How do you approach watching TV series? (1 Viewer)

I am curious to know how others approach watching TV series they purchased. In the past, I tended to be able to keep up with my new DVDs and watch whatever was most recently purchased.

However, I went through a bit of a surge in my purchases this past year. Whether it was an abundance of good deals or that I discovered a new interest in TV shows (especially older ones). In any case, I managed to add the following to my collection:

Twilight Zone
Outer Limits
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Time Tunnel
Rawhide
Have Gun Will Travel
Gunsmoke
Big Valley
Wild Wild West
M Squad
Kung Fu...and more.

The problem is that I'm obviously interested in all of them or I wouldn't have purchased. However, as I start watching one, in the back of my mind I'm curious about others.

A long setup to a question, but how do you approach picking what to watch when you have a variety of unwatched items your itching to get into?

- Do you get into a groove and try to watch one from start to finish before moving to the next, or
- Do you setup a pattern across several shows, or just pick what looks interesting as each evening comes. Basically, switching back and forth watching a few of each at a time?

I've tried both and haven't come across a satisfying approach yet, so I'm curious how others do it, or would approach it.

Here's my routine:

I have about 50 TV/DVD sets in progress. I keep up with what's what, which ep last viewed, in an Excel file that I print out, notate, then update weekly on my PC. I usually will watch a 1-hr action/drama/scifi/western/police-detective, show followed by a comedy-sitcom episode during a meal on weekends. I rarely watch during weekday evenings (sports take priority for me) which is why I'll catch up with my TV/DVD's around 2015 or so I look at it this way: If the NHL, MLB, NFL, and DIV 1A Coll football all go on strike, I'm set for viewing

I'm a variety viewer and have never marathon'ed through any TV/DVD set as yet. I think that's in the minority from what I've read on the Bd in the past. The most episodes that I recall viewing back-to-back are 3-4 at one sitting but that's rare.

Examples: I'm still early in the S2's of the Get Smart & Dick Van Dyke sets, about 2/3 done with the Secret Agent Megaset, just started on the "Man in a Suitcase" set, nearly done with the Combat! 5-season sets, Rifleman Set 3 of 6, finally about to finish Wanted, Dead or Alive S1 of 3. The two that, for me, are going faster than usual is that Lone Ranger 75th Anniv set. The other one is Perry Mason. That one, the pacing is harder to control I'm at S2V2 Disc 3 completed. Still in S3 of Bewitched with the rest on the shelf (I hear David VP groaning ).

Anyone remember when that (orig) Jonny Quest set came out? Almost done with that one.

I haven't started quite a few sets as yet.

I'll usually rotate the weekends; one weekend, I'll mainly watch sitcoms and the next weekend, more of the 1-hr shows or TV miniseries sets.

My family and I have so much classic TV on DVD, we don't even usually watch an episode a week of the same show; we do rotations of shows of a certain genre. We call it "Theme Nights," and we have great fun with it! It goes something like this:


Sundays - Family Night Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons, Family, The Wonder Years (taped off ION), Walt Disney Treasures, All-Star Family Feud

Mondays - Mystery Night Columbo, Quincy, The Hardy Boys, Marple, Mike Hammer, Philip Marlowe, Mrs. Bradley

Tuesdays - Comedy Night Cosby Show, Cheers, Everybody Loves Raymond, Sanford & Son, Happy Days, That 70s Show, Seinfeld, Frasier, Police Squad!, Dream On, Perfect Strangers, Gomer Pyle, The Monkees, The Partridge Family, Doris Day Show, The Simpsons, Love American Style, WKRP

Wednesdays - Adventure Night Mannix, The Rockford Files, Hardcastle & McCormick, Hunter, Hart to Hart

Thursdays - Sci-Fi Night The Incredible Hulk, The Invaders, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Night Gallery, The X-Files, Tales from the Darkside, The Prisoner

Fridays - Black & White Night Andy Griffith Show, You Bet Your Life, The Fugitive, Perry Mason, Rawhide, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dick Van Dyke Show, Route 66, Password, The Honeymooners, Loretta Young Show

Saturdays - Variety Night Dean Martin Show, Carol Burnett Show, Flip Wilson Show, Andy Williams Show, This is Tom Jones, Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan Show, Whose Line Is It, Anyway?, Match Game, SCTV, Playboy after Dark, Midnight Special

As I mentioned, we just rotate these shows. We have our themes/genres, and we usually decide over the weekend what we're going to watch that week. Nothing ever gets tiresome; it's always fresh and wonderful. We love it!

With the "Dallas" releases that I just recently purchased from Best Buy for my birthday, I saw them through in order. I first saw #3 (with the "Who Shot J.R." cliffhanger, of course), then I saw the first episodes of #4 (the ones that resolved the cliffhanger). I then went back to #3 to see the documentary on the cliffhanger, and then continued with and finished #4 (and then saw the "Return to Southfork" '04 reunion special).

For me... I just watch whatever I am in the mood for... when I am in the mood for it. I normally watch a full disc at a time... then pick what I want to watch next and watch a full disc of that. And so on.

I do however sometimes get a strong urge of having a marathon of a certain show where I watch the entire series (or all that I own) back to back.

I guess basically I have no routine just do whatever I am in the mood to do at that time.

Once I start a series I stick with it until I go through all the shows. I then select a show from my "Stockpile" to replace the series I had previously watched. Old Series are loaned to my Sister and Brother-in-Law so they can watch them with their Family. Once they finish a series they send it back to me where I put it in "Cold Storage" until I decide to watch them again.

I do that too, but I do it only after I have completed all of the episodes of a particular set. Whenever the mood strikes (and with me, it's pretty often, I believe), I'll draw out a random episode of one of my completed releases (most of mine are fully completed) and see it for the pure enjoyment of it.

At the moment I don't have much time for watching many of my shows as am in the final stages of my final year of uni, 3 dissertations to write, all film and/or American history related. So watching certain shows when I have time but generally in order

Interesting...I knew statistically it could be all over the map, but somehow I thought there would be more of a pattern. It gives me food for thought on the viewing of my own collection.

Maybe I will try a theme approach.

When I don't have so much uni work I generally work my way through a boxset that I am in the mood for one series at a time so for example I watched Season 1 of Alias, then Season 1 of Profiler, then variated that with current shows am watching on TV.

I do think when a show has a growing story arc that there is a greater incentive to watch it through. While I haven't seen Alias I have seen Profiler and that would qualify for me. Some of the more current shows like 24 and Lost would also fall into that category.

That sounds like a lot of fun. I like the 'theme' idea too, and often watch
shows together as they were originally on the broadcast schedule,
like Saturday Nights I've done Love Boat/Fantasy Island marathons.

List of United States network television schedules - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saturday morning cartoons are great that way too...

-g

TWO WAYS:

1. I have three schedules that run from 8 p.m. through 2 a.m. Each schedule has a group of classic sitcoms. And each one of those sitcoms has a designated day/time for me to view. So for every timeslot between 8 and 2, I have three programs to choose from. Also, I generally have it so that every program goes in episode order. If I miss an episode from the current rotation of any show, then there's will always be the next rotation I can see it. Another thing ... I generally make changes to the schedules every month or so.

Here's what my three schedules look now ...

SCHEDULE #1

WEEKDAYS
8:00 PM - I Dream of Jeannie
8:30 PM - I Dream of Jeannie
9:00 PM - Bewitched
9:30 PM - Bewitched
10:00 PM - I Love Lucy
10:30 PM - I Love Lucy
11:00 PM - I Love Lucy
11:30 PM - The Dick Van Dyke Show
12 MID - The Dick Van Dyke Show
12:30 AM - The Andy Griffith Show
1:00 AM - Three's Company
1:30 AM - Three's Company

SATURDAYS
8:00 PM - I Dream of Jeannie
8:30 PM - Bewitched
9:00 PM - The Brady Bunch
9:30 PM - The Brady Bunch
10:00 PM - I Love Lucy
10:30 PM - I Love Lucy
11:00 PM - The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour
12 MID - Laverne & Shirley
12:30 AM - Three's Company
1:00 AM - Bewitched
1:30 AM - The Dick Van Dyke Show

SUNDAYS
8:00 PM - I Dream of Jeannie
8:30 PM - Bewitched
9:00 PM - The Brady Bunch
9:30 PM - The Brady Bunch
10:00 PM - The Andy Griffith Show
10:30 PM - The Andy Griffith Show
11:00 PM - The Andy Griffith Show
11:30 PM - The Andy Griffith Show
12 MID - I Love Lucy
12:30 AM - I Love Lucy
1:00 AM - Three's Company
1:30 AM - Three's Company

ROSTER:
Andy Griffith Show, The
Bewitched
Brady Bunch, The
Dick Van Dyke Show, The
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Laverne & Shirley
Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The
Three's Company

SCHEDULE #2

WEEKDAYS
8:00 PM - The Munsters
8:30 PM - Green Acres
9:00 PM - Mini-Marathons
Mondays - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Tuesdays - Gilligan's Island
Wednesdays - Laverne & Shirley
Thursdays - The Andy Griffith Show
Fridays - The Brady Bunch
12 MID - The Jeffersons
12:30 AM - Laverne & Shirley
1:00 AM - Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
1:30 AM - The Jeffersons

SATURDAYS
8:00 PM - The Munsters
8:30 PM - The Addams Family
9:00 PM - Gilligan's Island
9:30 PM - Gilligan's Island
10:00 PM - Green Acres
10:30 PM - Green Acres
11:00 PM - Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
11:30 PM - Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
12 MID - The Lucy Show
12:30 AM - The Lucy Show
1:00 AM - Here's Lucy
1:30 AM - Here's Lucy

SUNDAYS
8:00 PM - The Munsters
8:30 PM - The Addams Family
9:00 PM - To Be Continued Sundays
12 MID - The Jeffersons
12:30 AM - The Jeffersons
1:00 AM - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1:30 AM - The Mary Tyler Moore Show

ROSTER:
Addams Family, The
Andy Griffith Show, The
Brady Bunch, The
Gilligan's Island
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Acres
Here's Lucy
Laverne & Shirley
Lucy Show, The
Jeffersons, The
Mary Tyler Moore Show, The
Munsters, The

SCHEDULE #3

WEEKDAYS
8:00 PM - Sanford and Son
8:30 PM - Good Times
9:00 PM - All in the Family
9:30 PM - The Honeymooners
10:00 PM - The Bob Newhart Show
10:30 PM - Sanford and Son
11:00 PM - Good Times
11:30 PM - All in the Family
12 MID - I Love Lucy
12:30 AM - Mork and Mindy
1:00 AM - Mister Ed
1:30 AM - Dennis the Menace

SATURDAYS
8:00 PM - SATURDAY BEST BLOCK #1
10:00 PM - SATURDAY BEST BLOCK #2
12 MID - Happy Days
12:30 AM - Mork and Mindy
1:00 AM - The Bob Newhart Show
1:30 AM - Dennis the Menace

SUNDAYS
8:00 PM - BOX SET
10:00 PM - Happy Days
10:30 PM - I Love Lucy
11:00 PM - Get Smart
11:30 PM - Get Smart
12 MID - Get Smart
12:30 AM - Get Smart
1:00 AM - The Bob Newhart Show
1:30 AM - Dennis the Menace

ROSTER:
All in the Family
Bob Newhart Show, The
Dennis the Menace
Get Smart
Good Times
Happy Days
Honeymooners, The
I Love Lucy
Mister Ed
Mork and Mindy
Sanford and Son



2. Between the hours of 2 a.m. and 8 p.m., I usually use this time to watch any recent TV-DVD I just purchased or any other TV-DVD that I desire to watch.

Same here.

I know this a bit off topic. I am just curious. Do most of you watch your dvds on a single disc dvd player or do most of you own dvd disc changers?
I mean if you just have a single disc changer, don't you change dvds constantly? And do you have a large collection of dvds or just average or even small? And how do you store your collection. They do tend to grow.
I have a disc changer and tend to put in a variety of shows and watch what I am in the mood for-comedy, drama, etc.

I have shelves in my closet. I simply store my DVD-TV sets there.

I have a single-load DVD player.

I have about 180 TV/DVD sets (complete-seasons counting as 1 set) and about 225 film DVD's. No Blu-Ray's yet.

I store mine on a bookshelf in a spare room in the house.

I have 4434 DVDs in about 12 giant wallets, all numbered corresponding to an alphabetized list. On top of the DVD player, I have an 80-DVD wallet, always open, that has one or more of the discs from series I am currently watching. The current disc for a series is turned upside down if more than one disc from that series is in a folder (the label side upside down, not flipped around physically).

I jump around. Last few nights it has been Twilight Zone. Before that, The Invaders. Also The Man from UNCLE. When Patrick McGoohan died, I watched my favorite episodes of DANGER MAN and THE PRISONER.

When a disc has been watched it comes out of the folder and goes gently on a spindle. At the end of a month or so, I take the discs off the spindle and put them back in the wallets, at which time I reload the TV folder from the main 12 wallets.

I never have to fool with clumsy boxes, and all my inserts and booklets are in the DVD wallets with the discs. I have a separate box for supplements, booklets or other objects that take up more bulk (Cylon head, anyone?)

It's a great system. I've worked the kinks out of it over the years.

The only time I ever went on a long term project was watching all of Star Trek TNG in order, followed by DS9 and VOYAGER. That took me about two years.

So do I. From Monday to Wednesday, as well as Saturday and every other Friday, I watch Three shows each evening. (I attend Social Activities on Thursdays and every other Friday.) On Sundays I watch a Movie and one TV Show. I Call my "Station" WWAH (Same Reason, my Initials) and it's an affiliate of the LSN (Little "Stinker" Network)