ABC After School Special box set: why? And why not?

The 13-disc ABC After School Special box set. I know what you're saying, because I'm saying it, too: "It's $60. And you've already learned most of these lessons. And you've got enough crap."

But if you're anything like me, you're also saying, "There's a special called Did You Hear What Happened to Andrea? aka Andrea's Story: A Hitchhiking Tragedy? Oh, that sounds awesome."

I think it's hilarious that they had to make an After School Special to tell kids that hitchhiking is dangerous. Although maybe hitchhiking was never really that dangerous until the word circulated around the serial killer community that America's highways were like a smorgasbord, and then the word got out to the ABC After School Special people (mind you, I'm not saying that the producers of the ABC After School Specials had contacts in the serial killer community ... although maybe they did) and they made Did You Hear What Happened to Andrea? aka Andrea's Story: A Hitchhiking Tragedy and used the fear-mongering power of tv ("Bathroom germs will kill you and your family. Tonight on Local 6 Action News!") to get the word out about hitchhiking.

I am, of course, working under the assumption that Did You Hear What Happened to Andrea? aka Andrea's Story: A Hitchhiking Tragedy involves the ... y'know ... bad stuff that can happen to a hitchhiking teen, and the tragedy isn't that Andrea was counting on hitchhiking to the prom and couldn't get a ride and ended up missing the prom. I mean, missing the prom is vaguely tragic, especially if you had a nice dress and were hoping for a nice venereal disease (as they were known then), but it's not as tragic as ... y'know ... the bad stuff that can happen.

But $60, man! I really need to join a ring of DVD thieves. But like, one of those DVD theft rings that lets you join without having to do any actual stealing yourself. True, the creators of the DVD's will lose income because of the theft, but it's not like ol' hitchhiking-tragedy Andrea is in any condition to enjoy her royalties.