Is collecting excessive amounts of TV shows on DVD a hobby OR an obsessive-compulsive disorder? (1 Viewer)

[RBailey]

What's the point of having a complete TV series if you don't like certain seasons? Why have something on your shelf you don't enjoy? I do not buy a lot of TV on disc, but I have both complete and incomplete sets. Some series just run out of gas in later seasons and are not that appealing to me, so I don't see the point in owning those seasons.

I agree. Never cared for Season 1 of "The Odd Couple" but I own the rest. I'm the opposite on "Happy Days" and only own Seasons 1 and 2 before it turned into "The Fonzie Show".

 

[Mark-P]

Even though I know we're all joking around here, I can honestly say, yeah I kind of have a problem. 30 years ago, when I bought my first VCR, TV shows weren't being sold in complete sets. I did what many VCR owners did at that time, recorded episodes of my favorite shows off the air. I managed to even complete a couple of them like Star Trek and Little House on the Prairie. At that time I had very few shows I wanted to own. Fast forward to now, where I already own most of the shows I love on DVD, Blu-ray or iTunes such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, MASH, Little House, The Big Valley, Bewitched, and The Fugitive. That's all fine and dandy. The problem is that I didn't stop at just the ones I loved. Shows that I thought were just okay or in some cases had never even seen, were all of the sudden getting snapped up in sales because, I don't know, why not? Quantum Leap and Flipper were shows I had enjoyed but never considered necessary to collect, but then they came out on Blu-ray and I was mysteriously compelled to purchase them. A perfect example of a show I had no business buying is Lost in Space. I had seen a few episodes and I knew the show was completely asinine. But it was beautifully remastered on Blu-ray and I just had to have it in my hot little hands, because (I have no idea). Out of obligation I have now watched every single episode from the somewhat silly pilot to the horrendously ridiculous final show. And if I live to be 100 I will never put myself through watching those Lost in Space Blu-rays again. So yes, Virginia I have a problem and I need to get help.

 

[bmasters9]

If I start a show that I'm not 100 percent on board for, I sell it. No more desire for a complete set.

That's what I've done with a lot of the all-in-one releases of series that I wasn't totally in on-- to be honest, I've taken them to a trading store called 2nd and Charles in Greenville, and gotten store credit towards some things that might actually look better and be more of interest to me.

Some series just run out of gas in later seasons and are not that appealing to me, so I don't see the point in owning those seasons.

And that is the reason why, for instance, I have only 7 seasons' worth (1957-64) of the CBS 1957-66 Perry Mason series, and not all of that series-- I had heard that the last two seasons kind of went flat somewhat, so I didn't see why I should have the whole thing.

 

[GMBurns]

After 30 years, I have so many TV shows on videotape and DVD, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm a compulsive hoarder. LOL
I have dozens of VHS video recordings on tape that I haven't watched in years, and some DVD sets I've never finished watching--yet I continue to collect and record old TV shows on DVD.
I think it probably all stems back to my pre-VCR childhood. A time where you could only watch a TV show on television once, and not see it again unless it was re-run. If I loved a show bad enough, there was always this yearning to watch it again and not being able to. That all changed when VCR's became affordable.
Recently, I started recording the old soap opera, The Doctors. I enjoy watching the show daily now, but will I want to watch it all over again in a few years? Probably not, but I can't help thinking that maybe I will.
I think I record stuff now, so I will always have it in my possession if I ever get a craving..
Nowadays, one can find almost anything on youtube. It may get removed, but it always seems to get uploaded again.
Nevertheless, I continue to record and save, record and save.
I should mention that I ONLY collect things that interest me. I don't have the desire (like some people) to collect EVERY TV show produced. Still, I have a huge collection.
Can anyone else identify with this concern I have?

Ron - only your therapist will know for sure if you're OCD(), but you sound normal to me. If you eventually hope to watch what you buy, that seems to be a normal part of this hobby. You can't watch everything immediately, but you might as well buy the things you want to watch while you have the money and they are still available. On the other hand, if you said you purchased things or recorded shows just because they looked so pretty sitting on your bookshelf, then I'd be a little concerned. Or if you had to have every episode of every tv show ever made, then I'd be gravely concerned. But if you just enjoy watching classic tv, then I say relax and enjoy the Doctors or anything else like it.

 

[Jimbo64]

I’m a collector of both blu-rays and old pottery, hardly a week goes by I don’t receive a package of one or the other in the mail. I’ve tried to get a handle on it but it is very hard so I feel for you. Good luck with figuring out the best way to treat it.

 

[Sam Favate]

There's a third option: Archivist.

Some people like to create a library of shows and movies they deem of value or historical significance. Like any library, you may not read (or watch) every title.

However, I suspect the truth lies somewhere between OCD, archivist and collector.

 

[AndrewCrossett]

I only buy DVD sets I want to watch, though it may be quite some time before I get around to them.... I have a few sets that I've had for years and not even took out of the shrink wrap yet, but I do plan to watch them.

I know that DVD's are going to go away sooner or later, and after that point we will be 100% at the mercy of content providers as to what they choose to show us via streaming media, and whether or not they censor or change that content, and how much they charge for it, and whether it's commercial free or not, and we'll be at the mercy of our internet connections with no net neutrality in place. So, I want to make sure I own every TV show and movie that's important to me before that happens.

 

[GMBurns]

Perfect - I'm going to use this idea the next time my wife asks me if I'm done buying tv shows on dvd. "Honey, I'm an archivist and I'm preserving precious components of our cultural history". She may not get it now, but she'll thank me when physical media is completely gone!

 

[Jason_V]

Ron - I had the same issue for years. I would literally buy discs for no other reason than "it was on sale." My collection - BD and DVD - ballooned to over 1,000 titles. It was widely unmanageable for me and there were things I hadn't ever watched. It would freak me out just walking past the bookcases. My rationale ALWAYS was I'll watch them at some point. I'd never have to rely on streaming or internet connections or anything like that for entertainment. I'd always buy an entire series (Mission: Impossible, Transformers, GI Joe, etc.) even if I didn't "like" them because I had one title in the franchise...and I couldn't have an incomplete set.

Last Thanksgiving, I went on a tear and pulled down 500 titles to sell. Just like that. I did it in the course of four hours. Cut the collection in half. No joke. And this year I have bought one movie and one CD. That's a HUGE change for me. This past weekend, I was tempted to just buy a ton of new titles...I walked out of every store with nothing. I couldn't work up the enthusiasm for anything I saw at the prices available.

The by product of this is I'm actually watching more movies and TV shows now and enjoying them instead of trying to get through them as fast as I can. I'm enjoying the experience again.

I get you. I really do. I just got burned out and decided I needed to put my attention elsewhere.

 

[bmasters9]

Perfect - I'm going to use this idea the next time my wife asks me if I'm done buying tv shows on dvd. "Honey, I'm an archivist and I'm preserving precious components of our cultural history". She may not get it now, but she'll thank me when physical media is completely gone!

Maybe that's how I ought to look at it-- archiving a good chunk of television's past!

The by product of this is I'm actually watching more movies and TV shows now and enjoying them instead of trying to get through them as fast as I can. I'm enjoying the experience again.

Perhaps if I got rid of a lot more of what I wasn't fully in on, I might find a shade more enjoyment in all this, instead of thinking it a chore (having to see it all just because you put the money in it-- the classic "sunk cost fallacy").

 

[LeoA]

With all the series that I've been happy just to own a subset of due to what I feel was a decline in quality, I feel sort of relieved. Whatever ails the average HTF member apparently doesn't seem to have strickened me, yet.

Although I do have this odd impulse from time to time to hunt down the Dick Van Dyke Show on VHS since it would look neat on my shelf next to the original complete series DVD set and the later Blu-Ray set, so maybe I'm showing the early signs...

 

[Jason_V]

Perhaps if I got rid of a lot more of what I wasn't fully in on, I might find a shade more enjoyment in all this, instead of thinking it a chore (having to see it all just because you put the money in it-- the classic "sunk cost fallacy").

Exactly what I did. I'm a kid of the 80s and love GI Joe...but never watched any of the TV sets I had. They left. I like Transformers...never watched the new movies or the TV show...they left. I kept the two newest GI Joe movies and the animated one; kept the Transformers animated movie. I was very strategic what I kept: Disney, DC Comics, Marvel, Criterion, Twilight Time. And I'm very strategic in what I get now.

 

[jcroy]

Ron - only your therapist will know for sure if you're OCD(),

Technically such an "official" diagnosis is only required if one needs it for legal / insurance type reasons, and/or one is seeking treatment with real medication (ie. pills, etc ...) for the condition. The person doing the diagnosis would technically also have to be a psychiatrist (ie. a trained MD + specialist), if they're legally allowed to write prescription drugs for an OCD type diagnosis.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I buy only what I can watch (and right now nothing is unwatched) and what I like. Some I want complete — Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere (please!), The Fugitive, WKRP, Law & Order (all but SVU) — and others I'm satisfied with just one or two seasons — Peter Gunn, Mission: Impossible, Perry Mason, The Untouchables.

 

[Ron Lee Green]

While researching this topic, I found the following info on wikipedia under Compulsive Hoarding. I never heard of Bibliomania (Book Hoarding) before. How long before they come up with a term for DVD Hoarding?

From wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding
Book hoarding
Main article: Bibliomania

Bibliomania is a disorder involving the collecting or hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged. One of several psychological disorders associated with books (such as bibliophagy or bibliokleptomania), bibliomania is characterized by the collecting of books which have no use to the collector nor any great intrinsic value to a more conventional book collector. The purchase of multiple copies of the same book and edition and the accumulation of books beyond possible capacity of use or enjoyment are frequent symptoms of bibliomania.
One of the most famous bibliokleptomaniacs in American history, Stephen Blumberg, never felt that he was doing anything wrong. "Blumberg was trying to save a forgotten world from a system (the libraries) that neglected it.

 

[Bryan^H]

I may be borderline with OCD. I'm now collecting second copies of DVD sets I already own(just the ones I really love) new and sealed in the case that someday a disc may fail, or get scratched. I will have a back up.

I know this is bad, but it makes sense....sort of.

 

[BobO'Link]

I finally realized if I didn't start traveling while I could still get around, I was going to regret it at the end, right along with working too much and not spending enough time with friends and family. My point: I have 7000+ discs. Enough. So I made a deal with myself. I wrote the five sets I dream about owning on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope and gave it to my wife. If one of those sets is released, I'm all in. Otherwise, I stopped buying set after set and started watching all the great sets I had piling up in shrink wrap, like Hawaii Five-0. I'm having a ball. And I save thousands of dollars to put toward travel now. It's a win-win. Best thing I've done in the last ten years. Truly.

I'm quickly headed down that road. I've been cutting back and mostly only purchasing seasons of series I've already started and would like to complete. Taking stock of my unwatched piles brought a reality to the situation that I'd known about yet ignored the past several years. If I don't stop I won't have time to watch what's in those piles, much less revisit favorites. I already revisit many of my favorites on occasion and want to do more of that.

What's the point of having a complete TV series if you don't like certain seasons? Why have something on your shelf you don't enjoy? I do not buy a lot of TV on disc, but I have both complete and incomplete sets. Some series just run out of gas in later seasons and are not that appealing to me, so I don't see the point in owning those seasons.

I do have some complete seasons where I don't care for the later seasons, but those were purchased as complete series because it was cheaper than buying individual seasons.

Exactly! While I do own some complete series for which I don't like all the seasons it's simply due to economics. It was less expensive to purchase a complete series set than just get the season(s) I wanted. Often those sets have a smaller footprint than the few seasons I truly want. Then there are a handful where the last few seasons went on sale at a ridiculously low price so I bought them for completion's sake.

I have a section in the spreadsheet I use to track what I own and have watched called "More available but I have all I want so it might as well be complete." There are 2-3 dozen titles in that section, some of which are well known, highly regarded, series. Flipper will be the next addition.

I'd been on the fence on that one because I recalled not much caring for it beyond season 2. I also had a few other older series I'd felt that way about but had purchased a "test" season, found I greatly enjoy them as an adult, and purchased the rest. So when Flipper S1 went on sale for an acceptable price I snagged a copy. While I truly enjoyed the season I found it had too much "sameness" in the episodes and don't feel I'd serve any purpose other than "completeness" by purchasing more. Of course, once I show my grandkids a few episodes I could easily change that if they show an interest in more episodes past S1.

Perfect - I'm going to use this idea the next time my wife asks me if I'm done buying tv shows on dvd. "Honey, I'm an archivist and I'm preserving precious components of our cultural history". She may not get it now, but she'll thank me when physical media is completely gone!

I tried that, adding that I don't hunt, fish, attend sporting events, attend concerts, ride motorcycles, do off roading, or any of the other high $$ "entertainments" many of my friends seem to enjoy. She still complains every time a package from Amazon shows up at the door: "So... what is it *this* time?" She won't care when physical is gone. She won't bother putting in a disc for the handful of shows I purchased just for her. She has both movies and TV shows that have been specifically purchased for her, some of which she asked for, that are still in the shrink wrap as much as 10 years later! The only ones that have ever been opened are those I opened myself for either me or one of the grandkids to watch.

Maybe that's how I ought to look at it-- archiving a good chunk of television's past!

Perhaps if I got rid of a lot more of what I wasn't fully in on, I might find a shade more enjoyment in all this, instead of thinking it a chore (having to see it all just because you put the money in it-- the classic "sunk cost fallacy").

In a way, that's how I see it - archiving the past. But for me it's also for my grandkids to experience TV shows I thought highly of when I was their age. I get a kick out of their reactions to some of the classic TV shows!

Even for shows I'm not "fully in on" I find some enjoyment. Generally, those will be the ones with only a season or two purchased but I'm still happy to have them represented on my shelves. Admittedly, I do own a few shows I'm not particularly fond of, Maude for example, simply because the complete series went on sale for a super price, usually less than a season or two. All of those I like enough to watch a few episodes or I'd not have made the purchase. For those, I'll watch a season or two and then shelve it. It's there if I want and I feel no pressure to finish watching it.

I refuse to make my TV watching a chore. I *love* watching old, and some new, TV shows and movies. I *love* revisiting TV shows I've not seen in decades! I *love* "discovering" new to me oldies! I *love* collecting TV shows and movies! I *love* sharing them with friends, coworkers, and my grandkids. In short... I *love* this hobby!

 

[bmasters9]

I already revisit many of my favorites on occasion and want to do more of that.

So do I, and I have quite a few favorites-- two Western series among them (a genre which I thought I would never find favorites in until just lately, perhaps last year).

 

[Vic Pardo]

The only classic American TV series that I have complete that were more than two seasons are Superman, Perry Mason, Star Trek: TOS, and Dragnet 1967-70, none of which I've seen in its entirety, although I'm making good progress with Perry Mason, having got to the middle of Season 4 this month. I plan to watch it systematically in order, as I feel like it, until I'm done, however many years that takes. I'm never not in the mood for a Mason episode, but I tend to watch them one at a time and maybe two, but not more than that in one session. (I'm not a binge-watcher.) I have sample seasons from dozens of other series, usually because the sale prices were so great I couldn't pass them up. But I have no compulsion to complete any of them even though I like the series (e.g. The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Combat, The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, Kung Fu, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, etc.). Otherwise, if it was one or two seasons and came out in a complete set for a low price and was something I wanted, I bought it, e.g. last year's release of the one-season 39-episode policewoman series, Decoy (1957), which I then watched in its entirety.

I have lots of anime and Japanese live-action series, either whole or in part. Since most such series are short-lived by design--one or two seasons, it's easy to get box sets of many of these shows. However, some franchises go on forever, e.g. Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Pokémon, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam, Lupin III, etc., so I have multiple seasons from those but not the whole series. I've seen hundreds of episodes from these franchises, especially Pokémon. But I have way too many of these series and don't know when or if I'll get to watch them. I'll start a series and watch, say, the first eight episodes, and then switch to something else, even if Iiked what I saw. It's hard for me to stick with it till the end in one continued viewing cycle. Still, last year I watched four complete series that I had on DVD, two Japanese and two American, for a total of about 140 episodes. That's an improvement for me.

I have most of the Power Rangers box sets, and what I don't have I taped on VHS when the series ran. (Both Pokémon and Power Rangers continue with new seasons every year, both shown on American television. I usually watch every episode of each as it airs.) Shout Factory has been releasing English subtitled sets of the Super Sentai seasons that have been adapted into Power Rangers and I've been getting those as they've been coming out (pretty much the only TV box sets I continue to purchase). My plan is to systematically watch the Japanese versions in tandem with their American counterparts, but it's a daunting task. I made good progress with Carranger and Power Rangers Turbo last year, but stopped about halfway through when I switched to another project. I also get the new Super Sentai seasons from Japan via my local Japanese video store which records them and sells discs with four episodes each at $3.50 a pop.

Here are the first three Shout Factory Super Sentai box sets, which provided action and effects footage for the first three seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers:

 

[stringbean]

I know that DVD's are going to go away sooner or later, and after that point we will be 100% at the mercy of content providers as to what they choose to show us via streaming media, and whether or not they censor or change that content, and how much they charge for it, and whether it's commercial free or not, and we'll be at the mercy of our internet connections with no net neutrality in place. So, I want to make sure I own every TV show and movie that's important to me before that happens.

Exactly this. The thought of streaming is a massive turn-off for me. I enjoy owning a physical collection and like most of us here, mine is pretty extensive. Mostly 60s, 70s and 80s. Much of it considered too UN-PC for the softer generation of the last decade or two but was quite normal in my day so I don't wish to watch something via streaming that's been cut and edited to just to satisfy the PC brigade.