Everwood - Page 2

Re: Everwood

Ratings, in rare occassions, can be a part of the equation. They can influence purchases.

"Seventh Heaven's" finale was rated high enough that the CW greenlit another season of 7H over "Everwood", which was supposed to be on the new network. This got Everwood's fans really angry, and the fanbase goes beyond people who post on the Internet or buy season sets.

Because of the uproar over this news, and the airing of the finale, "Everwood's" first season has climbed back onto Amazon's top seller's list. And one of those sales is my own.

Will renewed sales be enough for the WB to consider green-lighting a Season Two set? We'll have to see.

Re: Everwood

I was all prepared to buy season 1 of Everwood on DVD when it was released a few years ago but I changed my mind as soon as I found out it was 4:3 and not 16:9. I had already seen each episode and was looking forward to seeing them again in widescreen but the full frame release squelched that idea. I wonder how many people passed on buying season 1 for the same reason?

I was staying away from buying CSI for the same reason until the list price was dropped on seasons 1 and 2 (season 1 is 4:3). I picked both up for less than $24 each during a Deep Discount DVD sale and soon after bought season 3, 4, and 5. Maybe Warner Brothers should drop the price on season 1 of Everwood and see of sales pick up? Or perhaps they should reissue it with each epiosode presented in the 16:9 aspect ratio of the HD broadcasts. I'd love to own each season of Everwood on DVD... in widescreen.

Re: Everwood

Everwood has always been in Fullscreen and i don't know if they put Everwood in HD widescreen at the time it aired. It is $17 on amazon at the moment. The 1st and last episode of the season are in non-anamorphic widescreen.

Re: Everwood

Everwood has been broadcast in HD since the first season back in 2002.

http://www.nab.org/newsroom/pressrel...HDTV100202.pdf

I've only seen it on HDTV dispays at Circuit City but I was rather in impessed with how much better it looked than the standard definition broadcasts I was used to.

I may have to pick up season 1 for $17. That's quite a deal.

Re: Everwood

I understand that. It sucks for us Everwood fans and fans of any tv show that only gets one season on DVD, but I totally understand it. I was just getting in a bitching about how the opposite seemed to be true when it came to the show staying on tv (which is a bit more important issue with me than the series on DVD).

I know it's a little useless to bug Warner about releasing more seasons, and I wasn't in the chat, but I guess I can still hold hope that the recent ending of the series can boost sales a bit for S1, and maybe they'll realise they can promote a S2 release with Marcia Cross on the cover.

Re: Everwood

Ok, my 2c on the issue.

Warner needs to tell us how many copies it actually did sell, after that's been taken care of just tell us how many additional sales is reqiuired to get S2 on DVD.
They could very well claim information like that to be a corporate secret etc. but the fact remains, we don't know what their "magic number" is and how far from that the sales actually were/are.
If they sold 75000 copies while their go ahead figure was 80000 it's a bit low but somewhat ok, should they have sold say 23000 copies with the same target it's extremely low and we would be more understanding as to why nothing more was released.

Why not take a chance (and informing us about it), release season 2 and if it doesn't sell they've got everything clearly stated in black and white.
Then they could say: Hey, we released S2 and we lost some money on it, had you bought it S3 would have been on it's way right now...

TV on DVD isn't what it was a few years ago, sales has been climbing since then and it's grown from a niche product to a massmarket product.
A show that had mediocre support a few years back could be a major seller today, we can't stick to old statistics in a market that's changed.

Re: Everwood

Warner needs to tell us how many copies it actually did sell

That would be a trade and corporate secret, and the chances of that happening are less than zero. The sales figures for individual titles will never come out. Information like that reveals valuable information to competitors and potential investors.

Re: Everwood

Okay, I have to butt in again:

Checking the transcript, I see there were only THREE Everwood questions. Three. Hardly an innundation, by any means. And the questions were rather polite. Probably the second two posters came in hours after the first one and had no clue that these questions had been asked already. I find the endless animation spec questions far more repetitious, trivial and boring.

There seems to be a growing effort to get more Everwood on dvd. Yeah. So. Is that a problem? Seems like everybody who doesn't care about Everwood is quick to jump down the throats of those who do. Look, I apologize that Treat Williams is no substitute for "Markie Post," but, to each their own.

Re: Everwood

You would be wrong there, my good sir:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120847/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0197924/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240944/

Re: Everwood

true, but considering that it's doing so well on Amazon, I think Warner should let the fans know whether it's a MTM type situation where it will eventually move the numbers needed for season 2, or if sales are so low that everyone who owns a copy can buy a second and it still would be too low. Trade secret? I don't see why finding out if Everwood sold, say, 83k units (just a guess) would be any different than finding out how many copies Madonna's latest CD has scanned? you can find music sales information all over the web, I don't see why it's different with DVD's than with CD's. I think if Warner POSTED sales info, that would be more of an enticement to fans who were thinking "you know, I kinda wanted to get Happy Days" knowing it only needed an extra 5000 sold to merit season 2 for instance.

Re: Everwood

personally, I think Warner sets too high standards for their shows. The holy grail is Friends for sitcoms (I'm not sure what would be the holy grail for dramas... Smallville? Gilmore Girls? Dukes Of Hazzard?), everything that cannot match Friends gets screwed in the long run.

As much as I used to complain about Sony, at least Sony accepts the fact that Seinfeld is a once-in-a-library sitcom (much like Friends is for Warner and Golden Girls is for Buena Vista) and that they don't penalize every other show because it doesn't sell those numbers, instead they seem to put "smaller" but still popular shows (Good Times, AITF, Sanford, Facts Of Life, Married With Children...) as the standard by which the rest of their catalog is judged. I am sure if Growing Pains was a Sony or Fox property, we would've seen a season two by now, but because it likely sells (at best) 1/10th what the average Friends set does, it's not good enough for Warner.

I honestly think Warner and others should do for DVD's what they do for music... license. Warner could license a lot of their "no plan" shows to a smaller company, but retain 75% of the sales for it, and I'm sure that those companies would be gracious to be releasing shows like Everwood, Murphy Brown, Night Court, Without A Trace, etc... Much like how smaller companies will reissue Warner CD's that may not be a big enough deal for the label, but that the smaller label will still be glad to distribute for Warner.

Re: Everwood

Madonna is an artist who will continue to produce music and CDs. In the music industry the volume of CD sales is a measure of popularity used to determine radio play and concert scheduals. A television show, with the exception of those currently on the air, is a static property the measure of which determines the value of the studeo's catalogue.

Re: Everwood

Warner Bros evaluates each title on an individual basis based on estimated sales, cost to license music, and the cost to produce bonus material, DVD masters, menus and packaging. They have a much, much lower expectation of other sitcoms than they do of Friends because they know Friends will be popular.

Gord

Re: Everwood

Joe, please cut and paste any comments that you consider rude. I thought the Everwood boosters to be very polite and complimentary. Also, I note that the 4th (and last) person to mention Everwood didn't ask a question; that person simply thanked WB for considering a future release. That's supposed to be embarrassing? I really don't understand your problem here. And even though I did not participate in the chat, I realize that it went on for several hours, in which time people are free to come and go. New participants don't necessarily scroll up to the beginning and read what's already been asked (even though they should). You call the Everwood fans a "tiny, rude and obnoxious minority" when the fact there's so many lobbying for Everwood dvds that it makes them a majority. Rude? Uh, where? Because the questions were asked more than once? That's rude? Okay.... Obnoxious? Only to people who don't care about Everwood, I guess. And what are "boorish" sales, anyway? I've never seen that adjective in the Wall Street Journal financial pages. Really, I think the tone of this thread indicates that the Everwood fans shanghied the WB chatters, attacked and chastised them. Where? I don't see it in the transcript. I see repetition of the question, but I don't see the rudeness.

Re: Everwood

Ethan, I believe the transcript that was published was edited to remove the posts in question.

At least I assume so. What was published certainly didn't come across as "swamped with posts"

I wasnt there live, so can't be sure.

Re: Everwood

I am on a different scenario to the one of most of posters here, so I would like to express my view on the ongoing Everwood/DVD saga.

I had never seen Everwood on TV. Unfortunately the series are not regularly aired in Spain since even big US TV hits do not necessarily do well here (e.g. Lost S1 only had marginally good ratings).

I only got to know this jewel because three months ago I took the wise decision to purchase S1 DVD on Amazon.com. I tend to trust Amazon reviews and reviewers when they are majoritarily praising a given product, and in Everwood's case the consensus was so solid that in view of the interesting pricing I couldn't resist. I got so hooked on the characters, on the actors, on the wonderful writing, on the series in general from the first episode that I was done with S1 in about a week and went to Amazon to purchase the following season and see as soon as possible the end of the Colin Hart cliffhanger.

I found there were no more DVD's available and then I started to investigate in different forums. I soon (and sadly) found what was the status of the series. I soon realized what was going on and that because of the low sales of S1 there won't seemingly be any further releases. And I feel cheated now.

I understand the point being made by some people here about the fact that this is simply economics and WHV not being a charitable institution, but I believe that as a WHV customer I also have the right to receive a complete product, and in the case of a TV series it comprises from the first to the last (I think 98th in this case) episode, not only from 1 to 23. As of now, I have only been given a crippled and incomplete product and I don't see a good deal of a reason for that.

I just wanted to give my angle on this and basically support the many customers that have been venting their "Everwood DVD's frustration" here and in many other furums. I know my opinion will mean nothing to WB, but writing here at least made me feel better.

Excellent forum BTW

Re: Everwood

Th transcript was edited because there were two somewhat nasty comments made in the chat that are not present in trans. All of the other Everwood questions were (as i remember) polite. But I do know that some of the people were new and didn't know that Everwood questions were no longer being addressed and the rest of the chat is not there to look over beforehand.

Re: Everwood

Luis, what you bought WAS a complete product. They sold you Season 1, not season 1 and the promise of 2, 3 and 4. The last thing we need are legal disclaimers on the packaging as to what people are actually getting when they buy a set.

Gord

Re: Everwood

Maybe Warner needs to rethink their pricing strategy on Everwood. They are obviously able to make money with La Femme Nikita priced at $99.95. I say this because Warner is clearly going to release that entire series. I do not believe for a second that LFN has a more rabid or loyal fanbase than Everwood. Since Everwood can't meet profit expectations at $59.99; price it accordingly. I would pay more to get this wonderful series out.

Re: Everwood

The original price point worked against the first season release; that, and the fact that a lot of other high-profile sets were released that day.

Re: Everwood

Exactly, among many other sets Without A Trace Season 1, American Dreams Season 1 and Everwood Season 1 were all released on September 7th '04, all three were abandoned and I'm waiting desperately on all three follow-ups.

Re: Everwood

I see things in a different way, Gord. The moment they decided to go for a S1 release they created, in my view, at least a moral obligation with their customers (yet not legal, I obviously understand that) to deliver the whole artwork. I have now an incomplete statue with just a couple of legs and sorry but I can't help the feeling that I have some rights to get the rest of it.

So they launch e.g. the first part of Titanic just to check how sales go and then if they don't get what is expected they would never issue the second part of the movie? No way this can be right.

Simply put, next time WHV is unsure about a given product, just don't release a part of it to test the waters: Don't release it at all.

Anyway, just my two cents. And thanks for the reply.

Re: Everwood

Luis, I never thought about it that way but I kinda agree to an extent with what you're saying. TV shows are like movies to where they have beginnings and endings, granted they're a whole hell of a lot longer but still. Starting with season one, you kinda expect to get more and more until the last season comes and finishes the collection off.

I still think if Warner spent less time focusing on Friends, a series which has been completed, and moving onward to other shows, there'd be much less frustration. Who needs a "special box set"? they already did one of that sort LAST YEAR.

Re: Everwood

I agree with Luis above. He put it better than I could have. I also don't quite buy WHV's comment in the chat that music rights were a factor in not putting out Everwood 2, because at this point, I don't give a damn if feeble pop songs make it onto a dvd or not. Just change 'em and put it out. Who cares. Songs from WB shows are in 90% of the cases, absolutely superfluous to the action or story.

The absence of an Everwood follow-up is to me, the #1 reason not to keep buying tv shows on dvd. (American Dreams is the #2 reason!) When it came out, Everwood was a fairly popular show and there was no reason to believe season two wouldn't ever come out, anymore than there was no reason to believe the O.C. season two wouldn't come out, or anything else. I don't want a dvd case full of season ones. I really don't. Yet, that's what I have.

Re: Everwood

Agreed! Every major record lable has a "special products" division where they licence tracks and full albums to other companies. Heck,if it wasn't for that we'd never have had record lables like "K-Tel" and "Ronco Records".

So maybe what studios need to do is look at that design model. Maybe as far as licencing individual episodes (non-exclusive) for 'best of packages'.

Re: Everwood

That day also saw the release of WB's Alfred Hitchcock: The Signature Collection and Angel: Season 4.


Might I suggest that you start seeing things differently? The studios are NOT going to change how they do things. Regardless of your feelings on the matter, this is how things are done. The sooner you learn to accept that, the less disappointment you'll face down the road.

Re: Everwood

right, some companies set higher expectations than others. There are a lot of shows Warner and Sony have for instance, that may have been "flops", but yet a company like Anchor Bay (which really only owns two "blockbuster" shows, Three's Company and Roseanne) or Image would've been more than satisfied. If Warner is afraid that Everwood season 2 won't sell enough, then license it to an offshoot company and receive 75% of the profits or whatever, and I'm sure these other companies would be more than satisfied with how it sells. I mean, Image saw fit to release the complete series of Hearts Afire, a John Ritter/Markie Post vehicle that has been largely forgotten (remember when he died, all you heard about was TC and 8SR, very little was said about Hearts Afire except for old interview footage on shows like E.T.), in six months time, while Markie's blockbuster hit isn't seen as profitable to release on DVD? please. Warner might have lofty ambitions for Night Court, but for another smaller company being licensed it, they would see Night Court as an asset to own.

Re: Everwood

The DVD presents the season one episodes as they were meant to be seen. The two episodes meant to be seen in widescreen are presented in widescreen, albeit non-anamorphic.
The DVD is OAR for Season 1, not the HD broadcast.

Re: Everwood

I agree if Warner Bros. doesn't want to put out 2-4, license them to another company. Also many fans would rather have the series with replacement music rather than not at all.

Re: Everwood

That's the blockbuster mentality at work.

Only when the actual artists own and have control over their work will we see an improvement.