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Frank Soyke

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Jack P said:
Posted a Facebook question on whether FBI S7 is close now and got a yes on that. Also asked about the three titles that have had their music released by Film Score Monthly in the past, "Cain's Hundred", "Jericho" and "The Eleventh Hour". Here's the answer.

"CAIN has clearance issues, and needs to be remastered, so the prospects are iffy, JERICHO should appear in due course, ELEVENTH HOUR is cleared, but must be remastered in order to be released on DVD (or streaming)."

So that means a good chance for "Jericho" this year I think. "Eleventh Hour" maybe if remastering begins soon but if it doesn't then it could be longer. Hadn't heard before about clearance issues on "Cain's Hundred".
If we take this announcement into consideration and piece it together with various other responses they have given to questions over the past few months, we can make a few conclusions:

1) Cain's is probably out for now. The other two, if released at all, will not be coming out any time soon.

2) Nothing coming up soon on 77 or Hawaiian Eye

3) No timetable on the next season of Alice

4) Daktari (3) and FBI (7) should be coming sooner than later.

5) Bronco and Sugarfoot (3) should be coming soon.

6) Kildare (2) just came out, so be probably shouldn't expect 3 real soon.

That still leaves some pretty big gaps for the year. Of their remaining rotating shows, only Medical Center and Falcon Crest have not been mentioned.
That still leaves room for plenty of new ones... but what?
 

Neil Brock

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Jack P said:
The bigger question with "The FBI" is if we'll see it completely finished by year's end. With three seasons released last year, I felt the chances to get the last three in this year were good, but if we don't see S7 until say, late March or early April, that might make it a little more iffy.
It could take a while. They haven't remastered FBI but have been using the existing transfers that were done to tape for syndication at some point. However, and I am not a big follower of the show so don't hold me to this, the last 2 or possibly 3 seasons were not in the syndication package. Therefore there is the possibility that tape transfers might not have been done.
 

Jack P

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S1 was older masters, but I think some of the later releases were remastered or at least an effort was made to improve the elements since some episodes had the "Ford Motor Company Presents" part of the intro restored. Warner had said they were going to try to restore to that to whatever episodes it could be done for.

S9 with Shelly Novack (and which restored the original long version of the opening theme from S1 and S2) was indeed not syndicated originally.
 

Neil Brock

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I don't understand why the Turner/MGM stuff has to be remastered anyway. Ted had the entire library beautifully transfered to tape when he bought the company in the mid-80s. All of the shows that TNT ran, Shenandoah, Mr. Novak, Cain's Hundred, etc., looked fantastic. Why can't they just use the 1-inch transfers that already exist?
 

JMas

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Neil Brock said:
I don't understand why the Turner/MGM stuff has to be remastered anyway. Ted had the entire library beautifully transfered to tape when he bought the company in the mid-80s. All of the shows that TNT ran, Shenandoah, Mr. Novak, Cain's Hundred, etc., looked fantastic. Why can't they just use the 1-inch transfers that already exist?
How The West Was Won (the James Arness TV series from MGM and shown on TNT) didn't look that great on the Season 1 release. I don't know how it sold, but I haven't heard anything about Seasons 2 and 3 being released. Even Gunsmoke appears to be stalled after the first 9 seasons.
 

smithbrad

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Neil Brock said:
I don't understand why the Turner/MGM stuff has to be remastered anyway. Ted had the entire library beautifully transfered to tape when he bought the company in the mid-80s. All of the shows that TNT ran, Shenandoah, Mr. Novak, Cain's Hundred, etc., looked fantastic. Why can't they just use the 1-inch transfers that already exist?
I'm not sure if these particular shows warrant it as much, but the typical reason if transferring to HD is that it can be done better and will have a better market in future syndication. I have no complaints with the results CBS has been producing in that regard.

Being that "A Man Called Shenandoah; is a single season probably removes it from that consideration. I read somewhere that 5 episodes were lost, is that true? Is it showing currently with all 34 episodes or just 29? My guess is that they didn't get any closure to the show since it got cancelled after one seasons? Sounds interesting though.
 

smithbrad

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JMas said:
Even Gunsmoke appears to be stalled after the first 9 seasons.
I would not say that Gunsmoke is stalled. I'm betting season 10 will be out before year end, but probably not before summer since it was not listed as remastered yet. I think you have to go a year without a release before declaring it stalled, especially with the attention CBS gives to series like this with regards to remastering in HD first.
 

Gary16

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smithbrad said:
I
Being that "A Man Called Shenandoah; is a single season probably removes it from that consideration. I read somewhere that 5 episodes were lost, is that true? Is it showing currently with all 34 episodes or just 29? My guess is that they didn't get any closure to the show since it got cancelled after one seasons? Sounds interesting though.
There are 34 episodes of AMCS on the Warner Instant Archive.
 

Frank Soyke

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smithbrad said:
I would not say that Gunsmoke is stalled. I'm betting season 10 will be out before year end, but probably not before summer since it was not listed as remastered yet. I think you have to go a year without a release before declaring it stalled, especially with the attention CBS gives to series like this with regards to remastering in HD first.
I know this isn't a CBS thread, but since you brought it up, I'm really not sure the direction CBS is going in for this year. Nothing new announced on Gunsmoke or Bonanza and no news on any more seasons of Hillbillies or Junction. The release schedule is out through May already so I'm not really sure what they are looking out for the second half of the year.
 

smithbrad

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Neil Brock said:
See how falsehoods get spread.
Note the use of the question mark. You see if I had phrased it as a statement then that might be construed as an attempt to perpetuate a falsehood, but by cleverly using a question mark it is a sign of trying to determine the truth and set the record straight. Gary16 managed to interpret the question correctly and provide a useful response. However, I'm not quite sure exactly what value yours provided?
 

smithbrad

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Frank Soyke said:
I know this isn't a CBS thread, but since you brought it up, I'm really not sure the direction CBS is going in for this year. Nothing new announced on Gunsmoke or Bonanza and no news on any more seasons of Hillbillies or Junction. The release schedule is out through May already so I'm not really sure what they are looking out for the second half of the year.
Just my personal take, but when it appears that CBS has stalled on one series it has sometimes just been that they refocused on another or started something new. It doesn't always appear that new resources are being added as much as being moved around.

In the last 16 months they have released 5 seasons of Star Trek TNG and a few of Enterprise on Blu-ray, and we have upcoming releases of Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, and The Andy Griffith Show all coming to Blu-ray in the next few months, so I don't think they have exactly been quiet. Now all these Blu-ray releases could signal a change in direction, but I don't think so, at least not for the bigger titles like Gunsmoke and Bonanza that still have many seasons left to be released. They've invested too much in those series to quit now when they are so close to the Gunsmoke color seasons and Bonanza Lost Years, which while maybe not the best of either series, might actually be quite marketable for future syndication. I think they just got behind in the remastering process for some, which takes time, while working on other projects. I believe it was stated Bonanza season 7 is in process. My guess is that we will still see the next seasons of Gunsmoke and Bonanza before the year is out.

As for PJ and HB, I think that they showed somewhat of their hand with those quick releases last Fall. That gives me the impression they haven't given up on them or they wouldn't have remastered them for HD. However, there are some other series that I believe have been completely remastered but not released on DVD. So while I can't see them stopping short because of future HD syndication, it is still hard to say whether sales were enough to warrant continued DVD releases.

So my prediction, they are experimenting with other Blu-ray releases this year, after the success of Star Trek TNG to gauge consumer interest (although there initial pricing strategy leaves a lot to be desired), but will at least continue with DVD releases of their main unfinished titles going forward.
 

LeoA

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Frank Soyke said:
I know this isn't a CBS thread, but since you brought it up, I'm really not sure the direction CBS is going in for this year. Nothing new announced on Gunsmoke or Bonanza and no news on any more seasons of Hillbillies or Junction. The release schedule is out through May already so I'm not really sure what they are looking out for the second half of the year.
Seems too soon to expect news for Petticoat Junction and the Beverly Hillbillies. Judging by the many 1st hand reports of them moving well at local Wal-Mart's at communities like this one, I think we're safe and further general retail sales are just icing on the cake for these two.

Besides worry that they will chop later seasons apart due to all the singing in Petticoat Junction, I think we're guaranteed more as long as Wal-Mart continues to be willing to widely carry them.

Not sure what's up for Bonanza but I imagine they overdid it a bit in 2012. I suspect we'll get at least 1 more season this year since we're closing in on a year since the last release. And Gunsmoke they perhaps were releasing a bit too quickly and are also slowing it down.

I really doubt they went from 3-4 seasons or so a year to stalling out. I bet they've just decided to spread things out again. Another possibility is that they're busy remastering content and maybe we'll get another year full of each again.

They've slowed down before.
 

JMas

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2015 will mark 60 years since the premiere of Gunsmoke (1955) and 40 years since the end of its 20-year run (1975). I would think that slowing down the releases would cost them sales as fewer fans of the show will still be around to buy them.

Perhaps since it continues to be shown in syndication, there will be new fans wanting to buy uncut, remastered sets. I hope I will still be around to get all 20 seasons.
 

AndyMcKinney

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Sky Captain said:
Wouldn't The Drew Carey Show be a pressed DVD box set instead of a Warner Archive release?
Not necessarily, since the pressed release of Season One, allegedly, didn't meet sales expectations (I assume you mean "retail release" when you say "pressed" as several of WB Archive TV titles are actually pressed, at least initial batches).

This is what happened with Night Court: it began as a show aimed at retail markets, and although it had a dedicated following, didn't sell high-enough numbers and got put into limbo until the WB Archive program was rolled out, then, remaining seasons came out as Archive releases (though still on pressed media).

I suspect with music clearance costs, the only way we'll see any more seasons of Drew Carey Show would be from the Archive, because they will be able to charge higher prices for these than would be had at retail (where titles often get steep markdowns after initial release). About the most you'll ever save on a WB Archive title is 30% if you wait for a really good coupon.
 

Neil Brock

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smithbrad said:
Note the use of the question mark. You see if I had phrased it as a statement then that might be construed as an attempt to perpetuate a falsehood, but by cleverly using a question mark it is a sign of trying to determine the truth and set the record straight. Gary16 managed to interpret the question correctly and provide a useful response. However, I'm not quite sure exactly what value yours provided?
I've refuted that fairy tale several times on these forums and just got frustrated over how people keep mentioning it over and over. Its was based either on how many TNT ran (and they didn't run full series on most older series) or how many got taped by collectors. Someone decided that since they could only get that number of episodes, then of course the others must have disappeared from the vaults. As happens time and again, incorrect information gets mentioned in one place and immediately gets spread around as "fact".
 

Jack P

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The answer they keep giving on Spenser is they'd like to but there are clearance issues, though they imply they're working on it.

The one thing you have to give Warner credit for above CBS is that you *never* have to worry about an actual release compromised in the music category.
 

Frank Soyke

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smithbrad said:
Just my personal take, but when it appears that CBS has stalled on one series it has sometimes just been that they refocused on another or started something new. It doesn't always appear that new resources are being added as much as being moved around.

In the last 16 months they have released 5 seasons of Star Trek TNG and a few of Enterprise on Blu-ray, and we have upcoming releases of Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, and The Andy Griffith Show all coming to Blu-ray in the next few months, so I don't think they have exactly been quiet. Now all these Blu-ray releases could signal a change in direction, but I don't think so, at least not for the bigger titles like Gunsmoke and Bonanza that still have many seasons left to be released. They've invested too much in those series to quit now when they are so close to the Gunsmoke color seasons and Bonanza Lost Years, which while maybe not the best of either series, might actually be quite marketable for future syndication. I think they just got behind in the remastering process for some, which takes time, while working on other projects. I believe it was stated Bonanza season 7 is in process. My guess is that we will still see the next seasons of Gunsmoke and Bonanza before the year is out.

As for PJ and HB, I think that they showed somewhat of their hand with those quick releases last Fall. That gives me the impression they haven't given up on them or they wouldn't have remastered them for HD. However, there are some other series that I believe have been completely remastered but not released on DVD. So while I can't see them stopping short because of future HD syndication, it is still hard to say whether sales were enough to warrant continued DVD releases.

So my prediction, they are experimenting with other Blu-ray releases this year, after the success of Star Trek TNG to gauge consumer interest (although there initial pricing strategy leaves a lot to be desired), but will at least continue with DVD releases of their main unfinished titles going forward.
They also have listed re-masters on High Chapparal and Our Miss Brooks Season 1. I'm curious whether either of these see the light of day on a DVD release by the end of the year.
 

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