When did you start collecting TV shows? (1 Viewer)

[Casey Trowbridg]

Yes and No. I now watch less television now partially because of TV on DVD. I guess if I were to stop watching a show because the DVDs were coming out I'd have to say that show was South Park because I don't watch it as regularly as I used to, but that's not really so much because of the DVDs.

Its funny because I have almost the entire run of Friends on DVD and that doesn't stop me from watching in sindication.

 

[TravisR]

TV on DVD hasn't stopped me from keeping up with shows as they air either. Heck, I still tape most shows I like eventhough I know within a year or less I will probably have it on DVD.

I will say though I almost never watch any syndicated show that I have on DVD. Even if the episode isn't on DVD yet (like many episodes of The Simpsons).

 

[Doug Wallen]

Started taping Star Trek on audiocassette when first syndicated in the early seventies, bought the adaptations by James Blish and was super excited by the coming of inexpensive VCR's in the mid 80's. I had a betamax and about 10 Star Trek tapes purchased along with 4 Muppett Show videos. I then started recording television shows on tape from that period. Hill Street Blues, The Cosby Show and Beauty & the Beast come to mind.

I was very excited when Star Trek:TNG aired and made a regular appointment to tape that one/ I then started recording L.A. Law and Quantum Leap. I was also recording movies from pay channels and AMC/TCM whenever I could.

I had regular shows that were recorded and kept separately such as I'll Fly Away, JAG, Homicide, any Star Trek - just couldn't keep those Voyager tapes.

When dvd hit, I was biding my time for a player and then started with the 2 episodes per disc of Star Trek. From there I went to Buffy, Homicide and have not looked back since.

Buffy is the only show that I have never watched during the regular run. My wife pretty much watched from the beginning, but it did not impress me. I picked up the first season around christmas a few years ago and have only seen it on dvd.

Wow, didn't realize i had been so into collecting TV shows.

 

[John McM]

first TV show I bought was the first season of Sex And The City in early 2001, and then bought season 2 on day of release... but then didn't get anything else until Buffy season 1 in Jan 2002, and then progressed onto getting South Park, Family Guy and Simpsons, and then in 2004 got a TON of shows since a lot came out this year (Popular, Taxi, Happy Days, Diff'rent Strokes, Roswell, 227, etc...), and in 2005 plan to get even more shows like Charmed, Roseanne, One Day At A Time...

 

[Bill>Moore]

I've been collecting/recording shows since the early 80s when I got my first VCR. At first, I recorded anything on any tape and just numbered the tapes with references to what was indexed on each. Was easier when I went out of town not to worry about multiple tapes for each show. Then I got more serious about it and put each show on one tape. Most of those old gems from the 80s aren't in very good shape any more.

I've ditched a large number of them since they've come out on DVD in much higher quality and with all the commercials edited out. I still retain a number of tapes of unique or unreleased stuff. TV on DVD has really increased my collecting though. It's much more portable and since I travel for work, I watch many shows more than I would if I was just sitting at home.

 

[JohnAP]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first series where I knew I NEEDED to own it. I remember being so jealous that full seasons were being released on vhs and then dvd in Region 2 before they ever got over here.

It's been nice ditching some of my taped shows for dvd, though there are a few I keep. Roswell, for instance, because my tapes have all the original music and on the dvds it has all been replaced.

 

[Steve...O]

I have VHS collections of three of my favorites: Get Smart, Adventures of Superman, and Perry Mason. Unfortunately these are syndicated versions from the old Nick at Nite and Hallmark.

Now that DVD is here, I have other shows I really like (Avengers, Dick Van Dyke, Sopranos, and a handful of others) but none of my "Big 3" above are yet here. (Superman is being worked on while the other two don't appear to be in the works.)

It's a shame that DVD recorders/hard drives weren't around when Nick at Nite and CBN were regularly airing "My Little Margie", "Jack Benny", "My Three Sons" et al. In those days, blank VHS was still pricey so taping was not done regularly.

16mm is too expensive and not practical for me so I never
got into that.

Steve

 

[Henry Gale]

Mark,
Is there a door prize?
I taped the Beatles on the Sullivan show, also JFK's funeral. Still have that reel of tape but nothing to play it back on.
Skipping forward 34 years to 1987 I have some episodes of Frank's Place...sadly not all of them. Numerous other programs since then.
My favorite TV S-VHS tape is a compilation of Jonathon Winters. Everytime he was a guest on anybody's talk show I hauled out that tape, actully there are two of them now. It was a real education watching him improvise for that length of time. He is quite disturbed and the themes of "Father" and "Marine Corps" come bubbling up again and again. He's also a genius.

 

[Mark To]

No door prize but I just wanted to get an idea as to the scope of my fellow posters. Because at times it seems like I'm talking another language. Most people here consider a show from 5-10 years ago to be old while to me something from the late 70s is relatively new. But at least there are some people like Deb and Carlos that I can relate to. All I'll say is this. If you are a serious music collector, then you don't limit yourself to one format, i.e., CDs, because 95% of music won't ever make it to CD. Same with TV. If you are a casual collector, then it doesn't matter. But if you are serious, then you don't limit yourself. I have things in my collection from 16mm, 35mm, VHS, Beta, 2-inch, 1-inch, kinescope, half inch reel to reel, Cartrivision, etc.

 

[Bert Greene]

Got my first vcr in 1982, but didn't start taping things for keeps right away. Blank tapes were about $20 a piece, which was just too expensive for me to archive things. But, by late-1983, I started taping mostly movies, and gradually some old shows off of CBN and the first years of Nick at Night. Things like "Burns and Allen," "I Married Joan," "Ben Casey," "Route 66," "Smothers Bros. Show (the 65-66 sitcom)," "Jack Benny," "Man from UNCLE," "Farmer's Daughter," "Stoney Burke," "Route 66," "The Untouchables," and that sort of thing. I was in college at the time, but still managed to record and preserve whatever I could, battling erratic schedules and low funds. Unfortunately, almost always at EP speed. Always loved the old shows!

 

[Steve Phillips]

My Dad won a VCR in a contest in late 1979, and I recorded a few episodes of "Get Smart" around that time. No one could understand why I wanted to keep episodes of an old sitcom on tape.

 

[Don_Limey]

I second Wesley's emotion. I myself began my TV on DVD collection with the First Season of my favorite TV show The Simpsons (G.O.A.T.) but afterwards my collection began.

My TV show on DVD collection.

 

[SarahG]

I only started collecting tv shows fairly recently. I'd say I've got a pretty good collection so far, but I'm still missing some big time names. My latest additions are of course, Seinfeld, and I orderd the Battlestar Gallactica old series so I could watch it in time for the new stuff.

 

[Shane D]

i started with highlander season vhs box sets, that cost like a 130 bucks a season for 12 tapes, 2 eps a tape. i think i got the firset 5 seasons like that.

dvd started with xfiles season 1, then star trek tos (only to show a interest in it star trek so next gen would get made). now my collection consists of most major things, xfiles, star trek next gen, some ds9, soprano's, famly guy, futurama, some simpsons, star trek tos (original 40 disks) and i've borrowed, but dont own all of buffy and angel out so far, and alias. and started buying smallville, and have picked up the last 2 highlander seasons on dvd

 

[John Carr]

I bought my first VCR in 1985 when the first Hi-Fi Stereo decks reached an affordable price -- I never looked back! I started taping Cheers, when one of the local stations started running the series from episode 1. Then, of course, I had to start taping the then current episodes. My 'collecting' instinct kicked in and soon I was taping about 15 shows, editing them for commercials and filling the house with my 'collection.'

Fortunately, my wife and I share similar taste regarding comedies; although, she hates my 'crime' shows. At one time, I had complete runs of most of my favorite 80s and 90s TV shows, as well as almost complete runs of Leave it to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show and Father Knows Best.

Now, I don't tape anything. I love the convenience and space saving aspects of TV on DVD. I don't collect movie DVDs (I have most of my favorite films on video), because I Won't Get Burned Again! I'll start up again when the HD DVD format wars are over. Since the TV on DVD shows are superior in quality, in most cases, to the broadcast versions, I'm not worried about re-purchasing them when they also (and inevitably) are re-released in high definition.

I bought my first TV on DVD in 2001 when I bought the first season of the Sopranos, having missed the first year when it was broadcast. In fact, I picked up HBO just to watch successive episdoes of the Sopranos. Later, in 2003 I got Season II for a birthday present, but didn't really start buying TV on DVD until this year when I picked up the Cheers and Frasier season sets. I quickly collected all the available sets and then branched out -- thanks to this foruma and TVShowsonDVD! Now, I've already amassed over 50 sets, and counting...

I expect next year to be bigger than ever. This is a great hobby and I'm enjoying watching and collecting TV shows on DVD, even if some of my favorites haven't yet been released. But the future looks bright ahead...

 

[GeoffCHA]

I started recording shows onto VHS during the first run of Samurai Pizza Cats and Sailor Moon. I guess that was the early 90s. Later I taped Roswell and Farscape. I moved officailly to dvds with Transformers season 1.

 

[Bill Williams]

With me, I started in 1984 when my parents got the first VCR in the house. I taped whatever came on that interested me, and the first TV show I remember taping was the short-lived "V" series (along with the two preceding miniseries). After that followed the equally short-lived HBO series "Philip Marlowe, Private Eye" with Powers Boothe and ABC's "Max Headroom" (even picked up an episode of "The Max Headroom Show" from a free Cinemax weekend screening during the 80's).

And of course, there was "Star Trek", "Star Trek: TNG", "Ewoks/Droids", reruns of "The Adventures of Superman" on Nickoleodeon - I go on and on. What memories this brings back!

When it came to the DVD age, the one series that started it all for me was none other than "Star Trek: TNG". From there I've upgraded whatever TV series I've recorded onto VHS to a DVD version whenever it's released - "DS9", "Voyager", "Smallville", "MASH", etc. Now all I need is a DVD-R player to do backup recordings of those shows that I'd like to see on DVD but don't think will ever make it.

 

[Chris_Morris]

VHS started with Survivor S2, The Mole,and The Amazing Race.
The DVD frenzy began with Friends "best of" Collections, and then the seasons.

I would say that TV on DVD now comprises about 90% of our purchases.

Chris

 

[Dave Jessup]

I started "collecting" in 1976; open-reel 1/2-inch helical scan videotape, of a couple syndicated episodes of Star Trek. After college, I (relatively briefly) got into 16mm film collecting; ended up with various TV episodes discarded by stations/syndicators, bought from dealers at film shows / conventions. Still have some of those that haven't fallen prey to "vinegar syndrome". First Betamax in 1983, Beta HiFi a couple years later. Some TV series bought or taped in their entirety - ST-Original Series, Outer Limits, etc. Tried for Twilight Zone, but though I'd seen all of them by, I think, '87, I never had them all in one format until Image completed their releases.

Now have lots of stuff like so many other folks here; delight in various '60s/70s science fiction - but that's how far back I go.

 

[BernieV]

I'm another old timer who began recording TV audio in the reel-to-reel tape era. At one time I had most of the original broadcasts of Star Trek, I Dream of Jeannie, Get Smart and scattered episodes of other series from the 60s. I recorded the first couple seasons of The Next Generation and The Simpsons on VCR in the late 80s.

I lost interest in watching all network TV around that time. I can honestly say I haven't bothered with any broadcast programming since ~1990. Uncut, commercial-free TV on DVD is the only thing I find worthwhile now.