All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Richie,

I too watched the show from the time it debuted. I love it for a lot of reasons. Your post above has convinced me to take the plunge with All In the Family.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Hey, Ockeghem, since you're a diehard AITF fan...check out my uncensored, unmoderated AITF forum at:

AITF Talk Forum - Home

You don't even have to register to post....

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Richie,

I will have a better look at it tomorrow. But at first glance, I love the colors of the background -- purples and blues. And the scrolling effect is really neat. I love that picture of Archie with the cigar!

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Archie would be jailed for crimes against humanity in todays times. Unless he was a rap star.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

I have some advice on this show-hey Sony, finish putting this show out on DVD already!

As for the show itself-yeah, the video isn't the greatest but anyone who likes classic TV needs to get at least a couple of seasons of this show. It spent years at the top of the ratings for good reason.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

I own all the available DVDs. What is interesting to me is that other Norman Lear sitcoms of the same vintage (and other 70s and 80s videotape material) look better on DVD. Right now I'm watching The Muppet Show and I'm impressed by the picture quality. Of course that was shot in PAL, yet that has been through several different owners.

I don't believe these are anywhere near first generation tapes.

If you want a good (but long) read on the state of TV and video preservation in 1996 (Ernie Kovacs fans keep away from sharp objects), here is one:

TV/Video Preservation Study: Los Angeles Public Hearing, March 1996 - National Film Preservation Board (Library of Congress)

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Is there any word on when Sony will release the last few seasons of All in the Family on DVD? I know they're not considered the best ones, but I still enjoy those final seasons a great deal and would love to have the complete series on DVD.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Sony's just being ignorant ... seems to me they just want to release any more AitF sets and they suck serious behind.

It's sad that they've completed I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched is nearly finished, Season 8, the final season, will be out by Summer.

It's really pretty sad.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Or maybe they're not releasing any further seasons because the previous ones just didn't sell that well. Anyone ever think of that ?

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

I sincerely doubt that very much

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

So do I, Mark. There are plenty of other series out there from all companies which are getting full releases that cannot possibly be selling more than ALL IN THE FAMILY, or are just as "mediocre".

Take SANFORD AND SON for instance (which I enjoy). Not only is the entire show out in individual seasons, but I just sprung for the "Complete Series Set" which has every episode for only $50.00!
The one drawback is that all the discs sit on a spindle like the way you buy blank CDs or DVD-Rs... you have to lift the stack to find one on the bottom... but I'll take it, because I still think it's a great deal. Granted, the show only ran 6 seasons, and that's how many AITF seasons are currently out...

Sorry to get off the subject of AITF there, but I'd love to see a similar "Complete Series Set" done for AITF. Maybe Sony feels that AITF runs out of steam later (though it's still a great show at least up to when Mike and Gloria leave) and maybe they assume fans aren't interested.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

^^^
Great point. I love my Sanford and Sons (bought the singles years ago). But why I don't have AitF complete right beside those is a mystery that belongs in the Bermuda flippin Triangle.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

I have to chime in here as well and say that I don't think sales alone are playing a driving force behind the decision to release AITF on dvd. They are releasing Season 4 of The Partridge Family in February and they just released Season 3 in October. Didn't they say that it takes quite a bit of time before they can measure sales? So how did they come to the decision to release Season 4 so quickly?

We're coming to 2 years since the last set was released, so maybe it will be picked up again. The thing that confuses me about Sony is the waiting between sets and the jumping around. They were back to Barney Miller after a long wait and then Just Shoot Me and The Partridge Family. It's not a consistant pattern for fans to collect. No logic. If they want to maintain interest and sales, they need to realize that fans will collect to completion. Dropping the show mid-series I think does more to alienate buyers because they will go back to the show later and find some buyers have lost interest. Just my opinion.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

I certainly don't want to deprive anyone of the entire run of the series who wants it, but speaking for myself I'd just be happy to get the next two seasons (7 and 8) and end with the final episode of season 8 where Archie breaks down while saying goodbye to Mike and Gloria.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Amen to that!

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

I always liked the one where Archie and Edith go visit Mike & gloria at Christmas and find out they are separated. That one is very much like real life. I missed recording it when it aired on TVLand years ago so I don't even have that one at all. So I'm buying every single set!! Just want that known. And then Archie Bunkers Place. I'll buy each of those too if they release more than 1.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Oy, Archie Bunker's Place...

I took a gamble and bought the DVD set of Season One. I couldn't finish it... just horrible (sorry)...

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Crazy talk. If a series is selling well, the only logical move would be to stop releasing them so they can stop making money because the studios hate generating profit.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Whether AITF was selling well (whatever THAT arbitrary term means) or not, the point is that plenty of other shows that sell the same, or maybe worse, are still being put out. You can't expect an older show like that to sell as much as THE SIMPSONS.

So did THE ODD COUPLE sell like hotcakes? I'd reckon no more than AITF did, yet all seasons were put out by Paramount - and fast, too.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Half the time, the studios are condemned for "worshipping the almighty dollar" by failing to put out worthy shows that sell badly. The other half (as in this thread), they're condemned for ignoring the almighty dollar by failing to put out a series assumed to be profitable. The reason for this peculiar behavior? Since nothing really makes sense, it's assumed to be corporate ignorance or an anti-show agenda.

What?

Why does everybody here seem to think they can determine sales figures based on other series? The fact is, most everybody is almost always wrong. Remember, DVD sales are different from ratings, or whatever ratings a series may have had thirty years ago. Some series that were less popular sell better to the segment of the population that purchases DVDs. A show like "Arrested Development" was never popular in the ratings, but the people who loved it were the sort who bought DVDs. Other shows more popular during their broadcast run do not sell well. (I'm told, by somebody I trust but without evidence, that "King of the Hill" falls into that category.) It would seem that a lot of DVD buyers have affection for escapist, high-concept series like "Bewitched," which reran in the afternoons when they were home from school (unlike, in most markets, "All in the Family").

Understand, I desperately want to buy the remaining Mike and Gloria seasons of "All in the Family" (and then I'll stop). But I'm not self-centered enough to believe that everybody else is like-minded.

How does a show like "All in the Family" sell compared to "The Odd Couple"? I have no idea. None whatsoever. But don't make the assumption that the costs to get these DVDs to market are identical, because they almost certainly are not. Also, series sales always decline as seasons progress, and retailers that have a bunch of the earlier seasons of "All in the Family" sitting around are unlikely to jump at ordering more. So getting all five seasons of a series out is less difficult than getting a longer-running series completed.

(And of course, some longer running series have been completed. But what applies to one does not apply to all.)

Sony does not want to leave money on the table. And nobody expects an old series to sell as well as a current hot series. Nobody. So don't use that as a convenient target of your disdain for the studio, because you just made it up.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

It would seem very likely that the cost of producing the sets and their sales expectations would be close to other shows of the same era that they finished rather than comparing it to The Simpsons or their own Seinfeld. If they aren't, I'd be curious as to what made All In The Family cost so much more (which, in turn, would make them have to sell more) than Soap or Sanford And Son.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

I'm not saying you said *I* thought that way, but I want to tell you I have no such "self-centered belief" that everyone else wants to buy the same things I do!


What I'd like to know is, who made the determination that AITF didn't sell well? I mean, Sony still put out SIX seasons. I think we're operating on an assumption right there to begin with.


Sorry, but while I understand that business is bu$ine$$, I still believe that something should be considered when we're talking about preserving great movies or TV series. It's unfair to great award winning shows, just because they had the "disadvantage" of being produced 30 years before the era of "TV on DVD" that they get ignored in place of releasing junk like "The Biggest Loser", "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica" or "The Anna Nicole Smith Show".

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Well, there's GOOD TIMES, THE JEFFERSONS, SANFORD AND SON...

...and now we hear that RHODA is coming out.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Count me in for seasons 7 & 8 as well.

I've been hankering for some AitF lately and have been playing various episodes the last week. I almost bought Archie Bunker's Place this week just because I wanted some "new" eps to spin, but I'm glad I didn't. I remember it too well, and it just can't compare.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

The only classic TV currently on Sony's release schedule is Bewitched Season Seven (2/3/09) and The Partridge Family Season Four (also 2/3/09).

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

But as you say, I wasn't singling you out. There's just a common assumption, on boards of all stripes (certainly not just this one!), that poor sales of a beloved DVD/CD/book/whatever cannot be attributed to a lack of more general interest (after all, others must share my wisdom!), but because the manufacturer didn't promote it, or was inept, or has some strange agenda to bury my beloved thing.

What other possible reason could they have for their apparent (though not proven) disinterest in further releases? As has been stated many times, later seasons always -- always -- sell in lower numbers than early seasons. Fans realize they didn't like the show as much as they remembered, or notice they haven't watched what they'd already bought yet, or can't remember whether they have that season or not… for myriad reasons, sales drop off. So it would be consistent with this inevitability that sales were reasonable at first but dwindling. So yes, it's an assumption, but one based on several types of evidence. Sony wants your money! If they believe they can sell these sets, they will produce them!

But they're not destroying these shows. They're available, on and off, on cable and elsewhere. They're available, that is, in the intangible form that they existed from the day they were broadcast until actual DVDs started being produced. And realize that Sony is only one part of the equation. They also have to be able to get these things on the shelves of the big retailers -- Wal•Mart, Best Buy, Target, etc. Are these stores also morally obligated to devote shelf space to items their customers don't care about? If they're not buying, it doesn't matter how much Sony wants to produce these sets… it's a dead issue, simple as that.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Funny jokes about Archie Bunker's place. hahahaha!! You guuuuys.

Anyway, we all know we'd buy that complete series if it was out.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

I agree. Archie Bunker's Place would have a different profit distribution structure from All in the Family and Sanford and Son, but All in the Family and Sanford and Son (Maude, too) would all work the same way. As far as other costs go, Sanford would have the added cost of more music clearances than either of the other two shows.

Maybe it is as simple as six being the magic number for older shows at Sony. Sanford and Son ended after six years, and they are all out. All in the Family ran nine, six of which are available. If the shows sold similarly well, there may just have been the steady drop-off we have all heard about from one season to the next, and the drop from season 5 to season 6 is the killer. Or, Sanford and Son may just have sold a whole lot more units than AITF. Does anyone have access to industry numbers on the subject?

I just checked a list, and as far as I can tell, Seinfeld is the only show distributed by Sony that has ever gone past six seasons on DVD, until the forthcoming Bewitched 7th season set. Am I missing any?

On the other hand, Sony seems the most mercurial of the majors, so they may revise their plans at any time and give us more AITF, as with Barney Miller, Mad About You and several other back-from-the-abyss Sony-owned shows.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

Realized one myself...Married With Children is up to nine.

Re: All In The Family DVD: Some Advice

But in syndicated edits? That's no consolation.