DVD Box Sets of TV Shows Are Pure Evil

This holiday season, have some pity on your friends and relatives—spare them the DVD box sets of their favorite TV shows. "The DVD box set is the newest and most terrifying form of ritualistic abuse we inflict on one another," writes Grady Hendrix. Not only are we compelling our loved ones to hours of boob-tube servitude, but non-stop shotgunning makes even the best series seem shallow and transparent.

"Television episodes were never meant to be viewed in rapid fire order," writes Hendrix for Slate. The weighty ending shot of Mad Men's Donald Draper in his underlit suburban home loses its punch after four consecutive viewings. Six episodes in a row will reveal that Curb Your Enthusiasm "plotlines are actually all the same plotline." And on and on. It's time to ask: Isn't "the arrival of Jake and the Fat Man on DVD a sign that perhaps we've overpreserved?" (More DVD stories.)