Friday, November 28, 2008

The Tyranny of DVD

J&R had a really impressive and tempting Black Friday DVD sale. So tempting that at opening time, over 100 people had already lined up for it! (I was passing by, not a participant!)

Among the goodies: complete season boxed sets of Monk and House and others for only $15-$20!

I was really drooling over the possibilities of that ... but then thought ahead.

1) How often would I want to watch those? After Hill Street Blues did its run, it had a very limited syndication life. I tuned in to one episode and ... it was already dated! It seemed old, but not in a good way.

2) I already have several boxed sets of TV series. I don't watch them as often as I thought I would. In fact, while watching some of them, I was beginning to resent watching them again. Another 25-50 minutes gone from my life -- and for what?

3) DVD boxed sets weigh something. If I had been stupefyingly rich and indulged myself in every boxed set that looked good, I'd have even more things and even more weight to lug around when moving!

4) There really is only a very, very limited number of things I could stand to see more than 3-4 times. In movies, for example, Die Hard never seems to get old or tired for me. Same with The Final Countdown and The Long Good Friday. TV-wise, certain -- but not all -- episodes of The Twilight Zone. And Dennis Potter's two groundbreaking serials: Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective are immortal. Those are just a few examples. But the total wouldn't be as many as I think if I were to compile a list.

I wonder if I'm the only one who feels this way? I'm beginning to think a service such as Hulu is now a very good idea. Throw the repeats up on the Net. Let me watch them with ad breaks. I get it for free whenever I want it, you make money -- and I also won't have to hoard more stuff and weight to lug around.

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