I prompted Steven to elaborate on the rating of Hand Maid May, and it's a very solid — interesting and informational — piece of advocacy... The problem is that the discs are not available. So, should I download rips for the show that's fully licensed, buy it on eBay, or ... ?

But [despite shortcomings] it gets a thumbs up, because to this day it remains one of the best fan service shows I think I've ever seen. And it is certainly the best harem comedy I've ever seen. No other has ever measured up.

Wow, not even Hanaukyou Maid Team? That seems quite an endorsement at first. But looking through the master list of harems that I made for CCY, I think To Heart is the only harem that's competitive with HMM if we take what Steven writes about it as gospel (not counting the simple triangle series on the list).

One of the best reasons for why this series is good is that they didn't wear out their welcome. They had 10 episodes of story to tell, so they told the story in 10 episodes. They didn't try to stretch it. And there really isn't any filler; every episode contributes to the story being told.

I'm violently against artificial stretching too, but since we're on topic, I have to mention that exceptions exist for every rule. I loved some of the filler in Midori Days (in particular the body-swap dream). Kamichu tried for a similar tack as well, although with less success IMHO.

UPDATE: Evirus has a section for HMM, albeit not as detailed.