That's odd... I had planned to watch all of my 4th of July specials next week.

I see what you are saying. With Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer last night, my kids started to watch it on TV so I shut it off and put in the DVD to avoid the commercials. I used to kind of enjoy waiting every year until the night each special would come on.

I think it's great to own everything you want. I quit watching TV years ago. Owning DVDs hasn't hurt my movie watching at all. If anything, cell phones and internet would be the cause. I grew up just placing VHS tapes in the VCR anyway. I have never been much of a fan of watching TV. I was always a movie person.

The more my collection grows the less I watch each title. I have quite a few I've only watched once or twice. But whenever I try to weed out anything I don't want, I come up with few or no titles, since my collection has practically no filler in it since I put the 6-7 (out of about 60) I didn't want on eBay.

I relish being able to put on my favorite TV shows without commercials and bugs and being able to watch the entire season in one go if I wanted to. And I like that I own very good films in great quality that I can watch whenever I want. I've only watched The Leopard once, but the next time I want to, its right there waiting for me :)

I dunno, I feel like this is a case where the 'good old days' aren't as good as one might remember. I had a few select movies like Miracle Of The Bells that I was only able to catch at Christmas time from about 1980 on, and I looked forward to it every year, but on the other hand there was a time when we were at the mercy/programming decisions of the networks, such as when they would show a Bond movie, how much would be cut, how many commercials would be implemented. Then there were things like boxing title fights that were broadcast sometimes months after they had happened.

I wouldn't want to go back to being at the networks' mercy when it comes to what I want to watch. Once VHS came along that changed. DVD has more media out there, but we've been in the new age for almost 25 years now, it's not new by any means. Does it spoil the consumer? Sure it does, but you're paying a fee to be spoiled.

ah, the good old Sunday Night Movie! Only eclipsed by ABC's Movie of the Week on Tuesday nights. Network movie nights were "special events" around our house too while I was growing up.

Makes me wonder if things like that helped contribute to my love of films.

The good outweighs the bad in my opinion.

First off, how would shows like SportsNight ever be seen again? It's a great show, without DVD... it'd never be broadcast again likely.

Second, as someone mentioned no commercials. That's a deal breaker for me.

Third, Catching up to shows you hear are good, etc: Shows like Lost, 24, Desperate Housewives, and others are nearly impossible just to jump into. My parents still watch TV, and I can't wait to catch up on some of these shows in the summer on DVD at my own lesiure.

Finally, the ability to show someone a movie or show they haven't seen. Quite simply, people are becoming more and more knowledgable in what GOOD TV/Movies are. Without DVD movies like The Boondock Saints and Memento wouldn't have the success they would, and I would have never seen such greats as Pulp Fiction and older classics like Citizen Kane and One Flew Over The Coocoo's Nest.

Yes, there are downsides, one for me is that many of the shows I really enjoyed watching when they were broadcast, namely a slew of 80s shows, just don't hold up anymore, and they lose their childhood charm they had once you watch them now and are like "Eh."

I think DVDs are a good thing though, especially for big film and TV fans.

The magic is still there! Even for us adults.

Think about it. When a movie is coming to theaters that it's a must see movie but you missed it and can't wait to get it on dvd.

The same goes for her when it comes to movies or toys that she's being wating to get.

My daughter now 5 years old is always waiting for a movie she wants to come on dvd.

The magic is still there for us all whether you see it or not.

I would say so, unless you make so much money you wouldn't know what else to spend it on.

I mean there comes a point when you don't have enough time to watch everything, plus there are better things to spend money on. If you had half of the dvds out there, that would leave plenty of money for say a 60" flatscreen, a sweet couch, maybe a home theater, top or the line av stuff etc

Same in my house. My son is always waiting for a movie to get released as am I. Without DVD seeing some movies might be a case of waiting months, years if the movie is a blockbuster or one that flew under the radar and had little fanfare.

There are good points and bad points, I agree. Having a great movie and being able to watch it as often as you want, while great, loses some of it's lustre when you can look at your shelves and see dozens of movies you feel that way about that you can watch on any given day. I wish I had been so unlucky 30 years ago :)

If there are certain movies that you would rather your child only see on holidays, hey, lock those movies or specials up in a safe or a drawer somewhere and don't give in if your kids cry to see it sooner.

No way!!! everythng you want to watch is right there at your disposal. They only way i would think it's bad is if you have a tv show on dvd and they rerun the set you have on tv alot.

Even then, you're gonna get better quality on dvd, no commercials, and hopefully the unsyndicated version.

Exactly.

No. It just means that you need a better search engine or filtering system.

Too much choice would still paralyze/weaken our decision making ability.
"Filtering" drastically reduces the number of choices, which removes the problem [in that scenario] but doesn't resolve it completely.
"TiVo, in theory, allows television addicts to lose themselves in ever more programming choices, but it can also be used as a filter, a means of allowing viewers to dispense with choosing altogether."

here's a long but good review of the book, and of the concepts contained within.
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/boo...0301crbo_books

"Freedom of choice is what you've got, freedom from choice is what you want."

I've got a few movies that I don't watch throughout the year, but always watch during Christmas season. For example, I watch Christmas Vacation at least once every three days during December. I've done that for a few years now, and always look forward to it.

I have noticed that since getting the Hollywood Video pass, I haven't watched movies I already own. It's not much of a problem, since I don't buy new ones, but I kind of miss watching something for the 101st time.