I know there are consumers out there for everything, but does every T.V. show need to be released on DVD?

On a recent visit to the video store, I wondered if anyone actually bought Three's Company:Season 1 or any other T.V. show from the seventies season collection. Or from the 80s like TJ Hooker with Shatner.

And does anyone buy these just to have them in their collection and not watch them or just watch them once?
How many times are you going to watch Family Ties?
Sure I watched these shows when I was a kid, but chances are that if I watch them now, they won't have the same luster, for lack of a better word. Don't get me wrong, an occassional episode on T.V. of Gilligan's Island may be funny, but it gets out of hand to buy Season collections.

Anyone else share my thoughts?

Share your thoughts?

Absolutely! Word for word!!

My Wife is a collector: She collects bells she never rings.

She collects salt shakers that have never seen salt.

She collects glasses in pretty colors that have never held fluids.

And she collects DVDs, that have never seen a laser in battle.

Dvd is pretty much the only way I watch tv anymore.I just can't sit through commercials anymore.I don't have cable, never have,which means there's lots of good shows I don't/didn't see originally. In the 70's all the cool shows were on abc- we didn't get an abc station till '83 or so. Then fox came along and all the cool shows were there- we got a fox station a yr or so ago. UPN,WB, more cool shows I've never seen.
Last fall I read a review on tvshowsondvd.com of a show called Charmed- I'd never seen it but it sounded like fun so I bought it blind- its now in my top 5 favorite shows of all freaking time. Yes, I intend to watch it more than once, much more.
I have about 50 season sets at the moment, I buy in spurts so there's a few I havn't watched- yet.
Then there's the time factor- I can start,pause,or stop anytime I want. I can watch an episode of Charmed or Firefly in 44 min. Emergency and other 70's shows run 50 or a little more. I can watch an entire season in order in a few days if I get engrossed. I watched the first season of Emergency in a weekend- just couldn't stop.
There is the cost- most hour long shows can be had for $30-$45 online- roughly $2.00 per clock hour. Compare that to a movie- $20-$30 for a 1.5-2 hr film and the season set looks cheap.
I don't plan on buying TJ Hooker or Dallas but some will- more power to em,everyone's different.There are lots of older shows that you'll never see broadcast again, dvd is the only way you'll see them.

You bring up some very good points Duckman. Cable prices are out of control now. Back in the seventies we only got 3 stations so we had to watch whatever was on. Now there are too many choices and 90 percent of it is garbage. I just don't know how many times I would watch a season collection. I'm cutting down on T.V. also, on account of too many commercials.

I know what you mean, rapmon. There's lots of dreck out there on DVD, and it's only getting worse. Oh well, there's bound to be someone that's got to have Petticoat Junction, but dang if it ain't me. Although from my verbage, you might suspect it wuz.

I only have the Simpsons on DVD because they're just that good. I am not watching them much now because new episodes are still coming out, but it's nice to know that I own the DVDs for later use. Plus, f107 was right, the collector bug is a strong one.

An option that I haven't explored myself is watching the DVDs via Netflix. I belong to Netflix, but use it in the traditional way, for movies and the occasional concert DVD. A friend, though, just watched all 5 years of Six Feet Under (great show, very psychologically rich) in the last couple of months. Even at Costco, those DVDs would have cost $400, and Netflix is only $20 per month, or so.

And I know what you mean about commercials; since I got my DirecTV with Tivo, life has been a lot more swell.

I own two collections :

Stargate SG-1 -- because I missed the early episodes and had no clue what the show was about, just that it looked interesting...

Sledge Hammer -- because it never got played on TV except 20-odd years ago.

When is Petticoat Junction coming out on DVD ?

Just kidding...

I'm waiting for Green Acres

The Simpsons may be the exception. Some seasons are better than others. I remember the first time it was on and during the intro when Maggie is driving the car, that was the funniest thing. I laughed so hard. The show has had so many great characters and extremly funny moments. How about that for a new thread? Funniest Simpson moment.

OO OO OO! Star Trek the Next Generation!! We used to set aside the hour everyday when it went into syndication and was run in sequence from first to last!! We Never Missed an Episode!!

It was great!!

It's still presented that way today, but the extra commercials tossed in screw up the flow.

We really need that series on DVD!!
Rich.

......so many other good shows play better in memory though.

It is on DVD. It just costs a small fortune. Although it's started to come down. Last time I looked on Amazon, seasons 1-3 were $70-80. Seasons 4-7 were still $125. And that's a great big "%&*! you" to the fan from Paramount!

Within the last month or two, my local Costco has STTNG seasons 4 and 5 for $44 each. Originally they were upwards of $80 each. Not sure if this is a national thing or just a clear-out locally.

They did the same thing with Six Feet Under, which was originally $80+ per season (For 13 episodes, that's pretty pricey!) but then was $40 or so. I would have gotten them at that price, but I'm thinking that they were filmed in HD and eventually will be available in that format, and I can wait so as not to have to pay twice.

That's right guys;....I remember now.

It's the rediculously prohibitive high price of The Next Gen. that kept us from buying the sets in the first place!!

Shucks, that's like what I paid for my speakers!!

Um,...I may spring for the old fashoned format if they get cheap enough. Our TV is HD but my eyes are ageing into NTSC.
Rich.

It the natural progression of the business. I've been a consultant for home video releases for over 20yrs - starting with Beta/VHS to Laser and now DVD. Companies just throw out these releases and when they fall into a lower realm in purchase they re-issue them at a lower price. Another reason for lower prices now is that many companies are planning to get into HD (either Blue-Ray or HDDVD) so they are trying to get rid of stock on the current non-HD format. This not only true for TV shows but for films as well. Notice your Best Buy and Circuit City ads, many film that sold for $20 are now available for $9 or less! The amazing thing here is that there are shows with elements that simply won't stand up to the new HD format. STTNG is one - the first few seasons were done on video and transfered to film which is why they look soft and have muddy color. There are quite a few shows produced in the 80s that were done this way to save money. If anyone has seen the DVD release of FOREVER KNIGHT it almost un viewable due to this.
TV on DVD has also taken off due to lack of studio product. With so much already available studios are scrambling for product. They shut their doors to smallr companies who used to release product the majors didn't want to be connected with. It's harder and harder for smaller compnies to get studio "B" and "C" ttles, and it has been for a fews years now. The studios turned to TV shows to fill the gap in their release schedules. Also, with more and more cable stations sprouting specializing in wacky and extremem interests the demand for product opned the flood gates for the studio to reach back into their vaults. Mastering entire series, some of which need restoration, is a costly endenver. To aid in that releasing them on DVD is a natural step in regaining that money. To the consumer it may seem weird at how much product is available and even why it would be - for the studios it just business as usual.

One of the things that I find encouraging in the reduction of DVD costs for standard quality DVDs is the fact that cable costs are rising to the point that cable costs can exceed even car payment levels!!

Gads!!.....but then again, that includes high-speed internet and local phone line.

But what makes us older folks angry is the broken promise of cable.

When cable, or "pay-per-view," came out, the concept was that when paying for the content, that comercials would be eliminated!

The choice was to be comercial TV where we paid by watching comercials; or pay per view, where we paid with our bucks to see the shows.

Now we find we're stuck paying both ways!! And cable has more comercials than ever!! It's neigh unwatchable without some kind of DVR to zip past the trash!

Soapbox! Soapbox!!

At least with cheap DVDs we old folks with our 480P eyes will have something to watch on our 1080 TVs when cable gets out of reach of fixed incomes.

.....then again, I suppose we could cut back from 1324 channels with nothing to watch to only 300....still with nothing to watch.

But then we'd lose our HD channels! Arrrrrrrgh!!

DVRs are cool, though! The Wife and our Son watch the NASCAR races every Sunday and they typically run for, oh, I dunno, 'bout six to eight hours when you include all the prerace stuff.(which they do!)That's a long haul!! That would be almost intollerable without the ability to zap over all the ads, and often bunches of laps of a 600 mile race that just goes on forever!

.....kinda like standing on an Atlanta freeway overpass and watching rush-hour traffic without all the trucks.....

Anyway the next step is to begin filling a second 400 disc DVD player, as the first one is almost full!!

Gotta plan for the future!!
Rich.

I've got Moonlighting, I can put in the episode with the Dr Suess lines and it cracks me up still. I think Serenity(Firefly) is on my list someday also. Sledgehammer is a good idea also, might have to consider it. Also waiting on Muppets show,I think season one is finally out. Guy

When Magnum PI comes out on DVD I may buy all 7 seasons. Higgin's war stories always cracked me up. Also, tv is so PC nowadays it is nice to think back on the days when Thomas Magnum wasn't afraid to duke it out with a bad guy or fire a gun once in a while. After all, it is entertainment. Magnum PI was kind of a modern Western to me.

Greg

Magnum PI is on DVD ... they're up to Season 4. DVD PLANET has them for about $37 ea.

...and Cheers, and Nightcourt, and.....and.....

Believe I'll rethink this whole situation!!

Here's an article about Netflix, which has "almost every title available on DVD in stock."

Quote:

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I'm waiting for Green Acres

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You're in luck!! The first three seasons are out.