What tv shows do you buy for DVD? I mainly buy comedies because that has the most re-watching value for me. So I've got the first 3 seasons of The Simpsons, Mr. Show S1-3, Strangers with Candy's first two seasons and Family Guy S1-3. I also picked up Homicide's first box set and although I enjoy the show I regret the purchase a bit since after watching it I have no real desire to see it again anytime soon.

I buy films all of the time, both DVD and VHS, but I'm a bit of a tightwad and have bought no TV at all, partly because reruns are so prevalent and because I rarely consult my "Rocky & Bullwinkle" videos.

Oops. I purchased HBO's "Band Of Brothers" last year. Best study of war on film. Period.

I have season 1 of 'The Simpsons' and seasons 1-3 of 'Homicide' - no regrets on the latter purchase, since we don't have cable and would therefore have no chance to watch reruns of our very favorite TV program. I haven't checked out the special features on season 3, but for the season 1-2 set, they were nothing special: a grotesque documentary about real-life murder detectives and a useless commentary on the premiere episode.

buffy
angel
the tick
sports night.

one i would love to get if it ever comes out is dr. katz.

I've got the first three seasons of The Simpsons, the first two seasons of Futurama, the complete Fawlty Towers, and, um, that might be it. (Well, I guess Walking with Dinosaurs and its follow-ups, Allosaurus and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, also count as TV shows.) I would probably get the original Star Trek if they re-issued it in the snazzy season packs that they have used for the subsequent shows, but I refuse to buy the series as a series of single discs, two-episodes-per-disc.

Buffy
Angel
Firefly
I actually write "scholarly" papers on this stuff, so I consider them investments in my career. Also, DVD is the only way to see the episodes of Firefly that were never broadcast by Fox.

Am seriously considering Babylon-5, but it's so expensive that I can't quite make up my mind to it yet.

Rental, thanks to Netflix, has been wonderful for things like Farscape, Upstairs/Downstairs--that are fun to re-watch once, but I don't expect to be reviewing on a regular basis.

If I'll Fly Away is ever available on DVD, I'd buy that.

I own the first season of The Simpsons, the first season of Twin Peaks and four four-episode volumes of The Twilight Zone. I'd love to buy the entire TZ run, since my only opportunities to see the show are on Sci-Fi's once or twice a year marathons or during their 1:30 a.m. weekday airings, but I can't justify the cost at this point.

I've got the first season of Michael Mann's Crime Story on the way, though, and I'm excited about revisiting that old favorite.

I've become hooked on the 11 or 11:30 Futurama rerun on Cartoon Network (a contributing factor in recent decreased movie watchage), and in general, if a show can be watched in syndication still, I prefer that to owning DVD sets. Yeah, it's nice to be able to watch an episode when one wants to do so, and some shows are sliced for syndication purposes, but I enjoy not knowing, for example, which Futurama or Simpsons or Twilight Zone I'm going to get when I tune in.

Buy? Very few: Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mr. Bean, few others. Generally I try to rent or borrow TV DVDs

QUOTE

my only opportunities to see the show are on Sci-Fi's once or twice a year marathons

I'm right there with ya', Russell. That's my annual TZ fest as well, although I don't watch more than 2 hours' worth of episodes. This year I saw two I hadn't seen before: One was about a hospitalized woman who kept dreaming about a nurse who took her to the morgue and told her there was "room for one more." The other was about a young woman who refused to conform, with said conformity represented by certain body and hair styles adapted by everyone else.

Two years ago I watched several episodes with my in-laws down at Sanibel Island, Fla. I may have missed last year's marathon. We don't have cable, so I see the Sci-Fi TZ marathon only when I'm with relatives over the new year.

The TZ marathon also represents my only time spent watching the Sci-Fi channel each year.

Somewhere down the line in our Netflix queue is the complete My So-called Life run--what was it, 12 episodes? I don't think I'll buy it, but I want to see it.

Beth, I just finished MSCL a few weeks ago and thought it was brilliant. Great acting throughout. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

I own the first season of "The Office" and just ordered the second season via BBCAmerica. I also own "Curb Your Enthusiasm." I don't care much for TV but I much appreciate these series.

[quote]Beth, I just finished MSCL a few weeks ago and thought it was brilliant. Great acting throughout. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.[/quote]

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll let you know what I think when it gets here. Probably it'll be a month or so.

Disc #1 of My So-Called Life arrived yesterday. Having a free morning, I spent it with the pilot and episodes 1 & 2.

I did watch this show when it originally aired, but it was, of course, way back when. I'm pleased with how well it holds up! Except for the hair & fashions--which regularly shout "eighties!"--the emotions are timeless, and even the issues seem surprisingly relevant.

I should probably reality test it by running it past my DH, who works with high-schoolers, and my college freshmen, who will doubtless think it's amazingly tame...

The only series that I own on DVD are Spaced, Freaks And Geeks, and The Simpsons.

I suppose I could also include all of the anime DVDs I have, seeing as how many of them were originally broadcast on Japanese television (and some of them, such as Last Exile, have also been broadcast here in the States).

Oh my. I have many.

Firefly is the only one I bought in which I've never seen any of the episodes. I'm just about to start the third disc.

The others include:

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, seasons 1-5

CSI, seasons 1-3 (show went downhill after that)

West Wing, seasons 1,2 (same as CSI, show went downhill)

Without a Trace, season 1

Angel, season 1 (will probably sell this one though, I hardly ever watch it anymore)

Quantum Leap, seasons 1,2



And coming soon, in March

THE PRETENDER, SEASON 1

I have been waiting for this for ages. I couldn't believe they'd release Punky Brewster before releasing this one.

I'd also like to see the release of The Sentinel, but that may not happen. It barely made it to four seasons.

We own:

Smallville, Season One
Alias, Seasons One through Three
Star Trek: The Original Series, Season One
and
V: The Original Miniseries

We haven't watched Alias:Season Three yet, but the rest were all excellent purchases, and we've watched Alias: Season One many times over. When you think about it, it's 24 hours of entertainment value EACH TIME YOU WATCH IT. Even at 100.00 for the ST:TOS discs, that's about $4 per hour for one person to watch it once. Add another person, or watch it more than once, and you're into pennies per hour per person.

I have the Tick on DVD, and Firefly.

It is my goal to have every season of Babylon 5 and Farscape as well.

I'd also like to get the first two seasons of Star Blazers. Preferably the dubbed in english version, because that's the one I saw as a kid.

Several Firefly episodes hold up to repeated viewings, at least in our house, and the commentaries are good. Only nine-ish months till Serenity!

Angel season one has its moments, but season 2 rewards reviewing more, IMHO (which reminds me that the phrase "in my humble opinion" actually turns up twice in one episode of My So-Called Life, possibly with a dash of irony).

My wife and I are SO enjoying one of her gifts this Christmas -- Season One of Corner Gas. This Canadian sitcom is perfectly hilarious - way better than their website will lead you to believe. Some of the local references may lose some of their flavor for non-Canadians, but fans of The Office and Seinfeld may find it to their liking.

My brother in Manitoba asked me if I'd ever heard of this show, and I never had! Must visit him soon...or tell him he can put this on our Christmas list for next year.

I only have older shows such as Rocky and Bullwinkle, and a few kids' shows such as The Bear in the Big Blue House or Madeline. There are also a few works better-known on TV but which originally appeared in cinemas, such as the WB cartoons.

I have rented a few shows, such as Six Feet Under and The Larry David Show

My wife and I recently finished watching Season 1 of 'The Wire,' courtesy of Netflix. Once the first few episodes get the HBO-required excess profanity and nudity out of the way, it becomes an engrossing series with an interesting group of personalities. We're both looking forward to Season 2 when it comes out later this month.

yayuh. I've been eyeing those for a while also! Also on my list: 1960's animated Spiderman box set, Survivor Allstars box set...

My favorite TV shows on DVD I own are British comedy series:
Fawlty Towers
Father Ted
The Office

Most everything else I have is comedies, except for Twin Peaks and the first two seasons of Buffy (though I haven't finished watching the second season yet):
Simpsons Season 1
All in the Family Season 1
In Living Color Season 1
The Ben Stiller Show
Arrested Development Season 1

Also I have a good collection of Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVDs.

I'm fond of Farscape, but willing to rent it. When a mysterious stranger leaves $1000 on my doorstep, then I will buy Babylon 5, the greatest science fiction TV series ever.

Star Trek fans of all stripes may now pile on

I'm shooting myself over the leaving of a collection of The Kids In The Hall on the shelf at Costco last August as I've not seen it since. They became a bit too enamored of "The chicken lady" and teen garage band angst towards the the end and let Scott Thompson go on and on (at the end again), but all in all one of the great sketch comedy series I've ever seen. Anybody seen it for a good price (is that contradictory)?

I saw it at my local Best Buy. Their website lists the first season for $38.99, second season for same, and something called "Brain Candy" that I'm unfamiliar with. It's $12.99.

I was also tempted when I saw it, but decided against it. And because I have absolutely no willpower, I bought the first season of Highlander this past weekend. Unfortunately, I just saw my credit card bill, and as such will not be buying anything else for a while.

Brain Candy was the Kids in the Hall feature film that played on the big screen in the mid-1990s. FWIW, it is the only Kids in the Hall production I have ever seen.

There were only a few flipper babies!

Just picked up CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: THE THIRD SEASON ... own the other 2 as well. I will buy SOUTH PARK: SEASON 5 tomorrow as well.

I couldn't resist buying the recently released season 1 and 2 set of Moonlighting, one of the few shows I never missed in the '80s (another one was St. Elsewhere--when is that coming out on DVD?).

"Season" 1 is really only the 2 hour pilot and 5 more episodes, but they're fine, especially "Gunfight at the So-So Corral"

Season 2 includes the much-Emmy-nominated, partly-B&W "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice." According to the commentary by series creator/producer/writer Glenn Gordon Caron, network execs. were horrified by the idea of an episode in black-and-white, and only agreed to it if master of b&w film Orson Welles would introduce it and explain what was going on. Good grief! Incredibly, he agreed, and very classy he is. A few weeks later, he died. They used two different styles of b&w filmography (is that the right term?), not to mention two styles of writing and acting. It's like watching three mini-movies. Ironically, out of all its nominations, the episode won an Emmy for editing--not that the editing isn't well done.

Anyway, it's a hoot, and a great summer diversion, or anytime diversion. Youngish Bruce Willis is so obviously Going Places, and Cybill Shepherd is such a dame (in every sense of the word). It's just good fun.

On the downside, no subtitles, no scene/chapter selection. But I'm still happy to have it.

I have Freaks and Geeks, The Office, both volumes of the Family Guy, The Tick, Seinfeld seasons 1-4, and The Lone Gunmen.

I own:
Freaks and Geeks
Alias (seasons 1 and 2)
The West Wing (season 1)
Gilmore Girls (season 1)
The X-Files (season 2, 6, and 7)

Plus my parents own all seasons of Friends, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and Curb Your Enthusiasm, so I have free access to those as well.

I was in Best Buy the other day, and was so tempted to pick up the complete Office set, as well the several volumes of MST3K that they had.

I definitely need to get the first volume of Nick Frost's Danger 50,000 Volts when that comes out. I watched a clip, and it's hilarious. And besides, it's Nick Frost from Spaced and Shaun Of The Dead... what else do you need?

Oh, and Bethany, I might need to borrow those Alias seasons. Renae's roommate rented a couple discs, and I think I might now be hooked.

I finished getting all the Babylon 5 DVD's, though I haven't finished watching them.

I thought about Dead Zone, but I've only recently started watching it and am not sure if I'm really hooked yet or not.

Gilmore Girls (Seasons 1-3)
X-Files (Seasons 1-3)
Six Feet Under (Seasons 1-3)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Seasons 1-3)
News Radio (Seasons 1-2)
The Office (all)
Sports Night (all)
Horatio Hornblower (all)
Kids in the Hall (seasons 1-2)

Crime Story S. 1
The Simpsons S. 1
The Office S. 1, 2 & Special
Twin Peaks S. 1
Some loose volumes of The Twilight Zone

Sure...season 1 is out on loan already, but you're welcome to it when I get it back.

I'm not the biggest TV fan, but I do own a few.

The Simpsons Seasons 1-5
The Office Season 1&2 and The Special
Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 1
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1
Batman: The Animated Series Volumes 1-3

Plus, my younger brother has:

Seinfeld Seasons 1-4
SpongeBob Square Pants Seasons 1-2
Futurama Season 1

My wife and I plan to be Friends and Seinfeld completists, because they don't run any reruns of the shows anymore.

We also have: Cheers (1), Simpsons(1), Curb Your Enthusiasm(1) and just got Moonlighting (1&2). We also have Saturday Night Live: Best of Eddie Murphy, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Christopher Walken, and their 25th Anniversary Special. When The Cosby Show comes out, we'll definitely get seasons 1 & 2.

Is this a joke? I can catch both twice a day here (orlando) on the fox syndicate. Not so where you are? Have Raymond, Queens, and 70's Show completely taken over?

It is a joke. Forgot sarcasm smiley.

BTW, also forgot to include Joan of Arcadia (1).

Nick

I've got that one too.
Hope they release season 2 as well. It's the least they can do!

Of course. Check your [office] mailbox.

Beth

Corner Gas, Season 2 releases September 27!! Details.

There isn't yet an American (or European) network or distributor for this Canadian gem as far as I know, but this is expected to make it onto a US network sometime. Maybe you have to be from here to think it's hilarious, but I think fans of Seinfeld or The Office would think it's fun.

Mostly boring, already-been mentioned stuff:

* "Gilmore Girls" seasons 1, 2, and 3
* "The Simpsons" seasons 1 and 4
* "King of the Hill" season 1
* "The West Wing" season 1
* "Arrested Development" season 1
* four episodes of "Teletubbies" (for Matthew, Jr. to watch)
* all nine full-length Mike Leigh TV movies
* "As Time Goes By" (series 4-9, and series 1-3 on VHS)

Dale

I forgot my favorite show from the last ten years: Freaks and Geeks.

There is one TV show I would love to see get superior treatment on DVD, and that is WKRP in Cincinatti. It would probably be expensive to do, especially obtaining the rights to all the classic rock songs used in the original episodes. There are a few episodes (8, I believe) that are available on VHS, unfortunately they were made on the cheap. All of the classic rock from the actual episodes have been replaced with stock rock music.

For me, this show has always remained funny. Partly because I once worked at a station where the similarities were staggering, from a traffic reporter who would fake being in an airborne helicopter (if it stormed badly, she would sit in the grounded helicopter and do the report with the rotors turning) right down to a General Manager who only had his job because his grandma owned the station.

They dubbed out the classic rock used in those episodes? Wow! What a shame. That's part of what gave the show such an authentic feel.

Great call on WKRP. It was always one of the most underrated sitcoms of the 70s and 80s, IMO. Great characters and writing. (I'll never forget Les Nessman's Thanksgiving Day turkey drop.)