You can always tell your daughter "NO" when she wants to watch a certain movie and say " Only at Christmas time will we watch that again", that will get her anticipation up or maybe not, I dont know kids too well. ;)

Oh, this can be done. The problem is that most parents are apparently incapable of doing it. This society is really lacking in self-control, it's horrible.

I completely get what he is saying... I have actually thought a little about it myself with TV shows. I grew up on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Dawson's Creek," and "Roswell"... and there was somthign about the excitement of having to wait a week (or in the summer cases 4 months) for the next episode... And that fact that it took me 3, 6, 7 years to finally finish the storyline that I had been sucked into. But when my kids get old enough to watch theses show (although I extremly doubt that they will have any interest in "Dawson's creek" as it will probably be 25 years old by then), they magic will be lost on them. They could have marathons theoretically watching an entire years worth of episodes in the course of the day...

But then I think about it and I realize that if it wasn't for the DVD's the probably wouldn't be able to see the show at all... I guess its a trade off.

I remember taking a portable cassette recorder into a movie theatre to record the audio of Ralph Bakshi's LORD OF THE RINGS. I replayed that dozens of times. :lol:

The problem is that we have so many distractions competing for our time. The "tyranny of the urgent" is what drives most of us. When shows were only on TV, the TV schedule became the "urgent"... something beyond our control, so we could justify to ourselves changing our routine/schedules to accomodate the TV schedule.

It is nearly impossible to set aside time to watch a film that you can watch at any time... something always seems to bubble up to the top of the list.

But I agree about the availability and access to greater amount and variety of material.

If I see a movie on TV that I own on DVD, I'm more apt to stop watching the TV version and pop the DVD in and watch the whole thing. Case in point, I was flipping channels the other night and came across Fletch (about 1/2 into it.) Since I had picked it up a few weeks before at Walmart during that big sale, I hadn't gotten around to watching it yet. Seeing it on TV made me decide to watch it then and there.

I think technology in general, and dvd is sort of spoiling us all, we have almost everything at our fingertips if we desire it that strongly. Your wallet is your limit as to how far you can take it. It's kind of scary sometimes, to think that the magic of once having to wait long to watch something on TV is gone. I don't think it is so bad, but it just depends on how far you are willing to go with it. Sometimes it's better to just own it, and move on, but than where did all that magic go. Ever see the film "The Final Cut" where Robin Williams could watch every moment of a persons life all because of an implant at the touch of a button. Is this where all these movie/tv/music collections is headed? Something similar, but a vast library of media where at the touch of a button you can watch anything you want to?

I get what you're saying. Charlie Brown holiday specials were always a favorite of mine (on CBS). I even remember the Dolly Madison & McDonald's ads being part of the experience. It's all lost on DVD now.

They air them on ABC now but it even seems they have re-voiced the series. It just doesn't sound the same to me. I'm not certain if that's the case though.

I understand your point completely. What I would do for the holiday films is keep them put away in a box with the rest of the Christmas decorations. When it comes time to decorate for Christmas, all of a sudden the films will be available for viewing. That will give them something to look forward to all year instead of them seeing them on the shelf year round.

Ah, those good ol' Dolly Madison commercials. Those bring back some memories!

The sounds are the same as far as I can tell, however, the look of them on ABC just looks a little different. Each network has it's own look so to speak, and CBS was probably the most distinctive of the big 3. I'll admit that seeing the Charlie Brown specials on ABC just isn't the same to me. However, my original VHS copies (haven't gotten around to getting that DVD box set yet), have the look of CBS when they mastered them, so I still can enjoy it that way. And yes, I guess I'm weird in that aspect (at least my wife thinks so.)

While I understand the point of the question, it is akin to wondering if there is too much food in the grocery store.

"I remember fondly being on the edge of starvation and how great a piece of stale bread would taste. Now I just eat any old thing." :)

Sounds like that classic Onion column, "I Wish I Were Hungry". Curse this full belly!

DJ

I remember ABC used to show a big movie on Sunday nights. It was something like ABC's Sunday Night Special or something kinda like that. I remember being around 10 years old and watching movies from Superman to The Spy Who Loved Me on Sunday nights. Those nights were big events to me...

There is.

There was a study/book a while back called something like "The Paradox of Choice." They took some people, gave them some money, went into two different pretend grocery stores. The people who went into the store with limited choice, something like 5-6 types of everything, went in, made a decision, bought stuff, and went 'home'. The people who went to the 'megastore' with lots of choices, took longer to shop, had more trouble deciding, in many cases decided to buy *nothing*, and were less satisfied with the things they *did* decide to buy.
Choice is good, but too much choice tends to paralyze or weaken our ability to make choices and stand by them.
I know more than once I've stood by the entertainment center, deciding what dvd to watch or game to play, then all of a sudden, it's bedtime.

I don't mean this as a knock, but there are probably a lot of people that would find it funny to see someone call 5-6 types of each item a "limited choice." :)

DJ

True : )
I forget the actual numbers, but one set of participants was presented with 'lots' of choices, the other, a much smaller number. But 5-6 types of the same thing definitely does provide enough room for choice.

Orac...

I sympathize because it is a double-edged sword. The anticipation is sometimes more enjoyable than the actual item itself. I DO like having my favorites handy, but I watch them at specific times of the year. This year I watched The Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Halloween and Thanksgiving, and I'll watch Charlie Brown Christmas on Christmas Day. In the same vein I watch Star Wars on June 24th almost each year because that was the day I saw it way back in 1977 (I saw Episode III this year on the same day!).

The more you have, the less you generally tend to appreciate it. :|

I definately agree with Orac. I waited with juicy relish in anticipation of the Val Lewton collection, after lamenting for years that I couldn't find a reasonably priced copy on LD. Now that I have it, I realize that it's sat on my shelf since the day I purchased it. On the other hand, it's nice to know it'll be there when I'm in the mood to watch it. I've tried to tread a fine line of filling my collection with a lot of titles that have a nostalgic value for me, and the film fan I am today. I feel a certain level of comfort just from the fact that I own some of my faves. There are few better feelings than looking at my dvd shelf and seeing so many of the films that are important to me. I can't get enough of 'em! Just look at it as a new kind of magic.

Actually, ABC often broadcasts movies in HD on Saturday nights which I look forward to. I usually check out the weekly HD listings on checkhd.com to see which movies will be broadcast in HD and if there is something good listed, I'll plan to see it. Problem is that some movies are edited and occassionally cropped from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1.

I don't know what shows kids are into today but one thing they have that we didn't was the season cliffhanger or mid-season cliffhanger. If I was a kid today I'd probably be into the sci-fi/super-hero stuff like Stargate, Star Trek, Surface and Smallville. Hey, same stuff I'm into as a adult! Anyway, back then the closest thing to a cliffhanger was having to wait over the weekend for monday's Dark Shadows after friday's cliffhanger, or the next day for Batman. Cliffhangers are cool and that's one thing today's kids have over us.

"Is this the end of our caped crusaders?
Tune in next fall
Same Bat-Time
Same Bat-Channel"

Yeah, they started bringing this back a couple years ago. Sometimes Sunday, sometimes Sat, sometimes both? And recently it's always been in HD. Too bad they aren't familiar with OAR. I remember my dad's recorded VHS collection. I swear 80% of it said ABC Sunday Night At The Movies at the beginning.

There are quite a few movies that I have never bought on DVD because of this reason. It has always been a family tradition to watch the seasonal shows like Charlie Brown, etc. We still all sit together and watch them and you know, even though we all still enjoy them, it still seems to have lost the magic. We do everything the same, I think it's just as you and your family get older, things lose their luster so to speak. Except for A Christmas Story...This always puts us in our place and a smile on our face!!!

I understand what the OP is saying, but I think that kids still can feel the "magic" of a good film, regardless of if they have to wait for it once a year or can watch it twice a day for a year... the magic of WAITING and the flick itself being an EVENT is gone, but frankly, I don't care for that type of so called "magic"... the movies still remain as "magical" as they ever were going to be...

Then again, growing up as a kid, I had a beta VCR... I watched Dumbo every day for a year, Follow That Bird every day for a year, Wizard of Oz everyday for a year etc. etc. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE of those movies when I was a kid...I don't think having them at my immediate disposal was a bad thing, it's just different.

MATT

Uhh....No....no bad. All good. Thats the whole purpose of building my perfect personal library of films, TV shows and concerts. Anytime I wish to give something a viddey or pop in to study....it's there, ever so loved by me and filed with affection into my awesome library. I have Rudolph on dvd....but I can always watch it in HD like last night and it's still magical.:D

Hey, 2,200 titles in the library and still growing. A great project indeed!! Never bad....always GOOD!!

I watch Christmas specials on the 4th of July every year, just because I can!