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Shows you're discovering/rediscovering on DVD

23skidoo

Admiral
Admiral
I've been taking advantage of a slowdown in my freelance writing work (yeah, the recession finally arrived for me, though it's not panic time yet), to catch up on some of my ever-growing queue of DVD sets, and I've been enjoying my introduction to several shows, while also becoming reacquainted with an old friend I haven't watched in years.

Deadwood: I saw a couple episodes of this in the middle of its run and I knew I'd like it, but I decided to wait till the DVDs came out (since it really isn't the type of show you dip into midway through). I finally got around to getting the complete series set and blazed may way through season 1 and am now into Season 2. I generally hate westerns, and I'm usually not too keen on cable shows that seem to be edgy for the sake of edgy but I make an exception with Deadwood. I've always been an admirer of Ian McShane from his Lovejoy days, but he's remarkable in this one. This show would never survive on mainstream TV - not just because of the language, but because of the show's leisurely pace. Viewers on NBC or CBS would demand a gunfight every 20 minutes.

iCarly: Ok, get off the floor. I confess: I'm a 40 year old guy enjoying a sitcom aimed at tweens, but that's nowhere near as creepy as it sounds. I wasn't interested in the show at all until a friend of mine showed me an episode. And I realized this is a rare animal: a tween/teen sitcom that is actually funny, has some actual bite to it (if you're paying attention), and has more than a few "only adults will get it" moments including more than a few Two-and-a-Half Men-style situations that make you wonder how they get away wit it. And the fictional iCarly webcast the show is built around is actually the type of thing I'd watch in real life. The show's main stars are appealing rather than annoying as is so often the case with these kinds of shows, and Jerry Tranter, who plays Carly's older brother, has the potential to be the next Jim Carrey. The show also provides some unexpected bonuses, such as appearances by Voyager's Tim Russ, and also several appearances by Mindy Sterling of the Austin Powers films. The show is also appealing because unlike some of the other teencoms out there the main characters are actually (usually) allowed to act their age, which is actually quite refreshing. This ain't The Prisoner or Deadwood, but you have to realize that I all but become physically ill watching sitcoms, and iCarly is one of the very few of this genre that I not only can sit through, but don't mind having on DVD.

The Avengers: I scored a great deal on a previously viewed copy of the 17-disc Emma Peel megaset a couple weeks ago and am working through it now. My opinion of Diana Rigg hasn't changed -- she's still one of the sexiest people to ever appear on TV in any generation, and the episodes are fun to watch and faster-paced than I remember. The box set also included a bonus disc of the 3 surviving episodes from the otherwise lost first season in which John Steed's partner was a man named David Keel. Trek trivia: Katherine Woodville (Natira in the TOS episode "For the World is Hollow...") guest starred in the first episode, and in fact her character's murder is what spawned the title of the series! Now if only A&E put out megasets for the Honor Blackman and Linda Thorson seasons.

Xavier: Renegade Angel - OK, this one is just weird. It's a CGI series from Adult Swim about a guy who goes around doing weird stuff. Honestly, that's the only way I can describe it. All the kids in the show look like Devo's Boogie Boy, the scenery looks like Second Life on an acid trip, and Xavier himself is probably the most indescribable character ever to appear on TV.

Alex
 
How I Met Your Mother: the library had the first three seasons and I watched them all over two weeks.
 
I just finished watching all 7 seasons of 24. Took me about 3 months, but only because I Netflixed Day One. Then I started buying the seasons (my hubby got me Day Two for my birthday and I blew our here's-what-you-can-get-me-for-Christmas deal by buying Days Three through Seven myself). I marathoned them on weekends - like I could consume a whole 4-episode disc in an afternoon. I'd carry the laptop around the house with me while I did my chores. I really don't know how I'm going to be able to revert to a week-to-week viewing schedule when Day 8 starts in January.
 
I've watched entire sets of DVDs this year. It's been fun

NCIS - Seasons 1-3 - I had only seen one or two episodes before. I love it now.
Stargate SG-1 - Seasons 1-5 - Once again, had never seen the show. I love it too.
Stargate: Atlantis Season 1 - Great show
Bones: Season 1 - Mostly good episodes
True Blood - Seasons 1&2 - I'm going to go crazy waiting for the new season.
I'm also pretty sure I've seen every episode of How I Met Your Mother this year, though not in order.
 
The wife and I are working our way through Friends. I never watched it when it was on-what a delight to see 3-4 episodes at a time!
 
I caught the John Adams miniseries on DVD. I loved it; while it veers a little towards hagiography (at the end when the character blithely proclaims he'll be forgotten in a mythology that ensconces Jefferson, Franklin and Washington one almost feels that the author is speaking directly to the audience), it's an entertaining portrait and Paul Giamatti is just fantastic - though Laura Linney's absolutely no slouch as his wife and inspiration.

Crap. I want that Giamatti as PKD film so very much more badly now.
 
My last two shows I watched on DVD were Babylon 5 and Star Trek (TOS remastered version). Currently I am working my way nightly through Quantum Leap. When that ends I'm planing on a nightly Double feature of Farscape and Battlestar Galactica (RDM version).

I own the entire series of all of these.

I was also thinking about renting (or borrowing from a friend):

Dollhouse
24
Lost
Veronica Mars

Can anybody recommend or warn me away from them?
 
I watched all of Coupling (BBC version) in the past month or so. That show's humor has aged shockingly well considering the first season is almost 10 years old now.
 
I watched all of Coupling (BBC version) in the past month or so. That show's humor has aged shockingly well considering the first season is almost 10 years old now.

It'll be interesting to see if there's any sort of revival attempt now that Moffat's doing Doctor Who.

Alex
 
Some of my favorite re-discovered shows on DVD include ROUTE 66; EMERGENCY!; DIAGNOSIS MURDER; THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW; MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE; THE A-TEAM; THE MONKEES; MAGNUM PI; and THE TIME TUNNEL.

I wish they'd get around to putting the Adam West BATMAN series out on DVD
 
a
I was also thinking about renting (or borrowing from a friend):

Dollhouse
24
Lost
Veronica Mars

Can anybody recommend or warn me away from them?

I consider LOST to be the best show of all time. It's going into its final season so you can watch it all without worrying about a rushed ending or dangling plots or a series that goes nowhere. It's a highly serialized show and I guarantee you can't just watch one episode at a time. :)
 
I'll agree with 23skidoo about iCarly. Our kids love the show, and my wife and I have discovered that it's actually very entertaining. We can't stand any of the Disney Channel sitcoms and really don't like the other Nick sitcoms, but all four of us will sit and watch iCarly together.

As for shows I'm rediscovering on DVD, I've been watching the first two seasons of Moonlighting. I was in elementary school and junior high when it first aired, and I really didn't remember much except for the Shakespeare episode (which I found out is in the third season). The show holds up pretty well, and Bruce Willis is a lot of fun to watch. It makes me wish that he'd do more comedy and fewer of the dour action hero roles he's been taking on lately, and I include the last Die Hard in that. It was nowhere near as fun as the first one.
 
Shows I discovered (or am planning to by) watching on DVD:
- LOST
- Bones
- House
- Dexter
- Firefly
- Fringe
- Robin Hood (UK)

Shows I used DVD to catch up on missing episodes:
- The Closer
- Heroes
- Dark Angel
- Eureka

Shows I bought on DVD even though I'd seen them all:
- The Office
- Doctor Who
- Torchwood
 
I watched all of Coupling (BBC version) in the past month or so. That show's humor has aged shockingly well considering the first season is almost 10 years old now.

It'll be interesting to see if there's any sort of revival attempt now that Moffat's doing Doctor Who.

Alex

I thought Moffat as showrunner on Doctor Who would be reason to NOT expect a Coupling special any time soon...that and Jack Davenport and Gina Bellman being regulars on currently-airing American shows.

I gave up on a Coupling reunion/revival a long time ago. The series ended exactly where it needed to. Any more would be treading dangerously close to shark territory (Steve and Susan with a kid, Patrick and Sally married, Jane and Oliver together = fundamentally different show than the four seasons of Coupling), regardless of who's writing it.
 
I'm Netflixing ROME from a few years back on HBO. Watched the first two episodes over the weekend.
Also picked up S1 of TUDORS and watched the first episode as well.
I'll be making my way through these two in December then come 2010 my plan is to work through STARGATE SG-1. I basically bought it blind having only seen a few episodes. Amazon had all 10 seasons for $104 and it came in over the weekend.

I was also thinking about renting (or borrowing from a friend):

Dollhouse
24
Lost
Veronica Mars

Can anybody recommend or warn me away from them?
Dollhouse, YES
LOST, YES
Veronica Mars, YES
 
I like iCarly because I have a crush on her brother. :lol:

Veronica Mars, Wonderfalls, Arrested Development I have all found on DVD. VM season 1 and Wonderfalls are must sees. I also got back into Dead Like Me from the DVDs, and grew to like Daisy, just ignore the horrible movie.
 
a
I was also thinking about renting (or borrowing from a friend):

Dollhouse
24
Lost
Veronica Mars

Can anybody recommend or warn me away from them?

I consider LOST to be the best show of all time. It's going into its final season so you can watch it all without worrying about a rushed ending or dangling plots or a series that goes nowhere. It's a highly serialized show and I guarantee you can't just watch one episode at a time. :)

You sound like you're addicted.;)
 
I'm Netflixing ROME from a few years back on HBO. Watched the first two episodes over the weekend.
Also picked up S1 of TUDORS and watched the first episode as well.
I'll be making my way through these two in December then come 2010 my plan is to work through STARGATE SG-1. I basically bought it blind having only seen a few episodes. Amazon had all 10 seasons for $104 and it came in over the weekend.

I was also thinking about renting (or borrowing from a friend):

Dollhouse
24
Lost
Veronica Mars

Can anybody recommend or warn me away from them?
Dollhouse, YES
LOST, YES
Veronica Mars, YES

24 NO?
 
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