I’ve really never seen anything like this. I thought that we as a society have been especially thoughtful about spoilers lately, but looks like Showtime didn’t get the notice.
I don’t watch actual TV shows on TV anymore, and there are a lot of people like me. I go out of my way to watch things legally, so that pretty leaves me with Hulu, Netflix, or wait until the DVD comes out and marathon that bitch. The year long wait is painful to be sure, but the instant gratification of full seasons on DVD makes it worth it as I’m sure many of you know. I imagine that a good portion of people buying Dexter on DVD have not seen the season yet. Dexter lives and dies by the plot twists and shocking moments, so I wouldn’t pay 40 bucks for the DVD if I already knew what was going to happen. Make sense? I think so.
When I start the DVD I’m greeted with a three or four minute ad for Showtime with clips of its shows and movies. I’d rather not be subjected to ads when I pay for the show outright. Already people who torrent the show are having a smoother experience than me, but hey that’s a whole other debate and I’ve long since accepted this is the way it is. Oh what the fuck? You can’t skip or even fast forward the ad? Alright this is annoying but at least this isn’t something I’ll be rewatching so this is a one time inconvenience, and I’m busy moving stuff around so I’m not just sitting there watching it anyway.
On to disc 2. Holy shit this thing is on ALL FOUR discs? So to watch the season I just paid top dollar for I’ll have to see the same long ad a minimum of four times and a maximum of twelve depending on how many episodes I watch at once. This is obviously bullshit but I tell myself there are worse problems to have in the world so I deal. This time I have nothing to do but sit there and watch the thing. For all the programs they’re highlighting there are small clips no more than a few seconds each, innocent enough. Wait until you get this shit though, when they get to the Dexter segment of the ad guess which small clip they decide to show. The spoiler filled shocking final climactic seconds of the fucking season I’m watching right now.The one I haven’t finished yet.
Me either! This isn’t related to Dexter, but the selfsame problem you spoke of exists on a sports disc that I have: the 3-disc release of the Oakland Raiders greatest Super Bowls. Each disc (each disc!) has the same ads for the histories of the Browns, Cowboys, and Redskins. I can understand having those ads on one disc, but to have them on all three is very unacceptable; this unacceptability is very hard to explain.
I dont mind the adverts if you can press a button and skip them, but adverts on dvds/blu-rays that you are forced to watch every tome you load the disc are a major PITA.
I forgot to mention that on that Raiders SB release, the team history ads that I spoke of can be skipped, unlike the problem that the OP has with Dexter.
At first I thought you might be talking about the rental disks that you get from Netflix. That would be annoying, but understandable as it would give you more of a reason to actually buy instead of just renting. But if that is on the one you purchased, that is just evil.
I just watched season 6 from Netflix a couple of weeks ago and I don’t remember seeing this. I wonder if it wasn’t on the netflix discs, but I assume they were the same. Usually I’ll put the DVD in and then go to the kitchen to get a drink/snack etc. because I know there are ads and stuff at the beginning and when I get back to the room the main menu will be on. Maybe I just got lucky and missed it. A lot of people submitting reviews to Amazon are complaining about this.
Oh man, I hate that shit. And when I watch a TV show on DVD, I watch one episode at a time, so I’m forced to sit through those damned unskippable ads several times.
When I am made king, my first decree will be that anyone who produces a DVD with unskippable ads will have to personally come to my home and allow me to kick them in the anatomical area of my choice for the duration of the ads.
If the ads contain spoilers, I will be given a rusty pitchfork to use.
I just got done watching Season 6 DVD of Dexter from Netflix. I had no issue whatsoever with being forced to watch ads. The DVD loads to their preview screen, where the ads and interviews are, but you simply click on the “Main Menu”, go and watch the episodes.
I have no idea if your DVD collection is different, but that never happened to me once. I fear you may be doing it wrong.
That said, I will not be watching Season 7, but that’s because I was sorely disappointed with the crap they pull with the characters at the end of Season 6, not because of the DVD,
This is the sort of thing that causes people to investigate methods and means of cracking the anti-copy restrictions on DVDs. Obviously, doing so to bypass this fuckery is fair use, but it’s still technically illegal, and so people find themselves drifting down the “in for a penny…” route.
The fault lies with the lobbyists and coin-operated politicians who put the firewall between legality and illegality deep inside fair-use territory, thus making it perfectly ethical to cross the firewall and (having done all the real work at that point) thereby easy to drift from the walled-off portion of ethcial fair use into unethical infringement.
Yep. I have “illegal” copies of games I legally own just because dealing with the copy protection each time I play was so damn annoying that I couldn’t take it anymore. Happens to me less now but that’s because I play mostly online games now. I can easily see how someone could feel forced to do that for a game they own and then say Fuck it and get the next game for free because they’re going to have to break the law anyway so why pay too.
It sounds like Showtime manufactured those DVDs in Bizarro World. Payment absolutely takes the place of advertisements. And ads with spoilers, what the shit? It’s like they’re intentionally driving away their PAYING customer base. It’s fucking insane. How can they NOT know that bullshit like this encourages people to pirate more?
I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I refuse to pay for the luxury of being advertised to. Fuck those assholes right in the ear. With the spoilers involved in those ads, I’d be writing a strongly-worded letter to Showtime.
I don’t watch that many DVDs, but it is my impression that this is nothing new, and I recall be frustrated by unskippable previews years ago. I haven’t encountered spoilers. Although shows like Dexter and Game of Thrones self-spoil when their “previously on” brings up things that haven’t been an issue since to first season, or seemed minor. Now you know it’s going to be important, or character that seemed forgotten is coming back.
Did my suggestion work? I am curious, ISTR it did in the past.
maybe we organize 3,000 people or so to call their 800 number and inquire about the purchase of one of their hit shows. Then, we explain that there is one condition. It is critical that there be no advertisements on the DVD. If that can’t be assured, please cancel the order. Thank you, have a nice day.
Oh I’m not doing it wrong, I spammed the hell out of the main menu button as well as every other means to skip ads. I do find it interesting that a few people using Netflix discs didn’t have this problem. I would think the discs would be the same, and even if not I would except the opposite to be true, the rental discs should be the ones with the unskippable ad and not the ones people properly purchased.