Overloaded on DVD's - Page 2

I know what you mean.  I keep it all in 1 Excel file:

Tab 1: All of my Movie DVD's sorted by Title
Tab 2: Movies by year
Tab 3: Movies by genre
Tab 4: All of my TV/DVD sets
Tab 5: My TV/DVD viewing list.  I print out that tab monthy and update it when I watch a show.
Tab 6: My release date schedule from TSoD's news posts.  I also have all of the TV/DVD's that I have bought since ~6/07 .   I also have all of the movies that I upgraded to anamorphic formats.

The file doesn't take much maint since I don't buy Movie DVD's much anymore and my TV/DVD buys have slowed down during the last year or so.

Family Ties is not a show I watched and thankfully not on my list of must haves.
I am behind, but it is fun collecting and looking at my wall of dvd's.  Movies and TV.

I bought the Get Smart set from Time Life right out of the gate and man what a let down.
As a kid I couldn't wait to watch it.  My eleven year old likes it a lot.
I can only watch a few eps at a time, whereas she can watch the same episode over and over.
We have to compromise.  Two eps of Get Smart and then anything else.  Luckily she likes Star Trek, so we can move on to that.

Really, the problem with GS is, all the eps are really the same episode.
Max doing something silly.  Max getting an assignment and doing something silly.
Max getting in trouble doing something silly. Max solving the case, usually doing something silly.

Now, here's a wtf for ya.
I won't start watching a series I own completely because I don't want it to end.  I've got plenty of completes.  (37 series w/3 or more seasons, 45 series w/2 or less seasons-in other words-CANCELED)  Not to mention 82 series in current production or not finished releasing all seasons. (Some may not finish, but there is hope).  It's not like I'm going to run out of things to watch.
I have to be losing my mind. LOL

As for purchasing more?  Money is the issue, and I buy on sale most of the time.
Get Smart a regretful Time Life full price.
I'm over it.
At least my daughter likes it.

     Quote:

You read my mind on GET SMART.  Of all the purchases I've made on dvd, this one was the biggest, money-wise, mistake I've made.  I bought it from Time-Life immediately upon release thinking, like you, that I'd love it just like I did when I was a kid.  Not so.  It just didn't hold up for me at all and I really regret sinking all that money into it.  There are other sets I've bought that I regret more based on the show itself not holding up (even more than GET SMART) or because of the poor transfer quality, but penny for penny the GET SMART set was my biggest regret because it was so expensive and I'm not enjoying it like I thought I would.


Gary "that set really is the one that caused me to reevaluate my dvd spending" O.

Although it's looking like this is turning into a "Get Smart - why did I buy it" thread  , I have to agree.  I bought the Time-Life set and wouldn't have bought it if I had it to it over again.  I like the show but agree with the posts here.  This show is one that I loved in the 60's but it didn't stand the test of time as much as I'd hoped for me.  I'm going to complete the megaset but it'll be slower-going than most of my other sets.  I'm at Disc 2 in S3 at present.  What I've found with this one, is that I can only watch 1 30-min episode at at time.  That's not really unusual for me since I'm not a marathon TV/DVD viewer anyway but when I get a set from the shelf that's a 30-min show, I usually watch 2 back to back to make about a hour of viewing time.  I don't do that with GS.  The main reason I regret the T/L buy is the price at the time.  As we all know, if one waits, we'll get these TV/DVD sets at a lower price, in some cases, much lower.

I like to support releses as much as anyone else but budgets are budgets, that's the cold facts of life for a lot of us.

That said, I didn't wait at all for my holy grail "Combat!".  I boought all of those right out of hte gate.  From looking at DD's pricing, I'd have saved about $60 if I'd waited for the megaset release but then that's using the current DD sales prices.

With the GS pricing comparisons, they are way less than that T/L complete set was at the time it was released.

The real reason why I purchased it was because it was a classic of the '60's; I wasn't born then, of course, but I wanted it because a lot of today's so-called "sitcoms," at least to me, are utterly disgusting. I had read about "Get Smart"'s legacy of satirizing the spy genre, and I thought that I would enjoy that a lot. It has, however, felt, at least to me, more like a slog than a joy.

I feel your pain on Get Smart, but I only bought the first season and couldn't get through it. I bought the entire series of The Man From U.N.C.L.E at the full price from Time/Life (about $212) and never made it through the first season. Combat! I bought all the individual sets and had no problem poring through the whole thing. Loved it. Just weird what plays to our individual interests now and what doesn't. Nostalgia alone isn't enough.

for me, i realize there are shows that i wont like as much.  get smart will certainly be one of them.  but i will still get it, more for sentimental reasons, than anything else.  the wave that was over our head when we were kids is now only waist high.  get smart was aimed for kids.  i recall my dad doing the same thing for me - i had to do something for him, if he had to sit through it - LOL.

but there were dumb shows on, that i didnt like even as a kid.  i love lucy is pretty dumb, gilligan's island, f troop, mchale's navy, the young rascals.  if i get a good price on them, i will buy them - but i am not looking forward to any of those shows.

I came reeaaally close to getting Get Smart and Man from U.N.C.L.E during Amazon Deal of the Days for cheap over the summer, and then again almost pulled the trigger for Get Smart  during the Target two season packs for $14.99.

All I can say is that after reading this thread I'm glad for once I stayed the course instead of jumping at the deal. I remember thinking UNCLE was cool as a kid but don't remember any more of it. I definitely remember watching Get Smart and enjoying it.

For me it's comedies that I have to be real careful with. Very few of them have lasted the test of time for me. Its either the time period or my age difference causing the biggest issue. Barney Miller has been the biggest surprise purchase for me from a comedy standpoint that worked out really well.

i think a lot depends on the type of comedy.  dick van dyke is not really a comedy show, but there is a lot of comedy in it.  i liked it, as a kid - but it is now my favorite all-time comedy type show.  so i actually like it more now as an adult, than i did as a kid.

it has an awful lot to do with the changes in ourselves - LOL.

so many shows have meanings for both kids and adults, in different ways.  the flintstones come to mind.  it is one reason why it was a big hit during prime time for several years.  the adults related to real life parental situations, while the kids loved to yabba dabba do.

There has been, for me, at least one silver lining in the form of "Hawaii Five-O." Through 7 seasons' worth of that (1968-75), it has more than proven itself and lived up to its legacy, and it has been an absolute joy to look at. 

Good point. I also have Dick Van Dyke, FKB, and Donna Reed that are much more family oriented shows that have comical situations. There are a lot of elements that go into whether a show will be successful many years later. Some with the individual, the times, and the genre.

Same here.  I came close to getting that complete UNCLE set but passed on it even though it was a great price that day at Amazon.  Since then, a good friend gave me UNCLE S1 and I'm enjoying it but S1 will be enough for me for this one.  I admit to being somewhat scared away from this set due to the series going "camp" during some of its run.  I wasn't a big "Lost in Space" fan for the same reason.  Loved it as a kid but not now.

Same with me on comedies.  For me, for some reason, some of the past comedies don't stand the test of time for me.  Barney Miller is one of my all-time favorite comedies as well.  I have all of the available sets.

I've not been much on collecting animation series but I do like the Flintstones although I only have S1 thru 3 of the sets so far.  Another one that I gambled on and it turned out to be another one that held up over time was the original "Jonny Quest" Sat morning cartoon show.  But aside from the Looney Tunes sets, I don't have much animation in my collection.

Wayne, always good to see another Combat! fan here   That one easily was as good or better than when I watched it as a kid.  I didn't start watching that one back then until around Season 3 so S1-2 were like new views for me.

Ahhh...Jonny Quest, got that one a few years back. Initially went through the first half of the episodes but haven't revisited it since. I need to finish that one up. That one was a no brainer for me to pick up when it first came out.

the absolute biggest television surprise of all-time to me has been the simpsons.  i watched it once to know i couldnt stand it.  it has been on 21 years, and still running.  never thought it would get past a couple of seasons.

I'd agree on the "money-wise mistake" part in my case.  I *did* pick it up for ~$150 and did so because it'd been over a year and it *still* wasn't available at a mass merchant.  While I only wanted S1-S3 my impatience got the better of me so I jumped during a "sale" with a coupon.  While I *did* enjoy S4 and S5 more than I remember during the initial run I'm still a bit miffed that I could now purchase the only 3 seasons I really want for under $40 and not have that cheesy box to fiddle with.  Yeah, the set *does* have the extra disk of "extras" for each season, but I've never watched them nor ever plan to so it's money wasted.

And, yeah, while every episode is basically the same episode with a few "new" jokes I still love it.  I can watch a full disks worth before I'm ready to move on to something else.

I feel kinda bad about all the GET SMART comments, in part because it's not like I hate it now and in part because I have a good friend on the boards that I believe really does like this series a lot.  I just wish I had waited for the show to be released as it is now in season sets for a really low starting price.  Paying so much for a show that hasn't held up very well just stinks, and I've never paid as much for one release as I did with this one.  If I had only paid $15 a season instead of something closer to $40 a season I wouldn't feel so bad.  Oh well, live and learn.

Gotta love those Jonny Quest episodes.  Definitely top notch stuff.  That cartoon, along with the Flintstones, has held up exceptionally well for me.  But overall if I could do it all over again I have to admit that I'd probably not buy about half the dvds I have over the last 7 to 8 years.


Gary "glad 'Combat' was released, too" O.

I am still  stuck in Season 3 of GET SMART. I watched U.N.C.L.E. really fast and enjoyed it and since I think all the spy craze shows are sort of adventure-comedies anyway , UNCLE's  decent into camp never bothered me. 

I think many of us were excited by the full series releases of Get Smart and U.N.C.L.E. and wanted to support  the idea of full series releases, hoping Time-Life would put out more, especially Warner controlled shows like 77 SUNSET STRIP. But actually Time-Life doesn't really have anything to do with Time-Warner. Time-Life just rented the name from Time-Warner. They are really the old Lilian Vernon, clothing and household nick-nack company.
  
COMBAT! was probably the fastest release of a five season show on DVD I can think of.  The seasons were split in half, but the halves were both released at the same time.  They announced a release schedule for the whole series and actually released Season 5 ahead of the schedule.  Whoever was behind COMBAT!'s release really got it out there. 

My back-log of unwatched DVDs is mostly shows I bought on sale.

I am surprised at the number of famous series that I watched and enjoyed originally, but am not in the mood to buy on DVD and watch now,  or I feel I have seen the shows in reruns and would rather watch and buy shows that I have not seen as much or at all in reruns.

Also,surprising is how fast I will watch one series and how other shows fall off the line-up. 

Bob,

There actually was a guy that helped ramrod the effort to get Combat! released.  He goes by the 'net handle of "T-Gun" on the Combat! forum and he worked with an Image Rep to get that show released on DVD.  The sales #'s at the time of the releases surprised Image and that was another reason the series got fast-tracked.  I wish that the other classic shows had done as well for a lot of guys here on the Bd.  I admit that I was surprised that the Combat! Image sets did as well as they did.  That show had an extra benefit of being a big favorite of our armed service personnel and their families which had a positive impact on the sales #'s.  Of course, there was post after post on the Combat! forum about us 'Boomers remembering that show back then.  I played in the neighborhood many days toting that plastic "Thompson" as the "Sarge" back then

The only regret that I have with the Combat! sets is that most of the B/W season eps are time-compressed although they are uncut otherwise.  I know that any speed-up (PAL or T/C) is a problem for some TV/DVD collectors but not for me.  The other regret is that Image, for whatever reason, either didn't have access to the masters or decided to go with the "Worldvision" tapes for their transfer to DVD so the prints weren't "Twilight Zone (def version)" quality but easily watchable.  I'd rate them on par with the other Image Dick Van Dyke sets.

Gary knows that I like Get Smart but I agree with him that this one wasn't worth our $$'s for the Time-Life price at the time.  I chalk it up to my buying mentality during the heyday of the classic TV/DVD releases back then.

Fortunately for me, I've bought very few "regret" TV/DVD sets since I started collecting back in '03.  I sold off that "Lost in Space" S1 set but most of my shelf sets will stay in the collection.

As for UNCLE, I'd probably like a couple more seasons of that show but it's not worth the cost and time it would take to view that one for now.

Gary, thanks for that Combat! plug   "Jonny Quest".....it's scary sometimes how much we think alike

Back to "Overloaded" DVD's....do you guys find yourselves going back to the shelf the way that I do?  What I've been doing, is that I'll go back to viewing a show that I haven't watched in over a year, to get it back into the rotation.  "Twilight Zone" is one that I have watched this week after a long time away from it for some reason.  I'm into S3 with that show.

Same way with the Flintstone sets.  I watched a couple this week after at least a 2-yr time without seeing any of them.  No reason except for other things on the shelf (and DirecTV sports).

I'm still not finished with that "Jonny Quest" set after....when was it released?  I bought it at release if I recall.  I'm almost done though.

Jeff, although  COMBAT! B&W was time-sped they did do some work on them. 

When I taped about half the Worldvision episodes in the eighties at least one of the episodes had different opening graphics and a slightly different arrangement of the theme. All the season one episodes still had the bayonet bumpers. There were some odd sound problems with some gunshot sound effects that were corrected on the DVD sets.  I think the show maybe was redone for cable  in the late nineties, but still timesped.

You know, now that you guys mention it, I never finished Jonny Quest either, or another kid fave.. FIREBALL XL-5.

 

Bob, you're right about that after I remember the Encore run of the show a few years ago.  I guess I was intending to say that Image didn't use the master prints for the DVD release.  I never read the reason but I'd guess it was because all that Image had in their property from the original rights holder which I think was Paramount, then Buena Vista if I recall, were the syndicated versions of the show.

 Some shows you just cant watch in a marathon viewing.

I Dream of Jeannie is my example. If you watch 5 or 6 episodes in a row, the sameness of each episode becomes oh, so apparent. Its just not meant to be watched that way. I enjoy watching a few episodes of a show in a row, and if you cant, seems like its an easy way to put it down, then not get back to it for a while.

I also need to know when to stop on a show. Do i need all 12 seasons of Hawaii Five-0?
No. I don't. I stopped after season 4, and that's over 100 episodes right there!
No way would i revisit a complete 12 year run of a show. I don't have enough time. Not for the number of other shows i own.
Yea, if i only owned 4 or 5 shows on DVD, i might buy the whole thing. You gotta find a jumping off place.

Jeff, i wouldn't even own the whole run of 6M$M...id have to stop at the mustache season. I think that is the year Fred Frienbeger (sp?) the guy who killed Star Trek, also killed 6M$M?


 Yep, i set limits and i still need to revisit my stuff more than i do. Johnny Quest...mmm...i own that too!

I NEVER do marathons. I like to watch shows thee way they were intended to be seen, one episode at a time. (If an Episode happens to be a two-parter I'll watch them back-to-back, but that's as far as I go.)

Sanford is easier for me to watch than other shows of its era; it's still a crack-up. And after I wrote that thing about "Family Ties" above, I sat and watched the 1st season episode "Sherry Baby" and laughed all the way through--maybe I just need to relax.

Typically no.  While there *are* some series I'll pull back in after a couple of years (Jonny Quest is one), I'm so far behind I just can't bring myself to re-watch a series, even a top 10 favorite, while I have so much unwatched stuff sitting here.  Not that I suffer from this as the pile of unwatched material is frequently something I've not seen for years, if not decades, so it's a joy to work through the pile.  I also find that if I've not seen a program in several years it's "fresher" than if I watch it on a regular repeat interval.  I liken it to before the DVD era when I'd watch a program in syndication every time it came on.  After a while it just wasn't as good and I would find myself watching "just because".  I don't want my DVD collection to become that way.  So rewatching a series frequently boils down to a friend coming over and we watch what they want to see.

I used to be that way.  What "cured" me was a couple of things.  In part it was the annoyance of waiting for the next DVD to load.  But the worst was then having to suffer through all the crap (mostly unskippable) before I would be allowed to select the episode I wanted to watch.  When it started getting under my skin the way commercials do I just started doing single disk mini-marathon views of the sets that force all the unskippable junk on every load.

I've had no problem with the Promos. I just push the "Next" button the second the promos begin and the disk goes to the programs. The "Mini Marathons" most Cable Stations do their programming these days was a factor that got me to eventually cancel my Cable Subscription three years ago. (Along with Commercials and Schlock Programming) You would turn on a station like Sci-Fi (Now SyFy) and you'd find there showing ONE Show the entire Afternoon. Like that show? Then knock yourself out! Not your cup of tea? Too bad, that's all they're showing. Variety is the Spice of Life, and Cable has lost that these days.
Edited by Regulus - 11/21/09 at 9:07am

Rick,  same here with most of your post.  6M$M?   Can't believe it!  Just kidding.  Actually, I'm the same way with that one.  All I really want from that show is the "crossover" episodes with Lindsay Wagner.

Another "Jonny Quest" fan

Rick, good point on back-to-back viewing.  It depends on the series for me as well.  I usually do watch a couple of the 30-min shows that way but some I don't, and "Jeannie" is one of them as well for me.  Some of the Westerns, "Rifleman", "Wanted. Dead or Alive", I'll usually watch a couple of those at a time,

Marathon Viewing: I'm with William and some others here.  I can only recall doing a couple of mini-marathon's with 3-4 episodes at one time over the years.  But that's rare for me.  I watch the TV/DVD's the way William does, variety.

William, I'm guessing that Howie is referring to not being able to skip the "FBI Warnings" and the "Anti-Piracy" notice that's in most factory DVD's.  I had a Region-Free player a while back that was able to skip those 2 notices but that player didn't have an internal PAL/NTSC Converter so I gave that one away.  That's the only player that I've had that could skip over the 2 common "warning" slides on DVD's.

i am with the previous posts. I like to collect the show, but, i only watch about 2-3 hrs tv a night and in the summer its less. So, i break up the variety and picked certain nights to watch certain shows. I usually use sunday nights to watch my sci-fi shows. I just hope that Logan's Run is released. My sci-fi collection would not be complete without that sow. I do not plan on having cable tv, accept for the broadband. I have be come disinterested in tv shows of today, because the quality is just not there so why pay $160/month to watch 3 channels.

Exactly!  That and the unskippable studio content disclaimer, distributor/studio logo/animation, and frequently the annoying animated menu you're forced to watch before you can select the "episode" sub-menu.  I've timed a few of the worst offenders and found they eat up anywhere from 3-4 minutes per disk.  It adds to the overload by causing as much as a full half hour episode's viewing per evening to be "lost".

I've never understood why you can skip all this junk on some sets but not others.  I'd be happy if a DVD just started and immediately came up on a static menu.  No animation, audio, etc.

I don't need all 12 either, and neither am I thinking about completing the series. I'm thinking about stopping with #9.