Owning all of a series despite bad later/earlier seasons? (1 Viewer)

[Jack P]

And if you use your imagination, the Christmas episode of S3 works as the perfect "series ender"! (I don't want to revisit Mark Harmon)

There's actually a book due out in June I think on the history of the show.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Serialized shows now matter how good or bad they turn out to be always get completed. Being part of an ongoing story carries a lot of weight over shows that hit the reset button from episode to episode. But I question why I make these purchases even though I know how the series ends, and really have no desire to watch them again.

I can't believe I bought the final season of Dexter.

It’s tough when a serialized show gets the ax before it’s story has been completed, especially when it’s something you love. I really enjoy “Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles” (certainly more than any post-T2 sequel) and that got canceled long before they wrapped up their story. I still bought the discs and I still rewatch it, even though it’s bittersweet as the final season builds to a climax that will never be resolved. They weren’t told they were getting canceled until after it had aired so they had no opportunity to even think about crafting an ending. And of course, ten years later, any network would be thrilled to have the numbers now that they had then. The show was apparently a big DVR hit but they only cared about live numbers then.

 

[LeoA]

I've been happy to stop short for several series. Perhaps the most notable is The Andy Griffith Show. While the color seasons are okay, I didn't feel it necessary to purchase them and only own the black & white seasons.

With Happy Days, I only own the first two seasons (Although I do intend to buy season 3, primarily for the episode where Richie and Fonzie double date with Laverne & Shirley). For Laverne & Shirley, I was only interested in the first five Milwaukee years (And even season 5 is pretty weak). And Home Improvement I stopped two seasons short of the end, not caring much for seasons 7 and 8.

And with The Facts of Life, I stopped after season 7. In fact other than the season opener of season 8, I've never even gotten through an episode from the final two seasons. While a very hit or miss show even in its prime (Not one I find myself selecting 'play-all' very often when viewing a disc), I just can't get into it without Charlotte Rae.

And while I enjoy The Beverly Hillbillies, I find a lot of the episodes that are my favorites are in the earliest seasons, so I haven't bought anything past season 4 (Not that there's much left out on DVD past that; Only a season or two are available).

 

[BobO'Link]

I never intended to purchase The Andy Griffith Show past season 5 as I remembered from watching during original airings that the seasons after Barney left just weren't that good. Then they came up on sale at a price I couldn't pass up so I got them. Once I broke down and watched them I found Warren isn't in nearly as many episodes as I'd thought (my main reason for avoiding them as I absolutely do not like the character) and that they were actually pretty good. Not Barney good but almost. I'm now glad I own copies of those later seasons.

 

[MatthewA]

I found the later years of The Facts of Life easier to get through than the Sam and Maggie years of Diff'rent Strokes or even the first season of the former. Quite frankly, I preferred Scott Bryce to George Clooney.

Sam McKinney was a bit of a pill, and restoring his episodes to their original network lengths after years of settling for syndication cuts hits that point home*, but that had less to do with the casting of Danny Cooksey than with the way the character was written. I don't know why they thought his sexism was thought to be endearing in any way, and it undermined the attempts to make us feel sorry for him, like the time his birthday party became the year's least popular event in New York City. It rarely went challenged except in the episode Soleil Moon Frye was in playing a girl named Terry who liked the same things he did and wore her hair under a baseball cap. The last season on ABC was a decline from a decline. But based on that and Mary Ann Mobley, despite having been on the show first in its heyday in another one-off role, being nowhere near as good an actress as Dixie Carter, that made the Cloris Leachman-era Facts episodes less difficult to watch, especially considering its awkward beginning.**

Of course, I don't blame Shout! Factory for any of this.

*At least they made better upconverts than the early years in my home theater.
**This is also why I wish there was more of Silver Spoons available on disc. Some of their best episodes were in the Alfonzo Ribiero years, and it ended before they had time to accumulate zombie seasons or succumb to the same "add-a-kid-to-save-a-dying-show" syndrome as all the others.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I stuck it out to the end through some shows that took huge nosedives in quality because they eventually ended. Others didn't really end in the dramatic sense of the word, they just stopped. For example: Good Times ended since they got a proper finale intended to wrap things up but The Jeffersons stopped since their last episode was scarcely different from a regular one.

Other shows I gave up on before they ended because the bad newer episodes were getting so bad they were hurting the reputation of the good earlier ones. Both The Simpsons and Family Guy fall into this category, and I'm not sure Disney's changes will make things better, so I'd rather remember them as they were.

About The Simpsons- I stopped collecting it after season #7- I thought there were too many unfunny episodes by that point.

I also stopped at season 3 of In Living Color (too much missing footage due to music rights reasons).

 

[MatthewA]

You gave up sooner than I did; I made it to season 12 before I just stopped buying them, and it took 17 seasons of that and FG for me to throw in the towel on even watching new episodes.

I would have gladly bought In Living Color had they not cut corners on the musical numbers. Those were some of the best parts:

 

[Purple Wig]

I never intended to purchase The Andy Griffith Show past season 5 as I remembered from watching during original airings that the seasons after Barney left just weren't that good. Then they came up on sale at a price I couldn't pass up so I got them. Once I broke down and watched them I found Warren isn't in nearly as many episodes as I'd thought (my main reason for avoiding them as I absolutely do not like the character) and that they were actually pretty good. Not Barney good but almost. I'm now glad I own copies of those later seasons.

I might have to pick those later seasons up. Haven’t seen them since the mid 80’s, liked them then. For some reason METV seems to only play the b/w episodes.

 

[ScottRE]

About The Simpsons- I stopped collecting it after season #7- I thought there were too many unfunny episodes by that point.

Also to the point: when would I ever watch every episode of The Simpsons at this point? I would struggle to revisit every episode of MASH, Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-O or Bonanza.

 

[Harry-N]

Series with a lot of episodes are problematic. We have no trouble going through all of M*A*S*H as we like to watch a sitcom episode before retiring for the night. There are enough episodes of that series to last us months - most of a year.

Mostly, I like to collect the shows I think I would watch, and usually want all of them. But there are exceptions to everything.

BEWITCHED - I loved that series as a teenager going into young adulthood. I watched it regularly and even chose it over STAR TREK back in the days when you chose one of three networks and had to abandon the rest. When S1 was released, I eagerly bought it on DVD. And I think I probably still would like S2 if I could find a copy in black & white. Beyond that, though, I now find the series rather samey and silly. Mother puts a spell on Darrin and has to undo it by the end of the episode. Or Aunt someone-or-other goofs up a spell, etc. You know what I mean. I don't think I need all of BEWITCHED.

THE AVENGERS - I only ever watched the Emma Peel episodes, so any before or beyond that, I'm not interested in.

THE UNTOUCHABLES - finding S1 through S3 for $15 at Big Lots was a no-brainer. It's not a favorite series, but once in awhile I like to watch an episode. I don't think I "Need" S4, but for the right price I'd add it.

THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO - same as above. S1 through S3 in a set was only $15 at Big Lots. I like this series, but am not crazy about it. But it fits nicely with some other Quinn Martin shows I like. I'd buy the rest at the right price.

ONE STEP BEYOND - I'd eagerly buy up the remaining seasons after the nice job CBS did on S1. I have some of the others on crappy PD sets and they look awful and aren't inviting to watch at all.

AMAZING STORIES - I bought S1 when it was available. I've never seen an S2 set, but would probably buy it.

 

[ScottRE]

Series with a lot of episodes are problematic. We have no trouble going through all of M*A*S*H as we like to watch a sitcom episode before retiring for the night. There are enough episodes of that series to last us months - most of a year.

Mostly, I like to collect the shows I think I would watch, and usually want all of them. But there are exceptions to everything.

BEWITCHED - I loved that series as a teenager going into young adulthood. I watched it regularly and even chose it over STAR TREK back in the days when you chose one of three networks and had to abandon the rest. When S1 was released, I eagerly bought it on DVD. And I think I probably still would like S2 if I could find a copy in black & white. Beyond that, though, I now find the series rather samey and silly. Mother puts a spell on Darrin and has to undo it by the end of the episode. Or Aunt someone-or-other goofs up a spell, etc. You know what I mean. I don't think I need all of BEWITCHED.

THE AVENGERS - I only ever watched the Emma Peel episodes, so any before or beyond that, I'm not interested in.

THE UNTOUCHABLES - finding S1 through S3 for $15 at Big Lots was a no-brainer. It's not a favorite series, but once in awhile I like to watch an episode. I don't think I "Need" S4, but for the right price I'd add it.

THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO - same as above. S1 through S3 in a set was only $15 at Big Lots. I like this series, but am not crazy about it. But it fits nicely with some other Quinn Martin shows I like. I'd buy the rest at the right price.

ONE STEP BEYOND - I'd eagerly buy up the remaining seasons after the nice job CBS did on S1. I have some of the others on crappy PD sets and they look awful and aren't inviting to watch at all.

AMAZING STORIES - I bought S1 when it was available. I've never seen an S2 set, but would probably buy it.

I can't say I disagree with a lot of that, although I do have the complete run of The Avengers and kinda like the PD prints of One Step Beyond. As for The Untouchables, season 4 is worth it just for the horrifying The Night They Shot Santa Claus.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For something as long as M*A*S*H, I have all the episodes, but I’ll tend to revisit certain eras and then put it aside for a while when there’s a cast change, and then pick up where I left off months or years later.

I find that nowadays I’m in a battle against time between watching shows I’ve never seen before, and rewatching my comfort food favorites. I try to do at least one episode of one half hour show most nights before bed but the days of regularly getting a few episodes a night in are gone, and I’m more tired at the end of the days than I used to be, so it may not be 100% attention at all times. (No complaints about any of that - less TV time because I spend more time parenting and more time with my wife is a happy trade-off.) But that’s the thing - I never know on a given night if I’ll appreciate the time better on something new to me or something more familiar.

I asked the fine folks here for recommendations for a half hour vintage western when I found out I was going to be a father and I figured my TV time was gonna shrink. That’s how I started Have Gun Will Travel. As good of a show as it is, I’ve resisted the urge to binge through it or to do it every night without fail. I’m enjoying that I’m not even halfway through the series in nearly two years - it’s nice to have lots of new ones left to go and in a way it feels almost like watching it during a broadcast because of how spaced out my viewings have been from each other. Whereas I zoomed through Our Miss Brooks last year and now it’s over and I can rewatch as much as I want but I’ll never have the pleasure of seeing a new episode again.

What was my point again?

 

[ScottRE]

Whenever I put in a disc of Have Gun, Will Travel, I get pulled into the rabbit hole. I end up blasting through the entire disc. At only a half hour, the pacing is quick and you never have a chance to lose interest unless the episode is a dud from the outset. For the most part, every disc I've started has had mostly gripping stories. I love the darkly grim and cold feel of late 50's television. A lot of that comes from the really "impersonal" library music these shows used. HGWT is top class.

 

[JohnHopper]

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
That’s a good topic. I’m rather biased and have mixed feelings on that question.
Sometimes, I buy the whole season sets and sometimes don’t for specific reasons.
Find some examples:

Detective​

Mannix: I own the whole series even tough I don’t like three quarters of season 1.​

Hawaii Five-O: I only own the first six seasons because of producer-creator Leonard Freeman.​

Columbo: I only own the first three seasons under the control of composer Billy Goldenberg.​

The Streets of San Francisco: I own the whole series even tough I don’t like two thirds of season 5.​

​

Science Fiction and Fantasy​

The Twilight Zone: I own the whole show even tough I don’t like two thirds of season 4​

and three quarters of season 5.​

The Outer Limits: I own the whole show even tough I don’t like three quarters of season 2.​

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: I own the whole series even tough I don’t like two thirds of season 3.​

Space: 1999: I only own season 1 because I can’t stand the deep change of season 2.​

​

War​

Combat!: I own the whole series even tough I don’t like two thirds of season 5.​

​

Espionage​

The Avengers: I only own the complete Brian Clemens era with Emma Peel and Tara King.​

Danger Man: I own the whole long hour series even tough I don’t like the two maverick color episodes.​

​

Western​

Gunsmoke: I only own the complete long hour series. I even bought the first season back in 2007​

but I didn’t like it: too shallow for my taste.​

Rawhide: I own the whole series even tough I don’t like two thirds of season 8.​

 

[MartinP.]

AMAZING STORIES - I bought S1 when it was available. I've never seen an S2 set, but would probably buy it.

I bought both seasons of Amazing Stories last November through Amazon. Umbrella Entertainment in Australia released Season 2 and it plays on U.S. players. I had purchased the Season 3 set of My Favorite Martian from them back in 2007 or so, when they had released it many many years before MPI did.

 

[Bryan^H]

I've been happy to stop short for several series. Perhaps the most notable is The Andy Griffith Show. While the color seasons are okay, I didn't feel it necessary to purchase them and only own the black & white seasons.

With Happy Days, I only own the first two seasons (Although I do intend to buy season 3, primarily for the episode where Richie and Fonzie double date with Laverne & Shirley). For Laverne & Shirley, I was only interested in the first five Milwaukee years (And even season 5 is pretty weak). And Home Improvement I stopped two seasons short of the end, not caring much for seasons 7 and 8.

And with The Facts of Life, I stopped after season 7. In fact other than the season opener of season 8, I've never even gotten through an episode from the final two seasons. While a very hit or miss show even in its prime (Not one I find myself selecting 'play-all' very often when viewing a disc), I just can't get into it without Charlotte Rae.

And while I enjoy The Beverly Hillbillies, I find a lot of the episodes that are my favorites are in the earliest seasons, so I haven't bought anything past season 4 (Not that there's much left out on DVD past that; Only a season or two are available).

I know this will be unpopular, but I really enjoyed the color seasons without Barney. At best he was very funny, but some episodes he is just way too much to take. I liked that Floyd, and Harold kind of filled the void. Minus that awful deputy the show had for a dozen or so episodes, I'm not sure what they were thinking with him?

 

[TravisR]

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Science Fiction and Fantasy​

The Twilight Zone: I own the whole show even tough I don’t like two thirds of season 4​

and three quarters of season 5.​

I've seen The Twilight Zone so many over the years that I'm in a weird groove where I think I like seeing a lot of the bad episodes because I'm less familiar with them. Like if I'm awake when a bad episode like Black Leather Jackets or Queen Of The Nile is on ME-TV, I'm more likely to stay up and watch that than I would if great episodes like In Praise Of Pip or Nightmare At 20,000 Feet were on.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

TZ is one for me where I’ll take their lesser entries over the best episodes of many other shows. It’s just got me hook, line and sinker.

 

[DVBRD]

I know this will be unpopular, but I really enjoyed the color seasons without Barney.

What profane blasphemy did I just read?

 

[HubbaBubbaKid]

I know this will be unpopular, but I really enjoyed the color seasons without Barney. At best he was very funny, but some episodes he is just way too much to take. I liked that Floyd, and Harold kind of filled the void. Minus that awful deputy the show had for a dozen or so episodes, I'm not sure what they were thinking with him?

we may be the only 2 here that feels this way. maybe its bc i’m so familiar w/the b/w shows and i only got to the see the color shows for the first time about 5 yrs ago . they don‘t have the classic comedy style of season 1-5 w/ Barney but i think some of the most poignant shows are in the color seasons . Floyd is my favorite character & he has a bigger role in S6 & 7 until he passed away . w/the loss of Barney and the switch to color , i view it as more of a pre-Mayberry RFD now than the final seasons of TAGS .