Leave it to beaver season 3?

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Very exciting. I can't wait to own LitB!!

And (also mentioned)...they've already sold one No Time For Sergeants! Can't wait to retire my old VHS. It's amazing that one isn't already out. Very strange. They missed out on getting stuff from Don Knotts...that's the worst thing about it. But luckily good old Andy is still around.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Wow, you have made my day with that little tidbit, Steve! Even though I realize that it's not an official announcement, it's a lot better than the news we've been getting for LITB - nada! At least this is something. I'll hang my hat on it for now and see if it sticks.


Gary "and the MTM comment jives with what I've been thinking ever since that news broke - we are looking at one, huge mega set release as opposed to individual season set releases" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I hope that this is true but it seems weird that Universal would release a series set before selling the seasons individually first. Maybe Universal is licensing it out to another company.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Personally, I don't like the idea of putting out a complete season set before issuing the individual seasons...unless, of course, the individual seasons were also released at the same time (or even soon after).

I can't afford to ditch out the bucks in one sitting for six seasons of Leave It to Beaver. The MSRPs on the two individual season sets were high enough!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Mike,Im assuming that when and if they release the complete series set, that on the same day , at the very least they will release season3 -6 individually.I already have the 2 released seasons, and would prefer to just get season 3 by itself , then after a while move on to the later seasons.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

From your lips, Tony...

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Mike and Tony. I'm not trying to get either of you to change your opinion, but here's a thought: What if a Complete Series Set used single-sided discs instead of the double-sided ones that were used for seasons 1 and 2? I know I'm in for a set like this regardless. Of course, this show is a "holy grail" one for me so I have a different mindset than many.

Gary "this is one set I'd happily double dip on in order to get the complete run" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

It could be that they don't feel that the individual sets (especially the later ones) will sell well enough on their own, and they think a complete series will sell better.

It's not a bad theory, and if so, I doubt they'll go to the expense of also selling individual sets.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

That's what I was thinking too, David. For whatever that's worth.

Gary "I really, really hope this is more than just a rumor" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Personally I am fan of the later seasons 4,5 and 6 and would take them first over seasons 1 through 3.Don't get me wrong I really enjoy the early seasons.
But I love all the juvenile moments from the later seasons better. after all how can you not laugh when Eddie is saying to Wally come on sam. And don't forget that laugh.At that moment you just know Eddie is pulling Wally into something thats going to get him in trouble.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Shoot! I think we should all buy (rebuy) the already released ones to give them that extra little push to get this complete Beav out!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Gee,Wally Why can't we get a decent dvd release.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

some little goof is running the place!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I hate to even imagine the price for the complete series set.It would probably retail for over $200 !!! I still prefer single seasons 3-6.I know buying them seperately, would cost more in the long run, but I probably couldnt afford it for a while, thats why I prefer seperate season sets.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

You mean: would single-sided discs be enough to get me to purchase a complete series set?

It's not the quality of the sets I have a problem with, Gary. It would be the expected cost of a six-season set. I'd rather have the opportunity to buy single seasons one-at-a-time.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Mike, great minds think alike , lol !!!!!!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Awww...you beat me by a solid three-minutes!

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Ok guys. I was just suggesting a reason that might make the prospect of buying a full set a little more palatable. I realize that wouldn't be the case for everyone. And that wouldn't be a make or break thing with me. But it would be nice because I hate double-sided discs regardless.

Gary "this is one of my all time favorite shows so I'm definitely in for a complete set if that's the only way to get seasons 3-6" O.

P.S. While a set of this volume might have an MSRP of $200, we surely wouldn't pay that amount. I'm thinking something like this could be had for less than $150 if people looked around. I figured I'd be paying somewhere between $30 to $40 a season set, which would mean just to get the remaining seasons I expected to pay anywhere from $120 to $160. With that in mind, the price tag you guys are suggesting isn't all that extreme at all.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Gary:

You know I've been very active in this thread...hoping for an eventual release of all the subsequent seasons of LitB.

But I'll tell you right now: If the only subsequent release of this series is a "complete series" release, I may never own it...or at least not own it for a VERY long time.

The set could be handsomely packaged in a cardboard version of the Cleaver home (ala "Full House")...or lodged inside a plastic model of the giant soup cup Beaver falls into (ala The Big Lebowski CE set)...and it still would not be able to convince my wallet that I could afford to lay out that kind of cash--even though this is probably one of my all time favorites.

And that would be too bad.

And since I doubt I'm alone in that thought (and I know Tony is already in agreement), it might just be a sizeable marketing mistake on someone's part IF that were, indeed, to become the case.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Mike, I know you are a big fan of the show. I didn't mean for you to think I was questioning that. I honestly wasn't. And I do understand where you are coming from. But I think my point about how much we'd expect to pay for individual season sets has to be taken into account. Surely we'd pay a minimum of $120 for the remaining four seasons. And frankly that's probably low-balling it. I'd say somewhere around $150 would be more like it. So, if a complete series set was offered for something around that price point I can't see the problem. Yes, if we had to pay over $200 (real money, not MSRP) then I can see where people would shy away. But that would mean it would have to be priced at somewhere near $300 retail to begin with. And I just don't think a set like this would be priced that high. I really don't.


Gary "just my two cents" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

While the idea of having to re-purchase seasons 1 & 2 is not a terrific idea to me, I would to have the whole series. Not always do I want a whole series but Beave is probably my 3rd favorite show of all time and the wait for the remaining seasons has been difficult. Plus as others have said, I would love it if they were not dual sided discs.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Miami Vice complete is only $149 at Amazon, so I don't think it would be that bad.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Question:

Has there ever been a TV-on-DVD situation become a reality like the ones being implied by the posters in this thread?

I.E.:

A series got stalled after two or three seasons....then the DVD company released a "Complete Series" set without releasing the previously-unreleased seasons individually as well?

I've never heard of such an instance in TV-on-DVD history. Has there ever been one?

I, myself, have a hard time believing that Universal (for LITB) and Fox (for TMTMS) would feel it was viable from a money-making POV to go to the fairly-major expense of releasing Complete-Series sets (consisting of 6 seasons and 7 seasons, respectively) after having each of those series go into purgatory for two years each, due to (I assume) poor sales of the initial seasons on DVD.

IOW -- The series isn't selling well enough to warrant even another single-season DVD release....but now all of a sudden those studios deem these series (Beaver & MTM) to be marketable enough to release the complete nine yards for each series all at once?*

* = And keeping in mind, in the situation being rumored by some posters here (where no further individual seasons would be made available), that many people purchasing any such full-series collections would be forced to buy multiple seasons of each series a second time in order to get the full series on DVD.

It just seems like an odd marketing strategy to me. (But, hey, I'm no DVD marketing exec either.)

And it also seems like too much of a "Too Good To Be True" situation regarding these classic series. (Although, don't get me wrong, I'd love it if it did turn out to be true.)

Anyway....regardless of motive, strategy, or bottom-line $$$ for the studios, I, too, hope that Beaver Seasons 3-6 can finally bask in the DVD light that each season so richly deserves.

"You don't need to worry about my Clarence, Ward. When it comes to brains, he's got a head on him like the Rock of Gibraltar." -- Fred Rutherford (male parental unit of "The Lump")

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Nope.


Here is why it actually makes a lot of sense.

DVD sales for TV series degrade with each subsequent season. It just happens. It doesn't even matter if, for example, the 4th season was way more popular than the 2nd, or in a case like Charles in Charge, they recast the entire show after S1, yet S2 still didn't perform like S1.

You are almost always going to see a drop of anywhere from 30-50% on EACH subsequent season. If S1 does 45,000 units, S2 will probably do around 28,000. S3 will do 15,000 and so on. There are very few shows that have a much smaller degradation (Simpsons, 24, The Shield, etc).

So we know that early seasons sell the best. We also know Complete Series do pretty well on the most part. So say you're a Universal exec and you know LitB sales are not going to reach their quotas for S3-S6, what do you do?

1. Stop releasing. This happens a lot.

2. Keep going and risk losing money, returns, etc.

3. Bundle everything into a "Complete Series" - that way you are going to get the hardcore fans who would've bought 3-6 anyways, you also get some people that were waiting until everything was released to buy the series. You will also get some impulse buyers - and despite the price people will impulse buy a "Complete Series". Heck, i did it with Get Smart and I know a number of others that have done it with HBO, Time Life and other shows.

So what are the real advantages of this plan?

1. You don't have to watch (and show/explain to your Board of Directors) 4 more seasons of declining sales.

2. From a corporation standpoint, high MSRP sales rock pretty hard.

3. Here is the big one. Instead of having 6 separate SKUs out on the shelves, you have 1. Why is it better to have less shelf presence? Because of the biggest problem affecting every studio right now - returns and excess inventory. The minutes those 6 box sets stop selling, most of them are coming back to you and joining the (literally) millions of discs that you have in inventory. A single box set will have a longer shelf life, and while each store won't carry as many, it will be an evergreen title that will be a steady performer for years. You don't have to worry about Best Buy ordering 250 units of each for a store only to return 200. Instead they order 10 or so and restock as needed. It's a smaller initial input of money, but the odds of it coming back are much smaller, so your books are going to be cleaner in the long run.

It's actually a pretty clever thing, and I wouldn't be surprised if in the future we see more studios follow the "Time Life" method with series that have lower sales projections. Forget the individual seasons and just put out the complete series from the start. Obviously this pertains only to classic TV or series no longer on the air. For currently airing series, we'll always see single season sets - usually with the last season available on DVD right before the next season starts.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Wow! Thanks for that perspective, David. Makes a boatload of sense to me as well. Now let's hope that Universal, or possibly Shout (if Uni farmed LitB out to them), will be thinking the same thing. I want all 6 seasons - as soon as possible.

Gary "I had thought of one or two points you made, David, but you added a lot more that never crossed my mind" O.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Although not likely, Universal and Fox could release complete series boxes in a manner similar to how WHV handled the mega Astaire/Rogers box a couple of years ago. Specifically, two versions of the sets were sold. One had the whole shebang. The other provided empty cases that the consumer could use to house the previously released material and was offered at a cheaper price. The latter was an Amazon exclusive which negated the problem of having to detail with competing versions at retail which would only confuse consumers.

This actually makes more sense for MTM since 4 of the 7 seasons are already releases and those who would buy S5-S7 likely already have S1-S4.

Steve

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

And in many ways it does make sense too, IMO.

And yet that type of DVD-releasing strategy has never once been implemented by any of the major studios in the 8-year history of TV-on-DVD.

Amazing.

David Levine better go talk to the DVD studio execs asap. Because they apparently just don't get it at all.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I think the combination of more DVDs being available, smaller sections (Best Buy is in the process of trimming their SD sections to make more room for Blu-Ray and Video Games) and the season-by-season degredation of sales will force the big studios to look at alternate ways of getting product into stores.


Nah. I'll stick with working for the independents and only talk to the DVD studio execs when we're licensing properties from them.

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

I hope you're right, David.

Thanks for your astute and commonsense-filled insight in this thread.

If you're correct, I can look forward to buying a mega-set that I've been wanting for some time now -- "The Jack Benny Program" -- The Complete Series (all 250+ episodes).

(Wishful thinking isn't against the law....is it?)

Re: Leave it to beaver season 3?

Remember Beav, If you are worried about this set coming out just keep saying Gus and the dvds,Gus and the dvds.