MOVIES & MORE: Nostalgia can inspire some questionable DVD buys

Movies & More reviewer John Gillispie thinks that people should think twice before shelling out big bucks for TV series on DVD. Some choices are definitely worth the price, but time has a way of dating those old programs from the past.

I blame nostalgia.

It's for the sake of nostalgia that I have spent way too much money on boxed sets of TV series.

As a 10-year-old boy when "Charlie's Angels" the TV series premiered, I remember thinking that someday when I was older I would have a videotape of each exciting episode so that I could watch it whenever I wanted.

So, naturally, when the first season of "Charlie's Angels" came out on DVD, I snatched it up along with Seasons Two and Three at later dates. While it is always fun to check out something that was special in the past, time has a way of making things seem dated. You can start with the obvious changes in hairstyles and clothes, but pacing has changed over time.

I guess we can blame MTV for creating a quicker pace. Shows from the 1970s will actually show a car pulling up into a driveway or slowly pulling out into traffic. We don't really need to see any of that, do we?

In the 1970s, I remember begging to stay up late to watch episodes of "Here's Lucy," the TV series in which Lucille Ball starred with her two children -- Desi Arnaz Jr. and Lucie Arnaz. So, of course, I bought a boxed set of some of the most memorable episodes. I made it through one episode co-starring Carol Burnett and then the next two episodes I tried to watch put me right to sleep.

One of the best TV series to hold up on DVD for me has been "Hart to Hart." You remember the show in which Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers were a wealthy husband and wife who went around solving crimes? Perhaps, because they had nice clothes and fancy cars, their show seems less dated to me than other series.

For weeks, I looked forward to seeing "Land of the Lost" in theaters. I already had the complete three-season Saturday morning children's series on DVD. The theme song was one of my favorite things about the show, which in the first two seasons followed the adventures of a dad and his son and daughter in a strange world full of dinosaurs and creepy reptile-like creatures known as Sleestak.

Even as a child I think I knew that "Land of the Lost" was kind of corny, but I still loved it. I think I thought it was cool because it was one of the few places where you could see dinosaurs that didn't look entirely fake. I guess the "Land of the Lost" dinosaurs were modeled out of clay, but they were light years ahead of those old movies that tried to pass iguanas and alligators off as dinosaurs.

Look how far we've come with special effects. Remember, it was just 1993 when Steven Spielberg and "Jurassic Park" introduced us to the most realistic dinosaurs we had seen up to that point. Maybe we take awesome-looking dinosaurs for granted now, but that wasn't the case back in the 1970s when "Land of the Lost" was a cool way to spend a half hour on a Saturday morning.

I finally saw the Will Ferrell version of "Land of the Lost" at the theater and have to admit that it wasn't all that bad. If you like Ferrell's brand of comedy, "Land of the Lost" provides a few laughs and it definitely has some great special effects. The dinosaurs sure looked great.

But, back to those boxed sets. For years as I flipped through the TV channels, I had been on the lookout for an episode of "Sanford and Son," in which I recalled Fred and his sister-in-law Esther put aside their differences for one episode and teamed up for what I thought was a talent contest.

Well, you can purchase the complete "Sanford and Son" series in a boxed set and in that box is an episode in which Fred decides to coach Esther in a beauty pageant. For the talent portion of the contest, Fred and Esther sing a hilarious duet. I have to say that one episode made me realize that I had not dreamed up the whole thing, which made the entire purchase worth it.

John Gillispie is the public relations director for the Huntington Museum of Art. Contact the writer at jgillisp@hmoa.org.