My husband and I recently finished watching all five seasons of The Wire. I know we’re a few years behind, but we immersed ourselves in the amazing show, often watching two or three episodes a night. It was an intensive course in contemporary politics, education, crime, and social policy. I won’t argue with anyone who says this is the best series on TV, ever. We felt fortunate that we could watch the series on the library DVDs, or borrow a few from others in the MVLC consortium.
We have a patron to thank for the fact that the library carries the entire series.
A few years ago, as the second season was about to be released, someone asked if we’d consider purchasing it. We hesitated, thinking we’d be committed to buying it for several years, but we took the suggestion and followed through and many people are glad we did.
Breaking Bad was another DVD series a patron requested a few years ago, before most people had heard of it. The premise sounded hard to believe, a dying man operating a meth lab to support his family. Yet the show has turned out to be an award winner, now in its fifth season, and we’re happy we have it in our collection.
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The library owns many other TV series, including 24, Glee, House, Lost, Mad Men, Grey’s Anatomy, and Gossip Girl. The Big C is a relatively new one that I’ve enjoyed, similar to Breaking Bad, starring Laura Linney as a woman who learns she has terminal cancer. Treme, set in New Orleans after Katrina, another show created by David Simon, hasn’t caught on yet, the way The Wire did, but it’s outstanding – for the great New Orleans jazz and blues alone—with an excellent cast, including John Goodman and Melissa Deleo, and several actors from The Wire.
Are you looking forward to watching the first season of Boardwalk Empire on DVD when it comes out soon, or the second season of Downton Abbey, in February, or Game of Thrones, due to appear in March?
It’s fun to guess what shows on TV now will become popular DVD series. Pan Am might be one of them. I’ve also heard the BBC series, Luther, is very good—and it features Idris Elba, another actor from The Wire (who also appears in several episodes of The Big C.)
What TV shows do you currently watch and recommend? Which new ones do you think will be popular on DVD? Tell us in the comments section below!
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We learn a lot from our library users. We are interested in what you like to watch and read and we welcome your suggestions for DVDs, books, ebooks, audiobooks and CDs. We can't buy everything, but we will try our best to fill your requests. We hope to hear from you!
And if you want to find out what new DVDs have arrived each month, please check the list on our website. We update it regularly. And you can always place a request in the Evergreen catalog—your favorite TV series may be in another MVLC library.
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