Most efficiently way to watch a TV series beginning to end

[Tasaio]

Greetings,

Growing up, I never watched a single episode of Star Trek-

(an angry mob of Trekkies carrying torches rushes towards me)

-but I've been watching DVDs of Star Trek, and enjoyed them so far!!!

(the mob of Trekkies changes direction, and decides to burn down a Star Wars convention instead)

Although I enjoyed Next Generation, and DS9, I'm wearying of Enterprise's boring action scenes.

My passion is for story and plot, so I completely tune out during phaser fights and battles between ships.

To finish this series -- and other TV shows -- more efficiently, I suppose I could *skip* some episodes entirely.

But if I were to do that, I'd be risking missing some major plot development.

On the other hand, even a TV show's most devoted fans must miss the occasional episode.

To be honest, I feel like I'm letting the obsession of watching *every* episode take up all of my time -- when I'd rather just read the scripts, since that would be so much faster!

For fans of strongly plot-driven shows, how do you catch up on a show's storyline if you don't have the time or the patience to sit through the entire episode?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

[Baltar]

Originally Posted by Tasaio

To finish this series -- and other TV shows -- more efficiently, I suppose I could *skip* some episodes entirely.

But if I were to do that, I'd be risking missing some major plot development.

I think the only way to find out if an episode has anything important is to watch the preview or read the description. These may have some spoilers but you should be able to determine whether anything important will be happening. From my experience, an episode will usually either be fully plot focused OR just a standalone filler. This probably happens because outside writers are brought in to write the filler episodes. Those writers can't make plot decisions and probably don't even know much about the major plotline, so they just write standalone one-episode stories.

[Gordon]

In the words of Mr Spock, I don't understand your logic.

Why buy the DVD's in the first place? Either watch them or don't

If you just wanted to get the story outline...go to a web site like The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and you'll find episode guide for TV shows and outline for movies.

Do you have a problem with sitting on your backside and resting or are you a hyper person, who feels he doesn't have time for anything....be careful you don't give that impression to others or you'll end up people just avoiding you becuase you don't feel you have the time to talk to them or spend time with them.

Get a nice coffee, some good quality biccies and relax and watch your DVD's....who knowz (God forbid), you may even find you enjoy watching them.

When I want to "switch off" and relax I am enjoying a DVD of "Kath and Kim" too spookily like my own in-laws family!!!! (Then its a horror DVD to me!!!)

G

[Baltar]

Originally Posted by Gordon

In the words of Mr Spock, I don't understand your logic.

Why buy the DVD's in the first place? Either watch them or don't

I think I understand what he's saying. Some TV series have a persistent plotline that flows through all the seasons. For instance Babylon 5, last few seasons of Star Trek DS9, and now the new Battlestar Galactica. However some of the episodes are just standalone and don't move the main plot further along.

Some of these are ok to watch, but often they're the worst episodes in the show. At least they're not as interesting. I don't like to watch those episodes myself unless they're particularly good, so often I just skip them. It would be nice if every episode was a major plot episode, but I think TV shows just don't have the budget to do this. They also need to fill a certain quota of episodes for a season, so the plot gets watered down a bit.

[Andy]

How interesting, I'm in the same camp and much prefer story driven episodes versus those that are stand-alone. Which is probably why I like shows such as 24 where every episode is pretty much story-driven. I haven't found a solution to weeding out the filler episodes without spoiling things. However if you want a site where you can check out both short and long summaries of TV episodes, Television Without Pity is a good one.

I would think that there'd be some website out there dedicated to this issue (e.g. for popular shows listing which episodes are story-driven, standalone/filler, or in between). Maybe there is...though I've never looked for one.