PHMustang2000

I have a lot TV Shows to collect. You can check out my list here.

I started collecting them Season By Season where I collect all the season 1's in the list then once they are completed I go to Season 2 and so on.

Once I started I want to finish the series 24. So which method do you think is best. Season by Season, By Series or another method?

What method would you do if you had a ton of shows to collect?

My Other Self

Truly depends on the show.

When it's one I live for (like The Simpsons or Seinfeld), it was season by season. The Simpsons will never be finished so there's no point to wait for a Complete Series since the show has no signs of stopping.

With Seinfeld, I bought individual Seasons up until 5 then stopped, sold my sets and just bought the Best Buy fridge.

With South Park the show is still on so I by season-by-season when they're released.

If it's something from my youth, like The Real Ghostbusters, I just bought the whole series. I was getting season-by-season for Ninja Turtles (80s) but I'm so sick of the sporadic incomplete releases that I'm holding off for an inevitable Complete Series. With Batman: TAS I would've gotten that complete package but I was finding the individual volumes for $3 at Big Lots so I just got those.

If I had my choice I'd get complete sets but I know some shows will never get that treatment, so depending on what it is it's either or.

Tscott

When buying American shows I buy by Seasons. When buying British shows I buy by Series.

nemein

Kind of depends upon what is available when I want to buy. For example I bought the Stargate SG1 series by season as it came out. Of course now it seems had I waited I would have gotten some bonus DVDs but I'm not about to rebuy it just for those... still a little miffed about that one On the other hand I really didn't have any interest in buying Alias until I found a good deal on the complete box set.

joltman

Anyway, I buy whatever season of whatever show I like whenever I see it cheap enough.

drmar35mm

I've almost never bought by the series, unless it's short and self-contained (Fawlty Towers, Lone Gunmen, Firefly). By the show, I may start at #1 and build to completion. I may start in the middle, if a good price comes along, and fill it in as good prices show up again. Some shows I don't need complete; just a couple, three seasons to represent what's good about the show. I don't see much point in buying a complete series in one shot that will take me years to view, unless it's a terrific deal (such as the Monty Python megaset on sale for $30).

The Bus

I learned a few years back that waiting for the complete series is always, always cheaper. Remember when Best Buy was selling each X-Files season for like $70?

rfduncan

I would prefer to buy by the series (e.g. I am watching the entire series set of The Wire right now), but shows aren't usually released like that.

dkedvd

I just buy what I can find cheap. Some things like the Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, etc I bough as they came out. But most other seasons I just buy them as I find them for cheap. I have plenty of series that I have the beginning seasons and the end seasons but are missing some in between. But its no bother because I know I will find them for a good price in time. If I collected in series order I would have missed out on some great deals.

BlueCC

I currently have a few shows that are unfinished because I was buying individual seasons when I saw them. I'm going to switch over to buying by the series. So each month I'll complete 1 or 2 shows I already have, and once that's done, I'll buy entire runs at once. I wouldn't do it alphabetically, though. Some sort of priority/on sale list is best.

critterdvd

For me its all about what is cheap when. When 'battlestar galactica' was ending I jumped on Amazon's sales and got the whole series (sans 4.5) for less than $90. Then after that was finished costco had an amazing 'Entourage' and 'Weeds' sale so I'm slowly working my way in between them and 'Dollhouse.'

I guess it depends on my moods - which change a lot. I've realized that I end up only watching one "heavy" series a year on average ("heavy" like 'Six Feet Under,' 'The Sopranos,' 'Battlestar Galactica') and then I watch lighter faire.

MrSmearkase

Initially, I used to buy individual seasons upon release, but shelf space and cost have become an issue for me in the past few years. I'm more inclined now to wait for an entire series collection.

With packaging changes occuring during the production of individual seasons (http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-talk-co...-tv-shows.html), I much prefer to have every season collected as a whole, rather than a mish-mash of oddly shaped season boxes.

Nick Martin

I said this before in the "Ally McBeal" complete series thread, and it's just as relevant here:

Consider all the times you were a fan of a series, collected each season as they came out, only to be burned by a Complete Series collector's set that had either better bells and whistles, better packaging or superior (alternate / extended / modified AR) versions to the individual releases....the choice is obvious.


I was slightly burned on "ANGEL", as I got the individual digipaks day and date as they came out, only to see that tiny complete box at such a bargain of a price come out later.
I hate those digipaks because I've always found it to be just a bad and unsafe method of packaging discs. The digipak artwork (except season 3) is attractive, though.

"The OC" was a show I never considered buying because of its (still) high price tag for the individual sets, but I picked up the complete series and got season 1 in widescreen - an exclusive I'm sure pissed a lot of people off, who bought the individual ones.

Price, alternate versions and extras are all good enough points to consider the complete route over individuals.

Cardsfan111

If I'm hearing you right, OP, you purchase all the season 1's of all of your favorite shows then move on to season 2's? Seems like a strange approach to me. As far as actually watching some of these shows, the first season is many times the weakest.

Libby

I often buy season to season but its also worth waiting for boxsets for additional extras i.e. buffy the vampire slayer

MTRodaba2468

That's what I was thinking the OP meant as well. Seems kinda weird to me.

Buttmunker

If I already have some of the seasons, I will just finish up that way. If I've held off on a show I really like, and they release the whole Series, I'll buy it that way.

Example: Love the Sopranos, and started buying the seasons as they were released.
Love the Wire, but netflixed the show because I missed it during its original run, and when I heard they were releasing the entire Series, I waited.

Trevor

Show by show. Getting all season 1s first, then 2s, etc seems quite strange. But then, who am I to talk!

But now I pretty much wait for compete series sets.