You can (and probably do) stream great TV shows to your heart’s content, but there’s no guarantee the show you’re looking for won’t vanish from your favorite streaming service mid-binge, or be there at all. Owning Blu-rays is not a thing of the past—it’s a low-cost guarantee that the great shows you love will always be available to watch as many times as you like. And now that Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days are here, it’s your chance to stock your shelves with some of the greatest TV series of all time.
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$55.99
It’s almost inconceivable today that a quiet series built around a rural sheriff, his young son, his inept deputy, and a positively quaint cast of small-town characters could be as successful and influential as The Andy Griffith Show was. Solid storytelling and acting—Don Knotts won five Emmys for his portrayal of Barney Fife—and that earworm opening theme made this a hit.
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$15.99
Nickelodeon wasn’t just creating slime-based game shows in the 2000s. Although the groundbreaking fantasy-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender was often mistakenly believed to be derived from a Japanese anime series, it was actually a Nickelodeon creation. And the ATLA franchise continues to roll ahead with a planned live-action remake series in the offing for Netflix.
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$24.99
Raise a glass in tribute to the late Kevin Conroy, who memorably gave the Caped Crusader his intimidating voice in the 1992-95 run of this great show. Speaking of which, see how many other superstar voices you can pick out in Batman: The Complete Animated Series. Mark Hamill, Ed Asner, Melissa Gilbert, Ron Perlman, Roddy McDowell, Marilu Henner, and more lent their talents to this series.
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$49.99
When Battlestar Galactica launched in 1978, it was a kinda-hokey 1978 sci-fi series clearly made to capitalize on the Star Wars phenomenon. Nobody could have predicted then that the franchise would be reimagined in 2003 as a prestige TV drama starring Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell. The updated version clearly outshines the original here.
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$59.99
Before you ask “why should I buy the complete series of a show that seems to never not be on in reruns somewhere,” ask yourself which episode from The Big Bang Theory’s 12-year run was your favorite. You know you have one. Then buy the Blu-ray, queue it up, and find yourself watching the entire hilarious run of this nerdy classic.
7 / 21
$69.99
Between the 2006-2013 original and the 2021 reboot miniseries, Dexter got nine more seasons out of a show based on a serial killer than anyone thought possible. The hooks were Michael C. Hall’s ability to make Dexter Morgan smart, funny, charming, and—alarmingly—relatable.
8 / 21
$68.99
Grab this one now and you can binge the original Frasier just as the reboot of the series arrives this month on Paramount+. There are 264 episodes of solid laughs in this Cheers spin-off, which centers on the character that launched Kelsey Grammer’s long and storied career.
9 / 21
$99.99
Skip the much-maligned final season if you want, but Game Of Thrones is one of HBO’s all-time best series, and maybe one of the best TV series ever. Keep this set on your shelf for whenever you’re feeling like a good long, intense binge session.
10 / 21
$26.99
This iconic series is over 70 years old, yet it’s still worth revisiting just to marvel at seeing history being made. The 2021 film Being The Ricardos with Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem in the starring roles sparked new interest in “I Love Lucy,” and you’ll still be amazed at what a gifted physical comedian Lucille Ball was in her prime.
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$29.99
Video games have long been notorious sources for truly terrible live-action film and TV adaptations. (Doom starring The Rock? Super Mario Brothers starring John Leguizamo and Bob Hoskins?) Then came The Last Of Us, a true masterpiece that breaks the mold for game adaptations, thanks in no small part to brilliant performances by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
12 / 21
$21.99
Lightning struck twice for Greg Daniels in the Aughts—first with The Office, and then with the more-subtle, somewhat underappreciated Parks And Recreation, which featured one of TV’s great ensemble casts. Amy Poehler absolutely nails the Midwestern Nice vibe as Leslie Knope, and Nick Offerman’s Ron Swanson is an all-time classic character.
13 / 21
$108.99
We’ve lost count of the number of Star Trek spin-offs, but The Next Generation was the first, and it remains one of the best. TNG introduced the world to the Holodeck, Q, (sorta) friendly Klingons, “make it so,” and many more integral parts of Trek lore.
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$38.99
While many of the spinoffs, sequels, and prequels are outstanding, for old-school Star Trek fans there’s no beating the original. Star Trek ran for only three seasons and was canceled by NBC over 50 years ago, yet it remains one of the best-known television series of all time. Boldly go back and rewatch the whole series.
15 / 21
$81.99
The Star Trek franchise’s reputation for groundbreaking content was burnished by Voyager’s seven-season run. With the formidable Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) at the helm and Borg escapee Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) at her side, the two strongest and most compelling characters in Voyager are women.
16 / 21
$19.99
Both Superman and Batman were reborn as top-notch animated series in the 1990s, perhaps as a precursor to the coming era of huge-budget superhero movies. Superman: The Animated Series only lasted for three seasons, but it’s a solid representation of the Man of Steel and the other heroes and villains of Metropolis.
17 / 21
$129.99
Maybe it’s because it was on The WB and then The CW rather than one of the prestige streaming services or pay networks, but Supernatural managed to somehow largely fly under the radar for an amazing 15 seasons. It’s a worthy binge, full of monsters, demons, gods, and a goodly amount of evil-slaying gore.
18 / 21
$27.99
Here’s a true lost classic. This early ’80s USA Network horror anthology was produced by Night Of The Living Dead legend George A. Romero. On one hand Tales From The Darkside is low-budget and a little schlocky, often hilariously so. But some of the episodes were derived from stories by heavyweights like Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, and Clive Barker. Well worth the trip down Memory Lane.
19 / 21
$49.99
Next year will mark 60 years since the original Twilight Zone went off the air, yet even today the mere mention of the show will spark a long and fun debate over which episode was the best. Whichever episode wins the argument, odds are it’s one written by deadpan narrator Rod Serling—he penned 92 of the 156 episodes captured on this Blu-ray set.
20 / 21
$67.99
The post-Kevin Costner plans for Yellowstone may still be up in the air, so go back and enjoy this limited-edition set includes the first four seasons of Taylor Sheridan’s modern Western. The bonus prequel, 1883, stars real-life country superstar couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and quintessential screen cowboy Sam Elliott.
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