Better on DVD: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

== Anime ==

* While still a hit at airing time, ''[[AIR]]'' certainly counts.

* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]''. The show is packed with [[Call Back]]s and [[Foreshadowing]], mostly in one-liners that make little sense on their own, but are hilarious when viewed as a part of the show as a whole. Pretty much ''Lost'' if it were a comedy.

* ''[[Oz]]''

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Things will move very fast, though; it was written to be watched over ''years'', with each season generally taking place over a year. The [[Arc Fatigue|telepath arc]] in Season 5 is also much more bearable.

* ''[[Veronica Mars]]'', especially season three, if only because the [[Product Placement|Aerie Girls]] and obnoxious CW teases where nowhere to be found.

* With ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', it goes both ways. While watching it on DVD allows the slower bits to move much faster (as you do not have to wait weeks for a plot point to be resolved) and generally does improve later volumes, it also makes a lot of plot holes and aborted arcs more apparent, especially during the second and third volumes.

* ''[[Band of Brothers]]'', and, by extension ''[[The Pacific]]''. Indeed both were specifically filmed with the DVD release in mind.

* Oddly enough, ''[[The West Wing]]''. There's a lot of [[Continuity Nod|subtle references to previous episodes]] in the first few years that are easy to miss when watching the show on air. Moreover, the enormous amounts of [[Viewers Are Geniuses|acronyms, abbreviations and slang]] they use when referring to the political situation in Washington at any given moment, combined with [[Motor Mouth|the sheer speed at which the characters talk a lot of the time]], make the ability to turn on subtitles often ''vital'' to understanding what the hell is going on. The ability to cram a few Google study sessions on the more esoteric areas of the American government systems in the middle of an episode with the pause button is useful too.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': While most stories were fully self-contained, the classic series occasionally had a lot of [[Call Back]]s and [[Continuity Nod]]s. Old story elements, enemies and allies could be brought back again several years later and since reruns were rare (or, in the case of several black-and-white episodes, [[Lost Episode|impossible]]) you couldn't possibly keep track of everything unless you'd been watching since the beginning and had an exceptional memory (don't forget the series ran continuously for [[Long Runner|26 years]]). Watching them on DVD allows you to keep better track of the continuity and be able to appreciate the details and references to previous stories more. In particular, it makes the many continuity-heavy stories of [[The Eighties]], widely criticized at the time for their [[Continuity Lock Out]] status, much more enjoyable. On the other hand the serial format and (typically) slow pace of the stories translates poorly for continuous viewings common with DVD marathons, creating a lot of pacing issues with repetitive "companion in peril" cliffhangers at the end of each episode.

* ''[[Dollhouse]]'', partly because shows by [[Tim Minear]] and [[Joss Whedon]] already tend to do this anyway, partly because it's a dense, fast-paced [[Myth Arc]]-heavy show with steady plot and character arc progression from one episode to the next, and partly because watching the episodes more than once means you catch [[Fridge Brilliance|more of the little things]].

* ''[[Bliss]]'' At least compared to the American TV edit on Oxygen, if you wanted to see the nudity and other adult content anyways.

* ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''. Some of Rita Repulsa's schemes (Super Putty, for instance) go from one episode to another, [[The Untwist|without a "Part I"]].

* Watching ''[[Fringe]]'' on DVD can feel awfully repetitive during the [[Strictly Formula|procedural heavy first half]] of the show's first season, but once the long term plot developments really kick into gear, it's much more preferable to watch this show non-stop (especially after season two).

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', which has an incredibly complex and intricate continuity with myriad callbacks and underlying story arcs that don't stop to explain what's going on to the audience, except for the few times where Future!Ted says "Kids, remember when I told you..." when a specific event (like the Slap Bet) can be concisely explained. It is rather confusing to watch out of order, and ''way'' more confusing to watch later seasons without seeing the earlier seasons first (eg, you won't understand why Robin and Ted made that joke unless you have extensive knowledge of their relationship and breakup, you won't get why that line of Barney's elicited that reaction unless you know how Ted got dumped at the altar, you won't follow that logic unless you know that sandwiches are a visual euphemism for pot, you won't understand a lot of flashbacks unless you have memorized the timeline of Lily and Marshall's relationship, etc.) Most of all, a lot of hints and deductions about the Mother and how Ted met her will go completely over your head if you don't know all the facts about her that have been revealed before the episode in question.

* Oddly enough, ''[[Robot Chicken]]''. Taken individually the episodes seem to rely too much on [[Breathless Non-Sequitur]], but when watched in sequence, enough patterns start to emerge that the non sequiturs become season-long [[Running Gag]]s and [[Brick Joke]]s.

** From the same production team, ''[[Titan Maximum]]''. The series premiere is a half-hour special, but the next 9 episodes (the entire first season) are only half that (with commercials and credits); theoretically, it could be spliced together and watched as a movie.

* The ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' DVDs are rather nicely made, and unedited as well (though some cartoon shorts run with scenes that are missing, not because they were cut from TV, but because they were lost to time or never made). Given that ''every'' American channel has aired, edited, and stopped airing the Warner Brothers cartoons from the mid-1960s to the early 2000s (including Cartoon Network—though Cartoon Network ''has'' brought the shorts back when ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'' premiered), DVD is probably the only way anyone can see the shorts uncut and uncensored (ditto the ''Popeye'' cartoons and the MGM shorts, except for ''Tom and Jerry''. See below)

** Subversion: the ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' DVDs sadly ''are'' edited to remove blackface gags and do feature Mammy Two-Shoes either cut from scenes or with a voice that doesn't sound like a stereotypical [[Sassy Black Woman]]. If you're a classic cartoon purist, then it's not Better on DVD (unless you count the fact that you can now watch it without that irritating Cartoon Network station ID bug at the bottom of the screen). But there is some good news: [[Warner Bros]] actually reversed this trend when it was discovered that the original DVD releases (advertised as being for collectors) contained the edits and redubbed Mammy voice. WB quickly set up an exchange system wherein consumers (if they so wished) could swap out the discs for ones with the uncut shorts.