What do you like about this hobby? (1 Viewer)

Collecting tv shows on dvd has been fun from the start, and I don't see myself quitting any time soon. I remember buying the first season of the X-Files on dvd a long time ago($95...OUCH) and thinking what a great idea this is. Just a couple years earlier I bought 3 X-Files Laserdisc compilations totaling a little more than $100. It was a little expensive, but at the time it was worth it's weight in gold. This is how I have always felt about tv on dvd. I enjoy owning every tv show I'm fond of, and even taking risks from time to time on a blind buy(more often than not, I'm happy with these purchases).

I have 3 categories I can break my likes into:


3. Variety. Collecting many shows is great fun. I now own so many good shows I can make my own virtual retro schedule. Daniel Boone, followed by Star Trek(TOS). Three's Company and M*A*S*H*. The Incredible Hulk, and The Dukes of Hazard.
If I lost my cable television, I'd be perfectly alright. I could watch my favorite shows forever....with no commercials.

2. Nostalgia. Now, lets be honest. Isn't this why many of us buy old television shows on dvd? To remember the good times and just feel young again. Well maybe not for everyone, but concerning myself it's the strongest motivator in buying a series. I also like shows from before my time, but thats just because good tv is good tv. You can't go wrong with Gunsmoke, or The Lone Ranger. I just got up to speed with Saturday Night Live season 5. What an amazing show to have on dvd.
Not only is it a fantastic time capsule, but also encompasses the culture, and style from 30 years ago. It's VERY dated, but I mean that in the best possible way. I'm hoping Universal keeps going with these. Brilliant.


1. Product. I'm going to use BCI as my staple here. When I heard many long forgotten Filmation shows were coming to dvd, I was very happy. When I bought them I was very pleased. Here are shows that we will most likely never see again(read NEVER) on cable tv or anywhere for that matter. BCI puts them on dvd, and the disc, and box art are fantastic. Most have special features that would make the big studios envious, and they were released very rapidly, and a MSRP I thought was too low for such childhood gold.
To geeky collectors like me this was tv on dvd bliss. They remain my most cherished shows on dvd(along with Rhino's Land of the Lost releases).

So, what do you enjoy most about collecting tv shows on dvd?

Well, speaking a history major, studying the past and seeing the evolution (or de-evolution, depending on your point of view) of the art form is fascinating. It's also a way to either connect with shows I might have seen an episode or two of before but never finished, then finally get a chance to see what all the excitement was about.

It's a little like finding buried treasure too. You know going in that some shows are going to be good and have special episodes (ex. I Love Lucy - Lucy Does a TV Commercial, Job Switching; Superman - Panic in the Sky), but then finding your own uniquely favorite episodes and moments, they cross over from being entertainment to something more (ex for me I Love Lucy - Lucy Is Expecting, Superman - The Face and The Voice).

It's also a bit of a challenge collecting this stuff. Sure, fun getting classics like Lucy, Superman, Twilight Zone and Star Trek, but checking out shows you might never otherwise even think of or even get a chance to see (Gene Autry, Time Tunnel, etc.) makes it a more complete hobby.

It's a look back and makes you wonder where we're going too.

Plus, come on, it's just plain fun too, isn't it?

I started out small, with a handful of Movies in 2002, and it wasn't long before I noticed you could purchase entire TV Seasons, for a price (OUCH!). Then prices went down and I was able to acquire any shows I fondly remembered from my Childhood, including the Gerry Anderson "Supermarionation" Series Thunderbirds. I also noticed something else happening, and it wasn't good. All across the networks, both Broadcast and Cable, decent programs began leaving the schedule, to be replaced by cheesy, low-quality shows.

I started collecting for two reasons: First, I didn't like the television that was out there for my children to watch. I wanted to share the wholesome shows of my youth to them.

Second, I have issues with getting older and in some weird way watching the shows of my youth is like a time machine taking me back to yesteryear. I feel transported back in time.

The problem is my wife hates my hobby and I have spent several thousand over the years collecting a huge amount of old movies and series. However, whenever I turn on network television and I see what I would term garbage, I am glad for the shows I own. I agree with one of the posters that I could be very happy watching my own stuff. You could pick a night and date from the 60's or 70's and I might be able to play the programming from a certain network.

I started out small as well. I now have over 1000 tv shows on dvd. I plan to end my cable subscripti0on in May when my contract is up. I will use a digital converter box to pick up my local stations to watch news, as well as the few shows that I watch on regular tv- Supernatural, Smallville, Vampire Diaries. I even now watch more tv odn dvd than regular tv. So I will be joining Regulus in creating my own retro tv every night.

It is always good to hear different point of view from people. I have over 300 dvds and probably a baby in my collection. I was born in 1968 and like most of the tv shows from the late 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and few shows in 1990s and 2000s.

Currently, I watch very little TV unless it is sporting event. The TV shows today are different and focus too much on reality. I was never big into reality, especially when it all started back in late 1990s with survivor.

When i move next year to my own house then i will only have internet, no cable. I have enough dvds to keep me pre-occupy for next several years. I am planning to still complete my collections next year of the following series

1. Good Times
2. Sanford & Son
3. Man from Uncle
4. Cheers, 5th season
5. Enterprise, 3rd season

I am happy to see in 2010 that we will see Matt Houston, Barnaby Jones and more of Dallas, Hawaii Five-O, Emergency! along with more 1970s cartoons.

I was over a buddy place the other night and we watch a few episodes from time tunnel. I am big into just hanging out with people and watch classic TV shows. I love to form a group down the road in Hamilton, Ontario with people that have same interest and like together and watch shows.

What do like most about this hobby?

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The typos. Definitely the typos.

Joe

I bought my first DVD player in 1999 and there weren't many choices for renting DVDs. I started buying and collecting until I had amassed a collection of almost 500 titles. I started collecting TV series of some of my favorite shows, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, NewsRadio, and West Wing to name a few. I like to bring out a disc from one of those series on occasion to watch some of my favorite episodes.

Originally Posted by dhammer


Second, I have issues with getting older and in some weird way watching the shows of my youth is like a time machine taking me back to yesteryear. I feel transported back in time.

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I feel the same way. Although I have a handful of newer shows on dvd, the classic shows always bring me back to my youth. I love that.

Primarily, the same thing I like about having a massive music collection (both record and CD)... the ability to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it, with no commercial interruptions/pledge breaks.

I also like the ability to revisit my youth via old TV shows, discover/rediscover classics from "before my time" (the "first" time I heard the "Adventures of Robin Hood" theme I *knew* I'd heard it before and could sing along even though I do not remember ever seeing any episodes), discover classics from across-the-pond that don't have that PBS appeal where I live, see again some "lost" one-season-wonders, and most importantly, see *most* classic TV again "uncut" as I watched it originally.

My wife doesn't understand my passion/obsession. She'd rather watch, and be a slave to, what comes on the TV than mess with DVDs. If not for her desire to keep cable I'd be in the same camp as Regulus... no cable, just a large DVD collection, spending the "savings" on more DVDs. I don't watch news (get it from the paper), don't watch sports (never have), and know enough people with cable and VCRs that I could sample just about anything to see if it's worthy of adding to the collection.

Originally Posted by BobO'Link

... the ability to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it ...

I also like the ability to revisit my youth via old TV shows ...

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Those are my two reasons, right there.

It's like a dream come true that I can take one of my old TV Guides that I saved, say from 1963 --- go through the weekly schedule, day by day --- and watch several of the shows, just by going over to the shelf and getting a DVD.

It's as close to having a time machine as I'll ever get. Actually, I wish the original commercials were included, to make the experience complete.

As to why I'd rather recreate a week from 1963 than watch what's on today: Are explanations really necessary?

Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff




Those are my two reasons, right there.

It's like a dream come true that I can take one of my old TV Guides that I saved, say from 1963 --- go through the weekly schedule, day by day --- and watch several of the shows, just by going over to the shelf and getting a DVD.

It's as close to having a time machine as I'll ever get. Actually, I wish the original commercials were included, to make the experience complete.

As to why I'd rather recreate a week from 1963 than watch what's on today: Are explanations really necessary?

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No explanations necessary. It's actually a cool idea.

When I started collecting, my first thought was to record the shows that I really liked, such as Outer Limits, etc. But NY was such a lousy market for old shows and they cut shows pretty badly as well. Soon I discovered the whole collecting/trading network and that you could get all of these great shows that were airing in other markets around the country. I still remember getting a TV Guide from a contact in Toronto. They were running the one-hour Twilight Zones (super rare at the time), Car 54, How to Marry a Millionaire, early 70s Roller Derby, I Married Joan. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know what to ask for first. But back to the original question.

1) To be able to watch whatever shows I'm in the mood for. Sometimes its shows that I've loved in the past. Sometimes its shows that were before my time that I'm getting to see for the first time. I just like the control of being able to watch what I choose, when I choose.

2) It does bring me back to my youth. To watch the shows that I loved as a kid. Friday I had my own little Occasional Wife marathon. Love that show and that takes me back to the great year of 1966-67.

3) The opportunity to discover great shows that I was too young for originally. East Side West Side, The Defenders and many others were too adult for me at the time and they have been buried since. To be able to watch a show like Bus Stop, absolutely one of the top dramatic shows of all time, is such a great experience. Its really a shame that a show like that, which no one realizes is so good, will never be available to the general public.

I love being able to have my favorite shows and to be able watch them whenever I want to without logos, popup banners, and splitscreen garbage all over the screen.

Originally Posted by Joe Lugoff




Those are my two reasons, right there.

It's like a dream come true that I can take one of my old TV Guides that I saved, say from 1963 --- go through the weekly schedule, day by day --- and watch several of the shows, just by going over to the shelf and getting a DVD.

It's as close to having a time machine as I'll ever get. Actually, I wish the original commercials were included, to make the experience complete.

As to why I'd rather recreate a week from 1963 than watch what's on today: Are explanations really necessary?

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Originally Posted by Bryan^H



No explanations necessary. It's actually a cool idea.

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I'm almost embarassed to admit this, but I do the same thing, working with an old TV Guide book, Wikipedia and TV.com to reconstruct what show aired when, what episode and then try watching them in order. It has it's good and bad side: good - it's fun to see these shows as they aired in the context of the times, bad - it's nearly impossible to tell with some shows what episodes aired when, plus it feeds the habit. You see a show on the schedule you don't have and you want it to round out the schedule and diversify. It's actually what's driving my interest in classic TV on DVD these days.

Just last night I watched a Planet of the Apes tv series episode "The Trap", along with "Spectre of the Gun" from Star Trek.
I finished it out with "Hawkeye get your gun" from M*A*S*H.


Awesomely good stuff.

Originally Posted by Bryan^H

Just last night I watched a Planet of the Apes tv series episode "The Trap", along with "Spectre of the Gun" from Star Trek.
I finished it out with "Hawkeye get your gun" from M*A*S*H.


Awesomely good stuff.

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Spent the last few days alternating between I Love Lucy episodes and Adventures of Superman episodes. It's been so long since I've seen Superman, a lot of them feel (or actually might be) new. Lucy I'd watched recently, so I only watch with half an eye.

Originally Posted by MattPeriolat


It's a little like finding buried treasure too. You know going in that some shows are going to be good and have special episodes (ex. I Love Lucy - Lucy Does a TV Commercial, Job Switching; Superman - Panic in the Sky), but then finding your own uniquely favorite episodes and moments, they cross over from being entertainment to something more (ex for me I Love Lucy - Lucy Is Expecting).

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My favorite episode is "Country Club Dance" (Featuring a then-unknown 22-year-old Barbara Eden in an early role.)

Originally Posted by dhammer

I started collecting for two reasons: First, I didn't like the television that was out there for my children to watch. I wanted to share the wholesome shows of my youth to them.

Second, I have issues with getting older and in some weird way watching the shows of my youth is like a time machine taking me back to yesteryear. I feel transported back in time.

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I feel the same way (Give me "Benson" or "I Dream of Jeannie" over "Friends", "Malcolm In the Middle", or "Seinfeld" any day. Unlike a lot of sitcoms nowadays, Benson and IDoJ actually make me LAUGH! )

Great thread but we might be giving studios and network programmers bad ideas: if they realize we don't need cable anymore they might actually stop releasing entire seasons of TV shows and we're gonna have to re-subscribe and suffer through endless commercials again! Seriously, this is one of the best inventions ever - we actually own entire series runs of most of our favorite TV shows which, as many people here have said, we can watch at our own leisure without commercials and annoying pop-up blurbs, tickers and logos at the bottom of the screen. I'm getting ready to enjoy all 10 years of Stargate SG-1 all over again starting with MGM's remastered pilot and then I think I'll move on to MacGyver (again). No network programmer is going to dictate to me when to watch and then interrupt my enjoyment with loud commercials for deals for cars for "well-qualified buyers" only!