The "We GIVE UP on Season Releases Thread!" Time for some Complete Series Sets... (1 Viewer)

[Ethan Riley]

I give up. There's too many tv shows on dvd that got stalled halfway out the gate. As time goes by, the likelihood of certain releases gets diminished. But it occurs to me that Complete Series releases get more press than season releases (generally), and are typically more economical, (especially when factoring in discounts). So...is it time to just give up waiting for eventual season releases of shows that got stalled years ago? Should we just throw in the towel and start demanding Complete Series sets instead? I'd gladly give up all my unloved season one dvd sets in exchange for Complete Series sets of those same shows. Here's my short list of tv dvds that haven't seen the light of day in ages:

Hart to Hart
The Big Valley
Party of Five
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
The Jeffersons

I guess some of those shows have too many episodes to be considered for a Complete Series (I'm talking Mary Hartman here). And I'm sure consumers would be kinda p.o.'ed if they'd bought all existing 6 seasons of the Jeffersons only to be told they can't get seasons 7-11 unless they buy the whole thing over again. But at this point, I've fairly given up hope of completing these series unless the studios get off their fat butts and do it for me...

 

[smithb]

Well...considering many stalled due to less then expected sales, I would doubt studios would be that interested in taking on the expense and risk of producing complete sets. Lets face it complete series sets at the beginning is much riskier then distributing that expense across multiple series one season at a time. It's sort of like diversifying your investments, if you put all your eggs into one basket and it flops you're in a much deeper heap of trouble then if you spread it around.

There are many benefits to studios releasing complete series packages after individual season sets. For example, all they have to really pay for is new packaging the biggest cost has already been expended in the seasons sets, so this is like gravy to them. The fact that they have all seasons already out means it is a known commodity. With complete series sets they are waiting to get those they missed the first time around and hoping to even entice some to rebuy the whole thing.


Now the "Alley McBeal" release will be interesting since they are attempting to go the other way. A complete series package from the get go to entice the biggest fans, while releasing individual seasons over time to get those not quite sure. I doubt they would have attempted this approach if they weren't fairly confident of the results. After all they have the sales of the other region sets to support their conclusions. It will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

 

[cineMANIAC]

Its funny how other countries get better stuff than we do for our own material! For instance, up north (Canada) they're getting a complete series set for Gimme A Break, whereas we poor Americans aren't big enough fans of a show that was on the air for six years to warrant further releases past the first season. I guess this show was never really popular, the studio just kept producing episodes for the fun of it. Moral of the story: if you didn't buy the first season, you can't expect them to follow up. I'm waiting for followups to the 90's version of The Outer Limits. I was able to pick up a Canadian set for the fourth season but I'm not gonna hold my breath for a U.S. version

 

[Regulus]

I've ordered several Canadian Releases from their division of "The Big River". What's really WIERD about these releases is when I boot them up on my Player, I get the "FBI Warning" instead of an "RCMP Warning".

 

[Robert13]

Don't hold your breath for a complete series set of "Gimme a Break!" just yet. VEI has a track record for delaying releases. If they can't get a single season out without a hitch, then a complete series set seems a bit far-fetched. Don't get me wrong. I hope it happens. But if it does, it won't happen until late next year or 2011. It's only in the planning stages right now. They aren't even considering a release date yet.

 

[TV_Fan]

I'm trying hard not to get my hopes up with Gimme A Break, but now that they've completed Kate & Allie I think it's more reasonable to expect such a release. It makes more sense for them to release a complete series anyway.

 

[MatthewA]

Gimme A Break still has the music rights elephant in the room to contend with, which Kate & Allie did not. Seasons 1 and 2 made it out unscathed. But 3-6 have more music. Some music rights holder is being obstinate perhaps?

I pray the Ally McBeal set breaks even so studios reconsider their throw-a-season-to-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks strategy.

 

[LizH]

Where are the final two seasons of "Sabrina The Teenage Witch"?


Some of us here are waiting for Barbara Eden!

 

[David Rain]

I love the idea of having a complete series set come out first. However, it's a big expensive gamble for a studio to do that. A lot of people simply will not splurge for an entire series when they only want certain seasons. Even people who might want a whole series might pass on buying it because of the price tag. I hope the recent example of "It's Garry Shandling's Show" will cause more series to get a complete set released first. In the case of this show it's very smart since it likely would not have sold well individually for all the seasons to come out separately. Especially since the higher-profile "Larry Sanders" did not do well.

I'd prefer to jump ahead to a Gimme A Break complete series since I doubt that the rest will get released any other way. I wish they'd started out with this idea. I'm afraid the hard truth about this series is that any music rights problems will likely be solved by editing those parts out. I don't think GAB is considered an important enough series for very much time or effort to be put into keeping the music complete.