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How often do you blind buy television shows?

View Poll Results: How often do you blind buy TV Shows?
Frequently
24
21.05%
Every now and then
39
34.21%
Never
51
44.74%
Voters: 114. You may not vote on this poll

How often do you blind buy television shows?

 
Old 12-30-03, 10:48 AM
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How often do you blind buy television shows?

I am wondering if many of you blind buy television shows that you have never seen Before.. Do you do it frequently,every now and then or never? Explain what shows you bought blind and why
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Old 12-30-03, 10:55 AM
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Very frequently. I just bought Smallville: Season 1 blind the other day. With the exception of a handful of shows, I haven't watched TV regularly in years, so DVD has been a great way for me to discover several shows I'd missed, but wound up enjoying. It's pretty much risk-free, because if I buy a show blind and then don't like it, I can sell it on eBay, and usually get back what I paid for it, if not more.

I bought all these shows blind, and now they're some of my favorites:

Angel
Buffy
Coupling
The Dead Zone
The Ben Stiller Show
Clerks: The Animated Series
The Outer Limits: The New Series
Felicity
Sex and the City
Sports Night
The West Wing

Family Guy and Futurama were practically blind; I'd only seen one episode of each.

Rob
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Old 12-30-03, 10:58 AM
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Blind buys:
Crime Story S1
From the Earth to the Moon
Coupling S1

Sort of blind buys (have only seen certain episodes or future seasons on television):
Larry Sanders S1
Oz S1
Oz S2
CSI S1
Homicide S1/2, S3
Rocky & Bullwinkle S1
The Outer Limits (New Series) Sex & Sci-Fi Collection and Time Travel Collection
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Old 12-30-03, 11:00 AM
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Never
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Old 12-30-03, 11:03 AM
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I have bought a few blindly.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never saw an episode in my life, and I mocked the people I knew that watched it religiously when it was on TV. After talking with a few friends in the beginning of 2003 about it I got curious, campy horror + high school sounded good at that time. So I picked up S1 since it was cheap. Of course, I was immediately hooked and am now working through S5.

Angel, complete blind buy, basically wanted a continuation of Buffy. Not that hooked but I am going through S2 now.

Jeeves & Wooster. I had never seen this, but i got it fairly inexpensive and I have been a fan of P.G. Wodehouse novels for a good number of years.

Firefly. Never seen it, and never heard of it until is was annoucned coming out on DVD. Picked it up since it is a Joss show. Have only watched part of the 1st disc o far and it seems good.

The High Life. An R2 UK release, was interested since it has Alan Cumming in it. Good show, not blown away entirely by it though.

The Office, complete blind buy recommended by someone on another forum. I picked it up and have been hooked ever since. The worst part was having to wait for S2 to be released in the UK...well worth the wait though...now for those damn specials they just aired.

Once & Again. Caught my interest because of the MSCL similarities.

Hmmm. Maybe I should have voted Frequently....
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Old 12-30-03, 11:08 AM
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The only shows I will probably buy blind is

Angel - I haven't seen the 1st 3 1/2 seasons. I started watching when Angel became Angelous again.

Dark Angel - I have only seen 1 episode and that was in season 2. I plan to buy both seasons

24 - I haven't seen season 1 and little of season 2, plan on buying at least seasons 1 and 2. I don't know about season 3 when it comes out. It hasn't grabbed me this year.

Freaks & Geeks (out sometime next year) - I have seen only a couple eps but not in order. Looks Good

I have seen at least 1 episode of the shows mentioned. But they will pretty much be blind. I chose every now and then becuase I don't have a job but limited allowance money so i prob would say frequently if i had a job...which I am looking for right now damn it lol
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Old 12-30-03, 11:11 AM
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Never, television boxed sets are too expensive to buy without knowledge. I must at least have a recommendation from someone whose opinion I value in order to purchase.
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Old 12-30-03, 11:13 AM
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Originally posted by EPKJ
Never, television boxed sets are too expensive to buy without knowledge. I must at least have a recommendation from someone whose opinion I value in order to purchase.
I agree.

If I did not care enough to watch it when it was on I surely wont spend the cost of some of these sets blind.
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Old 12-30-03, 11:20 AM
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Never saw an episode of Buffy, Angel, Sopranos, Xena, Firefly before buying them.

Buffy I had heard a lot about it, never gave it much thought. But I had a friend who watched it religiously, had a Best Buy gift card from Christmas last year and decided what the hell? I became an almost instant fanatic.

Angel because it was a continuation of Buffy. Didn't much care for S1 but bought S2 anyway, and I loved it. Can't wait for S3 in February.

Sopranos because I found S1 cheap in a used DVD store about 18 months ago. I instantly loved it, have purchased all four seasons but not as in love with it as I was at first.

Xena S1 because ... well, I'm not sure why. An impulse buy, really. Hated it, sold it on eBay for more than I paid for it.

Firefly because it's Joss. Haven't watched it yet, though.

Saw a couple of eps of the first season of Oz when it first aired, and bought S1 on eBay a couple of years ago. Loved the first season. Bought S2, and was disappointed, thought there was a big dropoff from S1. Not sure if I'll buy S3 when it comes out.

Saw several eps of Larry Sanders over the years, asked for and received the S1 set last Christmas. I like it, but I've never looked at it again after going through it the first time.

Back in September or October, I was itching for a new TV set to tide me over until Buffy S5 in December. Was trying to decide between Smallville and Alias, so I watched an ep of each on TV one Sunday night (a Smallville syndicated rerun). Didn't like Smallville, liked Alias, so I picked up Alias S1. I like it a lot, though not as much as Buffy/Angel. I'll probably pick up S2 in the next day or two since I didn't get it for Christmas.
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Old 12-30-03, 11:45 AM
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I've only bought Angel and Buffy blind. There's more that I'd like, but I honestly don't have the time to watch it all. Therefore, I have an extremely tight restriction on my TV purchases. I only buy what I have time to watch. Because of that, I only have Babylon 5, Angel and Buffy at this point. I don't see the point in spending hundreds or thousands on TV sets that won't get watched for a very long time.
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Old 12-30-03, 11:47 AM
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Only television I have is Star Trek TOS, Friends and MASH. I like the idea of TV coming out on DVD, but not enough to invest in it.
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Old 12-30-03, 02:47 PM
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Besides Buffy the vampire slayer seasons 1-4, never. Buffy was promptly sold on ebay after watching the first season.
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Old 12-30-03, 02:49 PM
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Originally posted by William Fuld
Never
Same goes me also.
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Old 12-30-03, 02:50 PM
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I've bought a few blind ones:


Angel
Buffy
24
Saved By The Bell
The Family Guy




Dawson's Creek
Mr. Show
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Old 12-30-03, 02:52 PM
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So far, never... but I'd consider it.

I've considered picking up shows like 24 and Sopranos.
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Old 12-30-03, 04:00 PM
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I did it for Stargate SG-1, back when amazon.ca had good deals and coupons. Now I am hooked, awesome show!!!
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Old 12-30-03, 04:16 PM
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Originally posted by jayson1017
Besides Buffy the vampire slayer seasons 1-4, never. Buffy was promptly sold on ebay after watching the first season.
LOL

Same here.
Bought Buffy season 1 blind and ended up giving it away because I hated it so much. Now I stick to what I know: Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama.

You know, just the intellectual stuff.
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Old 12-30-03, 04:45 PM
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Never, plus most TV show are on for a while before they're released on DVD (which is good sometimes).
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Old 12-30-03, 04:54 PM
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I think there are some real DVD addicts on here. Why wouldn't you watch the show when it was on TV? Now you're watching the show on DVD because it has been cancelled because no one watched it. Crazy I say.
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Old 12-30-03, 05:11 PM
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The only tv show I have bought blind was Six Feet Under and it was well worth it.
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Old 12-30-03, 06:29 PM
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Originally posted by lesterlong
I think there are some real DVD addicts on here. Why wouldn't you watch the show when it was on TV? Now you're watching the show on DVD because it has been cancelled because no one watched it. Crazy I say.
There are some addicts on here, but I understand why people would blind buy or even rent a tv show.

Some reasons: No cable/satelite, no premium channels like Showtime or HBO, not home when the show is on or it conflicted with another show, not a lot of time to see it when it was on, or just simply missed it.

For the last 6 years I've been a night school student while working during the day. I manage to miss a lot of prime-time shows. I also don't subscribe to HBO or Showtime, so I miss shows like The Sopranos or Six Feet Under.

Some shows I didn't catch the first season of and feel uneasy with trying to catch up with the new seasons (24, Alias, etc) because I might be lost.

Maybe people who blind buy aren't as much of DVD addicts as those who don't understand how you can miss a show are tv addicts.
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Old 12-30-03, 06:33 PM
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Blind buys:
Coupling Seasons 1-2
The Office Seasons 1-2
The Sopranos Season 1
Spooks Season 1
24 Season 1
Firefly
Homicide Seasons 1-3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Clerks Uncensored
Mr. Show Seasons 1&2
The Shield Season 1
Sex and the City Seasons 1-4
The Osbournes Seasons 1-2

Sort of blind buys:
The West Wing Season 1
The Dead Zone Season 1
The Honeymooners
Friends Seasons 1-4
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Old 12-30-03, 06:33 PM
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Only shows I've bought without seeing: Alias Season 1&2 and 24 Season 1&2
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Old 12-30-03, 06:57 PM
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I never watch primetime TV and so, on the recommendations of friends, I bought Alias, Smallville and 24 blind. The first two I've enjoyed immensely, and while I haven't started 24 yet, I'm 90% sure I'll love it too.

Three cheers to TV on DVD!
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Old 12-30-03, 07:50 PM
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I do it all the time, although it makes me pretty nervous sometimes... I bought these blind:

The Sopranos
Sex & The City
Alias
The Shield
24 Season 1
Mr. Show
Son of the Beach
Firefly
The Ben Stiller Show
Band of Brothers
Taken (ok, i saw one ep)
Sports Night
The Office
Strangers With Candy
The Storyteller
NYPD Blue

there may be a few more, but that's it off the top of my head...never really been burned!

MATT
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