Recommendations for best TV to DVD sets (1 Viewer)

[Chris Herrin]

scrubs, arrested development, and definetely Freaks and Geeks

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Travis,


I'll take your word that this is the case. My original post has been edited.

 

[Julio Diaz]

Rob,

I've heard conflicting reports about FREAKS & GEEKS. My understanding is that the music is not all as aired, but instead, it's as the producers had wanted, with some songs they hadn't been able to get the rights for broadcast on put back in for the DVD release. Can you verify?

I also understand there are two different versions of the set, a six-disc and an eight-disc set. Amazon only appears to offer the six-disc set. Anyone know the difference between the two, and whether the eight0disc set is still available? I've heard a lot of recommendations for this show, so I'm thinking seriously about including it in the article (and checking it out myself, as I missed it when it aired).

 

[Julio Diaz]

I've got a ton of recommendations for the last two decades, but I can really use some more for earlier years, especially the '60s through the '80s. Here are some that I picked out as likely candidates, any opinions?

'60s:

The Brady Bunch
The Flintstones

'70s:

Three's Company
The Dukes of Hazzard
Wonder Woman
Dallas
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Diff'rent Strokes
Fawlty Towers
Land of the Lost

'80s:

The Twilight Zone (revival)
Night Court
Punky Brewster
Doogie Howser MD
Dynasty

It seems that much of the seminal TV of the '70s and '80s is being released in pretty bare bones editions. I'm appalled by the lack of much in the way of bonus features on releases like All in the Family, MASH, The Jeffersons, Cheers, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and the Bob Newhart Show, when so much of the original casts are still with us.

 

[RafaelB]

In additon to all the above recommendations, I'd like to add:

The Monkees: The first sitcom to incorporate music and comedy.

Nip/Tuck: A most addictive and risque series that's very involving.

Rafael.

 

[Randy B A]

Twilight zone
Dick van dyke
Family guy/futurama
Sopranos
Friends
Lost
24
Smallville
Stargate SG-1

 

[Jonny P]

Best shows (based on overall show quality, packaging and extras quality):

- "The Shield" S2 -- my favorite season of the show so far, excellent commentaries on the set, plus some nice extras. That particular set had a pretty interesting writers roundtable that I enjoyed very much.

- "24" S2 -- the "making of" doc was fantastic -- it ranks as one of my favorite "making of" docs on any DVD. Plus, I think that particular season was pretty underrrated.

- "Seinfeld" S1,2,3 boxed set with cards, salt/pepper shakers, etc. -- a very nice set...and a good treatment of the show on DVD (with some good extras). Oddly, S4 was distributed by itself -- without a special box.

- "Seinfeld" S5,6 boxed set with puffy shirt and script -- again, a very nice set.

- "Lost" S1 -- arguably one of the best shows on television. The set has some nice extras (and easter eggs). The picture and sound quality are amazing. I feel like I am watching a major motion picture a lot of the time as I watch it. Other than the "overlapping" disc packaging, this one should be considered a "must-buy" for an TV DVD fan.

 

[Linda Thompson]

Great choice except for two quibbles:

-- the Season 5 stills disc situation

-- the Season 8 "Threads" issue


And, for Atlantis (which you didn't mention, but it sorta goes hand in hand with SG-1), the situation with S1 Disc 5 in Canada...

 

[Clint B]

I own several of the Seinfeld and Sopranos sets and each one of them are well worth it. Specifically, though, I wanted to mention Coupling again. The show (BBC version, of course) is utterly hilarious! Yes, some of the humor is ribald, but the acting, writing and the general set-up of the show is top notch...way better than anything that Friends did in their last few seasons, and sometimes I think it's even better than Seinfeld.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Julio,


I don't know if the eight-disc set is still available, but as of today, the website still allows buyers to place a copy in the "shopping cart". You may want to e-mail first to make sure copies are still available.

 

[Julio Diaz]

Thanks to everyone who made recommendations for this article. It ran in today's edition of the Pensacola News Journal. If you read it, you'll see that I abandoned the "decades" approach I was originally considering. I'd also like to note for the benefit of the folks that recommended "24" that I had it in my original article, but it was deleted by a copy editor for print space considerations. I would have preferred that "Miami Vice" had been deleted, but nothing I can do about that now.

Anyway, the article is online at the Pensacola News Journal Web site. I would provide a direct link, but I haven't yet posted enough times to be allowed to post links here. If you look for "Entertainment" on the PNJ homepage at PensacolaNewsJournal(dot)com, and click on the "At Home" link, you'll be led to a page where this article is the most prominent feature. If you like it (or even if you don't), please let me know!

Thanks again for the help with this!

Best,

Julio

 

[Linda Thompson]

Here's a direct link:

http://tinyurl.com/d3gzb

I'm just now starting to read the article, but it looks great so far!