Your cut-off point for TV series which you don't want to own in their entirety (1 Viewer)

[Roy Wall]

At one time I wanted to get all seasons of a series once I started buying the DVDs for that series.

"But, after a few years I realized that for most series, I really wanted just the first 3 or 4 seasons of a long running show (more than 5 seasons). I was not interested in later seasons.

Three seasons of Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, MASH, Wagon Train, MTM, Roseanne.

Four seasons of Perry Mason, Hawaii 5-O, The Rockford Files. ER"


Lee...I understand and respect your opinions...but as a HGWT fanatic...season 4 has two episodes that make the set worthwhile...the two best episodes in the series...IMO...are "El Paso Stage" and "A Quiet Night In Town (parts I & II)"....make season 4 a worthwhile purchase along with episodes "Everyman" and "A Head Of Hair". However...I can't argue the fact that most of the best material for HGWT came in the first three seasons. I think season 6 vol 1 of HGWT is well worth the purchase as I stated in a previous post.

Someone told me that Season 6 of Hawaii 5-0 was worth the purchase for the episode "Hookman" and whoever it was...was right on.

I won't argue with ya about Gunsmoke....we'll just agree to disagree on that....but I concede it's hard to beat those burning trail blazers of the first six seasons.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Someone told me that Season 6 of Hawaii 5-0 was worth the purchase for the episode "Hookman" and whoever it was...was right on.

Funny you should mention that; I haven't gotten to it yet, but I bought the series (at good, sale prices) up through Season 6, for exactly that reason... I'd heard from several HAWAII FIVE-0 fans that "Hookman" was a standout episode, so I wanted that, regardless of whether the series overall was wearing thin or not. I guess I'll eventually find out.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I cannot watch the last three seasons of One Tree Hill. I've tried. I just...can't.

 

[Professor Echo]

You got that right. The original website was great, but ever since TVGuide took it over it's been pretty pathetic. I haven't been back there in years.


Gary "sometimes change is NOT a good thing" O.

I can remember spending an hour reading the entry on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER and laughing so hard at what people posted. And that was a show I LIKED. It just never seemed really mean spirited there, but more along the lines of a party where you suddenly just start complaining about stuff for the silly fun of it and it becomes infectious.

I also remember the actress who played Dodie on MY THREE SONS writing to the owner of the site and wanting everyone to know how hurt she was by what people had posted about her and that she was directed to play the part that way and it wasn't her fault, etc. I can understand her angst, I suppose, but really I think she was taking it way too seriously. Half the fun of loving TV is hating it at the same time.

 

[BobO'Link]

The origional owners of JTS created a new site called http://bonethefish.com. It's just as good as the original site was before TV Guide bought and ruined it.

What Gary said! Thanks! *How* did you find this? I've searched every couple of years since the original site was destroyed only to come up with the lame TV Guide version every time!

 

[Regulus]

Just before TV Guide took over the original site they announced they were forming their own site. (It's possible the sale of the original site was a "Hostile Takeover", they knew TV Guide would gut the site, and they only bought the name, not what they could put up, so the creaters of JTS came up with this site).

Now if someone could come up with a site where viewers posted information of bona-fide Bloopers and/or Easter Eggs they spotted in TV Shows. I try to google Bloopers and all I get are some lame sites that post outtakes, not real Bloopers and/or Easter Eggs.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Thanks from me, too, Regulus! I hadn't checked Jump The Shark since before the takeover, and in fact had no idea that it had changed owners and went down the crapper until that had been related in this thread, so I was happy to get that 'new' Bone The Fish bookmark.

As far as TV info websites are concerned, one thing I'd like to see most of all (if it doesn't already exist somewhere, low-profile) is a database of scanned chronological TV Guide listings (or local newspaper guide supplement listings... ours in southwestern Virginia in the 1970s was 'TV Tab')... I've seen a couple of pages here and there, aggregated in Google Images from the occasional blog or Flickr/Tumblr page, but nothing where you could go and look up what was playing for a week in the Fall of 1973 in the Boston area, for instance. I'm not a paper collector, but it sure would be cool to look up what was playing on local channels on a given day or week, during my early childhood, to help jog some latent TV memories.

I saw one promising lead in a Google search recently, only to find the person was only interested in posting the channel line-up page from several years/regions of TV Guide, not the actual daily programming on those channels. Sheesh!

 

[jimmyjet]

well, one show that got better, imo, was star trek voyager.

the first four seasons were actually quite good.

but the injection of seven was a tremendous character. in many ways, she took the place of data, who i think was by far the most important character of tng.

the doctor and seven were great characters, and they were portrayed wonderfully.

 

[Professor Echo]

As far as TV info websites are concerned, one thing I'd like to see most of all (if it doesn't already exist somewhere, low-profile) is a database of scanned chronological TV Guide listings (or local newspaper guide supplement listings..

Peter, you need to check and see if your local library subscribes to a database called ProQuest or something similar. I use my brother's library card # from the Chicago area where I grew up to access ProQuest through his local library's website and from there I can search and read every single issue, page by page, of the Chicago Tribune from the 1800's to 1985. All on my home computer here in Los Angeles. That includes not only all the daily TV listings, but each week's newspaper TV program guide that would come out in either the Saturday or Sunday paper. Each page formats to your computer screen as a PDF and there are any number of tools to make it more readable. You can even zoom and print individual ads and pictures.

Newspapers from 1985 to present are also available, but under a different database within ProQuest. The New York Times is also available as a default database, but I would imagine most major cities have back issues of their hometown newspapers included in their online records.

 

[Lee Smith]

At one time I wanted to get all seasons of a series once I started buying the DVDs for that series.

"But, after a few years I realized that for most series, I really wanted just the first 3 or 4 seasons of a long running show (more than 5 seasons). I was not interested in later seasons.

Three seasons of Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, MASH, Wagon Train, MTM, Roseanne.

Four seasons of Perry Mason, Hawaii 5-O, The Rockford Files. ER"


Lee...I understand and respect your opinions...but as a HGWT fanatic...season 4 has two episodes that make the set worthwhile...the two best episodes in the series...IMO...are "El Paso Stage" and "A Quiet Night In Town (parts I & II)"....make season 4 a worthwhile purchase along with episodes "Everyman" and "A Head Of Hair". However...I can't argue the fact that most of the best material for HGWT came in the first three seasons. I think season 6 vol 1 of HGWT is well worth the purchase as I stated in a previous post.

Someone told me that Season 6 of Hawaii 5-0 was worth the purchase for the episode "Hookman" and whoever it was...was right on.

I won't argue with ya about Gunsmoke....we'll just agree to disagree on that....but I concede it's hard to beat those burning trail blazers of the first six seasons.

I watched Gunsmoke when it first was broadcast and did not like the longer episodes initially. I thought they had a lot of padding just to make them into an hour. Then I joined the Navy and did not watch much TV for most of the 60s and 70s. So, I have no interest in any of the remaining seasons of Gunsmoke.

I know that a lot of series have good episodes in later seasons like 5-O but I have a lot of other series that I enjoyed more and one cannot buy everything. I collect series from the 50s to current ones. So, for some shows I limit myself to a few seasons. And I have complete series for more than I want to admit.

 

[BobO'Link]

Just before TV Guide took over the original site they announced they were forming their own site. (It's possible the sale of the original site was a "Hostile Takeover", they knew TV Guide would gut the site, and they only bought the name, not what they could put up, so the creaters of JTS came up with this site).

Now if someone could come up with a site where viewers posted information of bona-fide Bloopers and/or Easter Eggs they spotted in TV Shows. I try to google Bloopers and all I get are some lame sites that post outtakes, not real Bloopers and/or Easter Eggs.

I don't know how I missed that announcement as I was on the site fairly regularly right up to and a bit past the takeover. Before it became part of TVGuide it was (and thanks to you, is again) a fun place to pass a bit of time reading, and posting, comments about old series.

I'd be interested in a *real* Bloopers and "Easter Eggs" site too. Outtakes are not generally what I'd call "Blooopers" but just people flubbing a line. IMHO a true Blooper is one that doesn't get caught, or there's no time to reshoot so it's left in, and makes it to air. I'd bet that's your definition as well. I may have to play around with some specific verbage to see if I can come up with something...

 

[Regulus]

A few bloopers I've seen include these: (If I know the episodes name I'll post it as well)

The Six Million Dollar Man. (Visible Equipment) Steve Austin throws a tire at a man, the tire hits him and a chunk of the tire breaks off, revealing it was made from styrofoam.

The Bold Ones (Continuity) A man is boarding a flight that is "Nonstop" from San Francisco to Los Angeles. You see a Boeing 707 take off, a Boeing 737 landing and the man gets off a Douglas DC 7!

Walker Texas Ranger S8 Desparate Measures (Continuity) Walker shoots a Bank Robber and he drops dead, his gun by his side.
Walker next takes onthe robbers accomplice. When Walker captures him and leads him to the Police Car to be hauled off to jail you see the dead robber again, the gun has moved.

Lassie S10 The Disappearance Part 2 (Continuity + Easter Egg)Timmy is flying in a plane attempting to find Lassie, who was separated from him in a storm. Far away shots show a High-Wing Cessina (The plane from Ripcord), but close-up shots of Timmy show him in a Low-Wing Beechcraft.

Lassie S 13 Lure of the Wild (Visible Crew + Equipment) Lassie is running down a road, in front of you you can see the shadow of the Truck and the Cameraman who's shooting this scene!

X 15 (Movie) - (Visible Equipment). During some of the scenes filmed inside Plane Cockpits you can see a Camera Lens reflected in the glass.

Back to the Future Part III (Movie) (Continuity) Whe Marty arrives in hill Valley in 1885, he passes a man shoveling manure into a cart. Note the man is in the shade. Marty walks a few more steps, now you see the man shoveling manure again, this time he's in broad sunlight.

(Miscellanious) After Doc and Marty hijack the Locomotive the train comes to a stop. When the smoke dissapates from the locomotive's smoke stack look up and to the right, a Vapor Trail from a Jet Airplane can be seen. Another Vapor Trail can be seen earlier in the Movie when Marty is being chased by the indians.

Rocky III (Movie) - (Visible Equipment) During the Rematch between Rocky Balboa and Clubber Lang, at one point you can see just below the ring two director's chairs, one has the word SLY on it, the other says MR. T. In front of both chairs is some kind of video moniter.

 

[Ron1973]

A few bloopers I've seen include these: (If I know the episodes name I'll post it as well)

The Six Million Dollar Man. (Visible Equipment) Steve Austin throws a tire at a man, the tire hits him and a chunk of the tire breaks off, revealing it was made from styrofoam.

The Bold Ones (Continuity) A man is boarding a flight that is "Nonstop" from San Francisco to Los Angeles. You see a Boeing 707 take off, a Boeing 737 landing and the man gets off a Douglas DC 7!

Walker Texas Ranger S8 Desparate Measures (Continuity) Walker shoots a Bank Robber and he drops dead, his gun by his side.
Walker next takes onthe robbers accomplice. When Walker captures him and leads him to the Police Car to be hauled off to jail you see the dead robber again, the gun has moved.

Lassie S10 The Disappearance Part 2 (Continuity + Easter Egg)Timmy is flying in a plane attempting to find Lassie, who was separated from him in a storm. Far away shots show a High-Wing Cessina (The plane from Ripcord), but close-up shots of Timmy show him in a Low-Wing Beechcraft.

Lassie S 13 Lure of the Wild (Visible Crew + Equipment) Lassie is running down a road, in front of you you can see the shadow of the Truck and the Cameraman who's shooting this scene!

X 15 (Movie) - (Visible Equipment). During some of the scenes filmed inside Plane Cockpits you can see a Camera Lens reflected in the glass.

Back to the Future Part III (Movie) (Continuity) Whe Marty arrives in hill Valley in 1885, he passes a man shoveling manure into a cart. Note the man is in the shade. Marty walks a few more steps, now you see the man shoveling manure again, this time he's in broad sunlight.

(Miscellanious) After Doc and Marty hijack the Locomotive the train comes to a stop. When the smoke dissapates from the locomotive's smoke stack look up and to the right, a Vapor Trail from a Jet Airplane can be seen. Another Vapor Trail can be seen earlier in the Movie when Marty is being chased by the indians.

Rocky III (Movie) - (Visible Equipment) During the Rematch between Rocky Balboa and Clubber Lang, at one point you can see just below the ring two director's chairs, one has the word SLY on it, the other says MR. T. In front of both chairs is some kind of video moniter.

There's also a clip of Daniel Boone on YouTube where a blue truck was visible momentarily and vapor trails!

 

[Regulus]

^^ I saw that clip on YT.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Peter,

GUNSMOKE - If the entire run is released, I'll stop after S11, the last B/W season. The color seasons weren't as good for me, and I'm ok with 11 of 20 for this one.

That's one of those cases where the run of the show is so long, you could stop before the show does.

 

[jcroy]

I have a few shows where I don't have a strict cut-off point. It's more like a gradual cut-off, largely due to inertia and/or loss of interest.

- For the show 24, I'm missing seasons 6 and 8 and the movie Redemption. From various online reviews, I get the impression seasons 6 and 8 were on the weak side. I'm not in a huge rush to pick up either season 6 or 8, unless they show up in the dvd bargain bin for $10 each or less. (I found seasons 1 to 5 and 7 at various garage sales for $4 or $5 each).

- For the show Lost, I only have seasons 1 and 4 on dvd. Awhile ago I watched season 4 on its own, and found it to be watchable as a standalone season. I'm slowly making my way through season 1. I'm not in a rush to pick up the other seasons, unless I find them for $10 each or less. (Originally I found both seasons 1 and 4 at garage sales for $2 or $3 each).

- For CSI, I have seasons 1 and 9 on bluray, and season 2 on dvd. At this point, I really don't care anymore about the dvd sets. Over the years I have watched most of the episodes from the first nine seasons numerous times already, mostly on Spike (ie. episodes with William Petersen). I found both the bluray sets in the bargain bin, while season 2 I found at a garage sale for $2.


- My biggie is Law & Order. I have the first nine seasons and 14 on dvd. I liked the first nine seasons which had Jerry Orbach, Chris Noth, and later Benjamin Bratt as the lead detective characters.

When I started following television again in 2007 (after previously not paying attention to television for almost two decades), I was watching a lot of Law & Order reruns almost every day starting from season 1 (by coincidence). At the time, there wasn't much else on tv which interested me immediately, other than reruns of Law & Order and CSI. (This started during the summer of 2007).

By the time the Law & Order reruns reached the 10th season or so (in 2008), I was watching other more interesting stuff like reruns of Stargate SG-1 and 1990's era Star Trek stuff. So I ended up dropping the Law & Order reruns from my schedule. (At the time, I was still using a VHS machine to record shows during the day when I wasn't home). But I still watched new weekly Law & Order episodes in the evening.

A few years afterward I eventually came back to Law & Order reruns. By then, I found that I largely lost interest in the later seasons after the 9th or 10th season. I never really caught on to Jesse L Martin and Dennis Farina as lead detective characters, nor Angie Harmon, Elisabeth Rohm, Annie Parrise, Dianne Wiest, or Fred Thompson as lawyer characters.

At this point, I may pick up later seasons of Law & Order, if they show in the bargain bins for $5 or less. (A few years ago I picked up season 14 from the bargain bin).

- For Law & Order SVU and Criminal Intent (CI), I have seasons 1, 2, and 6 of SVU and 1-5 of CI on dvd. Back in 2007 and 2008, I was watching a lot of reruns of these two shows almost every day. I must have seen most of these episodes two or three times (or more) of these early seasons of SVU and CI. At this point, I really don't care anymore about further SVU or CI dvd season sets. (Though I may pick them up if they show up in the bargain bins for $5 each or less).

 

[Brian Himes]

Well, so far I haven't been given the opportunity to stop as series at after a particular season. Most of my stopped series is because the studio stopped releasing the further seasons.

The only show that I was going to stop was The Jeffersons. I was planning on stopping after the 79-80 season (sseason 6). Well, Sony beat me to the punch on that.

I may stop Fantasy Island after season 3 (79-80 season). Mainly because the character of Roarke becomes just a little too God like and the show becomes less and less believable. This trend started in season 3, but it really takes hold in seasons 4-7. Things just got too hoaky.

If I get Love Boat, I plan on stopping after the 79-80 season (season 3) as well. I just felt that from that moment on the series just tended to repeat itself all too often and it got boring. Since only seasons 1 & 2 have been released I really don't have to worry about whether or not to continue.

Other than those three, I wouldlike to complete any series that I start.

 

[mrz7]

I'm glad this topic was brought up....I do have quite a few shows that I do stop at a certain point because of a certain character on the show left or some sort of change in direction the series took. Here is some of the shows in my DVD collection where I stop collecting:LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY - I bring this one up first because this week CBS/Paramount video released the 6th season DVD set. I am kind of on the fence on whether or not to buy this one. I was going to stop at season 5 because I really love the "Milwaukee" shows. I really don't like or remember too much from the years that the series took place in California. However, I have been seeing some reviews that the 6th season was really the only "California" season that was good. This was the last season of the original cast (Betty Garret (Edna Babash) left after this season). I didn't care too much for the new characters (Sonny and Rhonda (really didn't care for her)). But from what I do remember, there were a couple of episodes that were good. I probably will end up buying it (when it goes on sale), but honestly, this is where the show started to go downhill. Season 7 I don't remember at all and Season 8 of the show (where they kept the title of "Laverne and Shirley" but Cindy Williams left the show) was just unwatchable!!!ALICE - I am just waiting for Warner's Archive MOD program to release the 4th season DVD set of this show (the first 3 seasons have been released already). The show went on for 9 seasons, but the 4th season is when my favorite character Florence Jean Castleberry (Flo) left the show. After the 4th season, this is where I stop and say "Kiss My Grits!"....LOL.DALLAS: I had to stop after season 7 on this show. I know most people say it was season 9 (the dream season) where the show starting going downhill, but I stopped a little earlier (Season 8). For one, I did not like Donna Reed taking over Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie. Just wasn't the same. And the plots started to repeat themselves (at the end of season 7 is where they did a repeat of "Who Shot J.R." but this time it was "Who Shot Bobby") What's nice about stopping at season 7 of "Dallas", is it doesn't really mess up the storyline on the sister show "Knots Landing" (which is my favorite '80's primetime soap, btw) about Bobby getting shot then Gary and Val named one of their twins, Bobby, after they learned Bobby was killed (even though he actually survived in Season 8. Bobby became blind for part of the season 8 (after being shot)and this was another reason why I lost interest in "Dallas". I thought the whole "blind Bobby" seemed too fake and unbelievable). It wasn't until the end of season 8 of "Dallas" that Bobby actually gets killed and Season 9's dream season mess up that "Knot's Landing" totally divorce themselves from crossover storylines with "Dallas". However, I do like the new "Dallas" thats currently on the air now, and will buy the first Two seasons (it's really good). But it messes up the old "Dallas" seasons I have, because Bobby is alive and well in the new "Dallas"....LOL (And I hope you all followed that....because it sure sounded like a soap opera....LOL!!!)THREE'S COMPANY: I have to say after Suzanne Somers left the show. Along with John Ritter's character "Jack", Suzanne Somers character "Chrissy" was the central point of this show. I liked the way these two played off each other. When she left and her cousin "Cindy" came in.....it became unwatchable. However, when Pricilla Barnes came in as "Terri", I kinda liked the show again, but they were repeating alot of the same plots. So I stopped the DVD sets after the first season that Pricilla Barnes appeared. And a special mention: the show was still good with either The Ropers or Mr. Farley (the great Don Knotts).THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW: And speaking of Don Knotts, like most people have mentioned, after all the first 5 seasons (the black and white shows) that featured Don Knotts as Barney, I stopped watching. It was definitely a different show after this. If they ever release this show on Blu-Ray, I would only buy the black and white shows....those were the best!THE JEFFERSONS: I was going to stop buying DVD sets after the 4th season because Zara Cully (Mother Jefferson) became sick and past away during the 4th season. I really loved her character. But I think I will continue to buy Season 5 and 6 because I forgot how funny the George / Florence relationship was. Sidenote: I liked both Lionels. The first Lionel was great, but I also liked second Lionel as well.ALL IN THE FAMILY: I have the entire series on DVD on this show. This is one of the best written and acted sitcoms, in my opinion. But I do have to agree with an earlier poster that once Mike and Gloria left the show, it went a little downhill. What kept the last season of this show (as well as the first season of the sequel "Archie Bunker's Place") was the actors, Carroll O'Connor (Archie) and most of all Jean Stapleton (Edith). Once Jean Stapleton left "Archie Bunker's Place", it became unwatchable.THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW: Like "All In The Family", I have the entire series on DVD of this show. And I also agree with another poster that once the character "Rhoda" (Valerie Harper) left the series, the show went a little downhill. Also, when Mary moved into a different apartment (Loved her first apartment). But because of the writing on the show and the great Betty White (Sue Ann Nivens) is what saved the show in it's later years.All other shows I am pretty much am a completist to buying the whole series.

 

[Al.Anderson]

The show that comes to mind immediately is Weeds. I loved S1, S2 was good, and then I thought it fell of precipitously.

In a slightly differenty vein, I like Star Trek Next Generation, but not enough to buy the whole thing. Fortunately they have "themed" collections that scratched the itch pretty well. I particularly like the Q set.

Scrubs started getting thin in S5 or S6, but S8 picked it up enough to make the whole thing worthwhile.

And there's Get Smart, where I bought the set based on nostalgia, but then regretted it. But no specific season was the culpret, just a rosey memory.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Any opinions on the best season of The Rockford Files? I've done Season Two and am ready to take another dip. Love the on location stuff.