I am going to go out on a limb here and say that watching a DVD of a televesion series is not as rich a viewing experience as watching the shows as they are broadcast.
There are some undeniable advantages. Better picture quality, no commercials, no stupid bars or noisy little animated icons advertising other programs, no storm warnings, no premeption for sports.
But I think that being able to watch as many programs as you like, back to back, takes a lot out of the viewing experience. The anticipation of waiting for the next episode. Having a week to mull over what’s happened and speculate on what is to come. Chatting with other people about the episode online or at the water cooler.
And then there’s the problem of just getting oversaturated. The hubby likes to rewatch entire seasons, or entire series, and I’m usually onboard for about the first four to six episodes. But by the third night, when he cues up the DVD I’m just like, “Urgghhh . . . too . . . much . . . Too . . . much . . . Waxy . . . buildup . . . forming . . . Must . . . cleanse . . . palate.”
Yeah, you could solve both problems by rationing the episodes out, but who has that kind of willpower? Who can watch a big cliff hanger and then tell themselves, “Yippee! Next week I get to find out what happens!” when the DVD is Sitting. Right. There?
And let’s not even discuss the tragedy of inadvertent spoiler exposure.
So, while in some ways it seems quaint and anachronistic, I think that watching TV shows as they air is superior to waiting for the DVD.
So the choices are “watch it as it airs” or “wait for the DVD”? We’re not talking about re-watching things we’ve already seen when they first aired? Then definitely agree, if for no other reason than there is the occasional TV show that isn’t released on DVD two months after the season finale.
I disagree entirely. Whenever possible, if it’s a show I really think I’m gonna like, I wait a couple years for it to appear in syndication so I can watch the shows back to back if I want to. If it’s a good show–NYPD Blue, Buffy–there’s a dramatic momentum you get going straight from one show to another that is lost when a week intervenes. That’s the purpose of those “Previously on–” prologues: to try to put the viewer in the place you were at the end of last week’s show. Watching the episodes in clusters makes that unnecessary.
For me, it depends on the series. About half-way through “Kingdom Hospital”, I decided to wait for the DVDs because ABC kept screwing with the schedule. I got “Firefly” so I could see all the episodes in the proper order. I’ll probably at least rent the last season of “Enterprise” and the most recent of “Monk” because I know there have been episodes that I’ve missed.
“Rescue Me”, “The 4400”, and (when I can) “Monk” are the only shows that I watch first-run.
Watching a series over a period of months, you inevitably forget little details and miss nuance. If you can watch it compressed into a few days or a week, it’s much better, because everything remains fresh. (Assuming we’re talking about serials and not sitcoms or something, I can’t imagine wanting sitcoms on DVD, so I won’t speak to that.)
Beyond that, there are the (considerable) basic improvements that DVD viewing has over broadcast television. You’ve already mentioned the lack of commercials and animated bugs. (The ones with sound infuriate me. What the hell?) Another big factor is aspect ratio. Many shows are filmed in widescreen and then crudely cropped to full frame for regular broadcast. Yuck. 24 had several scenes where you couldn’t actually make out relatively important stuff happening on the periphery, particularly when they did the “split-screen” thing. Mainly, though… it just looks crappy.
Being able to back up and look at things again – that’s a plus.
There are so many shows that scream “watch me on DVD!” to me. I’m actually sorry that I don’t have the willpower to ignore Lost until the DVDs come out – because it would be so much better to binge on a better-quality presentation of it.
Disagree. I mean, whatever floats your boat, of course, and I do watch some series on a week-by-week basis. At least sort of – I tend to let a few episodes of Veronica Mars and House stack up on TiVo and watch a couple at a time. (Maybe that’s a middle ground between your examples.)
I’m the same way with comics. If I’m interested in something, I’ll wait for a collection to come out, rather than buying it month by month. It was the “Kindly Ones” installment in The Sandman that convinced me – month by month, I didn’t think it was all that strong. Read as a whole, it was much better.
Would you similarly argue that it’s better to read Charles Dickens’ or Dashiell Hammet’s novels in sections, waiting weeks between each installment? Because that’s how they were published.
I’ll just chime in that I’ve been following a slightly hybrid pattern with a bunch of shows… you could call it Netflix television. Just finished the third season of 24 that way. (I’m not actually on netflix, I’m on the canadian version, Zip dvd rentals, but ‘netflix television’ has a catchier ring to it.)
With netflix television, one typically watches three or four episodes of a drama in fairly quick succession, which is more than a bit of an overload sometime. But then, it might be as little as a week or as much as two months before that show turns up in the queue again. (I’ve learned not to set up consecutive DVDs as deliberate priority rentals unless the show is something I can literally inhale, because of the danger of burning out on it… and that’s easier on the queue system because it gets framed in terms of ‘do I want yet MORE smallville, or would I rather get a sitcom/fantasy movie/angsty evening soap opera?’)
So… it all comes down to viewing habits I think. If you really don’t have the willpower to stop, even though you know that the waxy buildup is growing… then you’re right, don’t even start.
One other problem I’ve had with watching on DVD is that the pacing changes. *Buffy *season 7 was, I thought when it aired, unbearably slow in its pacing. Waiting, waiting, we’re waiting for the Big Bad…oh! Buffy’s going to make another speech! And cry. Again. And we’re waiting again.
On DVD, the story arc seems positively rushed. I can’t account for the difference, really, but it’s remarkable.
Over all, though, I prefer DVD for the convenience and the extras. I’m a sucker for making of featurettes. But, like interrobang?! and Chrisk, I prefer to watch one DVD and then cleanse my palatte with something else.
The problem is, if you’re watching a show that is serialized and depends a lot on show order or on seeing the early episodes, then you’re pretty much screwed if you miss the first couple episodes, or miss one or more in sucession.
That’s why I didn’t get to see 24 until it was netflixed, because I had missed much of the first season before I heard how good it was, and so I couldn’t watch that season, or the 2nd season, or the third season…
So I had to watch it all on netflix. Now I’m just waiting for Season 4 to go on DVD so I can watch that before Season 5 starts.
Well, I dunno about Dickens, 'cause I just don’t like Dickens, and I’m not familiar with Hammet. I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel in serial form, but I think I’d enjoy it. Heck, if I could get my Dickens meted out in small portions, maybe I’d like his work better, too.
I’m listening to a podcast novel right now called Ancestor. I joined the previous novel by the same author, Earthcore late, so I was basically listening to it as fast as I could download them—not back-to-back, because I was listening to other podcasts at the same time, but if I wanted another fix, I could get another fix. I kind of like having to wait for the next episdoe of Ancestor. I guess I’m just into delayed gratification.
This seriously confuses me. You think you’re going to like a show so you wait years to watch it? It’s just bizarre.
Syndication is, BTW, the worst possible option. Rarely does a show make it into syndication without being hacked up to fit in the extra commercials the new station insists on fitting in. There are some shows I simply can’t watch in syndication, for instance MAS*H, because they are so badly mutilated. TNT is notoriously awful, not only hacking out chunks of shows but editing for content (seriously, why show NYPD Blue at 2:00 in the afternoon? Why not show it later in the day and not hack all the adult content out of it?), clogging the screen with those the-inventor-should-be-shot “bugs” and arbitrarily re-distributing commercial breaks for no reason other than they don’t want to go to commercial right after the opening credits. have you watched Angel on TNT? They cut away in the middle of scenes, sometimes practically in the middle of sentences, so they can shift the commercials by a minute or less. Hate. HATE.
For what it is worth, Comcast on Demand has a free services channel called Tube Time. One of the old TV shows available is Barney Miller.
I get about 2 “New” ones a week.
I am in heaven. The show is just as good now as when I was a kid and I get to watch when I want. At 2 episodes per week it does not overwhelm.
I wish more quality shows were available this way.
I did watch season 1 Soprano’s in the way you described as they were rented through NetFlix and I wanted to get them back. It did overwhelm.
Agreed – in fact the Cafe threads are pretty much the only reason I’m watching Lost as it airs, instead of waiting for the DVD sets, (which I know that I’m going to buy anyway.)
When I compare shows that don’t always get the full post mortem in the Cafe, it makes a huge difference.
I started watching The Shield on season three, as it was aired (although via commercial-free downloaded versions burned to VCDs.) A bit later, I played catch-up by picking up the first two seasons on DVD. A much, much better viewing experience – so much easier to keep track of all the little intrigues, with no “Who’s that, again?”
Similarly, I started watching 24 when it was on originally, and really liked it – but my girlfriend didn’t. Consequently, I missed enough episodes that I gave up on it, until the DVD set came out, and binged on it. It was funny, because at the time I had two roommates, and we were all on different schedules – and we all took to 24 like crack monkeys, so it seemed like there was week or so during which somebody was in the living-room at any given point in time, getting their fix. That going-to-break clock sound was a constant in the house.
I like being able to watch the next bit when you want to. I hate that it’s been nearly a week since we last checked in with the Lost castaways, and the next episode is scheduled to air November 9th. Is there a person on the planet who, with the DVD in their hands, would determine for themselves that 21 days is just the right amount of time to wait between episodes? 21 days! Aargh! I’m dying, here.
I really hope they start from the beginning once they finish. I had a big TV backup when I noticed the first eps on there this summer which we’re still working through, but I really wanted to watch those.
Podkayne, you’re nuts. I do kind of like the time for speculation that you get from watching original broadcasts, but given my swiss-cheese memory, it’s only worth a day for me. Then I start forgetting important plot points. Even so, it doesn’t make up for all the distractions you get on over-the-air.
My SO and I did this with 24. It was so great! I now love watching seasons on DVD. I hate having to wait for “next week”. And I never saw it (24) when it was first on TV (I don’t watch much TV) so it’s all new and suspenseful. Like watching a really, really long movie. Great.
For some shows, I think waiting a week makes it better. Such as the big SDMB discussed shows, like the big HBO dramas! It’s been very enjoyable to watch “Rome” and then spend half a week to a week discussing all the nuance, including stuff I totally did miss, as well as the history behind the thing.
Anticipation is for suckers - I want my gratification now goddamnit!
Yeah, I’m afraid I disagree as well. At least for some shows. For example Carnivale - I caught the show on HBO’s “On Demand”, sometime between the first and second season broadcasts. Everywhere folks were complaining about how slowly the main plot unfolded in the first season. I could see where that complaint might come from watching one episode a week. But watching several episodes at a time, I didn’t feel that at all - everything seemed to flow smoothly and naturally. In this case at least I am convinced that DVD/On Demand/whatever was superior to watching it real time.
I’m largely the same way. I don’t want to dick around with trying to make sure I’m home when the show I like is going to air, or worrying about schedule changes, or just plain forgetting to turn on the TV when it starts. Plus, I pick up so much more from the story by being able to make connections right away, watching them back to back with no commercials. I find it much more immersive than watching it strung out for weeks across commercial TV. I miss the anticipation between shows, but I think I get more out of the experience as a whole if I’ve got all the episodes available at the same time.
I do kind of like the time for speculation that you get from watching original broadcasts, but given my swiss-cheese memory, it’s only worth a day for me. Then I start forgetting important plot points. Even so, it doesn’t make up for all the distractions you get on over-the-air.