My Favorite TV Series

I think I have a collector's itch that needs regular scratching. Over the years I've collected baseball cards, comic books, records, movies, and other odder things (there was a stretch where I found it virtually impossible to throw away a pen, and had a couple boxes of spent ballpoints). Usually my collecting impulse is focused on just one thing, though the record collecting overlaps with most everything else. The current object of my stockpiling is Maverick, which I think I've mentioned before is my all-time favorite TV show. Having recently converted to digital cable, the stations I have access to has about quadrupled, and one of the new ones is Encore Westerns, which is airing the series three times a day in order (though the morning shows are on a different track than the afternoon shows). I already had a bunch of episodes (mostly those starring James Garner) from a video series put out years ago by Columbia House. Now, I'm filling in the gaps with the Jack Kelly, Roger Moore and (I hope) the Robert Colbert episodes. This involves tracking the airings very carefully to make sure I only get the ones I need (I'm using a DVD recorder, not Tivo, so anything I record burns a disc), and it seems to be satisfying my need to be accumulating something. Since I'm hitting the road again for a few days, I can't tell you how gratified I was to discover that only one episode I need will be aired during my absence (oh yes, I've researched the schedule so I know exactly what airs when-- that's part of the collector's idiosyncrisy), since my programming system is limited to two hours at a time. I'm not sure why I'm posting all this info, except that it gives me an excuse to talk about a favorite show (and I couldn't think of anything else to comment on-- that's a sign my compulsion also extends to blogging, I suppose).