Jackson 5 cartoon et al. (1 Viewer)

[MattPeriolat]

With the recent passing of Michael Jackson, it got me thinking about the vast amount of TV material produced by him and his brothers. Now, obviously the music videos are out there in various formats, but I was wondering about stuff like the Rankin-Bass Jackson 5 cartoons for example and if a release is more likely now with his passing and the uptick in popularity.

Incidentally, I did hear on CNN this morning that, at least as of 1993 and the Oprah interview, Michael had a copy of every single TV show he had done. Needless to say, his estate can make a fortune off the DVD releases of some of those interviews and early shows alone.

Anyway, just curious about the cartoon and other goodies.

 

[Regulus]

All I know is one Bootlegger TRIPLED his prices yesterday for the Jackson 5ive Cartoons he's selling.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Ghouls, honestly, what more be said?

Then again, family member got snookered by a bootlegger recently too. Sad really.

Anyway, hope a legit release may be in the offing before too long.

 

[TV_Fan]

I watched the cartoon when I was a kid and would love to see it again. I don't think I'd buy a DVD set though. Quite honestly though I have a feeling there's going to be so many problems with Michael Jackson's estate that this show will never get a DVD release.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Problems? How so? It's a way to generate revenue to pay down any debts and help support the kids.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

1) It isn't likely that the interest in some of this stuff, like the cartoons, is going to outlast the two or three news cycles while Jackson's name is prominent in the news, before Korea or Iran or the next celebrity sex scandal pushes him off the front pages and the evening news. Even if there were no potential legal issues it would be almost impossible to get product organized, digitized, mastered, replicated and into stores in time to cash in.

2) Even if he was very careful about wills and trusts, etc. (and some of the business lawsuits he's been involved in and the sale of Neverland suggest he may not have been very good when it came to his finances) it will likely take years to settle his estate. Not only may various family members challenge his intended disposition of his money and property, I believe there are still several business lawsuits pending and the remaining payments on various legal settlements. No one can divvy up Jackson's "wealth" until they determine what he actually still owned at the time of his death.

Snice he obviously won't be going out and earning any new future income to satisfy any judgments that may result from his legal difficulties, all that's left are Jackson's net assets (what he owned when he died, less what he owed) and any future royalties from his body of work.

If some of those lawsuits go against him, all royalties from certain properties, or even ownership of certain items, may go to the plaintiffs.

This is definitely going to be a legal muddle that will take quite a long time to sort out. And that's if it doesn't turn ugly between family, friends, employees and hangers-on and produce a bunch of lawsuits amond the potential heirs, which I wouldn't bet on.

Regards,

Joe

 

[AnthonyC]

News reports are stating that Michael had ~100 completed unreleased songs intended for his children after his death. My guess is that those would take priority over any Jackson 5 cartoon.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

The Jackson 5 cartoon wouldn't have anything to do with Jackson or his estate, music legal rights-wise.

The music used in that show would've all been stuff from the Motown days, and who knows who controls that at this point. And this is assuming that the rights holders would give a fair enough price for the music to be used for a DVD release.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Chances are the odds would have been better about a week ago. With Michael gone now, with money to be made, the prices skyrocket.

A pity, really. Granted, sales might not have been tremendous, but still, fun to see.

 

[Statskeeper]

There's also 2 Jackson summer replacement series done for CBS in the mid-70s. The girls were also featured on those shows. They had left Motown at that point so I don't know who produced it. Those shows were never in syndication.

As far as the cartoon it may be a rights issue, not in terms of the music but who owns it - Rankin/Bass and any successors, or Motown and successors. The Motown music catalog is now in the Universal Music Group, and the songs of that period were written by Motown staff writers. Since it's rarely been in syndication (the last time I saw it was a decade ago - the then UPN affiliate in Boston used to run it at 6am weekdays) there may be a lot of MJ fans who don't know about it.

 

[Mark Lx]

My dream has long been a set of all the Jackson 5(+) TV shows and appearances (including the cartoon) from the 70s.

 

[MattPeriolat]

Like to think we'll get them now with MJ gone, but sounds like rights issues are floating around out there and will probably cost a fortune to re-secure them given the desire to have them now.

Sad to say, I do agree with the opinion that Jackson is worth more dead than he was alive.

 

[David Rain]

The reality is that you're going to see a lot of Jackson stuff put out. Hopefully some of it will be genuinely good like the cartoon series. I'm surprised it's not already out since it's very well remembered.

I'd also love to have the Jackson variety show in all it's kitsch glory. However, I'm sure music rights issues are the main problem there. But perhaps a compilation of certain episdoes would be possible.

 

[oscar_merkx]

I think you will see lots of J5 stuff.

They even filmed his rehearsels for the upcoming tour