My TV Watching Goals for 2018

Contrary to what you might expect, I don’t watch much old or “classic” television. I do watch a lot of TV but it’s almost all current network fare. I’ve been trying to increase the amount of classic television I watch, with a heavy focus on short-lived TV shows or shows I’ve written about here at Television Obscurities. For example, between September 2015 and January 2016, I watched It’s About Time and My Mother the Car on Antenna TV.

I’m not a big fan of resolutions but I’m fine with setting goals I may not be able to keep. Here’s a brief look at my TV watching goals for 2018.

No New DVDs

I’ve been living under a self-imposed moratorium on buying TV shows on DVD for several years. Why? I need to finish the TV shows I already own on DVD before I buy more. Last year, I finally finished watching The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.–more than five years after I started. Next up? Finishing Season 2 of The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. It took me over a year to watch Season 1, which only includes 13 episodes. I’m roughly halfway through Season 2. So far, I’ve watched two episodes in 2018.

(I’ll have to break down and buy The Capture of Grizzly Adams on DVD once I’m done with Season 2 if I want to find out how the story of Grizzly Adams ends.)

After The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, I’m planning to watch the eight episodes of Mr. Lucky I haven’t seen. I watched most of the series on DVD in 2013 but didn’t finish. Then comes Man from Atlantis. I only own the TV series, so I’ll need to buy the pilot telefilms on DVD.

Once I’m done with Man from Atlantis, I may rewatch Planet of the Apes. It’s been close to a decade since my last viewing.

If I manage to get through all these shows, perhaps I’ll decide to lift my moratorium on buying DVDs. The question then becomes which TV shows do I buy and watch next? There are so many options: Coronet Blue, The Immortal, Hank, Honey West, The Rebel, SEARCH, The Loner, The Magician. The list goes on and on.

Some Newer Shows, Too

Newer obscurities are on my radar for 2018, too. A family member who supports my obsession with short-lived TV gave me Surface (NBC, 2005-2006) on DVD for Christmas. I was a huge fan of the series. I hope it holds up. If it does, I may buy Threshold (CBS, 2005) on DVD. It’s another show I enjoyed during its brief run–and I’ve never seen the unaired episodes.

I’m a big believer in rewatching TV shows if I own them on DVD. But every TV show I rewatch means less time for sampling shows I’ve never seen. That’s why I probably won’t be rewatching Space: Above and Beyond (FOX, 1995-1996) or Dark Angel (FOX, 2000-2002) in 2018.

Streaming is, of course, another option. Particularly for recent TV shows. I subscribe to both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Every so often I check to see if either service has added any one season wonders from the past few years that I’ve yet to see. Usually, the pickings are slim.


Do you have any TV watching goals for 2018? Hit the comments with your thoughts.


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6 Replies to “My TV Watching Goals for 2018”

  1. Last night I watched the first episode of the new PBS series “We’ll Meet Again.” I enjoyed it, though it did drag a bit, so I plan to watch all of the six episodes.

    After more than half a century of watching television I sometimes feel as though I’m “TVed” out. I find it hard to become interested in new shows, and keep forgetting to sample an episode of something that seems vaguely promising. Plus, I’ve learned that dramas can be canceled with cliffhanger scenarios unresolved, so I’m wary of getting attached to any new television series.

    Since “We’ll Meet Again” (a human-interest show about actual people searching for someone who helped them during a crisis) is only on for six weeks it is easier for me to commit to watching it.

    So my goal for 2018 is to watch six more hours of PBS programing.

  2. This is my first time here, found you while doing research to update a Wikipedia page. Your 2018 goal sounds similar to my mission I started a year or so ago. I realized there were shows I’d seen bits and pieces of in reruns, and other shows I’d heard of but never gone back to watch. So, as a fan of Excel spreadsheets, I decided to create a list, and started compiling every episode of every show I was interested. My goal: to go back and watch the shows I was interested in, but in chronological order. The problem I ran into was, the more research I did to add shows to my list, the more shows I’d discover that I wanted to add. Then I realized there were movies I should include, and that led to cartoons, Three Stooges shorts, Little Rascals. I’ve now got a spreadsheet with over 61,000 entries. And I tend to find myself tinkering with my spreadsheet more than I do watching shows. So, my goal is to start finding and watching what I’ve got on my list.

  3. It is not a goal but I do realize I will be watching TV differently than I have in the past. I was born in the fifties and would memorize the network schedules and setting my night time schedule to fit my TV watching.

    Today with a few exceptions I watch whatever I want to want whenever I want. I don’t watch Me-TV or the other “oldies” stations because why get up at 3am to watch 77 Sunset Strip when I have downloaded nearly all the series off YouTube and can watch them whenever I desire. I download off YouTube just as I used to videotape off network TV.

    Streaming services not only give me a wider choice than network TV gives me it also offers the option to watch when I want. I can watch network shows – today and past – on network websites or Hulu or Netflix or Amazon Prime. I can see shows from all around the world such as Brokenwood Mysteries on Acorn or The Sandbaggers and Classic Doctor Who on Britbox or the animation on Boomerang or anime on FUNimation.

    While the broadcast networks are dying they are smart enough to focus on programming so network programs are not just on free TV anymore. Over 480 original scripted TV series aired last year, I enjoy TV better now that I watch more than 5 TV stations.

    I buy an occasional DVD but if it is for a current show such as Blacklist I will buy the season pass download and have the season cheaper and each episode a day after it aired (instead of the long wait for DVD release). Itunes often offers a new series first episode for free so I can sample the series without commercials and when I am able to watch not when the network demands.

  4. The Man From Atlantis telefilms are better than the TV series. But they came before the TV series.

    I’d say I don’t watch TV anymore, that is I rarely watch live TV. Almost everything I watch is recorded, even the prime-time shows. I’m more into watching TV shows than TV itself. But it’s mostly to avoid the ads which are so bulky now they can ruin a show.

    I find I’m busy enough with regular shows during the fall. When things slow down during winter I’ll catch up with a few shows. Any older shows I tend to watch during the summer. I also find myself more into non-fiction like how-to shows and history or science documentaries lately.

  5. An update for anyone interested: I’ve finished watching The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, with the exception of the 1982 telefilm The Capture of Grizzly Adams.

    1. I hope you enjoyed watching the series.

      I remember Grizzly Adams being “must see TV” for me when it was originally broadcast, but I haven’t seen it since then. Sometimes I’m wary of returning to television series I enjoyed when I was young, for if I decide an old favorite hasn’t aged well it will tarnish fond memories.

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