The Jeffersons: Season Three? (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Gantt]

After watching Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley win Best Cantankerous Couple at the 2004 TV Land Awards, it made me wonder: Where's season 3? Has Columbia given up on George and Weezy?

 

[Andrew Radke]

I'll be extremely disappointed if they gave up on this series. As I said in a post months ago, all of these episodes are new to me. I didn't watch it growing up, and it's not on syndication anywhere around here, so the DVD sets are the only way to thoroughly enjoy it. I've been anxiously awaiting an official word about season 3. Seeing as it's been about a year since S2 came out, I'm hoping it's not far off.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I don't think they've given up on season 3, I think that its been given a lower priority much like All in the Family possibly due to sales. Its not that sales were poor, its just other stuff sold better and CTS wants to get it on the market faster. That is my suspicion on this release, though I don't have much to go on other than just my gut feeling. I'm sure we'll see other seasons of the Jeffersons probably even season 3 before the end of the year but again its just a guess.

 

[Rob P S]

I hope they at least get up to the "killer rabbit" episode in Season 6.

 

[Chris:L]

I want to know why The Jeffersons and All In The Family aren't selling well. I mean, they lasted longer than any other of Lears' programs.

I hope they didn't cancel the series but I'm having doubts.

 

[Malcolm R]

I think they jumped the gun on "classic TV on DVD" a bit. Much of the audience for those shows may not even have a DVD player yet, and many others don't see any reason to buy TV on DVD...my Mom being one. We were talking the other day about TV shows, and we mentioned one (which I forget) and she remarked that "that's the one show I might buy on DVD."

Other than that, she's content with cable reruns.

 

[Chris:L]

first of all, they're uncut.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

The only thing I have trouble explaining is how Sanford and Son is selling better than the others, we'll throw Good Times in with Jeffersons and All in the Family since it was a year between season 1 and season 2 of Good Times. I would expect that all of those shows would pretty much sell in the same range, but obviously S&S is doing better because its coming out at a much faster clip.

But, don't fool yourself, current shows are always going to outsell classic shows no matter how great a show it is. If you went by public sentament for a show then M*A*S*H and the Simpsons would be battling for top sales all the time, but it just isn't happening.

How long the show ran on TV also has very little to do with how well it may or may not sell on DVD. In fact, shows running longer might be at a disadvantage if people decide that they don't wish to buy 11 seasons of a TV show for instance.

The biggest reason that how long it ran on TV has nothing to do with it selling on DVD is this. All of these shows were on the networks, and it cost you nothing to watch them. Now, if you want to watch them on DVD you've got to shell out cash, and like Malcolm said the audience for this show is not as inclined to purchase them on DVD. The fact that the episodes are uncut really doesn't matter to them, I know that my mom probably thinks "Why would I want to buy The Jeffersons on DVD, when I can turn on the satalite which I'm already paying for and watch it on TV land?" Essentually, why spend more money than you have to?

I wonder if any studio has done any kind of survey about the types of demographics buying TV on DVD. I bet the audience scews younger, I've got a hunch that the difference between the amount bought by 18-34 year olds and 35-older is pretty wide.

 

[Chris:L]

then potentially it's a bad idea to release tv shows on DVD.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I’ll warn you all now that this is a longish sort of post, but I got inspired. Most of it is stuff we all already know anyway.




In the case of some shows, a DVD release could be a bad idea, but I wouldn’t say that it was a bad idea in the case of AITF or the Jeffersons. I think that what happened was that Columbia released the first seasons of a number of these shows, and watched a pecking order fall in to place as a result of sales. They saw some shows do well and gave them a higher priority than those that sold less.
It makes sense from a business standpoint even if as a fan it is frustrating to go 17 months between releases of AITF. Yet, this 17 month time frame will shrink as time goes by because sooner rather than later all 6 seasons of Sanford and Son will be on DVD, and that will be off the list and then everything can move up the priority scale.

There is a risk involved in releasing TV on DVD though. Now, I would say that the risk is not as great as it used to be. Remember that this is a relatively new phenomenon and at the beginning like with any new concept the studios tried many things to see what would work and what wouldn’t. They all had to feel their way through the process, and now they’re starting to show what they’ve learned, making the risk less likely.
I’ll list a few examples of what I’m talking about. The Mary Tyler Moore show is a hot topic of discussion around these parts. The show is critically acclaimed and Fox made MTM 1 of its earlier classic shows to hit DVD. They gave it a nice box set with some really great and newly produced extras, and it didn’t do so well in sales. But, I bet that Fox has learned from the failure of this show and has assimilated what they’ve learned in to a new strategy.
There are very few sure things when dealing with TV on DVD. With movies it is easier to tell how well a movie will perform in DVD sales, just by looking at the Box Office. I’m sure Disney was thrilled by the success of Finding Nemo on DVD, but I doubt that it came as a total surprise to them given the great box office the film had. TV doesn’t have anything like this to go on. Ratings aren’t a good beromiter because the only thing its costing a person to watch a TV show is their time, its not also costing them their money unless it’s a show on a network like HBO. I would say that The Simpsons, Friends, and Seinfeld are about the biggest examples of can’t miss properties. Star Treck is another 1, that’s why Paramount had no problem putting out all of the Next Generation sets in less than a year’s time.
The risk can pay off big time though. Just look at Family Guy, the sales of that far outpaced anything Fox was expecting, and it helped lead to that canceled TV show going back in to production. I think that even if its not a ratings hit again, it won’t be a loss because hey now we can sell Family Guy volume 3, and make more money.
Image I’m sure is benefiting from a risk they took in releasing 2 seasons of the Dick Van Dyke show on the same day both priced pretty high. The sets have earned the studio some critical praise and they’ve won some awards, but they obviously thought the sets would do pretty well on DVD since they put 2 out at once.
Warner and the Looney Tunes set is another interesting study. When the Golden collection came out, all the fans knew that if we wanted more of those shorts on DVD that it would be a good idea to buy the golden collection. If that 1 had not sold well, we might have ended up with more sets in the style of the Premier collection with less extras, and if those hadn’t done well than maybe WB would’ve stopped restoring the shorts for a DVD release.
My final thought, and sorry to ramble relates to the Jeffersons season 3. It has not even been 12 months since season 2 came out, All in the Family will go 17 months between season 2’s release and season 3. So don’t give up on it just yet, I really believe we’ll see something and I believe we’ll see it before the end of the year, if we don’t know anything by the stroke of midnight Dec 31, 2004 then I’d call it dead and not have any reservations about it.

 

[MichaelFA]

Has there been ANY update whatsoever on the Jeffersons S3 situation?

 

[Andrew Radke]

We're still in the dark. When I came on here a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a few threads with the header CTHV PRESS RELEASE, and that got my hopes up for a brief second until I found that no Jeffersons were to be found........yet again.

As I said near the top of this thread, prior to these sets, I had NEVER seen an episode of 'The Jeffersons'. The only episodes I've seen are on seasons 1 & 2. It has quickly become one of my favourite shows of all-time, and since it doesn't air anywhere around here, I've been waiting on pins and needles for the release of season 3, as well as all forthcoming seasons.

The day we get the news of a release (IF we get this news), I'll be ecstatic.

 

[Tory]

Ummm, The Jeffersons do not come on TVLand, but I get your point. I have noticed a trend sneaking up of some shows not being on TV, at least cable, when some TV shows are released on DVD. Case in point: Jonny Quest left Boomerang right before the DVD was released and Three's Company went off Nick at Nite when Season 1 was released, it is back on TV Land now though. This may be a coincidence but they may start coordinating cable and syndicated reruns availability with new releases.


As for Sanford sales, I think it is more popular particularly in syndication, the same goes for Good Times in the syndication bracket which means more people over time had/have a chance to see it and like it. I know more local stations air them and many have abandoned classic television except these programs and a handful of others but these are most consistent. There is a certain replay value they have that seem to outlast the other two. Now All In The Family and The Jeffersons were/are popular too and do stand up to the tests of time in my mind and should do well, but what stays stays for some reason. Perhaps Sanford and Good Times are more identifiable within the modern day? Fred Sanford and JJ stand out as more appealing icons than the others for reasons unknown although Redd Foxx was a star on his own and his enduring personality is timeless. The Jeffersons seem more appealing than All In The Family which is much more appealing than Maude, not even on DVD. Those last three are measured in heaviness I think. The Jeffersons was a lighter series than All In The Family which while being hilarious, dealt with political tensions, social commentary,and issues more given to drama such as Edith's rape and as an extension of that social commentary we get Maude with an abortion among other things. This is not to say All In the Family and Maude were not funny nor that the Jeffersons, Good Times,and Sanford & Son did not have their serious moments or social/political commentary, just they went about it differently yet similarly. I'd say Good Times and Sanford & Son were more episodic, an escape with a trip into the same type of world view shared by all five programs but with a little more subversive message while All In the Family and Maude were more in your face in their time period's problems and The Jeffersons were somewhere in the middle and this accounts for accessibility to newer viewers. While Good Times was somewhat in your face as well, many can still identify with their struggles and optimistic spirit through the face of adversity.

 

[MatthewA]

Perhaps they are waiting until Sanford & Son is complete so they don't have that to worry about.

 

[R. Kay]

I believe the delay is Bentley's fault.

 

[R. Kay]

Weezie is Dead. Any More Jeffersons DVDs Coming?

She was 86 ...

 

[Chris:L]

87... and I'd like to know how this will affect the release of the show. When and if they release season 3 they should have a little featurette about her death.

 

[Andrew Radke]

I just read the full article on CNN's website. It's weird, because just this morning (no word of a lie), I saw her guest star on the show "Teen Angel", a show my 6-year old watches.

Anyway, I've been griping for ages now about the lack of "Jeffersons" sets. I think, since "Sanford & Son" is coming to an end (with s5 in the fall, and one set to follow), they should focus on releasing "The Jeffersons" at a similar pace. Every episode is new to me, so watching these sets are especially fun. Bring them on!

Rest in Peace Isabel Sanford.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

In the meantime, All in the Family Season 3 is out next week, featuring lots of great moments with Ms. Sanford (RIP).

 

[David Lambert]

Could an admin make the subject of this thread a bit less sensational? "Weezie is Dead. Any More Jeffersons DVDs Coming?" feels a bit...unsympathetic.

To answer the question, Columbia hasn't as of yet indicated any changes to DVD plans based on this situation.

And Jaime: well said! Godspeed, Isabel Sanford!