gauge of a show’s popularity. Syndication is no longer the most reliable means for a production studio to recoup revenue. In a sense, the TV discs have become a less-lucrative form of syndication, allowing viewers to demonstrate their commitment to a series and generate alternate revenue for the studios.

And with dramatic sales growth in recent years, there’s no telling what kinds of profit these DVDs could generate for production houses in the future. Niche audiences now can carry a torch for their favorite show long after it has been off the air, and fans can become acquainted with a series on their own time.

DVD possibilities now are factored into programming decisions, with executives exploring whether a show lends itself to repeat viewing and could be enhanced with special features and behind-the-scenes footage, said Edward Jay Epstein, author of "The Big Picture: The New Logic of Power and Money in Hollywood."

But DVD popularity alone is by no means enough to keep a show on the air.

Of course, if a show isn’t on the air, then there aren’t any episodes to put on DVD. So a series must demonstrate that viewers will tune in on a regular basis and generate advertising revenue — hence the rampant rumors of cancellation for DVD success "Arrested Development."

The critically acclaimed series consistently posted abysmal ratings and has been a perennial chopping-block candidate. Its possible cancellation is a disappointment but not a surprise.

Gaining devotees

Still, the Fox series has been able to prolong its slow death after multiple seasons of lackluster ratings, and some analysts attribute its possible salvation — there’s talk that another network may rescue the quirky comedy from oblivion — in part to an ever-expanding sect of DVD devotees.

The first two seasons of "Arrested Development" consistently rank among the top 20 DVD titles sold at Best Buy stores.

"I think that a lot of times you can tell how fanatical a fan base is by how the TV DVDs sell," said Brian Lucas, spokesman for the national retailer.

Shows such as Fox’s "24," UPN’s "Veronica Mars" and the canceled Fox series "Firefly" have rabid fans who discuss plot lines in Internet chat rooms and attempt to spread the good news about their favorite shows to the uninformed masses.

Strong DVD sales also can translate into stronger ratings. Such was the case with the suspense-filled drama "24," sketch-comedy favorite "The Chappelle Show" and "The Family Guy," each of which gained viewers after becoming popular DVD sets.

With TV DVD profits topping $3 billion this year, according to DVD Exclusive magazine, the discs are becoming an increasingly valuable entertainment tool for studios, which already make the bulk of their profit from television programs — not movies.

The key to the television DVD boom is the easy-to-navigate format, which make it easier than ever to skip through dead spots and begin at a favorite scene. It is a non-linear medium, unlike videocassettes. The discs also have voluminous storage capacities that allow a single DVD to include more episodes than a single videocassette ever could.

The convenience has fans returning to some off-the-air favorites such as "Mash" and "Seinfeld." And studios are releasing black-and-white era hits such as "Have Gun Will Travel" and "Combat." Netflix, a service that mails DVDs to members, reports that television shows account for about 15 percent of the 1.2 million titles shipped each day.

"The production studios are realizing that there’s some revenue to generate from shows that are even off of the air," said Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey.

Low-cost move

And it doesn’t hurt that the DVDs are relatively inexpensive to create. Executives like that once a show is produced, it costs only a little more to transfer a season onto discs.

Consumers like that they can fit a favorite show into their schedules, devour multiple episodes in a single sitting and catch bonus features such as interviews, director’s cuts and deleted scenes, which can make a familiar series feel fresh.

The power of the discs is enough to give some fans hope that their DVD purchases will spawn another resuscitation. Restoration of "Firefly" — only 11 of its original 14 episodes aired on Fox — is a favorite topic on fan Web sites.

Said one devotee on a "Firefly" forum: "Renewing the TV show would be great ... Fox did bring back `Family Guy,’ and that’s doing better than ever."