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Will "Sightings" Ever be released on DVD?? (1 Viewer)

Ghost talkers

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Lozen
To be honest those shows paved the way for the shows now. The shows like sighting had more to offer then the stuff coming out now. Yes I would for sure buy the DVD series! I would also like to see more actual footage of real hauntings. The closest to this that gets my vote is "my ghost story".
Sighting.... Please we need your show it's really one of the best.
PS if you need a good team give me a reply and I'll follow it up and we can give you a great team to work with. We are a native American paranormal team and have a great result due to my team consist of my family members who all have paranormal experience all our life.
Lozen BrownBear
Founder of ghost talkers paranormal team
 

Wilhelm Reich

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William Rich
Here's my quick pitch as to why releasing Sightings on DVD would be a good idea - and how it would actually make money.
For starters: 2012. We are at the end of the great and infamous year of 2012. Actually, Paramount sort of missed the boat on this one. Sightings was the show that first mentioned the Mayan Calendar and 2012 - wayyyy back in 1992. With guests like John Major Jenkins, whose books on the subject are best-sellers, and Terence McKenna - who is extremely popular in the 2012 and New Age culture (or counterculture). Sightings was way ahead of its time and is a precursor to many of the hugely popular and immensely profitable shows such as The X Files and even radio shows such as Coast to Coast AM (which has an audience of over 10 million people). Sightings was basically the first of its kind, and all of the millions of people that either grew up with it or just remember it - including the new generation and others who missed out - would gladly spend the money to buy the DVDs. You would think that the information in the shows holds no relevance for these times, but they do. The subject of paranormal phenomena, in case you haven't noticed, is profoundly popular - and important - and there are dozens of ghost hunting TV shows and paranormal movies. People love this stuff. Actually, it is borderline silly NOT to release the show on DVD and/or Blu-Ray...
Do the world a favor and please get this show finally released for the global archives. Letting these shows collect dust on shelves, and keeping them from the public, is a waste - particularly of the money that could be made off it. It is the perfect time to do it!
Thank you.
 

Mike T

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I recently saw a commercial for the upcoming SyFy 20th Anniversary Special which is scheduled to air on December 10th. As most of you know, the 5th (and final) season of "Sightings" aired on the Sci Fi Channel (now called "SyFy"). Sci Fi also aired 5 original Sightings specials in the year after the weekly series ended, as well as repeats of all of the episodes for several years. I'm hoping that they will include Sightings in the special. It would be great to see a spotlight of the show with maybe an interview with Henry Winkler or Tim White, but that's probably too much to hope for. I would appreciate at least a brief mention of the show. I sent an e-mail to SyFy requesting this, but I'm sure I won't get a reply.
It may be too late since the special is going to air in a couple of weeks, but I think all of you Sightings fans should send SyFy an e-mail and let them know that you want the show mentioned in the special. As I told them, this is the last chance for the show to get some recognition in an anniversary special. Fox didn't mention it in their anniversary special and the only other place (besides Sci Fi) that it aired was in first-run syndication. Not only would the recognition for the show be nice, but it might lead to some DVD releases. Even if it's too late, it won't hurt to e-mail SyFy.
-Mike
 

Mike T

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Well, as I feared, Sightings was not even mentioned on the SyFy 20th Anniversary Special. That's a shame as it was the last chance for the show to get some recognition on an anniversary special. It wouldn't have hurt them any to at least flash the logo of the show briefly during the special, but they didn't. I don't know if they were ashamed of the show (they shouldn't be) or maybe they don't have the rights from Paramount to show anything related to the show anymore. Who knows? I did notice that there were some other SyFy shows from the '90s and '00s that they didn't mention, such as "First Wave" and "Mysteries, Magic, and Miracles" to name a couple.
Oh, well. I can only hope that the "In Search Of" DVD set sells well and somehow makes VEI think of licensing the rights to Sightings for a DVD set. It's a long shot, but it seems to be the only hope for Sightings fans to get a DVD release.
-Mike
 

xxspirit4musicx

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kay
Hi, I'm 22, I saw a few episodes of this TV Show, and it looks like a really honest, investigative, fun TV show. Please please release this on DVD before the public forgets about it completly. Pleaseee. It's like, all of the record companies are losing because they won't sign people who later are signed to independent labels, and then they sell millions. Same thing goes for ABC Family for example. So this proves that most of these companies are not managing what could be potential successful ventures in a proper manner. Release this and earn DVD sales now.
 

mattfire64

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Sorry to bump an old thread, but Sightings is probably one of the last shows that I wish to see a complete series set of. I think it's a shame that no one has stepped up to the plate to get this show out.


With VEI starting to release much of CBS's back catalog recently, I sent them an e-mail this morning about the show. They got back to me this afternoon and told me that Sightings did "cross their interest", but that they were too many issues to get the show out on DVD. Sadly they didn't specify the issues, but it seems like we won't be getting an official Sightings DVD release anytime soon...
 

Pathfiner

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Interesting that in an episode of one recent Paranormal show - possibly 'Paranormal Witness' or 'My Ghost Story' they featured the 'Heartland Ghost' and mentioned 'Sightings' investigation (even had a clip by a producer of 'Sightings') BUT what they said was inaccurate !


They said 'Sightings' investigated the ghost report....and featured the 'burned rose' incident which occurred during their filming (correct) but then said 'Sightings' had to withdraw from the haunting when the guy ('Geoff' I think) got badly scratched


In fact 'Sightings' continued their investigation even after the family moved out - they did a Live special FROM the haunted house - also medium Peter James was involved working with 'Sightings' team but the later TV show made NO mention of him at all in their version....


be good to see at least a 'Best of....Sightings' compilation, or maybe if there were too many episodes for a full release then a; 'Ghosts file', 'UFOs file', 'Mysteries file', etc, type series of compiled reports from episodes put out on DVD and with maybe a retrospective interview with the show's anchorman Tim White if possible
 

Mike T

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Quote: With VEI starting to release much of CBS's back catalog recently, I sent them an e-mail this morning about the show. They got back to me this afternoon and told me that Sightings did "cross their interest", but that they were too many issues to get the show out on DVD. Sadly they didn't specify the issues, but it seems like we won't be getting an official Sightings DVD release anytime soon...


I meant to comment on the few new replies to this thread awhile ago when I noticed them, but I was too busy and I'm just now getting around to it. (BTW, I started this thread about 10 years ago. Wow! I can't believe it's been that long and that this thread is still here.)


Okay, let's get into this: I'm glad to hear that someone received a reply from VEI aftering contacting them about this show, but disappointed in the answer that they gave. In the past, when I e-mailed them, I usually didn't get any reply. So, they said that they were interested in releasing the show on DVD, but there were too many issues? Too bad they didn't give any details about that. I can only speculate that they meant legal issues with copyrights, but that's just a guess. I know that the show had several different companies producing and distributing it, especially in the first two seasons. But it was my understanding that Paramount has the sole rights to the entire series now.


I think most of those other production/distribution companies are probably out of business now and the TVShowsOnDVD website states that the rights to Sightings is owned by Paramount. Besides that, Paramount did release three compilation VHS tapes of Sightings back in 1996, so they obviously had the rights to release them as far back as then. It could be that Paramount doesn't want to lease the rights to the series to VEI. But, if so, why?? I've read that some Paramount-owned shows, such as "Viper", are being planned for release on DVD sometime in the near future by VEI. So, if Paramount is willing to lease the rights of those other shows to VEI, then why not Sightings?


If the issues are not legal rights, then I don't know what they could be. I don't think there would be very many problems in the way of video or audio dust or anomalies on the film that would have to be cleaned up. The show is only 20 or so years old. I've seen some shows from the 1970's on DVD that didn't have much in the way of dust or other video problems with no restoring done by the companies releasing the DVDs. So, I really don't know what the issues could be. I may try to e-mail VEI again and see if I can get more details. I'll reply here if I find out anything.


As for the other comments about the show: You're right about the "Heartland Ghost" issue. Sightings did several segments on several different episodes spanning over a few seasons of the show (seasons 3 through 5, I think). And they also focused on it in one of their five specials that aired on the Sci Fi Channel in 1998 after the weekly series had ended the previous year. So, the report from that other show about them abandoning the story was wrong.


And yes, a new retrospective interview with host Tim White (as well as ex. prod. Henry Winkler) would be a welcome bonus feature on any possible DVD release. There was a half-hour behind-the-scenes special that aired on the Sci Fi Channel back in 1996 when that channel began airing Sightings episodes and it did feature interviews with Tim White, Henry Winkler, and others. If they couldn't get those people to do new interviews now, they could just include that old special on any possible DVD set and it would still be a nice bonus.


-Mike
 

Pathfiner

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Yeah I knew the other more recent ghost show was wrong re their account about the 'Heartland Ghost' and 'Sightings' having to abandon their investigation - they even had a producer of 'Sightings' appear and say that 'Sightings' team had to withdraw from the case - but it was wrong as 'Sightings' even did a show with their team in the house after the couple had moved out !


as I said Peter James the psychic was featured in several of the reports on 'Sightings' but he wasn't mentioned at all in the more recent ghost show about the haunting - so a bit of revisionism seemed to be going on


The Sci Fi channel screened a few 'Best of Sightings' shows too I recall - one re UFOs one re Ghosts etc compiling reports on each subject


the show deserves a DVD release now
 

mattfire64

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"Too many issues to release this show on DVD" were the exact words that they messaged to me. Very disappointing to say in the least, as clearly this show has a cult fanbase like several of the other shows VEI has released recently. I would pay quite a bit for a complete series release of this show.


The only "issue" that I could see holding up a DVD release is the show's tendency to include quite a bit of "contact information" throughout an episode, i.e. phone numbers, e-mail addresses and websites. Every episode ended with a list of ways to get in contact with the show's producers. Perhaps those that own the copyrights to these "services", such as AOL and Sci-Fi Channel, are being tightwads when it comes to using their logos and likenesses?


Another example to note, one segment I remember seeing about a psychic investigator searching for a missing person had Tim White giving out the phone number to that town's police department at the conclusion of the segment. Would things like this be a valid reason to hold up a DVD release? And if so, how difficult would it be to edit the episodes to remove all this "information"? I realize I might be grasping at straws coming to this conclusion, so anyone with a little more know-how in this field can feel free to comment.
 

Pathfiner

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One episode of 'Sightings' I recall was re an attempt by a psychic to solve a woman's murder....a case that I believe later was solved by the Police and it turned out to be that she was a victim of the notorious 'BTK' serial killer


if I remember correctly it was the case where a mask was found near the victim's body left under or by a bridge


attempts by psychics to solve both homicides and 'missing persons' cases were a regular aspect of 'Sightings' like ghosts and UFO reports


one 'missing person' case featured was an elderly guy who's body was later found in his submerged truck having crashed into a local river....
 

HenryDuBrow

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Maybe it has to do with all the people that took part in the episodes, like the many appearing witnesses in the different cases they'd have to get an ok from each one if still living(?).
 

mattfire64

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Maybe it has to do with all the people that took part in the episodes, like the many appearing witnesses in the different cases they'd have to get an ok from each one if still living(?).

Someone posted on the first page of the thread that they didn't seem to think this was an issue, their source being an official release form that was used for the show.

A random question: Does anybody know why Sightings was cancelled? I can't seem to find any info about it on the internet. I find it very odd that The Sci-Fi Channel picked the show up just to cancel it after one season. They ran a few specials throughout 1998, but dropped all involvement with the show rather suddenly after that. Even more strangely they kept the hour-long episodes in reruns until the spring of 2003. So, was it cancelled because of declining ratings? Too much money for Sci-Fi to produce? Did the producers of the show want to hang it up after five seasons? It seems like a mystery that would have appeared on an actual episode...
 

Pathfiner

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Maybe the Aliens had something to do with it....?

seriously (I hope !) these shows seem to go in and out of fashion - the early sixties saw shows like 'One Step Beyond' etc very popular ...then nothing for ages like it

sadly awful 'Ghost' shows with teams of often really irritating people going about making alot out of very little have discouraged the approach of TV from featuring the far more balanced investigative shows such as 'Sightings' from being the style to tackle mysteries and reports in the field of the paranormal and UFOs etc

- 'Unsolved Mysteries' was a bit like 'Sightings' style but features largely crime orientated cases

so maybe 'Sightings' was TOO 'responsible' in it's style of investigations and asked too many questions in a credible investigative manner to either hold wider public attention when the idiom became unfashionable again (beyond us who loved the show) and possibly government didn't like too many questions re secret projects etc (going into 'X Files' territory there - but that show too was in and later out of fashion)

- they might prefer us to all be couch potatoes hooked on 'The Simpsons', 'Family Guy' and 'Friends' rather than questioning citizens with camera, computers and camcorders out 'watching the skies' and asking questions etc

there's no apparent reason why a modern version of 'Sightings' wouldn't be just as interesting and a DVD release of even a series of 'Sightings' investigations say ' The UFO File', 'The Heartland Ghost File', 'The Apparitions File', and other such investigations compiled into a series of complete themed DVD sets - with maybe Tim White giving any later update at the end - would be worthwhile
 
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Mike T

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In reply to Mattfire64 and Pathfiner:

Mattfire64 - As for the reason that Sightings was cancelled after only one season and a series of 5 specials on the Sci Fi Channel: I don't know for sure, but my guess is that the show didn't get the ratings that S.F.C. wanted. If you go to tvtango.com and do a search for Sightings, you will see the viewership ratings for the show's first 2 seasons on Fox in their episode list. The first 2 specials got a 7.4 rating for the UFO special and a 7.8 rating for the ghost special. I think those are considered good ratings, especially for a show of this type. Then the first 2 seasons of the weekly series averaged between a 4. something and 7. something rating for each episode (changing from week to week). Those are ratings that many producers of shows on network and cable would love to get now! In fact, it seems strange that the show was cancelled from Fox, given those ratings. (Some shows on Fox today are struggling to get a 3 or 4 in the ratings.)

Unfortunately, that website doesn't give the ratings for the show's syndicated and Sci Fi Channel seasons. It's anyone's guess what the ratings in first-run syndication were, but I'll bet that the show's ratings on Sci Fi were probably lower since that channel was not available on many cable systems in the late 1990's. After watching some episodes in syndication, I didn't get to watch Sightings again until I got satellite in late 1999, and by then, the show was over and the channel was only airing repeats.

As I've said before, Sci Fi did air 5 specials in 1998 after they canceled the weekly show in 1997. But from what I've seen from homemade recordings, those final specials seemed way too skeptical in tone to me. The skeptics that were interviewed were given too much on-screen time to debunk everything (especially on the Alien Abductions special). I remember the weekly series being more neutral or even more pro-belief in tone. Maybe loyal viewers of the series were disappointed by this and stopped watching the specials, thus the ratings probably fell further. Then Sci Fi had no choice but to not order any more specials. Just my guess.

Pathfiner - With so many old TV shows being revived now (The X-Files, Heroes, etc.), I would like to think that Sightings could be brought back with new episodes on some cable channel. But, like you said, there has been a shift in paranormal programming over the last 12 years or so from the newsmagazine type of shows (like Sightings, In Search Of, Unsolved Mysteries, etc.) to the edited investigations type of shows (like Ghost Hunters and its many clones). So, it's probably unlikely that any channel would be interested in reviving Sightings unless the show's format is changed. In my opinion, that would ruin the show. It's also unlikely that they would be able to get host Tim White back, the show's writer - Susan Michaels, or the various segment producers. It probably would be a completely different show with a different tone and just wouldn't be as good. As for your suggested DVD compilations of the series: While I would still prefer the episodes to be presented on DVD in their entirety (with only the phone numbers and addresses edited out), I would take any type of DVD release at this point.

BTW, I did e-mail VEI about a month ago to ask them about the details of why there were problems with releasing the show on DVD and they never replied to me (which I expected). So, we'll probably never know what the problems were. I was hoping that VEI's In Search Of DVD set would sell so well that it would prompt them to release Sightings, too, but it seems that it didn't affect their decision.

Sorry for the extra long post. At least, we can keep the memory of the show alive by posting about it. If anyone has any more memories of the show that you want to share, keep posting to this thread.

-Mike T.
 

Pathfiner

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No problem re the 'extra long' post Mike - it was a very good one !

I'm sure the points you make are all spot on....

hopefully at least some kind of 'UFO FILE', 'HAUNTINGS FILE' etc compiled themed version of 'Sightings' taken from various episodes might one day emerge - even if as a kind of 'taster' to see how well it does on DVD

we can only wait and hope - maybe the revival of 'The X Files' might help...
 

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