Is the TV DVD release the "end?" (1 Viewer)

[JamesSmith]

Dear Guys: Just a fun question, when are favorite "classic" programs finally come out on the DVD, does that mean this is the "end" for the series. They've had their regular tv run, now the final episodes are out on DVD, does this mean --it's over. There's nothing left to do, but put the DVD's on the shelf and move on. Admit that we've had good times with those favorite programs, shows, and episodes; but it's over. Every entertainment moment from those shows has been exhaused, there's nothing left. Mission Impossible is finished, Hawaii 5-0 is done. Sliders has met it's magnaminous end. Today's generations have no patience for the programs we've loved with its structure, theme song, four acts, etc. Now, everything's fast edits, fast shooting, and explosions. Have any of you felt that way? James.

 

[jcroy]

Dear Guys: Just a fun question, when are favorite "classic" programs finally come out on the DVD, does that mean this is the "end" for the series. They've had their regular tv run, now the final episodes are out on DVD, does this mean --it's over. There's nothing left to do, but put the DVD's on the shelf and move on. Admit that we've had good times with those favorite programs, shows, and episodes; but it's over. Every entertainment moment from those shows has been exhaused, there's nothing left. Mission Impossible is finished, Hawaii 5-0 is done. Sliders has met it's magnaminous end.

I just started buying tons of tv shows on dvd, over the last 7 or 8 months. With the prices of catalog tv show season dvd sets tumbling in recent times to around $15 (or less) per season, I have more or less completed my collection of tv shows I wanted, all on the cheap. (Mostly cheesy actions shows from the late-1970's and 1980's, and sci-fi shows from the late-1990's and early-2000's). I suppose what is left which could interest me, are the less popular third or fourth rate tv shows and/or "blind buys" of tv shows which I never watched before, but which are in a genre I'm possibly interested in. So far I've been somewhat disappointed with many of the "blind buys" of tv shows I have previously never watched before. For example, I picked up some cop/detective shows from the 1950's, 1960's and early/mid-1970's. But I found that many of these shows (ie. SWAT, Kojak, Dragnet, Columbo, McCloud, Streets of San Francisco, Baretta, etc ...) are not much different than watching reruns of CSI, Law & Order, etc ... Basically stuff I have no nostalgia for.

Today's generations have no patience for the programs we've loved with its structure, theme song, four acts, etc. Now, everything's fast edits, fast shooting, and explosions. Have any of you felt that way? James.

Sure seems that ways. The revived Hawaii Five-0 show on CBS, seems to be mostly fast edits, fast shooting, explosions, etc ... Even the CSI shows seem "slower" in comparison. Albeit they are getting long in the tooth these days. (I wouldn't be surprised if one or two of the CSI shows end up being canceled this year or next year). Not really many recent first run tv shows, which interest me these days. (I thought about picking up the first season of the revived Hawaii Five-0 on blu ray, but decided against it for now).

 

[David Weicker]

Dear Guys: Just a fun question, when are favorite "classic" programs finally come out on the DVD, does that mean this is the "end" for the series. They've had their regular tv run, now the final episodes are out on DVD, does this mean --it's over. There's nothing left to do, but put the DVD's on the shelf and move on. Admit that we've had good times with those favorite programs, shows, and episodes; but it's over. Every entertainment moment from those shows has been exhaused, there's nothing left. Mission Impossible is finished, Hawaii 5-0 is done. Sliders has met it's magnaminous end. Today's generations have no patience for the programs we've loved with its structure, theme song, four acts, etc. Now, everything's fast edits, fast shooting, and explosions. Have any of you felt that way? James.

I'm not really sure what this question is about. Most of these shows were 'over' when they stopped airing (in whatever decade they were broadcast). Now that they are out on DVD, they've been revived for our entertainment. I was under the impression the purpose of purchasing DVDs was to continue our entertainment. Now that I own a library of shows that I can watch at will means that there is plenty of entertainment left and the value is far from exhausted. David

 

[Rob_Ray]

I agree. DVD releases of shows like Marcus Welby, MD, Barnaby Jones, McMillan and Wife and Mission: Impossible have brought them back from the dead. I hadn't seen any of them since their original airings and now they've come roaring back to life in my house. Comedies such as Hazel, Father Knows Best and Dennis the Menace are airing on Antenna TV in addition to coming out on DVD. I will say this -- I suspect the appeal of shows like Hazel and Dennis the Menace will probably die with the baby boomers as the world they are set in is rapidly becoming as removed from today as Downton Abbey. However, I Love Lucy shows no sign of going away any time soon.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

I'm not really sure what the question is here either, but there's tons of shows still not released one way or the other so there's really lots to do still. Also, if jc doesn't like the classic titles he mentions there's not too much hope of finding anything good is there. I really don't see the comparison to the newer shows, narrative and the format structures are totally different so it's more like two worlds apart.

 

[GMBurns]

I agree that having classic shows released on dvd is like bringing them back to life. And now that I own them on dvd it could never be the "end". I'll watch the same episode of Mannix or The Fugitive for the second time before I'd ever be interested in watching one of the modern shows on tv.

 

[Neil Brock]

Speaking for myself, they've never gone away. DVD is just a new and improved way to see them but I've been collecting shows from the 50s thru the 70s since VCRs came out 30+ years ago. I watched my favorites from years past in 1982 just like I do in 2012, just the means and the format is different. And with these digital channels popping up, like Antenna, ME and RTN, it just makes it easier to get ahold of instead of having to track down a contact in some small market that happened to buy a rare show. Of course now that syndicators no longer make 16mm available, many shows are no longer available either. So, if you're looking for Our Miss Brooks or any other show that's never been put to tape, you're out of luck.

 

[kingfish]

sadly today's generation does not appreciate great television.

 

[TravisR]

sadly today's generation does not appreciate great television.

Yep, just like every generation that preceded them and every one that will follow them.

 

[David Deeb]

Just a fun question, when are favorite "classic" programs finally come out on the DVD, does that mean this is the "end" for the series. They've had their regular tv run, now the final episodes are out on DVD, does this mean --it's over. There's nothing left to do, but put the DVD's on the shelf and move on. Admit that we've had good times with those favorite programs, shows, and episodes; but it's over. Every entertainment moment from those shows has been exhaused, there's nothing left.

Huh? What are you asking? If a show ends it's broadcast run, then it "is over". A couple have been revived (New Leave it to Beaver, Arrested Development is apparently coming back on Netflix, Hawaii 5-0 got rebooted, etc.) but I don't know that DVD has anything to do with it.

 

[TravisR]

I don't want to speak for James but I think he means that after a show has finished its broadcast run, its DVD release is like the last word on the series. In the sense that there's nothing else to look forward to with that particular show (beyond enjoying what already exists). Example: If you're a fan of The Twilight Zone, you might have watched the first season DVDs and thought to yourself "Wow, these episodes are great but I can't wait until the third season comes out so I can see To Serve Man again." Once that show was complete on DVD, there was nothing 'new' to look forward to because you have it all sitting on your shelf.

 

[jcroy]

I really don't see the comparison to the newer shows, narrative and the format structures are totally different so it's more like two worlds apart.

Narrative and format structures are not the first things I look for in a tv show. The main thing I look for in a tv show, is whether it keeps my attention. Over the years I have not been able to pinpoint what exactly keeps my attention in a tv show, and what doesn't. I have to watch a number of episodes of a show, in order to determine whether or not I like it and it holds my attention. Just reading a description of the genre, lead actors, production year, reputation, pedigree, longevity, etc ... tells me very little about whether I would like a show or not. Hence the numerous "blind buys" of 1960's and 1970's tv show dvd season sets I made over the last 8 months.

Also, if jc doesn't like the classic titles he mentions, there's not too much hope of finding anything good is there.

Perhaps I may very well be looking in the wrong place, for sources of entertainment. Over a year ago, I was reading some old Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) and Ian Fleming (James Bond) titles. I found them a lot more in depth and engaging, than watching tv shows or movies about cops, spies, etc ... Though the drawback is that these books take a lot longer than 1 or 2 hours to finish reading. (I don't read very fast). Much easier to just watch episodes of a cop show or spy movie.

 

[Carabimero]

To say there's nothing else to look forward to in a show once it hits DVD is like saying a great book has nothing left to give after you've read it once. There are several books--and DVD sets--that I come back to every few years and find something new and enlightening in each time I read or watch them, not because the books or shows have changed, but because I have.

 

[Rob_Ray]

DVD brings a dead TV series back to life. Case in point: "The Mothers-in-Law". It's a very mediocre show really, enlivoned only by the immortal talents of Eve Arden and Kaye Ballard. It had its two-year network run and another couple of years in syndication and then was locked away and completely forgotten. But a couple of years ago it was released to DVD and now it's been reborn to a certain extent for those who care to see it. Even after DVD is dead as a format, as long as those DVDs and a player to put them in are available on Ebay, the show will never again be as dead as it was for those forty years after its initial run. A show is dead not when it reaches DVD but when its not viable in any format. The original Star Trek was released to DVD and BluRay and I suspect it's not going to die anytime soon.

 

[JamesSmith]

I don't want to speak for James but I think he means that after a show has finished its broadcast run, its DVD release is like the last word on the series. In the sense that there's nothing else to look forward to with that particular show (beyond enjoying what already exists). Thanks. Sorry, I didn't get back to this forum sooner, but between work and some family concerns I became a bit preoccupied. I regret that I wasn't more clear about what I meant. Awhile back, I read that James Cameron was lamenting that a DVD's release was the last spark on a film's life cycle. He was dicussing how there was nothing more left to do on his Titanic after it came out on digital, and that was that. But since he was doing a new 3D version of his movie, this gave the film new life. I also had similar feelings about how tv shows seem to be "finished" after they finally come out on DVD. All the suspence is finished, we know what happens in the end (if there is a finale), and it seems that many kids these days wouldn't care for shows from my generation, especially if the show was in black and white. I'm sorry if I wasn't more clear, and I was trying to be somewhat humerous about the matter. James

 

[jcroy]

I don't want to speak for James but I think he means that after a show has finished its broadcast run, its DVD release is like the last word on the series. In the sense that there's nothing else to look forward to with that particular show (beyond enjoying what already exists).
Thanks. Sorry, I didn't get back to this forum sooner, but between work and some family concerns I became a bit preoccupied. I regret that I wasn't more clear about what I meant.
Awhile back, I read that James Cameron was lamenting that a DVD's release was the last spark on a film's life cycle. He was dicussing how there was nothing more left to do on his Titanic after it came out on digital, and that was that. But since he was doing a new 3D version of his movie, this gave the film new life.
I also had similar feelings about how tv shows seem to be "finished" after they finally come out on DVD. All the suspence is finished, we know what happens in the end (if there is a finale), and it seems that many kids these days wouldn't care for shows from my generation, especially if the show was in black and white.
I'm sorry if I wasn't more clear, and I was trying to be somewhat humerous about the matter.
James

There are a few counterexamples to this. There exists tv shows which "continued on" after their original first broadcast runs were over.


For example in the Star Trek franchise, the individual shows lived on in the form of new original stories being published every month or so as novels.


Since the original run of the first Star Trek series, there has been over a hundred original novels published on the adventures of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, etc ...


Since the original run of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" ended, there has been over 50 novels published on the adventures of Picard, Riker, Data, etc ...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_novels


Other tv shows which lived on as paperback novels after their original broadcast runs ended, include: Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Murder She Wrote, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis.


In the case of movies, Star Wars lives on as original stories published as novels and comic books in the expanded Star Wars universe.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_books

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Expanded_Universe

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TravisR /t/318918/is-the-tv-dvd-release-the-end#post_3902283

 

[TravisR]

^ You can roll your eyes all you want, Gary but my point was that people have made that same critique for decades. It's basically true for today's generation but it's also true for all the generations that preceded the current one because, in general, most kids don't care about what they percieve as 'old'. Once they get a little older, some may start to recognize the quality of the programs that came before they were born and that's no different than any other generation.

 

[jcroy]

^ You can roll your eyes all you want, Gary but my point was that people have made that same critique for decades. It's basically true for today's generation but it's also true for all the generations that preceded the current one because, in general, most kids don't care about what they percieve as 'old'. Once they get a little older, some may start to recognize the quality of the programs that came before they were born and that's no different than any other generation.

On the other side of the coin, one could also notice how some things look more and more cheesy or naive , as one gets older. Today when I watch some of the dvd sets of tv shows I use to watch a lot when I was younger, at times I am sometimes asking myself "how the hell was I ever a big fan of this show?" Some shows didn't age very well for me, on seeing it decades later. For example: Miami Vice, MacGyver, Simon & Simon, etc ...

 

[Jeff*H]

My 4 y/o daughter has fallen in love with GILLIGAN'S ISLAND (the black-and-white episodes) and prefers watching that on many occasions over contemporary kid shows. That's an encouraging sign. I think there are some shows that will continue to stand the test of time because of their enduring qualities, regardless of how old they are. So I don't think DVD is the end, but in many cases it's the beginning for a whole new generation that would otherwise not have seen it due to lack of exposure on TV these days.