THE WONDER YEARS (Consolidated Thread; No New Ones, Please!)

Well, I'd like to get to the bottom of this issue as soon as possible. Is it going to be released in 2005 or not? Please, someone give us an answer.

From EW (2/25/05):

"[Fox] company rep Steve Feldstein says only, "We've got it on the schedule, but there are hurdles to clear prior to a firm release date."

Cool! Too bad I crawl up into a ball and start crying in writhing agony every time I see the show due to too much empathy for Kevin's exploits. This show hurts me so much, at least it did then, I felt it too much. Maybe now I have matured past but I don't know.

Thanks for the news, Anthony!

I would buy all of the seasons of the Wonder Years today if they were available.

Looks like hope for the Wonder Years!!

Everyone check out the news section over at TVshowsondvd.com
It looks as if The Wonder Years may actually happen!!
Way to go Fox!
Now, if we could only get them to do the same for WKRP!!

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...9&pagenumber=2

Music licensing didn't seem to hold up Murphy Brown... tons of original recordings used by original artists and I bought the whole first season for $23. Even if music IS the issue, witness the success that was the Freaks and Geeks set. Higher price but the music stayed the same, which is what fans wanted.

Maybe the issue at this point is we're getting used to paying less and less, not more, for TV titles. The creators of the show might have to go the Freaks and Geeks route, but then you're also asking fans to buy several seasons, not just one boxed set. Would you shell out $500-$700 to own the entire Wonder Years library?

I might, but I don't know. I DO know I would not buy it without the original music at any price. Music made too much of a difference in the mood and setting of this show, and its emotional impact in many episodes would be gone without the often pitch-perfect choice of period music the Wonder Years folks came up with.

I'm just hoping we'll get the first season by the end of the year. But as people have pointed out, you can't compare any other sets to this in terms of music rights because what one publisher might think is a fair amount isn't enough for another publisher, and so on and so on.

While I could go for Quantum Leap with replaced music, Wonder Years I will not.

I can't wait! One thing though, in this news story they say Fox Home Entertainment is handling it. I thought the show was part of ABC?

TV shows are owned not by networks but by production companies. The networks pay the production companies for the right to air the shows and then (hopefully) make big bucks selling ads during that time.

"Wonder Years" originally aired on ABC, but it was produced by New World Television, which was bought by Fox in the late '90s. The syndication rights, on the other hand, are owned by Warner Bros. because New World sold those rights to Turner Broadcasting (now owned by Warner) before the sale to Fox. Confused yet?

As another example, consider "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -- produced by 20th Century Fox Television but aired on the WB (and later UPN), not on the Fox network. But the DVDs are from Fox Home Entertainment.

Any more updates?

Ive been waiting for this release for a long time. The earlier news in this thread got me excited, but I havent heard anything since.

I still haven't heard anything about this... I would love to know though because since it doesn't come on as repeats any more I am def. going through withdrawal.

Do you think this will ever see the light of day on DVD?

Bootleggers are making a living out of this.

I personally can't see how this show will make it out on dvd. We might, and I do mean "might", get lucky and have the shortened first season. That initial season only contained 6 episodes (all chocked full of great nostalgic songs). I think those six episodes might make it out in a very small "Season 1" release intact.

But I just cannot fathom seeing this show given to us in full Season sets from beginning to end - with all the music intact. And make no mistake. There is no show that relies more on it's music than the Wonder Years. You absolutely destroy the emotional impact if you remove any specific songs. So this is the one show, much more so than Miami Vice, Magnum, or WKRP, that has to have all the original music intact. It's a huge mountain for sure, but it's a mountain worth climbing. I hope Fox will do whatever it takes to give us boomers the one show that exemplifies our young lives like no other show has done. Please! Get this done - and done correctly. We just can't have any replaced music!

Gary "I'm somewhat pessimistic about any number of things, but I must say this issue has me more pessimistic than most anything else. I just don't believe Fox will get this done for us" O.

I think Fox will get this released, I just hope it is soon. I am blown away by the amount of sites that are selling the bootlegs of this, one search on google and you can understand what I mean.

Amazon has suprised me as to how many people want this on DVD aswell. I clicked on the Wonder Years DVD page to sign up for a release date and there was 147 reviews in demand for this DVD.

Anyone with any news, please post. Im getting desperate

I wouldn't count on it. This, like China Beach, are shows that are considered in Music Rights Hell and unless something drastic changes in the industry they aren't coming out.

Maybe so, but did you read the article about it being on the schedule?

Not a bad sign at all.

If it is indeed on the schedual I think it is a very bad sign. As I said, without a significant change in the industry the music rights will be so expensive that signficant music replacement is likely inevitable.

Not a bad sign because they said they was getting over the legal hurdles, so it doesnt sound as if music replacement is happening.

TVSHOWSONDVD.com is saying that Sea quest it being released after being 4th in the requested voting list. The Wonder years is 5th....Surely there will be some more information soon.

Please keep in mind Thw Wonder Years has a LOT of music to clear, which is both costly and time consuming. SeaQuest doesn't have a lot of music to clear.

Gord

Yeah thats true. I understand it takes alot of time and money, its just i've been waiting along time

I just hope it comes out one day and the article you posted on your site before gave me a fair bit of hope. Patience is the key I suppose.

Why is this so hard to understand?

When these television series were being broadcasted on television there was noi such thing as these shows being released to home video, let alone on DVD, which was unheared of. While the studios who release these shows have to pay the creators of the show, the actors and actresses who appeared on that show as well as the music artists who performed songs for that show as well as the distributor of that artist who releases their music on CD.

Those artists and the recording studios who release their music do have the right to be able to make money from their music appearing on that show and to share in the profits as well. This results in liscensing fees for that music to a new medium, home video or DVD. Often enough, when an artist creates or records music for a television series the rights, more appropriately enough, only extend to broadcast rights, not home video or DVD.

While most of us moan and complain about a particular series not being released and cry about it not being fair, it's also not fair if we expect these artists and songwriters to not able to get paid for their work when that music is transfered into a different medium, which they are entitled to.

This would be akin to someone downloading a movie, a television series or music off the internet for free. While studios cry foul when someone does download their material without paying for it so should those companies "pay" for that music if they intend to release it to DVD.

Even when new music is created for newer television shows, often enough, these studios only negotiate for broadcast rights but when it concerns a major artist sometimes they will negotiate for liscensing fees due to the fact that that show could be released to DVD.

Support the artist by telling these movie and television studios to start paying these music artists for their hard work and to pay those liscensing fees for those songs if they wish to release them to DVD.

It's not too much to ask of these studios ... isn't that right, Gord?

Im disputing the fact artists should get paid, I just don't see why it has to be ridiculous amounts..

The problem with your argument Mark is that more often than not it is not the artists who hold the music rights.

I am sure that he meant the rights-holders, but the question still stands.

Glenn

The rights holders have a reputaiton for behaving in a manner that is near extortion. If they were so pure and their demands were so reasonable they wouldn't spend so much time and effort (and threats) to make sure that they werne't publically identified.

Mark Talmadge has a valid point but as Katherine_K pointed out, not all artists owns the rights to their songs.

In fact, the rights to most songs used in TV shows such as The Wonder Years are owned by the record companies & not the artists.

Maybe that is why its been nearly a decade since I've seen it in syndication.