Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

As the second-to-last day comes to a close, I think I'll probably in the towel for actual marathon viewing, aside from a few things I might watch tomorrow (a few more hours of Looney Tunes and an episode of How I Met Your Mother is probably all I'll get around to). Pretty satisfied with my results and have enjoyed watching a large variety of shows, including a lot of stuff that was in my unwatched pile.

In total I watched 414 Half-Hour Episodes, 174 One-Hour Episodes, and 16 Hours of Looney Tunes Shorts, for a total of 400 "TV Hours".

Thanks for hosting the Challenge MinLShaw :thumbsup:

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Today, Sunday, I was supposed to put away all the tapes and discs I pulled out for this challenge and start digging out the ones I want to watch for the Academy Awards Challenge. (I’ve been getting a head start on that challenge with some cartoon box sets filled with Oscar winners/nominees in that category.)

The sad thing, of course, is not getting through as many shows as I wanted to watch. I had series I wanted to watch all of, but once I started with this challenge I got into the mode of as much variety within my collection as I could. I started a lot of series that I’d never seen before, watching the first disc in the set. The ones I chose are so good that I now want to watch the whole series. “Beast King Golion,” the anime series that was turned into “Voltron” for U.S. consumption, was the biggest revelation. What a great show it is and light years better than the watered-down U.S. version. I also loved the live-action historical Japanese drama series I started: “Lone Wolf and Cub,” “Zatoichi,” and “Shadow Warriors,” all from 1973-80, and wish I’d had time to watch more episodes. Japanese live-action TV series from that era, all shot on film, of course, were so beautifully made.

I tried not to get too entrenched in my comfort zones. So I didn’t watch as many Power Rangers or Pokemon episodes as I’d wanted, even though I very much enjoyed the ones I did. Instead, I used this challenge to get through some of the old shows I have, like “Stories of the Century,” “Death Valley Days,” “Superman” and “Naked City,” along with assorted unusual items like “John Wayne’s Tribute to America,” “The Colgate Comedy Hour,” and, best of all, the two Davy Crockett movies compiled from the Disneyland TV episodes on Crockett. I’d seen the original episodes on the Disney show when I was a little kid.

So far, I’ve watched 64 anime episodes and 30 live-action Japanese episodes. Plus 29 TV western episodes. Plus a lot of other stuff. See my list on P. 2 of the List thread.

The anime series I chose to watch in its entirety was one I’d started and which had only 12 episodes, so it was easier to finish than a 26-ep. series. It was "Paradise Kiss” and it turned out to be a big disappointment. I had plenty of other, longer series that probably would have been more rewarding. Still, I'm glad I saw it. It would be interesting to compare it with "Nana," another anime series based on a work by the same manga artist, and a much better series, to boot. (I had planned to watch all of "Nana," but I went for variety rather than sticking with one series.)

I created a personal checklist that turned out to be a tad over-ambitious. But I did do most of the items and will post a modified version of it on my list post.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I loved this challenge - thank you MinLShaw for organizing this one for us. I really wanted to go thru another series but new with surgery and limited time left, I'd never make it through the next series that I wanted to watch. Decided to hold off on it and give me something to look forward to next time around.

Have already started the Academy Award challenge and will see many of you over there. What a fast month it has been!

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

The May "Make-Your-Own-Challenge" Challenge isn't "feasible or interesting" to you?
Thanks for running this Challenge. I just wish I'd had more time to watch more stuff. I finished watching the three box sets I set as my Challenge goal on the 25th. I was thinking about starting something else, but decided against it because I didn't want another half-watched set lying around here (I always forget where I left off by the time I get back to them).

As for posting in this thread, I'm just not too big on posting in the discussion threads during the Challenges (even during the one I run), but I do read them.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I had fun with this. I only got through 3 seasons of The X-Files but between the Make-Your-Own Challenge and the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Challenge, I should finish them.

Thanks for running this challenge!

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Wow! I never thought I'd posted that much more than others!

Many times I posted just to try and get some type of discussion going! This one seems to lend itself less to overall discussion due to the diversity of genres involved. Just looking over the lists shows very little overlap of titles amongst participants. It kind of makes one desire a fixed genre as well to encourage more discussion. Maybe do a TVonDVD challenge parallel to the movie challenges but share the overall theme. Pick one - either movie or TV - or do both, but exclude one from the other. Or was that already attempted with the horror challenge? I think it was and failed... I'm too lazy to go back and read the posts again just to see. :)

In the overall discussion vein, if you're reading this llandros I'm curious about your opinion of S4/S5 of AbFab as compared with S1-S3 (as I see by your list that you watched it for the challenge). I've seen most of S1-S3 but none of the latter series. If anyone else has seen this and has an opinion jump in too. I'd like to hear any/all opinions on this one as I'm looking to add it to my collection.

Just so the rest of you know, I picked "The Adventures of Jim Bowie - The Complete Collection" as my prize.

I mentioned earlier I was waiting for the "Jim Bowie" set trivia, but it was hard to not jump in on some of the others!

And...

Thanks to MinLShaw for hosting the challenge! Based on the pre-challenge debate and some of the ongoing comments I can't see getting a new challenge up ang going being an easy thing to do! Maybe next year will prove to be somewhat more simple, eh? :)

Thanks also to Hamilton Books for the excellent prizes!

I'm not done as I've taken the day off and am currently watching a few "one season wonders" to finish off the challenge. Comments forthcoming! :)

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I used to have that problem too. I started putting a "sticky note" on the box and use a ultra-fine-tip Sharpie to keep up with where I am on the set. That way if something else pulls me away for a longer period I can easily pick up where I left off. The sticky note leaves no residue and the sharpie doesn't risk pen damage to the box. So far it's worked pretty well.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

As this challenge winds down, I can say that I never would have guessed that I would make it to 100+ in any challenge. The only goal that I didn't reach was watching Season 4 of Dexter, but considering I went over my Entourage goal by 4 seasons, I'll gladly say that I reached my goals for this challenge.

I'm really looking forward to the Academy Award challenge, which I've put on hold until this one was over (although, I've hit up the theater twice already and caught some nominees).

Thanks MinLShaw for hosting/organizing the challenge.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I just completed "Tabitha" - Complete series. 12 episodes of seqel mediocrity. Many episodes were mostly rehashes of "Bewitched" episodes/bits not done as well. It has a intrusive laugh track (but also fairly typical of late 70's fare).

The biggest problem is that is was "Bewitched" with only a very slight re-tooling. You had Derwood (Adam - here Adam has no powers even though it was shown he did at the end of "Bewitched"), Samantha (Tabitha), Endora (Aunt Minerva), Larry (Marvin), and Paul filling in as the comic foil. Adam would try to keep Tabitha's powers in check/hidden while Aunt Minerva would do her best to stir things up a bit.

They couldn't decide how to handle the relationship between Tabitha and Paul or even just how much of a egotistical, obnoxious person Paul is. One show he's a wolf-on-the-prowl/swinging bachelor type with Tabitha rolling her eyes at his antics and the next she's all lovey-dovey on a date with him with the conceit backed way down (although he'd still be a hands-all-over, sexual innuendo spouting wolf-on-the-prowl). They typically have her somewhat liking him but it's just not sold well. You get the distinct impression that he's just not the type she'd go for. As the series progressed they gradually toned down the character and made him somewhat more likeable.

There were *lots* of appearances by well known stars, character-actors, or those who went on to be regulars in other series. Some I specifically noticed are:
Fred Willard
Kenneth Mars
Fritz Feld
Barbara Sharma
Sydney Lassick
Mary Wickes
Richard Libertini
John Fiedler
Werner Klemperer

And from "Bewitched" there were appearances by:
Bernard Fox - Dr. Bombay (2 episodes)
Sandra Gould - Gladys Kravitz
George Tobias - Abner Kravitz

The original unaired pilot is included as a bonus feature. It's almost a clone of the first episode of "Bewitched" in that Tabatha (sic) is attempting to *not* use her powers and admits to her boyfriend she is a witch. He disaproves of her using witchcraft for anything. Adam has powers in this one and is more like his grandfather from the original series. William Asher directed the original pilot. While I like the version with Lisa Hartman a bit better the original wasn't bad and could have done just as well.

Generally it's pretty standard, formulaic sitcom fare. Overall it was OK and is nice to have in the collection, expecially for the $3 I paid at BL.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

This was my first challenge and it appears that I have failed miserably. TO be fair work and a job interview got in the way of fully participating in the challenge. I will definitely give it another shot next year, I am trying my best to participate in as many of these things that interest me. Right now doing the Academy Award challenge, and hoping to have better results! Thanks for the time and effort in putting these together!!

bcd

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Season 4 is a step down from the original 3 series. I enjoyed it but felt like it was a little bit below, and season 5 is a step back in the right direction. Not to say there isn't some fun moments, but season 4 is the weakest overall.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

This was my first challenge on DVDTalk after being mostly a lurker for years. I had a blast doing this! I ended up watching 143.5 television hours, far more then I expected to!

I was able to finally start Dexter after putting it off for awhile now, and put another dent in my Dallas season sets (still 5 more seasons to go as of this writing).

Thanks to MinLShaw for hosting and organizing this. Terrific job! I'll see most of you over at the Academy Award Challenge.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Didn't get to everything I wanted, but this was a fun challenge.

:up: to MinLShaw for running things.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Okay, since BobO'Link has claimed The Adventures of Jim Bowie I've consulted our online random number generator and it selected post #50 which means pagefrance has won his (her?) choice of either Thirtysomething - The Final Season or Looney Tunes - Golden Collection, Volume Two.

I think it'll just be easier to randomly draw for the remaining bonus prize the same way. Once pagefrance has informed me which prize is remaining, I'll generate a random number and letcha know who the final winner is.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I did the lazy man list where I don't update anything during the challenge until the last day. By then I don't remember what I watched exactly and just generalize.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I've found that I participate more strongly in challenges by updating as I go, or at least as frequently as I can. For instance, with this challenge there were two different NCIS marathons on USA that we watched in part, but I forgot to make note of the episode titles so they went unrecorded. I've tried to reconstruct them, but USA's schedule deletes listings once they've aired and just my luck, no one else made note of them in their lists!

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Yeah, I'd updated my list as I went along. It definitely made it easier to remember what I was watching and keep track of everything.

I didn't plan on watching much today, but that changed, lol.

So my final total for the Challenge is 414 Half-Hour Episodes, 188 One-Hour Episodes, and 16 Hours of Looney Tunes Shorts, for a combined 414 "TV Hours." In "Real Hours" it's a little below 300 hours, so that makes me feel a little better, lol.

Again, thanks for suggesting the challenge MinLShaw, really great idea. Can't wait to actually watch a movie tomorrow, lol.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Looking Back
Going into this challenge I really only had one objective and that was to finally get into the She-Ra, Princess of Power box sets I'd bought at Half Price Books in 2009. I haven't seen an episode since in probably 20 full years, maybe more, and was surprised by how much I found myself enjoying it. Otherwise, this was a month with a ton of Hugh Laurie! We got great deals on House, M.D. Seasons Five and Six, paying ~$15 apiece through Amazon and Target and my wife was eager to watch them so we did.

I once resisted buying TV shows on DVD, thinking that for the price I just wouldn't watch a show enough to get my money's worth like I do with movies. I've come around since then, learning to really appreciate how much more into a show I can get when the screen isn't buried under graphics and commercials aren't shouting at me in the middle of a story. It's also nice to really settle into a show's milieu. You might roll your eyes that none of the rebels realize Adora is She-Ra, but after three or four episodes you just sort of go with it. Plus, marathon viewings really make it easier to get sucked into ongoing plot threads. There's a different relationship with TV characters than with movie characters; TV characters are more intimate. We invest ourselves in them, and renew that investment with each episode.

Most of what we watched were first seasons, in large part because that's all we own of those series! My current plan is to start tracking down second seasons in preparation for next January, though some of the shows qualify for other challenges throughout the year and I may try to work them into those. I'd like to establish some kind of continuity from year to year, so it may take me seven years to get through The Dukes of Hazzard but that's alright.


I'd hoped to get to more of the assorted episodes I'd gotten free from iTunes, and only made it to three of them. Still, that's some progress!

We've still got one more prize to be awarded, and those of you west of me still have some time left on the clock but the challenge ended for me half an hour ago. I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to contribute to the challenge, from the planning stage discussion through the end. I've had a lot of fun this month and I learned a lot about hosting a challenge along the way.

Lastly, I would be remiss not to give one more shout-out to Rich (GoldenWheels) for procuring a wealth of prizes for us. He really went above and beyond, even managing to get one prize overnighted to Canada!

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

Well that was fun. It was a great way to "force" me to watch some things I've been constantly putting off for one reason or another. It's also great to see other people's lists to see what they were watching.... so much variety. Can we do it again next year? ;)

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I have tons of unwatched TV that I could have watched, but then I have a busy schedule and not a lot of time for free watching. I liked that I could get "credit" for watching my regular shows, but that discourages thread conversation because current stuff gets discussed in the forum. But there were a few random moments when I could choose: Washing dishes? Why not watch the Chuck pilot on my ipod and get credit for it? Why not watch the Fairly Legal pilot and see who the hot chick is? Why not let my kids rewatch old episodes of Castle and take credit? So I enjoyed the challenge, and I'm glad it took place in January instead of November. Thanks to MinLShaw for running it and to all who participated.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I love the remark about the iPod. In the middle of one night, I spent more time in the bathroom than out so I holed up with my iPod and watched a pair of Samantha Brown episodes I'd gotten free from iTunes and hadn't watched. I almost watched the Fairly Legal pilot on my iPod, too, as it was a freebie but we wound up watching it as it aired anyway and I decided that was sufficient.

And, yes, I think this worked much better in January than it would have in November. I think those of us who gorged on Horror in October needed the rest, and this was a great way to slog through an otherwise dead month, entertainment-wise. (Baseball is the only sport I follow, and it's the only one not active in January, natch!) I definitely learned a lot about the nature of this challenge, both as a participant and as host, that I think will make next year more enjoyable. For a first-time challenge, though, I think we can put this one in the books as a success.

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

That Adventures of Jim Bowie will go out this week. Sorry it is not quite the same turnaround time as normal but between the weather and work up here I am swamped!

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

You did a great job on this Challenge MinLShaw! I only ended up with 45 shows, finishing The Mentalist Season 2 and getting farther into Fringe Season 2 but I'm satisfied with my first shot at this Challenge. I'm going to keep on working on Fringe Season 2 but I'll also start off the Academy Award Challenge with The Bad Seed today if we don't lose power first!

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

what a fun challenge (as much fun as the Animation and SciFi challenge) thanks MinLShaw

Re: 2010 TV on DVD Challenge Discussion Thread
 

I had a good time and completed some stuff I had been wanting to watch. Got a little burned out towards the end and needed to watch some movies.