Item Number 31: The Office (UK), Series 1, 2 and Christmas Special

Time in possession: 2 years.

Description: 3 DVDs, encompassing the entirety of the British series "The Office". The entire collection has been watched and lent out several times but that has added and not taken away from it's supreme awesomeness.

Cost: $26 for the first season, another $26 for the second, and then $20 for the holiday special, for a grand total of $72. Crazy, really. Nowadays you can get the whole deal for around $35. Oh, capitalism.

Story: When I went to Scotland in 2004 I had the pleasure of flying with British Airways. Why was that a pleasure you ask? Well, for starters, it's an airline that still gives you shit. You got something to eat, free earphones and even a little overnight bag with the basic toiletries. Northwest steals the toiletries that you pack, just to illustrate the amazing chasm in terms of service here. Also, instead of having a shitty one-monitor-every-3 seats in-flight movie, every seat in the plane has its own monitor. Even better, they all have individual controls that allow you to switch between a wide selection of rotating "channels", providing more available entertainment then you have flight as well as allowing you to play a selection of emulated Game Boy Games. Which is kind of lame, really, since, you know, you're playing a Gameboy game in 2004, but the thought is still there.

Anyway, on said flight, I noticed that there was a listing for "The Office Christmas Special", the finale of the hit British show that I had been hearing about. I decided on a whim to check it out, see if I liked the style. After a few minutes of getting used to the faux-documentary style jumping in mid-episode, I was blown away. The Office, even without understanding half of the back story that went into the episode, is amazing. The dry British wit, the hilariously uncomfortable moments and the touching love story: All fantastically pulled off. I was hooked... and I had just watched the last episode!

When I returned home, I discovered that I had a bit more cash left over from the trip then I had been planning on. You know what that means... Spending spree! And the first thing I picked up was the recently released The Office DVD. I watched the whole first season (only six episodes! Tragedy!) in one go. At my next available opportunity, I got the second season. And then the Christmas special came out, which I got and re watched. I've forced so many of my friends to watch this show, it's kind of mental. But totally, totally, worth it.

I've been watching the U.S. version of The Office- It's actually quite good, and it's now a can't miss show for me. I've also heard that there is a French Canadian version called "Le Job", which I wouldn't mind checking out. But the original version is without a doubt in my mind the best start to finish series to ever grace TV. So good, so funny, and so rewarding in its finale that while you still wanted more time with all your TV land friends - Jim, Dawn, Keith, and even that smarmy David Brent- There was a satisfying ending that left you feeling like they would get along just fine.

Did I mention the whole set is dirt cheap now? Buy it already!

Item Number 17: DVD Set, Firefly

Time in possession: Just under a year.

Description: 4 disk set featruing all 13 episodes of Joss Whedon's cruelly short lived TV series Firefly. If you look at it just right, you can see the aura of squandered potential. It hurts my brain.

Cost: A birthday gift from my sisters, so free, although Amazon.ca lists it as 55.98- I have a funny feeling that they paid less.

Story: Joss Whedon has a pretty intense following that is somewhat threatening to outsiders. For good reason: He created Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, two huge TV hits, along with writing a bunch of other hit projects, including Toy Story and the blockbuster comic Astonishing X-Men. Still, I spent a good deal of time on the outside of his unadulterated fan boys, looking in and wondering what the hell they were getting so hot and bothered about. I mean, I had watched and enjoyed the first 3 or so seasons of Buffy, and I thought Angel was cool enough, but I certainly wasn't falling over myself to see everything he made. This would all change.

First of all, around 2005 my buddy Cory started raving about Astonishing X-Men, which had just started to tear things up on the comics scene. Having good childhood memories about them and being in the midst of a renewed interest in comics, I decided to check it out and was really impressed. Whedon really captured some fun group dynamics and I was hooked. Then people started talking about this show Firefly, an unjustly cancelled masterpiece that had just come out on DVD. I still wasn't convinced, but after the 4th or 5th person told me how awesome the show was, I decided to ask for it for my birthday. My sisters were kind enough to concede to my request.

And so, shortly after getting the shiny new box-set, I popped in the first disk and before I knew it I had lost 4 hours and was itching to see the rest of it. In two days it was over and I was still hungry for more. So I watched all the episodes that have commentary. I watched them again with my little sister. And then again at my ridiculously late birthday party. I was hooked, but without any way to get a fix. Thankfully, Serenity, the movie based on the series came out on DVD and managed to give me some smidgen of closure, but Whedon had turned me into a believer. Now I was one of those crazy Whedon fans, and loving it.

I hate that Fox cancelled Firefly and Arrested Development, two of the best TV shows I've ever seen. But at least I can have them on DVD, ready to watch whenever the fancy hits me. I do wonder however what DVDs do to re-runs....