TV Series On DVD - Seasons Recommendations

Cafe Society
1

I’m in the process of building a TV series DVD collection, and would like to get opinions on what seasons are mandatory, optional (good but not required) and to be avoided. I’d particularly like to get some opinions for longer-running series such as the Simpsons. Short-lived series such as Battlestar Galactica are purchased as one set.

I’ll start if off with MAS*H and Star Trek.

MAS*H:

mandatory: seasons 1-3 the Colonel Blake years. While emphasis was placed on the comedy, the anti-war viewpoints of Captain Pierce were actually in place during the first season.

optional: season 4 Colonel Potter arrives, regular army, Major Burns still has support of Major Houlihan which retains the show’s balance of power between the heroes and villain.

avoid: season 5 Major Burns becomes a complete wet noodle without Houlihan who talks only of Penobscott, show becomes unbalanced to point that Linville leaves the show.

optional: season 6 show introduces a new villain in the form of Major Winchester who proves a more worthy opponent to the heroes. Most of the worthwhile episodes focused on Winchester.

avoid: season 7 perhaps the worst MASH season, and the beginning of the Captain Honicutt mustache and suspenders years. Regular-army Potter starts wearing hawaiian shirts and goofing off with the boys, and wears the oversized cowboy hat while routinely referring to everyone as “sonny”.

optional: season 8 more of the same, mediocre but a few good episodes such as Dreams makes it worthwhile. Radar departs and Houlihan breaks up with Penobscott. The show shouldn’t have gone beyond this season.

avoid: seasons 9 through 11, dispensable. Many of the main script writers had left the show by this point and the show became drip-dry boring with Father Mulcahy gaining a more central role.

Star Trek:

mandatory: seasons 1 and 2, a show that was planned to run five seasons was canceled after just three, so may as well get all three even though season three is considered by many to be not up to snuff.

optional: season 3 had several worthy episodes such as Tholian Web, Wink Of An Eye, The Cloud Minders and All Our Yesterdays.

2

X-files:

Mandatory: Seasons 1-5

Optional: Seasons 6 and 7

Avoid: Seasons 8 and 9

Get the two movies; I liked them(especially the second one).
Supernatural:

Mandatory: Seasons 1-5

Optional: Everything else so far(though I do love all of it). It’s on season 8 and is renewed for 9 last year.

3

Heresy follows, but I would say:

Babylon 5:

Mandatory: Seasons 2-4

Individual episode purchases(if you can): Season 1 has about 10 good ones, as does season 5. Consult the Lurker guide ratings to find which ones you need to get.

Avoid: All B5 movies.

4

Why do you think that seasons 1-5 are essential and the rest aren’t? Why do you like the two movies?

5

Personally, were I building a “TV on DVD” collection, I’d want all the series of a given TV show, rather than avoiding some because they were allegedly less good than others.

6

The Sopranos all seasons.

The Wire all seasons.

Breaking Bad - all seasons to date.

Deadwood is highly regarded.

Sons of Anarchy all seasons if that is to your taste.

Dr Who - I think all of the modern series are excellent, certainly David Tennant onward.
Edit: and I agree with Monsieur Le Carbine above - don’t miss seasons out.

7

X-files was basically in its prime before its first movie, which came at the end of season 5. The final two seasons with Mulder were good, very good actually, but some folks felt that after the theatrical movie, the show meandered.

The final two seasons do not have Mulder in a regular role and were a steep decline in quality.

The movies were just really good, that’s all.

8

Okay, but as far as I’m concerned, some seasons are in actuality less good than others and some are safely avoided.

9

West Wing

Lost

10

No heresy in this. I own seasons 2-5. Someday I’ll get season 1 just to fill in, but it’s never been a pressing need. I own The Gathering/In the Beginning DVD, but would never consider buying the other movies.

11

I think it depends on the show. Anything with an “arc” isn’t going to make as much sense if you’ve missed series 4, series 7 and discs 2 and 3 of series 8 because some people didn’t like it.

Having said that, things like The Simpsons or South Park, which have been going for a long time and each episode is fairly self-contained, sure, you probably can do that.
Personally, I still wouldn’t though. I guess I’m a completist like that.

12

Uh…yes? And…which seasons?

13

You asked about Simpsons, did you?

Optional: Seasons 1 and 2, still pretty rough, hadn’t quite found their groove.

Mandatory: Seasons 3 through 8, what most people consider to be “classic Simpsons”. Animated comedy at its best.

Optional: Seasons 9 through 15, I still consider these to mostly be “classic Simpsons” (13 or 14 probably being near the end of such) but a lot of people bail somewhere after 8. Where they bail tends to vary, though.

Avoid: Season 20, The season 20 set, unlike every other set they’ve put out, has jack squat for extras. No commentaries at all. It was just a quickie release, put out to capitalize on the change to HD, and no effort at all went into it. Most collectors hope that when they’re caught back up with the regular releases they’ll redo 20 properly. It’s also most definitely not “classic Simpsons” by this point. I’d still consider it worth watching if they put out a decent version, but certainly not up to past standards of the show.

Unreleased: Seasons 16-19, 21-24. They seem to be coming out at one season a year now (down from before the movie came out when they were putting out two a year) so a reasonable guess is 16 will be out for Christmas 2013, 17 a year after that, etc.

Other than season 20, every episode of every season they’ve put out so far has commentary, and a few even have hidden secondary commentaries. There are also plenty of other extras, stuff like commercials with Simpsons characters in them (Butterfinger, etc), storyboards, deleted scenes, etc. They really put a lot into these sets, and it puts many other shows to shame when they might have 2 or 3 commentaries for a whole season, if that many, and not much else. Definitely worth the price, moreso if you wait for a sale (usually when the next season comes out you can get past ones for $15 to $20 instead of the usual $30 to $40)

14

Yup, Netflix is for watching your favorite episodes or discovering series you’d neglected.

I don’t shell out for DVD’s (or BluRays) unless I’m already a true fan; that way, I’ll get a few commentary tracks and “making of” features.

15

Rome. Both seasons. Alas, there are only 2.

16

Thanks, this is the kind of information I’m looking for. I already have Simpsons seasons 1-5 bought in an Ebay lot, and what you’ve said confirms that I should get at least the next few at least for now.

Another series I’ve wondered about just because it lasted twenty years is Gunsmoke. It’s probably been over twenty years since I last watched it.

17

I’ve heard this from several of my friends in the US, but alas Australia appears to be one of the few parts of the Western World in which Netflix is unavailable*.

This is pretty much how I view it too - I buy DVDs/Blu-Rays of shows I’m already a fan of, so I can re-watch it whenever I want (and get an insight into how they were made etc). I’d never buy a series “sight unseen”.

*At least without a lot of complicated jiggery-pokery involving VPNs and US-issued credit cards, according to various tech articles I’ve read.

18

Firefly. There was only ever half a season, and every episode was solid.

Pushing Daisies. Two-ish seasons, everything was solid. (Ish due to writers’ strike nonsense.)

Carnivale. Unfortunately, there were only two seasons of this, and I hesitate to recommend it. Because if you get it, and you like it, you’re going to get to the end of S2 and then come kill me because you’ll realize that the first two seasons were really just intended as a prologue for the main storyline. Also, don’t get this if you don’t like lots and lots of brown. Because it’s a very brown sort of show. o.O

Terriers. Oops, never released on DVD. Available still on iTunes, so far as I know, and entirely worth it. Only one season. :frowning:

19

That’s about right. I’d say start at season 2 and watch through until the end of four. If you want more, get season 5. If after that you’re still Jonesin’ for more, get season 1 (but be warned that it’s pretty cringe-worthy).

Similarly, I think that it’s best to start Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the start of season 2. 2, 3, and 4 are the must-see seasons. Backtrack to season 1 after season 5 or 6.

20

One wasn’t great by any stretch, but in season five one of our favorite characters left the show, Commander “Placeholder” Lochley was introduced, and everything revolved around the hamhanded Byron storyline. I think I prefer s1, where we at least get to know the characters we come to love, and in Sinclair’s case, tolerate.

Skip season 3 episode 19, “Grey 17 is Missing”, and whatever episode had the Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle. The vomitable Muay Thai episode in season 1 is poetry compared to the previously mentioned two. I agree that seasons 2, 3, and 4 are great, should be viewed straight through in order, at minimum (with the aforementioned exceptions if possible).