Aggravation!

Posted by jrosenhouse on June 6, 2010
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Over the past few weeks I have been working my way through season three of Dexter. Somehow I had gotten my Netflix cue out of order, so that they actually delivered the final disc, number four, to me before sending me the other DVD’s. This particular disc contained only a single episode, the final one of the season. I decided to hold onto it until I was ready.

When I am at my peak I can plow through a full season of a television show in a few days. In this case, however, I got a bit distracted with other things. It took me rather a long time to work my way through the rest of season three. All the while that final disk sat innocently on the table next to my TV. Finally, last night, I was ready to watch the final episode. The penultimate episode had ended with a suitably dramatic moment, the suspense had built to an almost unbearable level, and I couldn’t wait to fire it up to see how it all turned out. I slid the DVD out of the sleeve.

And noticed an obvious crack right down the middle of it! Ugh! How vexing. Videotape was really a far superior technology.

At least I still have about seventeen chapters of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” to get through. That will have to hold me until Netflix can send a replacement DVD. (Also don’t miss Weird Al’s spoof “Trapped in the Drive-Thru.”).

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Comments

  1. #1 J. J. Ramsey
    June 6, 2010

    “Videotape was really a far superior technology.”

    Video tapes have moving parts. Mailing them around repeatedly would cause them to fail, too, especially if they were mailed in cheap packaging to keep costs down. They’d just fail in a less obvious fashion, and you’d probably have issues with your VCR eating a bad tape.

    BTW, don’t you think Jimmy Smits did a great job playing an utter bastard? (And yes, I’ve seen season 3 of Dexter, though it was a bit of a while back.)

  2. #2 Peter Beattie
    June 6, 2010

    At least Season Three has a proper ending. Wait till you see Season Four. “Aggravation” would be the greatest understatement since Bush said of WMD in Iraq, ‘We might have got that wrong.’

  3. #3 J. J. Ramsey
    June 6, 2010

    Don’t tell me anymore. Season 4 is in my queue, but Netflix lists its availability as “Unknown” (which should mean it will be available eventually … probably).

  4. #4 Valhar2000
    June 7, 2010

    Jimmy Smits was awesome, plus, he constitutes the first example I have seen in a very long time (on an American TV show) of a Hispanic character who can actually speak Spanish!

    Season 4 is good too.

  5. #5 cgauthier
    June 7, 2010

    Season 4 is righteous! Even the ending, sadly, makes sense.

    I don’t understand how people can watch a show with a psychopathic murderer as the lovable protagonist and demand every season to end blissfully, or even satisfyingly. There are plenty of other series that coddle their audiences; I’m glad this one brutalizes them, at least on occasion.

    It can’t be unicorns and rainbows and fairy-castles all the way down, cry-babies.

    This isn’t to suggest that I was personally happy about the development… It’s just more interesting, as well as honest, to roll with the changes, rather than pretend unpleasant plot development = bad writing.

  6. #6 Dan L.
    June 7, 2010

    At least some of those Netflix DVDs will probably still be playable long after all VHS tapes have been erased by the earth’s magnetic field.

  7. #7 NAL
    June 7, 2010

    DVD? You should be using Blu-Ray. You probably have records too.

  8. #8 Baron Scarpia
    June 8, 2010

    Trapped in the Closet is hilarious. Try this as a drinking game – one sip for every time someone pulls out a gun. You’ll be hammered by the end.

  9. #9 Tim Keating
    June 8, 2010

    Actually, forget about DVDs, Blu-ray, video tape or any such fragile medium. Dexter is available via Netflix streaming, and let me tell you, it is fantastic. I just finished watching season 1, in fact, no waiting on discs to show up.

  10. #10 J. J. Ramsey
    June 8, 2010

    Unfortunately, season 3 of Dexter is not streamable. Only the first two seasons can be streamed.

  11. #11 Jason Rosenhouse
    June 8, 2010

    Happily, Netflix has now sent me a replacement DVD. It passed a visual examination, so it looks like I’m good to go.

    Last time I checked, Season Four is not yet out on DVD. Season Five starts in September!

  12. #12 rob
    June 8, 2010

    i can’t wait until Netflix gets *everything* available quickly.

    i watched the last season of Heroes only a couple weeks behind the airings and it was great! no waiting for a year, like 24.

    (sure, i could Hulu, but i want more movies available streaming also.)