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Someone Explain CBS to Me.

#1
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7/27/09 at 6:58pm
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Mannix, Hawaii Five O ll with more episodes than the 22 season set of Vega$ get full seasons releases, and Vega$ is Split. I Just Don't get it. There's bound to be more interested in Vega$ than Mannix (Although Mannix is a great series) so I can't figure their rationale here, lets put the split season stuff to rest Paramount, give us full Fugitive, Vega$, and Bonanza Releases.
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#2
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7/27/09 at 7:50pm
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Same thing's happening with sitcoms.

My Three Sons got a split season release, while The Lucy Show, Petticoat Junction, and Beverly Hillbillies all got full season releases.

Why? Who knows?
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#3
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7/27/09 at 8:19pm
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To say the whole thing is frustrating is an understatement of mammoth proportions.  If not for the silliness of split-season sets, we'd have:

THE FUGITIVE completed (admittedly doesn't account for backscore issues)
UNTOUCHABLES completed
PERRY MASON much further along
RAWHIDE through 5 seasons
MOD SQUAD nearly done
CANNON with 3 seasons under it's belt
MY THREE SONS with a couple of seasons
LOVE AMERICAN STYLE with 2 seasons

I'm sure there are many other examples from CBS/P as well.  It really is maddening to try and figure out what they are thinking.

Gary "just another example of the dreaded studio secrecy at play when it comes to this issue" O.


"Do not challenge supernatural unless armed with sword of truth"
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#4
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7/27/09 at 9:21pm
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Hell, The Streets of San Francisco would also be almost done. If they were all released in complete season sets I would have bought The Streets of San Francisco, The Untouchables, Vega$, and although I've never seen an episode of The Fugitive, it would have been a blind buy. Maybe I should be thanking CBS/Paramount for saving me all this money.
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#5
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7/27/09 at 9:28pm
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Honestly I think cbs is testing the water on vegas, its a very early 80's show , with other shows like hill street blue's and st elsewhere sales flops (same era) I think they doing a test. If sucessful we may see more vegas if not a half season it is. Mannix, Five-0 huge built in audences  that could only be lost with a fugitive style mangling of the music or editing, the fugitive contray to it most rabbited fans is a long forgotten classic with huge seasons (ie parry mason too) were going to be splits due to size. That was seems to be the method to cbs's madness

Q: Why do you care?

A: You'll never know.

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#6
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7/27/09 at 9:38pm
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 A lot of the older shows are being released as half season sets. Studios don't think they will be good sellers so they split the seasons in half to grab the extra profits from the sales of such sets. This is being done with shows from the 60's and 70's.
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#7
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7/28/09 at 3:10am
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 I don't like the fact that on the recent releases, CBS has used silver discs. What's wrong with matching the disc art to whatever the case looks like inside?
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#8
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7/28/09 at 5:15am
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I think they have a two-part judgment system for half-season vs. full-season sets. Black-and-white shows with large numbers of episodes per season (Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, etc.) are split. Have Gun, Will Travel would have fit this model, but they stopped releasing those before they thought of the split season concept. For color shows with more manageable season sizes, they seem to release shows that were originally Paramount or CBS productions as full seasons (Mission: Impossible, Mannix, Hawaii Five-0, etc.) and shows acquired by purchasing other libraries (Cannon, Vega$, etc.) in split seasons. Maybe it has to do with shared profits requiring higher margins to be worthwhile for them.

(I realize that Matlock is an exception to this rule. According to my theory, it should come out in split season sets. Either they suspected it would be especially lucrative given the enormous success of the very comparable Murder, She Wrote for Universal, or there is another factor I have not considered.)
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#9
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7/28/09 at 6:00am
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I had a feeling VEGA$ was gonna be a half season split. It certianly will live up to its $ name.

Now it will take 6 sets probably at about 39.99 a hit per half season. It will take three years + to get the full series more than likely.
JackDVD78@aol.com
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#10
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7/28/09 at 6:03am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Powell&Pressburger View Post

 It will take three years + to get the full series more than likely.
 That's OK By the time I'm finished watching what I have, All three FULL Seasons will be available in the Bargain Bins!

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#11
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7/28/09 at 6:22am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Powell&Pressburger View Post

It will take three years + to get the full series more than likely.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Regulus View Post

 That's OK By the time I'm finished watching what I have, All three FULL Seasons will be available in the Bargain Bins!
 



The only real problem I have with split seasons is the waiting.  The financial aspect is a hassle, but the fact that it's taking twice as long to get a season out is a bigger problem for me.  What if the company suddenly feels the need to pull back on dvd releases for any number of reasons (poor sales, poor economy, etc)?  Then you end up not getting as much released as you would have because of the split season deal.  That's what I'm always worried about.  And I think it's clearly a legitimate concern.

Gary "my motto has always been 'strike while the iron is hot' and when a series is delayed for any reason (and split seasons are, in one sense, a delay) you always run the risk of not seeing the show completed" O.

"Do not challenge supernatural unless armed with sword of truth"
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#12
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7/28/09 at 7:31am
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I not sure i understand either why CBS does certain shows by splitting them. I am more frustrated with buying one season then nothing is released for several years. I have several dvds like SWAT, Benson, Growing Pains, Welcome Back Kotter, etc. that have one season released then nothing.

I like Vega$, but, i would rather have Matt Houston or barnaby jones before Vega$. Vegas$ only has three season, so that is a good thing. So, hopefully it will sell and they will released the remaining season. I have 1-6 seasons of Hawaii Five-O and will be buying season #7. I love the classic show and believe it has huge following and that is why studio is releasing another season.
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#13
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7/28/09 at 7:57am
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Bonanza was a highly rated show in all color with a Star still recognized and loved by millions today (Landon) that would be a big seller, being that its a long lived series it's inconcievable to split the show. The Fact that for the first time they are releasing both sets simultaneously makes less sense. Make it season sets, increase the price if you have to CBS, just give it to us all at once.
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#14
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7/28/09 at 8:10am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Scarpa View Post

Bonanza was a highly rated show in all color with a Star still recognized and loved by millions today (Landon) that would be a big seller...

Yes, but again, it was acquired by CBS/Paramount much later. Also, with 32 hour-long episodes, it would be on the very large end of the single-release spectrum. The simultaneous release of both halves of the season is probably their concession to your sensible evaluation of the show's popularity. (It is still the number 1-rated show on TV Land.)
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#15
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7/28/09 at 8:52am
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If CBS DVD had their way, they'd be charging $25+ per disc. These are the same people behind the Columbia House service of the late 80s/ 90s. They'd send you a VHS tape with either 2 or 4 episodes on it and charge $24.95 +. In the early 2000s, before the DVD season set boom, they tried to do the same with DVDs. Columbia House first offered Have Gun - Will Travel on DVD one disc at a time, with only 4 episodes on it, at $24.95 each. They then increased the number of episodes per discs to 7 or 8, but still charged the high price. They did the same with Gunsmoke and Rawhide. Rawhide was 2 episodes per disc at $24.95.

 

The season set boom eventually led CBS DVD to abandon releasing TV shows through a mail order service like Columbia House and switch to selling them directly in stores. The Columbia House Have Gun - Will Travel discs became Seasons 1, 2, and 3, all released in stores, as did the Rawhide discs, the latter becoming Rawhide Season 1. The Columbia House discs all have poor visual quality, since the transfers of episodes were from video masters, not newly created digital ones. Thankfully by the time they did Gunsmoke Season 1, they had abandoned all their video masters and did it right, doing new digital transfers of all the episodes.

Given their past history with Columbia House, the fact that they embrace split season sets is not surprising. Like I said, if they could charge individually per disc and get away with it, they would. I can definitely see them going back to that some time in the future, and do a Warner Archive type thing, if the Warner Archive is successful. CBS DVD could then create another mail order service selling shows per discs at much higher prices.

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#16
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7/28/09 at 9:08am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jdee28 View Post

I can definitely see them going back to that some time in the future, and do a Warner Archive type thing, if the Warner Archive is successful. CBS DVD could then create another mail order service selling shows per discs at much higher prices.



But the prices are one of (if not) the biggest complaint that people have about the Warner Archives. As much as every company would love to charge, say, $100 for a season of a TV show, not many people are going to pay that price.
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#17
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7/28/09 at 9:17am
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Honestly the plain rap sliver disks and the ultra compact cases (ie mannix and cannon) dont bother me that much as long as more seasons of my favorite tv series keep rolling out. The only time the plan raps are a bother is when I swapping back watch different episodes from different shows (usually watch 2 to3 episodes from different shows) and the slivers are easy to mix up LOL

Q: Why do you care?

A: You'll never know.

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#18
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7/28/09 at 10:22am
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 Columbia House has nothing to do with CBS/Paramount anymore. And not in several decades. Sony bought Columbia House when they bought CBS Records in 1987. 

 

The silver discs are now a bit of a standard because Netflix finds they have a low breakage rate versus the full color picture discs.

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#19
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7/28/09 at 10:49am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary OS View Post






The only real problem I have with split seasons is the waiting.  The financial aspect is a hassle, but the fact that it's taking twice as long to get a season out is a bigger problem for me.  What if the company suddenly feels the need to pull back on dvd releases for any number of reasons (poor sales, poor economy, etc)?  Then you end up not getting as much released as you would have because of the split season deal.  That's what I'm always worried about.  And I think it's clearly a legitimate concern.
 

My concern is the same.   Now i'm not even watching sets until about 3 seasons are out.  Sometimes I'm buying the sets as released,
but I really like watching episodes back to back, and i'm not interested in watching 10 episodes over a few days, and then waiting half
a year or longer for a few more!   Complete show set first, then release all the half seasons, or individual discs, and double dips they want...

-g

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#20
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7/28/09 at 11:30am
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I gave up trying to figure out the CBS/P split-season reasoning long ago.  Like most here. I prefer full-season releases.  As Gary mentioned, it's the time factor as well as the price structure that concerns me.  It takes a long time to get the entire series released with s/s sets.

As for Vega$, I was planning on getting this before learning about the s/s release.  Now, not sure.

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#21
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7/28/09 at 12:18pm
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Reason for split seasons are simple - production costs and royalities.

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#22
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7/30/09 at 8:24pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary OS View Post

To say the whole thing is frustrating is an understatement of mammoth proportions.  If not for the silliness of split-season sets, we'd have:

 

...we'd have GUNSMOKE completed before the year 2025. 
Pay no attention to that cat behind the curtain!
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#23
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7/30/09 at 9:38pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Corey3rd View Post

 Columbia House has nothing to do with CBS/Paramount anymore. And not in several decades. Sony bought Columbia House when they bought CBS Records in 1987. 

 


CBS DVD (formerly CBS Video) used Columbia House as a means to distribute its videos, much as it now uses Paramount to distribute its DVDs. It didn't own the company.
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