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Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

post #1 of 11
11/6/06 at 9:23pm
Thread Starter 
I'm starting this thread in response to my recent purchase of Weeds Season 1. I knew it was in fullscreen when I bought it I just thought I could deal with it, but after only 5 minutes into the first episode, I had to turn it off after half of someones head was cut off. I know the debate over this issue and why Lionsgate released this in fullscreen (I'm just happy their excuse wont work for Season 2, as Showtime aired the show in widescreen on the non-HD channel also), but I'm wondering why there are never reissues on TV shows. They do it for movies all the time, I mean every year I swear there is a new edition of Scarface out, then there was the whole Jaws 25th then 30th Anniversary edition. More recently I'm thinking of Reservoir Dogs and the new edition that came out just recently. Is it just too much of a waste of money to reissue TV sets especially with such a grave mistake as this. If TV-DVD is such a big business why not try to maximize their profits. I know I would buy a reissue of the first season of Weeds in a heartbeat, as long as it was released in the proper aspect. Maybe a complete series will come out and they will redo the first season. Even shows with edits, re-released without these edits, fans of the show will immediately buy these especially if advertised without the edits. Any thoughts on this issue? (I know I kind of rambled)
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post #2 of 11
11/7/06 at 1:53pm

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Lionsgate doesn't think there's anything wrong with the first season of Weeds being released in Full Frame. I turned it off at exactly the same point as you did.

As for why they don't reissue the sets - it costs a lot more to redo an entire season of a series because of the amount of content. Sure, TV shows on DVD is big business on a whole, but not with individual titles. I don't know how well Weeds sold, but I doubt they would recoup the costs associated with doing a new transfer and pressing.

Gord
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post #3 of 11
11/7/06 at 4:05pm

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

I wonder this too. Considering X-Files, Angel and Buffy have been reissued and repriced when there really wasn't anything wrong in the first place (well, besides the complaints about the lack of "play all" and missing "previously on"'s), why not have companies do the same thing with syndicated cut shows, wrong OAR and DVD-18 sets (since Universal is phasing these out, how about re-releasing everything with single sided discs?). I bet a corrected reissue of Cosby or ALF would sell truckloads
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post #4 of 11
11/7/06 at 4:18pm

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Can't speak to "X-Files," but as far as I know the "Buffy" and "Angel" reissues were simply repackaging of the earlier release. No remastering involved.
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post #5 of 11
11/7/06 at 5:27pm

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Same with the X-Files. They just removed bonus features and put them in slimmer packages. They didn't do anything with transfers or new content though.
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post #6 of 11
11/8/06 at 7:15am

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Well, there's two groups that buy re-issues:

(1) People who had the prior edition and are willing to purchase an upgrade. They're willing to spend the money because it's either not much money or the new edition is something really special. A lot of these folks either don't think much about something that costs less than twenty bucks - they can sell the old version or hand it off to a friend/relative - or love that particular movie and want that 3-disc Oldboy, four-disc Seven Samurai, spiffily-packaged Evil Dead, HD-DVD Casablanca, etc.

Most TV series reissues would either come in above the $20 price point where people start thinking about whether it's worth the money or wouldn't really have improvements that seem significant - if you add two hours of extras to a two-hour movie, that's a big deal; add the same amount to a 22-episode TV season, it's not as much.

(2) People who didn't buy the first time. I strongly suspect that TV seasons capture a large chunk of their fanbase the first time around, so there's not as much untapped potential - and those that are left are looking for lower prices, not more features.

Also, I think people consider TV and movies differently as they recede in time. A show from ten years ago is considered less relevant than a movie from ten years ago, and even a relatively successful show that's no longer on the air is thought of as "canceled" and thus a failure. That attitude is silly, but it exists.
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post #7 of 11
11/8/06 at 7:47am

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Sadly, I don't think we'll get a reissue of Weeds until they possibly do a HD-DVD release.

I've got HD versions preserved for the first season, but it's depressing not to have an actual BOX, etc... *sigh*
Lionsgate kinda makes a lot of mistakes, and very often.
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post #8 of 11
11/8/06 at 9:06am

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay_B!
I wonder this too. Considering X-Files, Angel and Buffy have been reissued and repriced when there really wasn't anything wrong in the first place (well, besides the complaints about the lack of "play all" and missing "previously on"'s), why not have companies do the same thing with syndicated cut shows, wrong OAR and DVD-18 sets (since Universal is phasing these out, how about re-releasing everything with single sided discs?). I bet a corrected reissue of Cosby or ALF would sell truckloads

Of Sony's DVD releases that aren't season-one-and-done, they don't even acknowledge there's a problem with specific episodes of so many of their TV shows.
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post #9 of 11
11/8/06 at 10:52am

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Remember rumors of a CSI Season 1 widescreen reissue?

What happened with that? Obviously nothing at all.
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post #10 of 11
11/8/06 at 11:51am

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Well, for the most part I'm against reissues, except when episodes are properly remastered and done in order to correct past mistakes (original Star Trek and Twilight Zone), or if the original aspect ratio and running times are restored. Fox has been repacking both Buffy and X-Files ad nauseum, at the expense of other classic shows that lie waiting in the Fox vaults for overdue release. And now it seems Paramount is beginning to follow Fox's faulty path by its issue of so-called "collections" of similar themed Star Trek episodes (Klingons, the character of "Q", captain-themed collections). Been there, seen that, boys!
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post #11 of 11
11/8/06 at 12:04pm

Re: Why are there so few, if any, reissues?

Quote:
And now it seems Paramount is beginning to follow Fox's faulty path by its issue of so-called "collections" of similar themed Star Trek episodes (Klingons, the character of "Q", captain-themed collections). Been there, seen that, boys!

But recall that you are dealing with "Trekkies", beings that would sooner eat beans out of a can for a month in order to purchase "The Vulcan Collective", "The Ferengi Collective", or the much anticipated "Red Shirt Wearing Crewmen Who Face An Untimely Death Collective".
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