What Is Your BEST & WORST Blind Buy TV On DVD? (1 Viewer)

[Venice-H]

Only one true blind buy and it worked out well - "Here Come the Brides". Good as it was, it was definitely losing momentum the farther along the season got and with the whispers about adverse changes coming in season 2, this is probably as far as I go with this one. But season 1 was good and worth what I paid for it.

 

[Regulus]

For me it's MacGyver. I never saw the series when it first came around, but when someone (Perhaps Deep Discount) had one of their BOGO sales, so I picked off the entire series for what was essentially half-price!

I havn't blind-bought a series and regretted it, but one day it MAY Happen (It's happened to me on other things, but that's life!)

 

[Bryan^H]

What did you hate about Benson? I love that show!

 

[jamoon2006]

I've had a lot of luck with blind buys (Futurama, Ironside, Twin Peaks, The Odd Couple spring to mind). Usually I like to try a show before I buy it, which is easier and easier now thanks to Netflix and sites like Hulu.com.

Really the only time I've struck out on a blind buy was The Streets of San Francisco. I'm a fan of 70s mystery/crime dramas, but this one just didn't do it for me. I picked up Season 1, Volume 1 and that was enough.

 

[JoshuaB.]

Best: Undeclared. I didn't have cable when this series aired, but my love of Freaks and Geeks assured me that I would also love this Judd Apatow-produced comedy and I was right!

Worst: The Twilight Zone (2001-2002 version). I love the original TZ and quite like the 80s version (even the low-budget Canadian version), but this series is very disappointing. Subpar acting, scripts by writers who don't understand the Twilight Zone's concept (most of the episodes seemed better suited to the new Outer Limits or Tales from the Darkside). Sometimes it's not good to be a completist!

 

[Professor_Echo]

I never like to unduly influence anyone in a thread at the beginning, so often when I post a new topic, I will let the dialog commence and then chime in later with my own reflections.

BEST Blind Buy: Has to be DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT, which was an incredible value considering what you get, a complete series in two volumes with beautiful transfers of uncut episodes. I managed to get both volumes for about $10 each. Of course, as with any primitive media, the show itself is a bit hokey, maybe even more than a bit at times, but it's always entertaining and as a student of spies in popular culture, it's an amazing find, given that it is TV's first spy series.

Second would be HERE COME THE BRIDES, a show I watched when I was a little kid, but had ever diminishing memories of, so it was akin to a blind buy. I was amazed that it even came out at all and wonder who at Sony greenlighted the release of this relatively forgotten show. I'm still watching it and am just past the half-way point, so can't yet comment if the content begins to pale the longer it goes. I don't think the quality is very good for a major studio release, but it's watchable and rare enough to warrant my attention despite the heavy grain and artifacting.

Third, I've been enjoying SUSPENSE very much, but it is not for all tastes. The kinescoped series has been heavily criticized for its apparent bad quality, but if one has even a passing familiarity with the kinescope process and the era in which it was applied, you should have no trouble adjusting your vision and imagination, even on a Plasma. As has been written, the show is not as good as its radio progenitor, but it's an amazing document of early TV, for better and worse. In addition most of the shows still have their repetitive commercials for AUTO-LITE, which will drive (ha!) you crazy if you watch too many shows back to back, but are not without entertainment and historical value. It's always interesting to see the great number of advertisers in the 50's and 60's who thought that animation or partial animation was the predominant visual way to sell their product.

WORST Blind Buy: Like many of the posters I've mostly stuck with shows I at least had some recognition of prior to purchase, but one year for Christmas I asked for and received the first season of DANIEL BOONE despite the fact that I had never seen an episode of it. On the whole the show is very good, but the quality of the first season on DVD is awful. A favorable review at DVD Talk mentioned how stellar the transfers were and I based my desire to obtain the DVDs on that. Unfortunately the reviewer must have watched it at the bottom of his swimming pool because everywhere you look on the web, critics have expressed their disdain for the first season's quality. A friendly letter to the offending critic at DVD Talk asking if his review set may have differed from the one released elicited no reply. The company who released the set admitted after the release that the copies used were the best available and even indicated one or two shows that had significant scenes missing. From what I understand the rest of the series on DVD is in good shape. Lesson learned: Never trust just ONE critic!

The complete series GOOD MORNING WORLD was another blind buy which was not bad enough to be called WORST, but was only mildly entertaining. Considering the production team and their background I expected far more and even hoped it might be one of those "forgotten, neglected treasures," but instead it was only a light sitcom without any substance and too few and far between laughs.

 

[Lucia Duran]

Best:

How I Met Your Mother S1: The pilot alone is worth the buy. I really enjoyed what I have seen so far of it(haven't watched the full season yet) and I am looking forward to S2.

Dead Like Me S1: This series is really quirky and very well written. I enjoy the cast a great deal and each episode gets better and better as you watch.


Worst:

Firefly: I'm sorry to all those who absolutely rave about this series. I found it to be such a disappointment. The acting is probably the worst I have ever seen and the writing is just dreadful. I honestly do not get what so many people love about this series. Pure crap! Waste of money. Thanks to Netflix, I don't have to bother wasting my money on blind buys anymore.

 

[Eric Vedowski]

Best: Dexter, Season One
Honorable Mention: Ultraviolet
Possible Worst: Chancer-a 1990 British series starring Clive Owen. Got it at a good price but watched only the first two episodes a while back. One of these days I'll watch the whole first season but I wasn't terribly impressed by what I saw. When I finish watching it I may feel differently-the reviews I've read all raved about it.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Best - Firefly, enjoyed the tongue in cheek humor, Ron Glass and Adam Baldwin. Can't say enough good things about this one.

Worst - The Untouchables, just didn't get what the hype was all about. Didn't care for Robert Stack and the other "untouchables" just were not compelling. Traded set before finishing the episodes.

Doug

 

[Al.Anderson]

The only true blind buy I have is Firefly, I absolutely loved it - original, great characters, good writing.

The ones on the other side aren't so much bad, as not what I had expected.
- The Addams Family's laugh track (S1) was more pronounced than I remembered and severely diminished my enjoyment.
- While I really enjoyed the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 2 was more than I needed, plus I wasn't happy with their selection, and I wound up putting it back on the shelf where it remains uncompleted.

 

[John Swarce]

Best: Firefly (1st blind buy TV series I ever bought. Loved it, loved Serenity) and Six Feet Under (most expensive blind buy for me, but so worth it...great series)

Worst: Dark Angel, Season 2. Just didn't hold up to Season 1's promise, but Jessica Alba ALMOST made up for it!
--John

 

[BobSchneider]

Hmmm best blind buys, Wanted Dead or Alive s1 and s2 and Have Gun Will Travel s1 and s2 both blind buys and I love the shows although the poor decline in video/audio quality half way though S2 with HGWT makes it sadly doubtful I'll buy s3.

worst : s1 of 24 god how did 24 every made to a second season ? massive plot wholes, massive and too numerous count production continuinty errors, the ludicrous repeated kidnapping of his wife and daughter, it really one of the most massive blind buy blunders Ive made. Blech

 

[Shawn_Sm]

I don't know. It bored me. I will admit to being rather depressed at the time it came out though. It may have clouded my judgement.

 

[Radioman970]

Best-Futurama Season 1. It was on sale years ago at Bestbuy and I was very happy with the quality. I had only ever seen a very short clip. I have yet to get the rest but certainly want them. 2nd place-can't think of another. I usually research stuff pretty well and often stuff I've never seen doesn't qualify as a blind buy for this reason. Youtube is your friend!

Worst-Dark Angel Season 1. Glad I'm not alone. We were all buying that preeeetty face. :frowning: Whoever designed that DVD set packaging owes us all $40 each!! 2nd place-The Flying Nun Seasons 1 and 2. I've been warming up to it the more I watch. But Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie it ain't!

I didn't count stuff I watched as a kid like Lost in Space and Buck Rogers, even though I was pretty disappointed in the shows at my current age. :frowning:

 

[Don Giro]

Off the top of my head (and cribbing from previous posts):

Best: Friday Night Lights, Firefly (but I HATED "Serenity"), Son of the Beach, The Larry Sanders Show, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me, Roswell, Popular, Homicide, The Office (UK), Arrested Development, Alias, Grosse Pointe, Lost, Smallville, and of course, Veronica Mars

Worst (well, let's just say these shows didn't do it for me, but they're not BAD by any stretch): Joan of Arcadia, Angel, The Black Donnellys, and Charmed (though I hear "Charmed" gets beter as the series progresses--I'll hold out for the inevitable Mega-Set)

To the poster that didn't care for the first season of Alias (but has the 2nd season unwrapped): Open it up and enjoy it. It was the best season of the series IMHO.

 

[Gary OS]

Interesting that you mentioned this dvd, because I almost put it on my "BEST" side. I hadn't seen the show in many, many years and I thoroughly enjoyed that first season set. It's true that the rest of the season sets look better than this one, but the stories are so much better in that first season so I didn't think the less than perfect video lessened my enjoyment of the set. The quality certainly was not as bad as the ROUTE 66 S1, V1 set. Now there's a set to be upset with AV quality about. But I really didn't think the Boone set was that bad.

And for what it's worth, the reviewer you are talking about is the best in the business when it comes to vintage TV, IMHO. I look to him all the time for solid info on sets.

Gary "just my two cents" O.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Best: Doc Martin
Worst: Son of the Beach, I guess

 

[Jeff Willis]

Interesting how "Firefly" gets threads going I didn't mention that one earlier since it was a "blind-view" having borrowed the set from my nephew. Surprisingly I liked this series and the sequel film "Serenity". It wasn't quite enough of a "sell" for me to add it to the collection though, but it came close.

Although I'm a collector of mainly late 50's thru mid 90's shows, I liked Firefly, partly due to the interesting score/soundtrack for the series and the "wild-west" flavor in a SciFi series. That's the only series that I've seen since around '95 or so and the only one in this century Oh well, too many (sports) games on DirecTV and way too much backlog of 60's-80's shows on the shelf for me to watch anything on the networks anyway

 

[MatthewA]

Even Robert Guillaume admits that the show does not hit its stride until the second or third season, which may never come out.

 

[MatthewA]

I had some other good blind buys:

Fawlty Towers
Three's Company
The Young Ones

I usually don't blind buy TV shows unless it's some popular show I don't actively dislike but never got around to watching, or if I've never heard of it and it looks like something I might enjoy. So far, so good.