The benefits of DVD

As I was doing some work-related scanning of the forums on TWOP today, I realized that there are more benefits to watching television on DVD than just being able to watch a season's worth of the show in a few days. Watching an entire season in a compressed period of time takes away a lot of the frustration of finding out what comes next, and it also takes away some of the criticism a regular viewer might have.

As I've been watching Veronica Mars, I've been reading the TWOP recaps, and it's interesting when Couch Baron makes comments about reader reaction on the forums. I rarely reflect on any of the deeper aspects of the show; I don't really take the time to dissect character motivations or reflect on errors in logic. As I watch, I might nitpick a bit, but when an episode ends, I can just think "Holy crap!" and move on, being immediately gratified to know about the next twist.

In a lot of ways, it's good. I don't have the torture, and I don't have a week's worth of anticipation built up every time I turn on a new episode. I might briefly think, "That episode was meh," but I can quickly move on. It leads to less disillusionment, I think. I know that a lot of people criticized VM for being inconsistent, but I don't remember what they specifically had problems with. Sure, I think the first season was a bit better overall than the second, but I'm certainly still completely sucked in.

That having been said, I need to go finish off the second season.