We Have Gotten Spoiled (1 Viewer)

[Frank Soyke]

I, myself, am guilty of complaining about this series or that being unreleased or stalled, but I sometimes remind myself that a short 10 years ago, none of this stuff was available on DVD's. All we had at that time was grainy or cut prints we recorded from Nick or a local affiliate or VHS copies we bought or traded for from another collector. I never would have dreamed 10 years ago that I could just go downstairs to my basement and grab a whole run of Get Smart or I Spy from the shelf. There are plenty of series I would like to see relased or unstalled as well. I just stop sometimes and remind myself of how far we have come. This is not meant to come of as a lecture, just an observation.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Another part of being spoiled is expecting everything to be available for under 25 dollars, and complaining when something is over that price without remembering that a decade ago, we would have paid a lot more than 40 bucks for a complete season of any show we enjoyed (and in the case of Star Trek, Buffy, or X-Files fans, did pay a lot more than that).

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Obsolete Man

Another part of being spoiled is expecting everything to be available for under 25 dollars, and complaining when something is over that price without remembering that a decade ago, we would have paid a lot more than 40 bucks for a complete season of any show we enjoyed (and in the case of Star Trek, Buffy, or X-Files fans, did pay a lot more than that).

Agreed. People can always wait for a release to go on sale if they don't like the MSRP at initial release. Plus, this is all about making choices as to what is or isn't worth our money - just like every other luxury in life.


Gary "I do admit, though, to bristling at the thought of paying $60+ for a season set of DVD-Rs" O.

 

[Jack P]

I do agree we need to more and more be grateful for what we do have on DVD. If you go by 1960s titles the number of completed shows would I think astound us.

 

[JohnMor]

Agreed on ALL counts. We are totally spoiled. I remember as a kid dreaming that I could own all the episodes of my favorite series, never imagining it would become a reality.

 

[TravisR]

^ I remember when The X-Files seasons first started coming out in 2000 and my biggest DVD dream was that Millennium would get the same treatment and, at the time, that seemed like a total pipe dream to me. Today, there's so many shows available that it's really pretty amazing to think back to a little over 10 years ago when it was only the biggest sci-fi shows that had any chance to released on video.

 

[Jeff Willis]

All good posts. I agree, considering what I'd never have guessed to own, including some of my top "grails" completed..... Combat!, Time Tunnel, Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as discovering shows that I missed back when, before the days of home recording....like "Donna Reed Show", it's been a great ride.


As with everyone else here, we all want more but my list of near-grail unreleased shows is fairly small now.

 

[mattCR]

On some level, I feel spoiled. On the other hand, I think I should ask for more.. after all, I'm paying them money to give it to me, it's not like I'm asking for it for free. Fact is, if tomorrow "Buffy" "Angel" "Deep Space Nine" appeared on Bluray, I would buy them in a heart beat. Even at 4:3, even if they were 480P, just to get a significantly improved encode. (I say this especially of "Buffy" and "DS9" which look TERRIBLE ON DVD, and even when they appear on broadcast cable they look better, so come on..) So, are we spoiled? We're spoiled equal to the amount we are willing to pay..

 

[Regulus]

Ten years ago, I had around 100 Movies in my Home Video Collection, all on VHS. It would be another year before I would get my first DVD, and two more years before I'd get my first TV Series, the Gerry Anderson "Supermarionation" Series Thunderbirds. If someone told me that ten years later I'd have a Library of over 22,000 TV Episodes of over 400 TV Series, nearly 1,700 Movies and over 1,500 Hours of Other Programming such as Serials, Broadway Plays and Documentaries, I'd be ROTFLMAO!

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Originally Posted by Jeff Willis

All good posts. I agree, considering what I'd never have guessed to own, including some of my top "grails" completed..... Combat!, Time Tunnel, Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as discovering shows that I missed back when, before the days of home recording....like "Donna Reed Show", it's been a great ride.


As with everyone else here, we all want more but my list of near-grail unreleased shows is fairly small now.

Honestly, I think the majority of my "grail" shows were completed long ago... for the most part.


Sure, stuff like Taxi, the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Dragnet took a while to get to us, but the stuff I really always wanted, like the Dick Van Dyke Show, or I Love Lucy, or the Star Treks, or Twilight Zone, or MASH, or Quantum Leap were all finished by 2007.


Granted, there's still stuff I'd like to see, but is impossible because of music rights (WKRP, Wonder Years, and King of the Hill all spring to mind), or like Batman, which is just a huge rights mess. And, a few titles, like the Bob Newhart Show, have stalled out and hasn't been licensed out yet. But most everything I really wanted is done and on my shelves.


Now, the TV on DVD I buy is mostly blind buys that sound interesting. Mostly new stuff, like Monk or Psych or Mad Men, or stuff that I missed the first time around like MST3K and the Aaron Sorkin shows.


And with the amount of TV on DVD out there, I still haven't hit bottom yet. Hell, I just started in on the BBC series. Doctor Who alone could take years to watch.


So, yeah, for as much complaining as there is about a certain show not being out, or having to pay full MSRP instead of getting a sweet Amazon discount, we're not lacking for choices.

 

Originally Posted by The Obsolete Man

Another part of being spoiled is expecting everything to be available for under 25 dollars, and complaining when something is over that price without remembering that a decade ago, we would have paid a lot more than 40 bucks for a complete season of any show we enjoyed (and in the case of Star Trek, Buffy, or X-Files fans, did pay a lot more than that).

Amen to that. I paid over 90.00 dollars per season for The Definitive Twilight Zone. But I was happy to do it, just to have that seminal TV series in my collection.

 

[Gary OS]

I'm with Jeff and Shane in that just about all my grail shows have been released, and most of those have not only been released but also been completed. That doesn't mean there aren't other series I'd really like to see released, but in terms of shows I just absolutely had to have I'm pretty happy. I could rattle off a long list but it's not necessary. About the only things left for me, in terms of holy grail shows, are Ozzie & Harriet and The Wonder Years. Neither is going to happen so I'm not wasting my time being torn up over them.

Two caveats I'll add though:


1) some of my grail shows that have been released were not done properly (The Fugitive, S1 of FKB, music subs in several), while others are stalled out, so I'm not completely happy.

2) with classic TV on DVD seemingly on a steep decline, the chances of me finding a blind buy that I fall in love with and subsequently consider a part of my grail collection, diminishes. For instance, it had been so long since I had watched Rawhide that it was almost a blind buy for me. And most regulars here on the forum know how it sky-rocketed up the charts on my personal favorites list. It's now a part of my Holy Grail collection, if you would. Had CBS/Paramount never released that series I wouldn't have known how much I liked it. What I'm trying to say is there may be another "Holy Grail" series out there for me that I don't even know about. Perhaps a show like The Dakotas or Wide Country would really impress me like Rawhide did, but if they aren't released I'll never know. Hope that made sense.



Gary "overall I am satisfied with my collection, but I'd still like the chance to be introduced to some more 50's and 60's series" O.

 

[smithb]

I'm going to take a different slant on this. I think "spoiled" is the wrong word to use in this case. Looking at a common definition:


"to impair, damage, or harm the character or nature of (someone) by unwise treatment, excessive indulgence, etc.: to spoil a child by pampering him."


I don't see how this fits at all myself, for at least the majority of us. I think we are very "fortunate" to have the options available to us at this time. And the vast majority appreciates that, but the reality is that there are budgetary issues that prevent the majority of us from buying everything out there so we have to make choices, and not everything desired has been released. So the fact that there are discussions about pricing and availablility is not about being spoiled, IMO, but a natural frustration from time to time. Especially, with what appears to be a randomness of what is released and at what cost. That does not mean we aren't appreciative of what we have or the period of time we live in.


I also don't see any relevance to comparing with the past. How we reacted back then was based on the market at that time (i.e., pricing and availability). If a typical season in today's market cost $100 then I would happily pay $100 (I would just have less). But if there are multiple titles on my "wish list" of equal desire and I can get 2 for the cost of 1 of another, then guess what, I'm going to maximize my dollar and go for the 2. That's not complaining, thats managing my budget. The fact that some of these cost $100's of dollars in a different period of time and market has no bearing on my decision making today.


If we want to say we are spoiled because we have more options regarding TV show purchasing than in the past and at a cheaper price then we are spoiled in many more ways then this. The advances in GPS's, cell phones, and internet access (to name just a few) has totally changed our way of life from a decade ago and the decade before that. I guess because we have those and keep stretching to have more, smaller, and faster means we are spoiled. If so, then "yes" we are all spoiled in all most all facets of life, not just what TV shows we can purchase and at what pricing.


To follow suit with many others here, I also have a collection that if the bottom fell out tomorrow would keep me happy and comfortable for many years to come. My budget and purchasing desires for this year are far less then the previous three (of course I bought 200+ sets in that time). I feel very fortunate.

 

[Neil Brock]

DVDs have been a nice addition to the hobby that many of us have been at for a very long time. And it has certainly helped to clear shelf space in being able to get rid of hundreds and hundreds of tape copies of shows that are now out on DVD. Of course there are hundreds more that never will be available in this format and for that I am thankful for the late, great magazine The TV Collector as well as other mags that had a shorter lifespan. Being able to connect with fellow hobbyists around the U.S. and Canada and make lifelong collecting friends. That's something that those who only know the "DVD portion" of this hobby will never get to experience. Don't get me wrong, the DVD era is wonderful but the peripheral benefits just aren't the same. As for the original question about being spoiled, yes, extremely. Clicking a mouse and ordering a DVD set is a little less effort than trying to find a contact in East Nowhere because that happens to be the only station in the country running some rare and obscure program you want taped.

 

Originally Posted by Neil Brock

DVDs have been a nice addition to the hobby that many of us have been at for a very long time. And it has certainly helped to clear shelf space in being able to get rid of hundreds and hundreds of tape copies of shows that are now out on DVD.[SIZE= 16px] Of course there are hundreds more that never will be available in this format and for that I am thankful for the late, great magazine The TV Collector[/SIZE] as well as other mags that had a shorter lifespan. Being able to connect with fellow hobbyists around the U.S. and Canada and make lifelong collecting friends. That's something that those who only know the "DVD portion" of this hobby will never get to experience. Don't get me wrong, the DVD era is wonderful but the peripheral benefits just aren't the same. As for the original question about being spoiled, yes, extremely. Clicking a mouse and ordering a DVD set is a little less effort than trying to find a contact in East Nowhere because that happens to be the only station in the country running some rare and obscure program you want taped.

I've often wondered how collectors were able to pass some of the series not out on DVD between themselves, now I have my answer.

 

[JamesSmith]

Depending on your definition of what "spoiled" means can be somewhat confusing, but for the most part I would say yes we are spoiled. Most of us have what we want on our TVDVD collections, and considering so many people in the world lack basic necessities, than yes. . . we are spoiled.


But I would still hope more of us get out tv Holy Grails. . . . Maybe its the collector in us -- that we obsess about the few things our collection is lacking. Maybe it's because a show was only shown once, and never shown again. Maybe it's the part of us that longs to recapture the nostalgia of when we first watched the program.



Yes. We are spoiled.


James

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by Richard Villafana

I've often wondered how collectors were able to pass some of the series not out on DVD between themselves, now I have my answer.

Believe it or not, there were ways to build collections before cable and the internet.

 

[LeoA]

I've been compensating them with my dollars, so I don't especially feel like I've been spoiled. They've been properly rewarded for the releases I've purchased.


Most of my "grail shows" haven't been released. My Three Sons (Not counting the butchered first two seasons), Petticoat Junction (Just good releases for the black & white seasons), and several others are missing completely or partially from DVD. And I'd really love to get the all the King Family television episodes and specials on DVD, but that one sure seems like an out of reach dream that will never be fulfilled.


At least they've put up some clips of the shows on YouTube over the past year. Things like these are better then nothing, but make me want DVD releases all the more.





Thankfully I've gotten a few like The Dick Van Dyke Show, Little House on the Prairie (Sadly they were pretty poor releases, but I didn't know that when I took the plunge and bought the first 9 seasons; but at least they're as good as what I can watch on cable), M*A*S*H, and a few others.

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by LeoAmes


Most of my "grail shows" haven't been released. My Three Sons (Not counting the butchered first two seasons), Petticoat Junction (Just good releases for the black & white seasons), and several others are missing completely or partially from DVD. And I'd really love to get the all the King Family television episodes and specials on DVD, but that one sure seems like an out of reach dream that will never be fulfilled.

If you are interested in the syndicated My Three Sons, its currently airing complete and uncut on ME-TV. The unsyndicated episodes (seasons 1-5 and the last season and a half) ran in the 80s on Nick at Nite. That's where people picked theirs up from. And Petticoat Junction ran through a number of times a few years ago, also uncut, on TV Land Canada.

 

Originally Posted by Neil Brock /forum/thread/308713/we-have-gotten-spoiled#post_3780775