Catching Up on TV Shows

             The more I watch TV shows on DVD the more I find I like it better than actually watching the shows on TV.  There aren’t any commercials to deal with unless there are previews in the beginning, and I can usually zap through the credits.  With typically four episodes to a disc, depending on the length of each episode, I can catch up on a series pretty quickly, which has been happening a lot lately.  For the past few months I have reached the end of the episodes available on DVD for a lot of series.  Some I have been working on for years.  It always creates mixed emotions when I reach this point.  I’m always happy to be caught up with the storylines, but I’m also sad because I don’t have the show to watch anymore.  Murdoch Mysteries is the best at bringing up these feelings.  It is a show I love to watch and I always miss it when there aren’t any more episodes available on DVD.  I spend months waiting for the newest season to be released, and then I stretch the discs out to make my enjoyment of the show last as long as possible.  This is what I’m going to have to do with Midsomer Murders too.  Currently I have only four episodes left to watch.  Since there are two episodes to a disc, I will get through them pretty quickly.  Then all I’ll be able to do is wait until I can see new episodes again.

The benefit of Murdoch Mysteries and Midsomer Murders is I know more episodes are airing and I can estimate about when the DVDs will be released.  The same cannot be said for shows like Sherlock.  I have heard new episodes are being created, but I don’t know when they’ll air, and I certainly don’t know when they’ll get put on DVD.  With so many years between seasons, it may be a very long time before I’m able to see the new episodes.  Fortunately I know from all the other seasons I have seen that all the waiting will be worth it in the end.                      

                Then there are the shows I have been watching that are now done completely.  I have watched every episode ever created and the story is now over.  As I came to the end of Agatha Christie’s Poirot I started a mental countdown of how many episodes I had left to watch.  When I got to the last one, I was reluctant to put the disc in the player.  I didn’t want the series to end.  If I’m this upset over a show that initially drove me crazy, I don’t know what’s going to happen when I hit the end of Murder She Wrote.  That is a show I have been watching for years, and now I am mostly through the final season with only the four TV movies left to see after that.   After spending so much time with this series, it’s going to feel very odd when it is done. 

                 While most of the series I have been watching are wrapping up in one form or another, there are some I still have a lot left to see. I’m only on season seven of NCIS and season three of Haven, which leaves me plenty of seasons left to go. Then there are the shows that are releasing the seasons I haven’t seen yet. TURN: Washington’s Spies will be releasing its second season soon, and The Doctor Blake Mysteries is currently airing its second season on PBS, the only way I can see it. I’ll also be able to start new shows. In my head I already have a list of which ones I want to explore next. Some I’ve seen episodes of here and there, while with others I know little to nothing. In either case, I will find that first disc of the series very exciting.