TV on DVD

As a customer of Blockbuster Online, I'm privy to thousands of movies, including complete seasons of TV shows. This past weekend I finished Alias, Season 2. Friends of mine told me I'd really dig Alias, and though I had never watched it, decided to take advantage of the freedom of keeping DVDs as along as you want with my Blockbuster membership and watch TV on DVD.

I've become somewhat of an Alias geek. The series came to a close in the Spring - so leave it to me to be such a late bloomer. From the moment I watched the pilot episode, I was hooked. J J Abrams, the creator, is a mastermind in the complexity of twists, turns, and surprises. This guy is a story-telling genius and the most amazing part is he's my age. I'm always intrigued by people who can conjure up an unbelievable story in their head and make it come to life. As I've followed the storyline along, I've also watched the extras on the DVDs and realized that Alias had a bit of a rocky start. It seems even ABC asked J J to dumb it down for better ratings. I had a boss one time that asked me to dumb down and I found that preposterous. Thankfully, J J stayed true to the intertwining of the storyline and didn't water it down for those in the complexity-challenged viewing audience. If you can't follow the complex story line, you most likely won't appreciate the show.

For those of you who've never watched the show, the story begins with Jennifer Garner playing Sydney Bristow, a double agent who works for SD-6, a part of the enemy, while thinking, initially, she's CIA. After being brought to the good side by her double agent spy Dad, Jack Bristow, she spent the first season trying to take down the bad guys. Season two takes a whole new twist as the scenes change and the people change sides - some apparent bad guys become good, some apparent good guys become bad, and you start seeing double. (For those who've watched the show, you know what I mean.)

Now that I've finished season two and take a much needed breather before adding season three to my list, I've realized there are some good things about TV on DVD. The upside is I can watch two or three episodes at one time and not have to fiddle with fast forwarding through commercials or waiting a week for the next installment. But, there is a downside.

I miss the days of everyone talking about what happened on a show the night before. I've just watched the end of a season with a honey of a cliffhanger and no one to debrief with. I'm most likely the only person on the planet that is at this point of the show. Either you've never watched Alias, watched some episodes but aren't a fan (I don't understand why, but, I digress), or you've watched the whole series. If you've watched the whole series, you're dying to tell me what happens next, of which I do not want to know and ruin my excitement. If you've never watched it, I have to recap the last 44 episodes since the pilot for you to understand what I'm talking about. And, if you've watched it but aren't an avid fan, you quickly feel the need to find me some medication to alleviate this Alias obsession I have.

The world no longer waits patiently for the answer to "Who shot JR?" anymore. It's somewhat sad that we've lost that TV camaraderie that we once had. Alas, this is blogger...I'm going radio silent...