The Journey Continues

I got distracted last night and forgot to post this.

Several years ago, I bought the first season of CSI on DVD. I had never seen an episode before, and had never really thought about doing so, but the movie store I worked for made a typo on the reservation prices, and it was only going to be about $30. Considering the fact, that everyone else was going to have to pay about $80, I thought if nothing else I could just sell it if I didn't like it.

It ended up sitting in some dusty corner for a few months, though, because, as I wrote, I wasn't especially interested in it. One day, my husband and I were looking for something new to watch, and we just decided to watch an episode of CSI. Several hours later, we had gone through 8 episodes straight. Thus began my desire to watch television shows on DVD rather than waiting for a new episode once a week, excluding half the year when it's just not on. Watching television only on DVD is a lot of fun and has several advantages. First, there are no commercials. I never watch commercials, so I have been spending years doing a lot of fast forwarding. Second, the picture quality is higher if you don't have High Def satellite, which we don't. Third, since you can watch as many as you want in a row, if you run up against the bad apple of the bunch, you can just shrug and go to the next one in hopes of a better episode.

Out of all the reasons, the third one is primarily why I like watching TV on DVD. Anyone who has ever followed a weekly show knows how utterly frustrating it is to watch a really bad episode, and then be forced to wait a week to see if the next one is any good. Even worse, if it's the last new episode for a while, you are left with a bad taste in your mouth that can become quite nasty. Having to spend days on end with how bad an episode is in the front of your mind leaves a distorted image of the show as a whole. Watching shows on DVD takes that away. It's wonderful.

This is how I have watched most television shows for a long time now, and I have been deliriously happy. My husband and I got in to Supernatural last summer and ended up watching all four seasons in just a couple of months via Netflix, going through long marathon episodes where we'd watch four or five in one night, sometimes more. *That* was a rush. The thing is, now that we are caught up and are forced back into waiting for a new episode every week, or in the most recent case, waiting more than a month, I am just not as interested in it.

I realized as I was watching the next episode of Doctor Who tonight that what I am doing now is much more satisfying. When the episode was done, my husband asked if I was going to watch another one. There was a very strong urge to do so because it was such a great episode, as all of them have been so far, and I was having so much fun. But after thinking about it, I decided to stick to my plan of just watching one a night. Watching one a night instead of a bunch in a row really makes me appreciate each one all the more. I am sure I will hit upon a bad episode soon, but knowing that my dissatisfaction will only have to fester a day instead of a week is a relief.

I have not really been discussing the episodes much in detail because, really, I don't see much of a point. I will say that the one I did watch tonight was a special treat because on of the Doctor's companions from the older show made an appearance and it was wonderful. There was also a deep examination of what it means to be a man that never dies, forced to watch those he loves die; which has resulted in the Doctor abandoning all of them before he gets too attached. Very powerful stuff.

To sum up, tonight was entertaining and stress-free. I had a great time.