On Buying DVDs and Why You Should Watch More TV If You Like Movies

DVDs I Have Purchased Primarily Due To My Penchant For Watching Them Over And Over Again On TV:

• The Shawshank Redemption
• Pride and Prejudice
• Definitely, Maybe

See, here's the thing: People who don't watch TV are seriously missing out on one of the best ways to discover great movies [remember, my definition of "great" is subjective]. I'm not necessarily speaking of only HBO movies, although I sure do love HBO's commercial-free goodness; no, I'm talking about how Oxygen and TNT and amc frequently run movies back-to-back--multiple days in a row, at that.

I'm talking about how I will begin watching Pride and Prejudice halfway through, then continue watching when it starts over again, intending to go do something productive once I reach my entry point in the film, but always end up watching the whole goddamn thing, which gives me a total of roughly 1.5-2 viewings in one sitting, depending on where I came in on the first showing. That, my friends, is a movie I should own [and do--now.].

So, you can buy DVDs based on your assumption that you'll like them, or based on their presence in the $5 bin at Walmart, and then you end up with rows and rows of DVDs that you may or may not watch regularly, and maybe you're proud of those rows and rows of DVDs and you enjoy their display in your living room, but I will bet you vast amounts of money that I made a better purchase.

So, my friends, watch movies on TV. It's closer to free than Netflix--if you have cable, that is. And if you have cable for CNN and ESPN and TLC and Discovery Channel, you should definitely be taking advantage of Oxygen, TNT, amc, TBS, USA, FX, and even channels like E!, because they have this "Movies We Love" thing, and G4, because they have this "Movies That Don't Suck" thing, and ABC Family, because while a lot of the time it's made-for-tv shit like Legally Blonde 3, the other day I caught an Adam Sandler marathon that was quite enjoyable. Also, if you've got 'em, Turner Classic Movies [always my favorite] and IFC, which is great for movies you've never heard of and probably wouldn't hear of otherwise--as in, any foreign or simply independent film that was made prior to 1990 and/or did not win an Oscar.

I have spoken. (All depart.)

You should also probably know that during December, I'm pretty much glued to ABC Family and the Hallmark channel, because they run cheesy Christmas movies round-the-clock, so, take my advice with a grain of salt--but don't forget that this little- well-known fact also means I know what I'm talking about.