On a friend's recommendation, the first several workout tapes I ever had were the all from the Firm. At the time, I had just left a job where I had access to a great gym, and I was just relieved to find that I really could get a decent strength workout at home. I didn't much notice the style, frankly, because I was just glad I'd found a way to sweat.
As soon as I started branching out, though, I started trading some of my Firms away because of all the same complaints everyone else has, including the make-up, the seductive voices, the horrible outfits, etc. I was so relieved to discover there are alternatives. When I do BodyMax (my only Cathe weight training so far, although I'm looking forward to the DVD 8-pack) I find her down-to-business approach to be an incredibly refreshing change of pace. I haven't yet experienced trader's regret with respect to any of the Firms I've gotten rid of.
But some of my Firm tapes are keepers -- I won't be parting with them in the forseeable future. I love love love Tough Tape, Firm Strength, and Firm Cardio. They're all great, tough workouts, with less of some of the horrible features than some of their older workouts. I'm going to keep Upper Body and Standing Legs for the time being, despite the fact that they do rub me the wrong way, because I don't have anything else that fits that same niche in my collection (45 minutes, upper or lower not both). (Lots of people think Standing Legs is the toughest leg workout in existence, but I will trade away Upper Body if I ever find an appropriate substitute however.) And I have been coveting Maximum Body Sculpting with Tracy Long for more than a year because I like her so much in Tough Tape, but I refuse to pay Firm Direct's full-price for it so I hope it goes retail someday.