Just curious about this.

My mother saw how much TV shows I own on DVD and BD and wondered why the fuck I have so much. She asked if I watch all those shows on TV? And I said yes, and then she asked, then why the hell do you need to own it? Isn't once enough?

She rolled her eyes and said you're wasting your money. I told her that I like the extras and commentaries etc. Then she said when are you going to have the time?

I'm thinking about cutting back alot of TV on DVD/BD purchases this year. I find that I really don't re-visit anything that I already saw.


So does anyone here not buy TV on DVD/BD if you've already seen it?

While I DVR many shows, there are very few of them that I am willing to own. Of those few, I prefer to wait for a complete series set, or until the prices of the individual seasons are low enough to justify.

Regardless, they become low priorities when it comes to watching.

Yes not every show but many I will buy even if I have watched during the season. I will usually wait under seasons are $10 or under. Also enjoy complete series with more extras. The past few years the shows I buy closer to when they finished airing is ABC produced shows Castle, Grey's Anatomy, etc but thats because the coupons and sale combinations have made them cheap and within my price point. At last count I had 123 tv shows on dvd/blu. I also tend to buy quite a bit on Black Friday. I have many shows I haven't seen.

I buy more than I should. While some shows lend themselves to repeat or spot viewing, a lot of stuff I get just sits unwatched. That's why I haven't yet pulled the trigger on BSG on BD--I have all but a half-season on DVD, and I never watch them. Watching with someone else is great--my kid got into Lost and we were rewatching the first season, then things got busy and the project was aborted (and I was missing a couple seasons anyway).

Lately I've gotten some TV seasons on Xbox and watched some others on Amazon Prime. There are some drawbacks, but I like the convenience and lack of clutter.

TV has been an unwatchable mess for about 15 years now. I only watch shows on disc- I've been checking out some on Netflix even though the picture quality still isn't the greatest, but at least there's still no commercials or on-screen crap.

I'm in the same boat with the ABC shows.

I watch Castle, Private Practice, Greys, Body of Proof, Revenge and Once Upon a Time regularly week to week. And honestly once the season is over, I really have no desire to re-visit the season. I'm satisfied with seeing it as it aired. However, every year the DVD sets are released for those shows with the $10 off coupon and once November rolls around, I can usually get those seasons at $10 or less w/ the coupon and I say why the hell not? All it does honestly is add more clutter to my house and it's definitely more than I should have realistically.

I could probably take more than half my TV on DVD/BD collection away and frankly not miss it.

So after hearing my Mother give me shit for my really large TV collection, I'm starting to 2nd guess my decision making on this now.

You may not revisit some of those shows now but wait 5-10 years when they are no longer on TV and you may be glad you can revisit an old friend.

I'm with Alan Smithee. Broadcast TV has been essentially unwatchable for at least 10-15 years and shows no signs of improving. I use it or streaming to sample a show and then just purchase what I like. Even though I have way too many unwatched seasons to do much rewatching of material it's still there when/if I want it. I'm not beholden to the whims of a Program Manager or rental/streaming service licensing issues. My wife gives me grief but I'm at the point where I just ignore it. If the "clutter" bothers you put it all in binders and store/ditch the cases. For the record I currently own 178 *complete* series and another 102 "in progress" or stalled series.

I do, but my sense of urgency isn't as great as it would have been had I not seen the episodes. Rather than being first week purchases, I tend to wait until the prices drop considerably before I buy them.

Most of the TV shows I have bought on tape or disc are things I've never seen (many of them being Japanese series that have never been aired in the U.S.). The others are shows I saw as a kid and would like to see again. There are very few current series I actually watch today, so I basically record those, but I don't re-buy them when they come out on DVD.

Yes. However, if I've seen it already I wait for the season to hit the $20.00 mark.

I voted yes, but there's more nuance to it than such a simple answer can cover.



I've bought several shows in the past, but now that we have Netflix and HuluPlus, it's simply more economical to just use that. Even our absolute very favorite shows like Star Trek we don't really buy anymore, because it's always going to be on something like Netflix. I have all the first DVDs of TOS that came out, the ones with 2 eps per disc, but that's because I got most of those very cheaply and I have the animated series. But consider we used to have the complete TNG set on DVD (which looked like crap, even for DVD). When we heard that they were remastering for Bluray, we sold it online making back most of our investment, but we haven't bothered to get any of the Blu sets because we've been watching on Netflix.

The other thing was a lot of the [adult swim] shows that I collected on DVD. After we cut cable some years ago, I thought this would be how we do it, but we've hardly ever watched them.

As much as I hate to admit it, streaming really seems to be the future. I don't think I'll be getting rid of most of the series we already have, like BSG or M*A*S*H, but going forward, there'll have to be something really special about the physical media to get me to buy.

Only if I absolutely fall in love with them. New BSG for instance. But it's rare.

Sorry if this is lame, what does BSG stand for?

Battlestar Galactica

Is that how she worded it?


We're living in the golden age of TV. You're missing out.

Not exactly, but close enough.


Alan doesn't care. He's been shitting on the graphics, bugs and animations on alot of TV threads for months now. He's beating a dead horse with his rants.

Kinda funny... we were watching something on Hulu the other night and I caught myself looking for the network bug to see what it was from.

I collect a fair amount of TV shows. Probably mostly older ones that aren't aired anymore. Mainly why I buy them-so I can see them anytime I want without having to wait. There are no commercials, bits missing. I've also found that while some episodes of shows are aired multiple times, others are never aired. I slowly was collecting M*A*S*H and with how often that is on TV, I figured I'd watched them all and that wasn't true. There were at least one or two episodes per season that were never re-aired or at least, never when I was watching.

That being said, I do wait until there is a good sale before buying.

Absolutely. If its a show that I feel has rewatchable value, I'll purchase it for sure!

If it's a show I enjoyed watching, and can find it at a decent price, I will definitely buy TV Series on DVD. It's mostly older shows I grew up with though.

I think sometimes we look back with nostalgia at shows we watched 20 years ago. Yes, many were good, but there are as many good shows on now as there were 20 years ago. There is a bunch of crap now and there was a bunch of crap on then. We just don't remember the crap.


I think streaming is the future, but as long as there is the uncertainty that something available on DVD/BD might not be available in the future, I will always purchase a physical copy. It is funny how everyone fought against DIVX, but now we are laying down for streaming.

Realistically you are right. But I like owning them even if I never watch them. It is physically impossible for me to watch what I own now given the years left in my life. I don't care. I have bought a lot (ABC shows on sale, Big Lots $6 titles). I hope to get through some of the blind buys (like the Fugitive) that I've been wanting to watch for a long time and never seem to have the time, but I know I will die with stacks of unopened media ...

I'm talking strictly presentation-wise. In that regard, TV hit its peak in the mid to late 80s as stereo sound had been added, bad-quality 16mm film chains were phased out for most shows and commercials, nobody was using bugs yet (the only intrusions were local station IDs flashed onscreen for a few seconds, and voiceovers announcing upcoming shows over the end credits) and commercial time was still at a reasonable level, with some shows even having control over their placement as to be as least intrusive as possible. Bugs are entirely unacceptable (I don't know why show producers have been mostly silent about them or why so many viewers tolerate them, and I have yet to see ANY hard evidence of what anyone in charge has GAINED from them), and the amount of commercial time is just ridiculous. When an hour show runs barely 40 minutes when commercials are taken out, there's a problem. I probably wouldn't even bother having a TV at this point if all I could do with it was watch broadcast TV stations.

And unfortunately, HBO is the only one I know left that has enough sense not to show on screen crap and leave the end credits alone. I mean a very, very transparent channel bug to distinguish from being an HBO channel ("Oh, I think that was on HBO" when in fact it was on Starz or Showtime) could be a reasonable excuse, but the other premium channels have done (or still do?) more than that during movies.

I don't trust something to always be available for streaming somewhere. If it's available physically, I can pop it in at any time...I'm not at the mercy of someone's decision whether it's available for me to watch or not.

Rare times I'll buy a DVD or BD of a TV show I enjoy just to have it.

Often times if and when I buy or receive a DVD or BD of a favorite show, I tend to re-watch it over and over on different occasions.

It has to be rewatchable though. For example, I re-watch the Honeymooners, Firefly, Spaced, Roseanne, and The Office UK throughout the year on certain times for the fun of it.

But I own American Dreams, and shows like Darkwing Duck, shows I have just to own them.

I barely ever buy TV show DVD's or whatnot, but when I do I'm selective.