Blind Buys - how have you done? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff#]

Wiseguy, but I knew about it for many years and how it was a critically acclaimed series. 19 years ago I didn't have time to watch it, as it went up against another series I regularly watched. So on disc in 2005 it immediately became one of my favorites. I just wish Steve Cannell would get the DVD music rights for the Debbie Harry story arc and release those along with the remaining 1/2 of the series (including the final season's Michael Santana episodes).

My next sight-unseen purchase of a TV series might also be from the 1980s: "Crime Story"....although I didn't care for Michael Mann's Miami Vice. He has remade that for the big screen now, and I'll avoid that. His feature film "Heat" with Pacino and DeNiro was pretty good though and I have that in my collection.

 

[Radioman970]

I love blind buys! Movies and TV shows.

The Good:
Buffy the Vamp Slayer Season 1 (I'll be getting more!!)
Tales of the Unexpected Season 1 (I thought this was Tales from the Darkside, oops. But it's not bad. I'll probably buy more)
Spectre Man (bootleg version of the Japanese show. My favorite even over my childhood favs Ultraman and Johnny Sokko)

The Bad:
Dark Angel Season 1 (some like it, but not me)
10th Kingdom miniseries (I still need to give this a second look. I like the other Hallmark productions.)

The Ugly:
none I'll admit.

Well...okay, I paid $1 for a DVD that had a couple of episodes from a failed TV version of Disney's Treasure Island. I don't think Disney had anything to do with it. When your kids are bad force them to sit and watch this.

 

[docdoowop]

Mike Hammer: Private Eye $7.99 blind buy for all 26 ep. It's great!

 

[Dan_V]

24, Smallville, and Brooklyn South. Loved them all.

 

[ElijahS]

24, Smallville, Veronica Mars, Sports Night.

Love them all. Veronica Mars is my favorite show on television.

 

[MarkHarrison]

I enjoy blind buying things. From time to time I get a stinker, but those are far outweighed by all the fun things I get to discover. I guess it helps that I have a high tolerance for crap.

For TV, I've blind bought:

1. 24: Season 1
2. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season 1
3. Angel - all seasons
4. Buffy - all seasons
5. Firefly
6. Forever Knight - seasons 1 & 2
7. Lost: Season 1
8. Monk - seasons 1-3 (although I'd seen a couple episodes on TV, so I guess it's not a true blind buy)
9. Sports Night
10. Stargate SG-1: Season 1
11. Tripping the Rift - both seasons
12. Veronica Mars: Season 1

I'd say I've done well. Sports Night was perhaps my least favorite of the bunch, but I even enjoyed that one and I'm looking forward to watching it again soon. Too early to tell on Stargate since I'm still on disc 2 of season 1. I have two more episodes of Veronica Mars left from season 1. I really loving that show and looking forward to picking up season 2 (most likely this weekend). I've not started on Forever Knight yet since I'm waiting on season 3 to start. Tripping the Rift was more for my wife than myself, but I thought it was ok.

My complete TV list is available at DVD Aficionado

 

[TravisR]

The only TV show that I ever blind bought was Gilmore Girls and I loved it.

 

[Scott_F_S]

Every TV show I buy is a blind buy. I find I don't really enjoy watching stuff I've already seen on the tube.

Only two non-blinds I've bought were Seinfeld S1 and Moonlighting S1/2, and I'm not going to get any more of those. Sitcoms don't do it for me at all, not even the great ones. Moonlighting was nice, but one set is enough.

Successful blind buys:

Buffy
Sopranos
Oz
West Wing
The Shield
La Femme Nikita
Alias
Profit
Firefly
Angel


OK blind buys, stuff I would buy subsequent seasons on sale but wouldn't lose any sleep if I didn't see any more:

Nip/Tuck
ER
Veronica Mars
Lost

Miserable blind buys, stuff I couldn't wait to get off my shelf and into the dumpster:

Xena
Smallville

Purchased but haven't yet watched:

The Pretender

 

[Chris Lockwood]

To me this is what Netflix is for. I can see buying a movie blind, but not a more expensive TV box, if you've never seen the show.

I'm assuming "blind" means you haven't seen the show at all, not just buying a box where you haven't seen all the episodes... after renting a few seasons of Buffy I bought the full series when DDD had a good sale ($112 or so), but I had seen about half the content, so I don't consider that blind.

 

[Josh_LaF]

The only TV-DVD set I've ever bought blindly is Invasion. I am evertually going to buy Battlestar Gallactica and Alias. Im thinking about getting the complete series set they are releasing in November. BTW I love Invasion and now I'm really upset it was cancelled.

 

[Steven_F]

My blind buys have all turned out moderately good to great:

1) Firefly
2) 24
3) Farscape
4) Babylon 5
5) Chappelle's Show
6) Fawlty Towers
7) The Prisoner

the only one that I consider a bad blind buy is The Young Ones

 

[Jeff#]

Patrick McGoohan's symbolistic masterpiece from the 1960s, which really wasn't a continuation of Danger Man (because that was a different character). It was on Danger Man when McGoohan first directed, but The Prisoner was truly his show as Executive Producer.
He also got to do more acting and directing on several episodes of COLUMBO in both the 1970s and 1990s / early 2000s versions of Peter Falk's series, including directing one episode in which he didn't appear "Last Salute to the Commodore" in 1976.

 

[AlexF]

Some blind buys we've gotten include:

Danger 50,000 Volts -- I enjoyed this, and would like to see the second series released, but don't have huge hopes unfortunately. (As per above, I'd love to see Spaced released too someday...)

Gilmore Girls -- I'd seen an episode or two, but really didn't enjoy them, picked up the first season very cheap, watched it from the beginning and it was much more enjoyable.

Firefly -- Seen the first two series. Good series. Could've had a lot of potential in the long run.

Roughnecks -- I'd seen maybe portions of an episode or two, thought that it was neat, it was on sale for the complete set, so... why not? Decent, if not a bit repetitive.

The 4400 -- Not a huge fan myself, the gf really enjoys it though.

Jack of All Trades -- Never saw this when it originally aired. When Brisco came out, a couple of stores had a deal to buy both where it worked out to spending about $10 on JoaT. And hey Bruce Campbell, so how can you go wrong?

Sports Night -- I'd heard a lot about this show. Never seen it. Didn't like the West Wing at all. This show? Brilliant.

Robot Chicken -- Other than the skit where the Emperor gets a call from Vader about the first Death Star being destroyed by an "aluminum falcon", I'd not seen anything. So, like the Gilmore Girls and Roughnecks, not quite a true blind buy.

 

[Scott-S]

Firefly a disaster?

But I guess if you didn't like Farscape and Babylon 5, you are not a sci-fi fan. So I guess Firefly wouldn't be your cup of tea.

My question to Jeff... If you do not like Sci-Fi, why blind buy Farscape and Babylon 5?

 

[PatW]

Just a few blind buys.

SG1 - After the first season I really got to love this series. Will purchase Season 9 but I'm less than thrilled with Browder as a replacement for RDA. Miss his humour in Season 9.

SG- Atlantis - another blind buy that turned out well. Not as good as SG1 and it took me abit longer to warm to the series but now it's a close second.

Farscape - I bought this because I'm such a fan of Angel and Buffy. Good series if short-lived. Would have liked to seen where this was heading.

 

[Jeff#]

On the contrary, Scott. I am very much a sci-fi fan. I just don't like the above shows that I cited. There are certain shows from all genres that I rejected just as you would no doubt as well. I wouldn't "blind buy" Farscape, Babylon 5, or Firefly. My dislike for them came from trying each one on TV when they originally aired.

Firefly was a disaster in the ratings -- and FOX wisely cancelled it after less than half a season.

 

[MarkHastings]

I watch too much TV for anything to really be a "Blind Buy". If I haven't seen a show on TV, then it means I don't want to watch it, so there aren't any "Blind Buys" that I'd actually be interested in purchasing.

But, the only blind buy (TV show) I ever did was "Sex and the City" - This was before I had HBO and I wanted to see what all the hub-bub was about. I never made it past the first episode.

 

[GlennWD]

I Blind Bought...

Firefly
Space: 1999
Time Tunnel
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
The Rat Patrol

And Loved All of Them

 

[Scott_F_S]

I've heard/read people say that they were underwhelmed by Firefly, but I don't think I've ever heard/read anyone call it a disaster. What Fox did with it was a disaster, but I don't think there will be any agreement that the show itself was a disaster.

Myself, I loved the series but wasn't so fond of the movie. I wouldn't say the movie was a failure, just that I thought it lacked most of the charm of the series.

As for Netflixing series before deciding to buy ... I don't do Netflix because I don't want to pay the monthly fee and feel obligated to have to rent something every month just because I've already paid for it.

 

[RickER]

Because the numb nuts at FOX didnt show the episodes in ORDER didnt help one bit. I didnt have a clue what the hell was going on when i watched a few on TV.
On DVD, i loved Firefly!

Now Farscape is one of my top 5 Si Fi shows. I will give you it started a bit slow, and i couldnt even make it though the 1st episode when it started. Then i blind bought the Best of collection. After i watched those 5 or 6 episodes i had to have the season sets.

Red Dwarf was a blind buy. Season 1 sucked! A friend who had bought season 2 showed it to me, and i loved it. What a turn around! I have not bought the last 2 seasons of it because i heard they sucked too.

I bought the 1st season of Buffy (cheap blind buy), and its OK but i didnt have the need to buy more.