Confession time: I own seasons #1-6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD. Those DVDs comprise the majority of my meagre DVD collection (the rest of which is mostly concert films). I’m not a big buyer of movies, but I do occasionally purchase DVDs that I suspect I’ll never be able to rent. Of course, that’s all changing in the next few years, but it’s the state of play today. Case in point: I’m currently re-reading the incredible The Name of the Rose. Once finished, will I be able to rent the moviestarring Sean Connery and Christian Slater at my local video store? Probably not.
But I digress. In this week’s Georgia Straight, Dave Watson (whose column I covet, and whose column needs a new title–‘Dot Comment’ is so 20th century) writes about the growing trend of buying television shows on DVD:
So, the consumer is really beginning to drive the marketplace. Three recent examples come to mind. The strong DVD sales of the cancelled series ‘Family Guy’ have prompted new episodes and a feature film to be commissioned. After more than 40,000 people signed an on-line petition promising to buy ‘Freaks and Geeks’ if it were made available, it came out earlier this year.
I’m definitely not a loyal TV viewer. I miss weeks (sometimes years) of shows that I’ve acutally professed an affection for. I could see myself buying shows that I’ve liked and missed, such as Dead Like Me or The West Wing. The Buffy DVDs have been a boon on plane trips, certainly.
Watson also references TVShowsonDVD.com, which seems kind of broken at the moment.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
This site is good for current/upcoming releases.
The thing I find weird about TV dvds is the wildly divergent pricing – Angel and Buffy were $50-$60 per season, six feet under around $90 (for half the episodes), homicide $100, star trek $120, farscape $160.
I covet your Buffy DVDs. I would be inclined to buy my own but deterred by the lack of audio commentary from the cast and Josh. That’s pretty much the only reason why I buy DVDs in general.
Blogworthy…another reason why people should watch Buffy…coz if Darren’s watchin it…there’s no reason why lesser people (read: Emmy Awards voters) shouldnt…
yeah, amen brova. i have all tha hbo hottness: six feet under, sex & the city, sopranos, curb your enthusiasm. i pretty much stopped watching tv altogether now that the shows are out.
24, the office, chapelle’s show… good times. but the real question: when the hell are they going to release macgyver? some say best ever.
I love my TV on DVD! I also have Buffy 1-6, Family Guy and Gilmore Girls, and in the breakup the boyfriend got Firefly (which I’m replacing) and Babylon 5. I enjoy the shows better when I can watch them in what order I want, when I want and without commercials. The Buffy especially was really worth it. I covet Six Feet Under.
Hmm… would we be less freakish about purchasing tv on DVD if we had TiVo readily available in the great white north?
Same concept… watch when you want, block commercials – your only limiting factor with the TiVo box is memory capacity, though I’m not one to watch episodes of a show over again anyway.
Buffy ROCKS!!