Travis McClain

Previously on DVD Talk TV on DVD* Challenge...


Ah, January. It's cold, there's very little new content in any entertainment field and most football fans have already figured out that their teams are going nowhere. Is there a better time to hibernate on the couch and gorge on TV shows?

Guidelines/Rules

• This challenge begins at Dusk (your time) on Boxing Day, 26 December 2014, and concludes at Dawn (your time), 1 February 2015.
• Eligible content is anything originally produced for television broadcast, including television series, mini-series, made-for-TV movies and specials (including, but not limited to, stand-up specials and music performances).
• Also eligible are movies that are directly part of the continuity of eligible content. If you are uncertain, please ask in the discussion thread!
• This is not a challenge pitting your final view count against anyone else's. You're fighting your own schedule and capacity for gorging on TV content. You are therefore welcome to count your viewing totals however you wish, as it will only matter to you.
• Remember also that 1 January overlaps with the Holiday Challenge, so if you've got any Holiday-themed TV content you want to squeeze in, it counts for both challenges on that day.
• * The emphasis of this challenge should be to explore the impact that the DVD format has had on how we view TV content, but you are not restricted to the DVD format. You may watch your content on VHS, Blu-ray, over-the-air broadcast, digital download, online streaming; whatever format suits you.

Don't forget to check out the TV Talk sub-forum, where you may very well find other fans of the shows you choose to watch during the challenge!

Travis McClain

When we left off last year, we had raised the matter of debating the inclusion of movie serials and web shows. The initial reaction seemed to dismiss the former but accept the latter, at least conditionally. I'd like to revisit that discussion.

I'd also like to pick your brains about the checklist. Last year seemed to have the most favorable reaction/use that I've seen in this challenge so far for a checklist, though there were a few issues raised about some sections being a bit demanding.

I'd also love to hear any other suggestions or requests that participants have going into our fifth season of the TV on DVD* Challenge! Each year is a little different than the last, and it's because of the collaborative nature of honing the challenge. We've had lots of terrific ideas over the previous years come from different participants. So if you're back for your fifth go, or a rookie just considering dabbling in it, be sure to speak up so we can help make this as satisfying a challenge for you as we can!

And oh, by the way...there will be prizes!

Trevor

First!

shadokitty

2nd. And I just want to say I can't wait. I've been thinking about this challenge for a while, as it is one of my favorite challenges.

davidh777

I haven't changed my mind from the stated opinion.

Ash Ketchum

I've been watching episodes of "Space Sheriff Gavan" and "Ultra Q," so it will be nice to continue doing so in the context of a challenge, as well as adding eight more Japanese series I want to get through, not to mention all the TV western box sets I picked up last year or earlier this year, not to mention all the anime series I have yet to get through ("Space Adventure Cobra," here I come!), not to mention...etc.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I'm against serials counting since they were things you had to go to a theater to watch.

Web shows should count. The people making them would be happy to have them on TV but none of them are good enough to make it to even the worst channel in TV history.

Since October I've been working my way through Dark Shadows and I'll still be in it come the challenge.

Trevor

Agreed with the first two points and fixed on the last.

BobO'Link

I'm against serials (and am a *huge* fan of the genre) as they were originally theatrical. I know lots of them aired on TV as that's where I got my first taste, but they were typically in half hour blocks with commercials.

That brings up: Do we allow The Three Stooges, The Little Rascals (Our Gang), and Looney Tunes shorts? I know the Looney tunes which aired within the confines of The Bugs Bunny Show and other Saturday AM fare are OK *if* watched in one of those programs but until the serial question came up I'd never considered using/counting any of those. Yeah... I watched them all on weekday hosted kids programs but they, too, had origins in the movie theater.

I'm somewhat on the fence with Web Shows. But I'm also on the fence about "live" TV as well unless it's strictly viewed for a "Watch a Live TV program" checklist item. That's because the challenge is the "TV on DVD" Challenge which pretty much says watch content on disc.

Should I be ashamed to admit that I watched mostly TVonDVD content for the comedy challenge? Its rules are more lax and it uses "easy" counting so I took advantage of that to get in more TV content within the confines of a challenge.

davidh777

I think serials are best suited to the B movie challenge.

That's why there's an asterisk in the name.

shadokitty

Web Shows I think are ok, but I'm against serials too. I'd also like clarification on what was stated earlier about Three Stooges, Little rascals and various cartoons, as to whether they should be allowed or not. Also is sports considered made for tv, or live that just happens to air on tv?

coyoteblue

Count me against serials, too. Web only shows, I'm for. You've got stuff like Deadbeat on Hulu, Bravest Warriors on youtube and the upcoming Marvel shows (Daredevil, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, etc...) that are Netflix only. For that matter how about anime OAVs? Would they be kosher?

Ash Ketchum

Over the years, I've brought duplicate DVDs to my office to have stuff to watch here and I just counted the number of TV on DVD discs on my shelf and they add up to...106 episodes! In less than a foot of shelf space.

BobO'Link

Yes, I know... but the purist in me says it's just wrong.

EdTheRipper

I did the same thing, and have in the past as well. I love comedies, but I find them easier to digest in 22 minute blocks.

I am looking forward to the TV challenge, as I have quite a few series that I've started and never finished. I'm also contemplating rewatching stuff like Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and Scrubs.

Ash Ketchum

Don't forget that there's tons of obscure TV shows on YouTube. Check out this guy's channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg2...2nOs1gQ/videos

He's got hundreds of TV eps. from the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, including many shows you've never heard of before.

In fact, I'd like to suggest that the checklist include finding a TV series you never heard of before on YouTube and watching at least one episode.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I'm actually a decent way through it. Somewhere around episode 262, so I just have under a thousand more to go through plus all the discs with bonus stuff. Then I'll also go back through the earlier discs for the interviews.

I just finished the wedding/blackmail arc last night. Last week I slowed down some because I was getting really tired of episode after episode of

shadokitty

Has Barnabas showed up yet? I don't remember much about the show as I was pretty young when it was on, but I recall reading somewhere that Barnabas wasn't brought in until later when ratings were dropping.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

210 or 212 but I'm leaning towards the former. The series starts off fairly normal, for a soap, with attempted murder, murder, kidnapping, a ghost, a phoenix (in human form), blackmail and then the vampire Barnabas. They're good at ending each episode at mini-cliffhangers, for lack of a better term. Once I get going on them, it's easy to sit through 3 or more hours in a sitting.

The actor playing Barnabas is good but of course they need to do the thing with animals and people losing their blood in a mysterious way. They do a 15 minute recap of the episodes before Barnabas shows up, since people getting into it now seem to just start there. I didn't think it was all that bad up to him showing up.

I bought the coffin set as a blind buy and I think it was worth it, especially if you consider how much other people spent before that buy they were buying all the DVD and VHS sets. At a quick glance at amazon, there's 6 sets before Barnabas and then 25 after he shows up and they're all above $20, while the coffin is a bit over $300. The coffin is under half the price of the other sets combined.

It also doesn't hurt that I bought two of the collectors editions and sold one of them for more than double of what I paid for just one of them

LorenzoL

I'm in! I have been saving both current and old shows to watch for the January challenge. As usual, I have tons of shows to watch but I have cut down on my buying tremendously this year which I'm very proud of.

I want to tackle Arrow S2 and S3, along with the new Flash, Mazinger Z, Golden Girls and Gatchaman.

LJG765

I'm in as well! I am planning on trying to watch a lot of my TV Trek, mainly Enterprise and I have two seasons of TNG plus some fan picked box sets that have a lot random episodes. Two Sci-Fi challenges ago, Travis and I went through TOS and I've been working through the movies as well, so focusing on Enterprise is the next step for me.

As for the serials/webisodes, I agree with most everyone else. Yes to webisodes, no to serials.

Greg MacGuffin

Count me in. Maybe I'll get to Breaking Bad this year.

And I'll add my vote against counting serials.

Trevor

I think 2015 may be the year that I watch only TV shows for the Challenges. I'll need a dozen years of that to get thru my backlog.

Travis McClain

I'm going to add Sports to the Genres section of the checklist (see below). Sports content has always been important for TV - and vice versa. Prime time TV ratings were directly responsible for the advent of night baseball, after all.

The consensus against serials is strong enough that I'm content to close the book on that matter (for now, anyway!). As for the shorts that were recycled for TV, I'll let y'all kick that around some more.

Are there any checklist requests or suggestions?

Optional Checklist

()/5 Pilots and Movies and Series, Oh, My!
--- Watch a Pilot Episode -OR- a Movie that spawned a TV Show -
--- Watch a Made for TV Movie -OR- a Movie that continues a TV Show -
--- Watch a Mini-Series -OR- a "Short Runner" (Series That Was Canceled During Its First Season) -
--- Watch a Complete Season (minimum 13 episodes) -
--- Watch an Emmy Award winner (any category, but episode MUST be from awarded season) -OR- one of the Most Watched Television Broadcasts -

()/10 Tropes
--- Watch an episode Directed by a Main Cast Member -
--- Watch at least one episode from a season of a show after it was un-canceled -
--- Watch an episode in which a Main Character dies -
--- Watch an episode that introduces a new Main Character -
--- Watch an episode in which the Actor/Actress changes but Character remains the same (voice work for animation also counts) -
--- Watch a Deleted or Extended Scene (bonus feature) -
--- Watch an episode where the show goes on vacation -
--- Watch a Bottle Episode -
--- Watch a Ratings Stunt -
--- Watch a Required Spinoff Crossover -

()/10 Genres
--- Action/Adventure - Show
--- Anthology Series - Show
--- Comedy - Show
--- Competition - Show
--- Dom(estic) Com(edy) - Show
--- Documentary - Show
--- Drama - Show
--- Food and Cooking - Show
--- Game Show - Show
--- Historical - Show
--- Horror - Show
--- News Magazine - Show
--- Paranormal - Show
--- Police Procedural ("Cop Show") - Show
--- Reality - Show
--- Romance - Show
--- Satire - Show
--- Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Show
--- Sports - Game
--- Travelogue - Show
--- Variety/Talk Show (Daytime or Late Night) - Show
--- Western - Show
--- Work Com - Show

()/5 Networks
--- Network 1 - Show
--- Network 2 - Show
--- Network 3 - Show
--- Network 4 - Show
--- Network 5 - Show

()/5 Decades
--- 1930 - Show
--- 1940 - Show
--- 1950 - Show
--- 1960 - Show
--- 1970 - Show
--- 1980 - Show
--- 1990 - Show
--- 2000 - Show
--- 2010 - Show

()/3 Formats
--- Format 1 - Show
--- Format 2 - Show
--- Format 3 - Show

()/3 Advanced Level: For Hardcore Couch Potato
--- Watch a Complete Series (minimum, 100 episodes) - Show
--- Complete the checklist using only Emmy Award winners
--- Complete the checklist without counting any viewed content more than once

bacigalup

Will use this month to go back into watching Naked City & The Untouchables.

Thanks for posting this. Already watched a Christmas episode for the Holiday challenge, "Christmas Day Is Breaking Wan" from a show called Channing from the 1963-64 season. According to IMDB, this was a 1 season 26 episode series about life on a fictitious college named Channing, & it starred, amongst others, Henry Jones as the college dean.

Funny thing about this episode is that, again according to IMDB, it was broadcast on April Fool's day, 1964! Yikes!!

Travis:

What about adding Animation as a genre? Lots of great toon shows made for TV (Flintstones, Rocky & Bullwinkle et al).