Warner Bros. upsets me - Page 2

JohnMor · 07-21-2008, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HenryDuBrow

They (WB) assume anybody watching shows in the 1970s is either dead or poor.

Well, if that were truly the case then neither Dallas nor The Waltons would see continued releases.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LizH

Fox wants what everyone else does: young customers. The same young customers (with money to spend, of course) who are now buying "Bones", "Buffy", and "Angel" on DVD.

Suffice to say, they're not into Mary Tyler Moore.

While I'm sure they want younger demographics, if what you said was truly the case as well, I doubt they would have released the entirety of M*A*S*H or the Irwin Allen series. The young people of today only laugh at Lost In Space and The Time Tunnel.

If TMTMS had sold as well as M*A*S*H we would have long ago finished the series, and seen a "complete" boxset as well.

Gord Lacey · 07-21-2008, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthewA

The false god of demographics (a whole statistical science based on stereotypes) rears its ugly head. Money is money, and to my mind it shouldn't matter who gives it to you as long as no laws are broken.

Exactly, money is money, and the studio wants to get as much of it as they can, from whatever show. If older shows sold as well as newer shows did they we wouldn't be having this conversation. They can maximize their profits with newer shows, so that's what they invest their time and money in.

If you view a studio as a family and each division of the studio as a family member then it becomes easier to understand how one area making lots of money doesn't mean another is free to waste it. If my brother was bringing in heaps of money each year it doesn't mean I can sit unemployed and he'd support me. That's his money, and I have to earn my own, just like each division of the studio wants to be in the black, not the read.

I saw something the other day that shocked me, and is relevant to this conversation. Rob & Big, the MTV "reality show" about a skateborder and his body guard sold (not shipped) 131,000 copies in 27 weeks (information supplied by the studio to retailers). I doubt anyone in this thread would buy this set, but 131,000 people apparently did. I've also heard about a popular '80s anthology series that sold under 20,000 units and hasn't been continued.

Gord

Aryn Leroux · 07-21-2008, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gord Lacey

I saw something the other day that shocked me, and is relevant to this conversation. Rob & Big, the MTV "reality show" about a skateborder and his body guard sold (not shipped) 131,000 copies in 27 weeks (information supplied by the studio to retailers). I doubt anyone in this thread would buy this set, but 131,000 people apparently did. I've also heard about a popular '80s anthology series that sold under 20,000 units and hasn't been continued.

Gord

That is just sad to read. I know it is hard to knock what others like. But i guess this is the world we live in today, where crap like an MTV Reality show can move so many copies. Yes i realize i will take flack for calling something crap just because i do not watch it. But the reality is, there is not much quality on tv today, especially on MTV. Yikes!

Bryan^H · 07-21-2008, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gord Lacey

I saw something the other day that shocked me, and is relevant to this conversation. Rob & Big, the MTV "reality show" about a skateborder and his body guard sold (not shipped) 131,000 copies in 27 weeks (information supplied by the studio to retailers). I doubt anyone in this thread would buy this set, but 131,000 people apparently did. I've also heard about a popular '80s anthology series that sold under 20,000 units and hasn't been continued.
Gord

Good Lord. I'm just sad that a show like Growing Pains(a pretty good show) gets the axe, and garbage like Rob and Big sells like hot cakes.
The garbage comment is just my opinion of course, but a scripted reality show selling that good on dvd...

Edit: Aryn, I have watched Rob & Big. It's time spent watching a tv show that I actually felt guilty for wasting. It's only happened one other time, and that was with the Andy Milinokis show(another MTV treasure).

Joseph DeMartino · 07-21-2008, 12:35 PM

Demographics are meaningless in DVD sales except to the extent that they actually predict sales success. Nobody would much care if the TV-on-DVD audience skewed 90% 60 and over and Leave it to Beaver were the all-time best-selling title as long as the raw numbers were good.

Demographics are important in advertising-supported media because not only do different age groups and other subdivisions buy different products and have different levels of disposable income, but because they differ in the degree to which they can be influenced by advertising. Younger people tend to be more experimental and more willing to check out alternatives to their regular choices. Older people tend to have moved out of the experimental stage and have settled tastes and preferences. A 22 year old who is looking to replace his first car (a Honda) can be persuaded to at least test drive a Toyota by a commercial. A 54 year-old who has been driving Cadillacs since his first big promotion at 30 is unlikely to change brands. This has nothing "stereotypes" and everything to do with reality. Of course, reality is something a lot of people have a hard time dealing with when the subject of TV on DVD comes up.

Regards,

Joe

ChrisCook · 07-21-2008, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gord Lacey

I saw something the other day that shocked me, and is relevant to this conversation. Rob & Big, the MTV "reality show" about a skateborder and his body guard sold (not shipped) 131,000 copies in 27 weeks (information supplied by the studio to retailers). I doubt anyone in this thread would buy this set, but 131,000 people apparently did. I've also heard about a popular '80s anthology series that sold under 20,000 units and hasn't been continued.

Gord

I never even heard of "Rob & Big". You're right; I wouldn't even buy it, let alone check it out.

This is truly depressing.

Corey3rd · 07-21-2008, 01:19 PM

the sales of "Rob & Big" make sense since it is a recent MTV show about a skateboarder. Skateboarders make a nice chunk of their change selling DVDs of their exploits. They have a built in base. Also the DVD features the series "uncensored." So the kids who taped it, have an excuse to upgrade.

DeWilson · 07-21-2008, 03:11 PM

Warner Brothers DOESN'T NEED to worry about releasing old tv shows as they have one of the best FILM LIBRARIES of classic films (Warners, RKO, Seven-Arts and even Monogram/AA/Lorimar) under their belts.

MishaLauenstein · 07-21-2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthewA

A. It has been done before. When they still owned United Artists, Transamerica wrote off the huge losses on "Heaven's Gate" on their taxes.

You do understand what a tax "write-off" is, don't you?

Instead of your children starving AND sending a cheque to the government, your children are just starving.

Mike*SC · 07-21-2008, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph DeMartino

Demographics are meaningless in DVD sales except to the extent that they actually predict sales success.

Thank you, Joseph, for interjecting some sense and actual facts into this discussion.

Look, I'm very disappointed that I'm unlikely to be able to get the last seasons of "Mary Tyler Moore" and "The Bob Newhart Show" on DVD. But this has nothing to do with the "ugly head" of demographics or stereotypes, and everything to do with actual sales. Had neither been released at all, I would be tempted to say the studio was underestimating their appeal. But four seasons of each were released! Four! And not many people bought them. I did. I wish others were more like me, but then, I always wish that.

When favorite shows are discontinued, the same old excuses and conspiracy theories always pop up. Somehow, the studios are always accused of pretending that sales were lousy, presumably because they don't want money or something. Inevitably, a lack of promotion is blamed. It's always the same, and it's always based on a faulty assumption: millions of people share my taste, so surely the only reason the show has been discontinued is because the studio is inept, or purposely denying us our desire, or both.

What the studios want is money. It's easy to sneer at this "corporate greed," but it is through the making of money that the employees are paid and the shareholders are compensated. This should be pretty basic. When money is lost, jobs are lost. This is the way it works, and it is nearly as scientific as gravity.

Let's leave the studios aside for a moment, though. Using MTM as an example, if your local Best Buy, or Wal-Mart, or Target (to name any of the big box stores that have largely cornered the brick-and-mortar market) sells very few copies of MTM season four, how many copies of season five are they likely to stock, given that shelf space is limited (now, DVDs are sharing space with Blu-Rays, too)? So if you're 20th Century Fox, how do you even get enough copies of MTM 5 into stores?

Some shows sell well, some shows don't, for a wide variety of reasons that often continue to surprise or confound me. But sales are sales, and I don't expect any company to run itself into the ground so that I may own my DVDs.

Aryn Leroux · 07-21-2008, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike*SC

Some shows sell well, some shows don't, for a wide variety of reasons that often continue to surprise or confound me. But sales are sales, and I don't expect any company to run itself into the ground so that I may own my DVDs.

What you were saying above was well thought out. I just feel with this bit your losing your argument to an extent. These studios are not going to run themselves into the ground by releasing Mary Tyler Moore for example. They are not losing money on these types of releases. Sure there are examples to be had of where that is the case. But for the most part they do not lose money. There is not a big profit okay fine. But a small profit is still a profit. I do not understand the mindset and excuses (that is what they are) time after time that want say don't blame the studios. Hogwash!