What Is Your BEST & WORST Blind Buy TV On DVD?

Professor Echo · 04-19-2008, 04:17 PM

Ever take a chance and buy a TV show or series on DVD that you had never seen before or had minimal exposure to? Maybe it was from curiosity or reputation or the recommendation of someone else, a show that, for whatever reason, wound up in your library.

If so, what was the BEST of these purchases, those you found pleasantly surprising, rewarding and worthwhile both in content and quality or even regardless of quality?

How about the WORST of your blind buys, shows that just did not fulfill your hopes when you bought it or those with quality so inferior they didn't stand a chance to make much of an impression?

Include ALL TV shows on DVD, not just series, and even smaller company and public domain releases, individual episodes, compilations, etc.

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David Levine · 04-19-2008, 04:56 PM

Best: The Wire, Season 1. By a mile.

Runner up would be the Homicide: Life on the Street, Complete Series.

Worst: Superfriends. Loved it as a kid. Tried to watch it as an adult and it was so bad it actually made me angry watching it.

MatthewA · 04-19-2008, 04:57 PM

My best and worst is the same show: The Waltons. Best for content, most disappointing for quality.

Jeff Willis · 04-19-2008, 05:48 PM

Glen, good thread. I'll name a few in each catagory since it's hard for me to pick just one each

BEST:

1) By a near-infinite margin: The Fugitive. This one's absolutely amazing in content & DVD transfer quality.

's out of 5.
2) Macgyver. Never saw this one in the 80's but so far, into S1, it's great.
3) Band Of Brothers Miniseries. DVD set was pricey but a great miniseries.
4) The Untouchables. Only faint memories of Dad watching it remembering the opening theme.
5) The Naked City Box Sets. Great show. Near-blind-buy as my only memories of this one was when Dad was watching the original runs on the one family Zenith B/W TV. I only barely remembered the opening theme of the show. The Image DVD sets are excellent.
6) Honey West. This one's another faint memory of Dad watching the original run and I only remembered that classic opening theme tune.
7) A-Team. Yeah, I know...it's 80's "silliness" by a lot of measuring sticks out there but since, like the Fugitive, I'm probably one of 5-10 on the planet that had never seen a single episode before the DVD releases, it's a great way to watch a series. What fun, to me, watching George Peppard in that role and those bullets flying around with no one getting shot

WORST:

I've been fortunate in this catagory with very few duds. I think that's because I mainly buy TV/DVD's for the "reliving" experience of shows I saw growing up in the late 50's/60's. I tend to be cautious with blind-buys.

1) Route 66 S1V1. It's only due to the DVD transfers. The content/series is great but unless this one's re-mastered and re-released it's #1 for my disappointment purchase.

I don't have more than R66 for a blind-buy but I have had a couple that didn't stand the test of time for me when I saw them as a kid,

1) Lost in Space. I only bought S1 but sold the set after viewing it at a local trading store. It just didn't "do it" for me after watching it as a kid.

2) Yogi Bear. I usually like the HB shows like the Flintstones, Jetsons, Jonny Quest, but this one so far hasn't been too keen for me during the revisit viewing.

AnthonyC · 04-19-2008, 06:33 PM

I can't really decide between Larry Sanders and NewsRadio for the best. LS is the better show but I'm just so disappointed in the way the releases are handled and the fact that I'll never (legally) get to see the full series.

I haven't really had any bad luck with a blind buy. I loved Extras and Flight of the Conchords, as well as the UK Office.

Ockeghem · 04-19-2008, 06:38 PM

Best: Joan of Arcadia (bought it without ever having seen even one episode before).

I don't have a worst one yet; maybe after a while I will think of one.

BTW, I agree regarding the quality of The Waltons (a show I love). Nevertheless, I will be completing that series soon.

bmasters9 · 04-19-2008, 07:33 PM

One of my best would have to be a late-'60's series called "Hawaii Five-O." The three currently released seasons stand as great investments to me for several reasons-- first and foremost, the characters. Steve McGarrett and his legmen (Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua) are among the permanent enshrinees into my personal television hall of fame-- they were just that good. The opening and closing themes, and also the opening and closing titles, are also why the 3 currently released seasons of "Five-O" are among my best.

Another: "Mary Tyler Moore." Mary and her coworkers at WJM, IMHO, stand head and shoulders above the "jerks at Central Perk"-- of course, that's just my opinion. "Jerks at Central Perk" refers, of course, to "Friends," which, sadly, TV Land is planning on taking on next year, despite the fact that TBS and some FOX stations show it a lot.

On the other hand, I don't think that I've had very many worst. One that comes close is FOX's release of Season 1 of "The Fall Guy," which, while the episodes were entertaining, had some undisclosed music replacement and other editing that totally stunk.

FrankT · 04-19-2008, 07:59 PM

There have been a lot that I knew were going to be good before I bought them as I seen some of them on TV (Band of Brothers, Sopranos etc).

The ones that I did not know would be good but turned to be would be "The Shield", "the new "BSG", "OZ".

Bryan^H · 04-19-2008, 09:25 PM

BEST: DEXTER season 1,

WORST: Dark Angel....UGH!

Sammy-G · 04-19-2008, 09:34 PM

Best is a tie between House M.D. and Boston Legal. Was hounded by friends for months to watch them, and eventually bought both S1s when they hit the under-$20 mark. I sat myself down begrudgingly to watch them, not even wanting to like them, and now I'm absolutely hooked on both.

Worst is probably Monk. I can't count the number of times I read or was told "If you like House you'll LOVE Monk!" so I finally broke down and bought S1 with very high expectations. It's certainly an ok show but it just doesn't do anything for me - an extreme disappointment.

I guess for me the trick is to go into watching something without any preconceptions. Almost all of my favorite films are those I went into without any idea of what I was getting into.

Malcolm R · 04-19-2008, 10:39 PM

BEST: Wonderfalls

WORST: The Bob Newhart Show

Ron68 · 04-19-2008, 11:00 PM

I don't have a Worst blind buy, unless I count the video quality on the Adventures of Robin Hood, otherwise, it's a great show.

The best blind buys of mine are The Time Tunnel and UFO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Levine

Worst: Superfriends. Loved it as a kid. Tried to watch it as an adult and it was so bad it actually made me angry watching it.

I've been watching Super Friends Vol. 2 and I'm enjoying it a lot, though I find myself laughing when I'm not supposed to

. It was one of my favourites as a kid, I love how so much was packed into a 22 minute episode. It's such a fun show