Heroes: Season 1

I put Sports Night on my Christmas list (and I know I'm getting it) even though I have never seen an episode. But I love Sorkin's style in West Wing and Studio 60, and everyone raves about the show, so I expect it'll be a great blind buy.

I'm considering Deadwood, but I think I'm going to check out a disk or two at the library before I make a purchase decision.

Firefly, Buffy and Angel.

Without question:
Buffy season 1 and 2.

(Angel was a blind buy -- kinda. Buffy, by that time, was one of my all-time favorite TV shows)

This year...
The Angelique Collection A collection of 5 widescreen French films from the mid 60s based on a series of 'bodice rippers' that were apparently very popular internationally at the time. The film series is not only highly entertaining in the old fashioned spirit of "tell me what happens next!", but also quite fascinating for several reasons- first off, the series is focused on a female protagonist yet her 'adventures' show her dominated and submissive (to slave traders, shieks, the royal court, etc) almost as often as they show her resourceful, pro-active, and triumphant. Secondly, and maybe more significantly, the films are a picaresque adventure series- lots of action (sword fights, duels, rescues, battles, fortunes won and lost, etc) that is remarkable for its continuity. The first film ends on a downbeat with a major characters death and the second picks up the action directly from that. She makes her fortune in one film and loses it in the next and so on. A lot of film series prior had loose continuity with the same characters appearing and aging over the course of the series, but this is one of the earliest I've ever seen where continuity is completely serial in nature. With some expensive and expansive production values and a very attractive lead, this set is real, under the radar, gem and a great value at under $30 (street). A/V quality is quite good too.
Green For Danger (Criterion)- a vintage WWII era Brit whodunnit- Great mileau and atmosphere with a great cast featuring an appearence by Allister Sims that is an absolute hoot! Has to be one of the greatest detective characters ever captured on film.
Phase IV nifty, claustrophobic, nature gone wild 70s era sci-fi
Centennial I'm only a third of the way in, but it's been a blast so far-a highly entertaing century spanning mini-series w/ a great cast of characters and actors to play them. Definitely one of the best purchases I made this year.
Fox Western Classics Great movies, killer value.

Fight Club

The Royal Tenenbaums. It has since become my favorite movie! :D

I think in my entire collection, I have maybe four blind buys: Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End, Batman: Gotham Knight, Beowulf, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, so I've got a pretty good streaking going. In retrospect, I really didn't need the Pirates sequels, Gotham Knight was take it or leave it, and Clone Wars was about what I expected, so I'd say Beowulf is my best blind buy.

Can a sequel really be considered a blind buy if you had been into the predecessor(s) though?

I'm going to buy Harry Potter 6 when it comes out even if I don't make it to the theater, but is it still a blind buy because I have 1-5 already?

I hadn't bought the second one yet, thought it was alright, so I figured this one would be too. After I bought At World's End, I immediately started looking for Dead Man's Chest.

Spaced by far.

Farscape, Horatio Hornblower, The Office (UK), and Phoenix Nights are right up there too.

But you had seen DMC before buying AWE, you just didn't own part 2 until you owned 1 & 3? I think I'm reading that right.

a few more...(this is one of my favorite subjects, so I can't help overindulging)
Scream Blacula, Scream
The Budd Boetticher Collection another great set of 'adult' westerns I'd never seen before.
Zombi For years I avoided this thinking it had to be a cheesy low budget euro rip off of the Romero stuff. I was suprised it was actually engaging (enough) on character and plot levels and performed it's primary functions well.
The Major And The Minor the premise is hard to buy, but Wilder still makes it a fun way to spend 90 minutes.
The House That Dripped Blood Another Amicus anthology, but this one had a noticeably higher than average hit to miss ratio for me
The Way West Kept reading negative things about this one, but I bought it based on the cast (Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark, Sally Field) and was not disappointed at all.
The Night They Raided Minskys Friedkin's style took a bit getting used to ( lots of zooms and fast cuts seem very odd to see in an early 70s film), but an otherwise interesting burlesque romp.
Tyronne Power Matinee Idol set only watched one film from it so far ( I'll Never Forget You) but I enjoyed it so much, I consider the set already paid for.
previous all time best blind buys
Heroes Season 1
Will Penny
Zodiac
Walkabout
The Verdict
Disney Treasures: Tomorrowland
The Hot Rock
The Girl Next Door ( June Haver)
Soylent Green (even w/ knowing the big 'secret' in advance)
Masada
Anne Of The Thousand Days/ Mary Queen Of Scots
Hopscotch
Robert Mitchum Signature Collection
A Bout de Souffle(Criterion)
Almost Famous
All That Heaven Allows (Criterion)
A Canterbury Tale (Criterion)
Freaks and Geeks
Bite The Bullet
ffolkes
Happy Accidents
The Black Marble
Tru Calling
Prime Cut
...amongst others

The Big Lebowski
Bringing Out The Dead (very underrated)
Californication S1
Dazed and confused
Fight Club
The Graduate
I'm Not There

Firefly series
Aimee and Jaguar
Baraka
Justice League series
Come Drink With Me
Dreamers
Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut
Mindgame

Buffy

Yes, but a "blind buy" is buying a movie you haven't seen yet, right?

Movies that turned out to be great or very good:
Brain Dead (1989)
Floundering - one of the first DVDs I bought in '97 or '98.
The Dinner Game
Get Down
And Soon the Darkness
Bone (1973)
Circle of Deceit
My Father & I
Guilty Conscience
Pusher - I think this was a blind buy way back in '98.
Movies that turned out to be good:
Desolation Angels
Fear of Fear
Wolf Creek
Human Resources
Time Out
In My Skin
The Big Racket
Crawlspace (1972)
Blackrock
The Candy Snatchers
Cannibal Man
Chasing Sleep
Children Underground
Corrupt (1983)
A Cry in the Wilderness
Grave of the Vampire
Young Torless

Gee, I didn't think I had so many successful blind buys. Most blind buys head for the "sell" heap.

While I have since stopped doing Blind Buys due to efforts to save money, some of my favorite DVDs have been purchased without seeing the movie or show first.

Let's see...

Deadwood
OZ
The Wire (first season)
Children of Men
Rounders
25th Hour
Memento
The Prestige
Casino (favorite movie of all time)
The Godfather Collection (believe it or not)

Like I said, too many to list, but I discovered so many great films or television shows thanks to DVD.

Hmm.. a lot of tv shows. I, uh, didn't watch a lot of tv on tv for a long while.

Black Books
Buffy (never watched the show, had an ex who did, thought it looked stupid)
Farscape
La Femme Nikita
Alias
Battlestar Galactica
Big Love
Rome
Dexter
Monkey Dust

Movies -
3-Iron
Oldboy
Samaria (AKA Samaritan Girl)
My Sassy Girl
Farewell My Concubine
Frontier(s)
Fudoh: The New Generation
Silip: Daughters of Eve
Strange Circus
Hard Boiled
A Scanner Darkly
Suspiria
The Signal
V for Vendetta
May (couldn't find it for rent anywhere, at the time)
The Stratosphere Girl (same problem as last title)
Hostel 2 (maybe I was just worried I was crazy after disliking the first movie and still blind-buying this one)

Cruel Intentions for me.

-Tim

veronica mars

Most of my movies are blind buys, so I can't really list those.

Mondo Cane Collection.

I saw this for the first time during this year's horror challenge and was pleasantly surprised. Believable performances and a genuinely creepy atmosphere helped make this one of the best made for-TV-films ever (admittedly a limited category). I wasn't aware it was on DVD though.