Hill Street Blues abandoned?

The insert in the Season 2 box said that Season 3 was coming in the Fall of 2006. Still no announcement. Someone on imdb posted that they emailed Fox and got a reply which said that they have no plans to release further seasons due to poor sales of S1 and S2.

Does anyone have concrete evidence that this is true, or is it just hearsay and rumor?

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I'd say that information is correct.

Gord

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

Oh no!

I hope this isn't ominous for the November 28 release of St. Elsewhere and subsequent seasons.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

This is just sad news... I will cross my fingers and hold out hope that they will release the remaining 5 seasons. It did look like for awhile that they would not release anymore nypd blue either and we know they eventually continued with that show. If you check sales rankings at various online shops hill street has done aswell as nypd blue has. Infact Hill Street has sold significantly better than nypd blue has according to Amazon. So Who Knows ?

The weird part is the website fox has setup: http://www.foxhome.com/hillstreetblues/
It clearly shows they had every intention of releasing the 7 seasons with the seven boxes at the bottom of the page to me.

If they have decided to not release anymore than they should make a statement saying so. They owe it to the people who started collecting the show.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

Maybe no more seasons of Hill Street Blues? That's quite a shame..

Another Fox show that had an insert in the last set saying the next was coming in Fall 2006 was King of the Hill.. have we heard anything on that?

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I doubt we'll see any more NYPD Blue either; both shows are on hold (the second time for NYPD Blue).


They always have intentions of releasing the complete run of a series, but if sales are poor then they cut them short. I've never heard an exec say "We're just going to release a few seasons of this show and then stop."

Dramas seem like a hard sell on DVD... I don't know why.

Gord

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

All the major studios are abandoning their back catalogs. The only shows next year that will be released are shows after the year 2000. So people go on Ebay and buy tapes of your favorite shows because you won't see them in cable or dvds. Too bad nobody bought these older shows on dvd. Go buy a vcr and buy tapes because you are dreaming if you think you will see any show made before 2000 out on dvd. These companies are out to make a buck and obviously no one bought their dvds. So to answer your question-yes it has been abandoned along with all the other good shows made before 2000. So has the Mary Tyler Moore Show, the Bob Newhart Show, All in the Family, etc et all. Let's face it-the dvd market failed.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

Odd thing to say...seeing as how the TV on DVD section at my local Best Buy continues to grow and shrink down the Movie on DVD section.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I'm not really surprised considering that they are trying to obtain maximum profit with minimal effort. It always blows up in their face in the long run.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I am not a fan of either NYPD or Hill Street Blues, but come on, maybe Fox would have more to spend on those DVD's if they weren't too busy repackaging Buffy, X-Files and Angel over and over again, and putting too much money in special limited edition packaging for Simpsons sets (when they saw that most people were outraged with the season 6 packaging). It's no different when Warner talks about not being able to afford releasing further Night Court and co. sets, when they keep repackaging Friends over and over again.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I sure hope Phyll is wrong. It's a dark picture that's posted. Phyll, do you have definite studio contacts that are relaying this info to you? Just curious. I do know that the past 2 years have seen some older-series releases in Jan-Mar , so I'll be watching TSoD as we all do to see what happens. But, like you said, it's all about the #'s. I had thought that there were plenty of 'Boomers out there from my generation that were supporting the sales of the 60's - 80's series. I'm surprised if this information turns out to be what happens.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

well, I think Phyll got a little over top himself by saying Bob Newhart (which has been coming out at a reasonable pace and season 4 came out not too long ago) and MTM (which I'm sure we'll see season 5 in the first quarter of 2007) are abandoned. I mean, you waited almost 3 years for season 2, what's 9 months for season 5?

I also don't believe All In The Family has been abandoned either, Sony has committed to "one season a year, that's all" since 2002, we'll see season 6 in 2007, is it as fast as you wish? no, but I don't think they will abandon it now when they saw fit to release Archie Bunker's Place just on the tail of seeing how AITF sold.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I used to email a person at Fox and she would give me a hint about what shows to expect in the future. Now she must have been replaced because all I get is an automated response from Fox saying my email has been forwarded. That's all it says. This cannot be good. I really hope they don't abandon Hill Street Blues because I have never seen the show until I bought the dvds and now I am hooked. I hope you guys are right about the other Fox MTM shows. I think if these companies start a show they should finish it. If you look at the last few months it seems like there are less and less shows from the 70's and 80's being released now. I have emailed all the big companies and only got a positive response from one of them. So it just doesn't look good right now but things can always change. Thankfully, Fox does have a habit of changing their minds.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

But they're not losing money on "Friends," they're making money on "Friends." Just as 20th has made money repackaging "Buffy" and the rest. Yes, these reissues may use resources (manpower, hours, etc.) that could be given over to releasing previously unreleased material, but financially, they're sound bets.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

For one thing, repackaging doesn't cost a lot of money. Secondly the Simpsons package does not cost much either, and finally, there really weren't a lot of people outraged by the packaging. I think it's unfair to say that "most" were outraged just because a bunch of people here didn't like it. Yes, reissues are free money and shouldn't even be taken into consideration in these kinds of talks. To think that reissues are actually taking money away from producing unreleased material?????

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

Classic tv shows on dvd(like Hill Street Blues) are far from dead.

A funny thing happened around 2002 for tv shows being released on dvd. The market became over saturated. TV sets on dvd were so popular, there was a huge flood of titles being released, and the pace hasn't slowed one bit since then. If anything, it's gotten worse. With titles from so many different studios, it's nearly impossible to keep up with all your favorite tv shows being released. Sometimes the studios need to catch their breath before diving back in. Just give it time. I'd bet my life there will be a 3rd season of Hill Street Blues.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I'm inclined to believe Gord. Of anyone here, he's most likely to know what's what. Having said that, I'm also hopeful, but not optimistic, that we'll see additional seasons at some point in the future. Never say never.

Does anyone else think that Fox seems to be the worst culprit for abandoning series? The only one to my mind that comes a close second is Sony.

I also wonder if they had spent a bit more money on both the production and promotion of HSB on DVD, it might have done better. The packaging of both seasons seemed cheap, and they appear to have been dumped on retailers without any fanfare or marketing, which led them to disappear very quickly to the back of the "catalog" racks (if you could find them at all). Unless you had done your homework and knew that HSB had been released, you weren't likely to have stumbled across it in the stores - especially in Best Buy, Future Shop, HVM or Wal-Mart here in Canada (which are the 4 biggest DVD retailer here).

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

Cheers gets no promotion, no production value or extras (other than Season 1), and 'blah' menus, but it seems to be a great seller.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

don't forget the "if it's a sitcom that isn't outplayed and begins with an F (Friends, Fresh Prince, Full House), fuhgettabout a season 2" Warner or the "one and done" antics of Universal. I think those two are worse than Fox.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

This is just TOO much for me. First Columbia House stops sending HSB to me after only a few tapes & now FOX just up & quits!?! If "Dramas" are such a bad product to sell why has a series like "Little House" had so many seasons released? Hell FOX might as well just close down "St Elsewhere" right now so they don't "waste" any money on a pre-2000 series.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

Because Goldhill released it, and they seem to have cut corners on its release.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

Well then FOX should cut corners if it gets all of HSB released. Send them to me in plain white paper if that's what it takes.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

What makes this an even worse decision by fox if true, is we are not talking about just a tv show or just a drama, we are talking about one of the finest shows to ever grace the boob tube. HSB Changed the face of television forever and good sales or not FOX Should be required to release it or farm it out to someone who will. I garuntee there are many small companies that would indeed release it till the end. So it must make some money!! The idea it's a total loss for FOX is complete BS. These studios are comparing sales of older shows to what newer shows sell and it is not a fair comparison.

And the same goes for st. elsewhere with its 6 seasons. If you are not going to release it all don't bother give it to someone who will. As much as i love HSB, St. Elsewhere is even more a favorite of mine. I hate to see how i react if they screw with us with these releases.

See all of us are worked up here and we don't know for sure fox is done or not with HSB but the fact gord thinks they are makes me think it's true. Fox needs to make a statement of some sorts.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I don't think there should be much worry about St. Elsewhere. If Remington Steele sold well enough to get the whole series out just based on Pierce Brosnan's 007 fame, I think the enduring film career of Denzel Washington paired with the renergized popularity of Howie Mandel should make St. Elsewhere a no-brainer in terms of selling well. HSB didn't have that with any of it's cast members (except maybe Franz who didn't come in until later anyways).

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I didn't even see Gord's post confirming HSB may be in serious trouble. He's always up to speed about these matters. I was really looking forward to
Fantasy Island season 2, until he noted that it was off the schedule,(contrary to the insert for Sony tv dvd's) which was very bad news, but it did save my sanity, because Sony would never let you know that. They would just let you go crazy all the while thinking season 2 is on the way. I will state now that my earlier post is incorrect, and I'd never bet my life for a money hungry, cheap shot studio like Fox again.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

You're right.Hill Street Blues,if not,invented the genre of the dark,gritty,urban police drama with a continuing storyline defiinitely set the standard for it,which later shows would copy.Without Hill Street we,obvoiusly,wouldn't have had NYPD Blue and,perhaps,The Shield.It never ceases to amaze me that the shows with superior writing and great ensemble casting and acting are the ones that don't sell.If Hill Street was a current show with early/mid twentysomethings, in the cast,and deafening music every 5 seconds,you can bet we'd see every season and FOX wouldn't be using the excuse that it doesn't sell.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

But, thank goodness, it wasn't...or we wouldn't care.

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actually, Warner abandoned Everwood when it was current, and it had a lot of early/mid twentysomething actors in the cast

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I think that would be the exception rather than the rule.

Re: Hill Street Blues abandoned?

I truly never understand how people can use the word "excuse" in this context. Are you suggesting that they have a secret agenda to let a profitable resource go unexploited?