This is not a rant. TV on DVD; one of my greatest love affairs.

I went a good three years of my life without watching television, between the ages of 17 and 20. My reasoning had no deep meaning; I hadn't swore to start reading more, hadn't decided to put an end to the corrosion of my cerrebellum (just how misspelled is that, PS?). It was far simpler than that - I didn't have a TV. Now, for the some of that time period, I was living with a friend and spent every waking moment that I wasn't at work hiding in my bedroom, with my laptop. I moved back in with my parents, and again - hid in my room. By the time I'd moved out, I'd lost all desire to partake in the televised arts (would you even call them that? ... I didn't think so. I tried, whatever). Don't get me wrong; I'd check out The Simpsons and Family Guy from time to time, re-runs of Frasier and the Golden Girls. But that was the extent of it.

That is, until one of the greatest inventions of the past 20 years was brought to my attention: TV on DVD.

Now, many people think that the, "Wow! No commercials!" aspect is the greatest argument for watching TV on DVD. I beg to differ. I work random hours. Shiftwork. I have a life (really, I swear). I can not dedicate an hour or half hour of my time on a certain day each week to watch anything (with the exception of Big Brother). So I missed out on the first half of Glee, the entirety of the Friends series, the first two seasons of The Big Bang Theory. But I'm caught up. On all of it. Simply because I could rent the discs and watch them at my leisure. Whenever I want! And I can pause it and go to work and come back and pick up exactly where I left off. And like a movie, there were bonus features. Friends gag reels, Glee music videos. countless commentary and interviews.

One could argue that you can get the same benefits (save for the bonus features) with a PVR. To that, I must counter: I can't afford a PVR! Hell, I can't afford to actually BUY seasons of a TV show (if they're new, that is), I have to rent. But that's the beauty of it; I can spend an evening with my Friends, watching how they lived out 1999, and it'll cost me less than $6. I'd have to get Digital Cable to even get a PVR and wanna know a secret? I don't even pay for the cable I have here! It was hooked up when I moved in. (shameless, sure, but can ya blame me? Free things are good.)

Now, a new season of a TV series usually runs between $30 and $60 depending on how many discs it is and how popular the series is. The Tudors Season 3, for example, was running a steep $55 everywhere I looked. But give it a couple years, and it'll be in the bargain bin at Wal-Mart for 12 bucks, where Seinfeld is right now. Less than the cost of actually GOING TO SEE A MOVIE, you get HOURS of a TV show!

DISCLAIMER: I don't sell TV on DVD, I have nothing to do with it. I just love it to pieces, it's one of the things in the world that I am truly jazzed about.

Stay golden, Ponyboy(s).