Commentary

DVDs- my favorite way to watch TV

I too have become a Sopranos junkie. It all started this summer when my roommates and I decided to rent the first disk on a whim. After watching the first few episodes, we were hooked. That night, we went to the movie store, to the library and called every friend we had trying to find the next disk. We failed, but refused to move on to later disks. A week later we received the entire first season as a gift and consumed the next 3 episodes in one sitting. But the inevitable happened; schedules and a missing disk have once again halted the-joy-that-is a Soprano marathon. It’s funny though, because even if we had the disk we simply couldn’t watch the next episodes without the other roommates around. It would be like cheating…

It says something about my generation that DVDs have become our way of consuming television. I never watched one episode of “Sex and the City” live on HBO. But the roommates and I started watching the DVDs, and have subsequently seen all of the episodes disk-by-disk since. In fact, I would say that it’s just a bonus to see the syndicated version on television.

DVDs of TV shows sounded like a ridiculous idea when they first came out. But for me they are the only way I get the chance to watch really great shows like the Sopranos, Sex and the City, House, Friends (which I never watched until the DVDs came out), etc. College students really can’t afford expensive stations, don’t like ads, and don’t really have time to sit down weekly for new shows. DVDs of shows are fabulous, and my favorite way to watch TV.

5 comments about "DVDs- my favorite way to watch TV".
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  1. Thomas Siebert, August 27, 2007 at 9 a.m.

    Do you watch ANYthing live-ish?

    If not, try:

    Firefly
    Moonlighting
    The Bob Newhart Show
    The Sandbaggers
    Cagney & Lacy
    Lost

    tws

  2. Jay Garza, August 27, 2007 at 11:41 a.m.

    Tough to hear you don't like ads...

    Actually, I don't blame you. Working for an advertising agendy it's my job to try and figure out how to market to people who TIVO or watch DVD's. Just curious, how do you consume advertising? I'd be interested in hearing what kinds of things college students turn to when it comes to purchasing either big ticket items or just day to day stuff.

    JG

  3. Terence Henderson from Better Business Bureau, August 27, 2007 at 12:05 p.m.

    DVDs are a great way to watch TV, but the ones you're talking about are quite expensive. Renting them through Netflix or Blockbuster are pretty much the only way to go.

  4. Sean Mulholland, August 27, 2007 at 12:42 p.m.

    Strangely enough it was Sopranos DVDs that pushed me to get HBO a few years back. Seasons 1-4 were DVD, after that the idea of avoiding all spoilers for a year before the DVDs were released was too much to handle. How's that for marketing :-)

  5. Donna Zelzer from Midwifery Today, August 27, 2007 at 1:14 p.m.

    I actually don't watch any regular TV (no cable, no satellite, never bothered to hook up my antenna), so the only time I see ads is when I'm visiting someone.

    I rent some TV-series DVD's through Netflix and buy others (including more expensive ones like Star Trek). It all depends on how attached I am to the show and how much I'll want to be able to watch any episode at any time.

    As far as reaching me with marketing - I like movie/TV trailers related in some way to the DVD I'm watching, but don't *make* me watch them. (And don't disable the stop and reverse functions. Hey, If I like your trailer enough that I want to back up and watch a part again, wny are you stopping me from doing this?)

    You could maybe put printed materials inside the case, but they'd need to be related to the show in some way.

    (For the record, I'm not a student, but an older-edge Baby Boomer.)

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