Re: Best and Worst? Lots of Pros and Cons.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Joe Tor1
As for Disney, why no extras on their Ducktales set? Scrooge Mc Duck’s voice Alan Young and Scrooge’s creator comic book legend Carl Barks are both worthy of features. And there we many, many TV ads produced for the series during its heyday – some with original animation, and all with original voicing. Gather some of them for an inexpensive feature even Scrooge could love. That’s my two-and-a-half cents.
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Scrooge must have been the one who approved the budget.
CBS/Paramount:
PROS:
—Releases lots of stuff
—Space-saving packaging
—Does remastering work most of the time
CONS:
—Cheaps out on music
—Removes original production logos
—Split-seasons
Warner:
PROS:
—Good with more recent series
CONS:
—Does not remaster and often uses substandard prints, especially with the Waltons
—All releases to be held in suspicion after what happened with Mama's Family
—All sitcoms not beginning with the letter F dropped like a rock after season 1
Fox:
PROS:
—Exemplary with most recent series
CONS:
—Nothing pre-Simpsons even registers with them anymore now that M*A*S*H is complete
—Shameful abandonment of several series, especially the MTM Productions acquisitions
—WKRP release was an absolute disgrace
—Some people have problems with dual-sided discs
Sony:
PROS:
—Willing to give some shows a second chance
—Tends to be good about music clearance with some exceptions
—Does remastering work
CONS:
—Doesn't bother to make sure all episodes are unedited, even on episodes that have been available unedited elsewhere.
—Won't continue releases of some shows but will put same shows' minisodes on unrelated DVDs
—Arbitrary release schedule
—Non-existent customer service
—Decades of historical logos replaced with Sony Pictures Television logo with a few exceptions
—Now farting out complete series sets with no added bonus material and probably no correction of edited episodes
Universal:
PROS:
—Willing to license shows to smaller companies
—Managed to license all music on Miami Vice and (so far) SNL (thanks to Stephen for reminding me)
CONS:
—The kings of one-and-done
—They make their DVD-18s at a cheap Mexican plant with a high failure rate
—They cut the original logos and then put the current movie logo at the beginning!
Disney:
PROS:
—Good about exchanging defective discs
—Tends to see more than half of their shows to the end
—Willing to license some stuff out
CONS:
—Customer service often not entirely truthful about technical problems
—Doesn't have that big of a library to begin with
—Extras, when present, are often fluffy or even insulting to the show
MGM:
PROS:
—Did remastering work (at least on Green Acres)
CONS:
—Dropped out of sight basically, leaving several shows up in the air
—Music rights cheapskate (on Addams Family)
—Questionable release tactics on Cagney & Lacey calling season 2 "The True Beginning" when they could have easily included the pilot film and the short seasons 1 and 3 with it as well.
All studios fail to do adequate promotion on their older catalog stuff, but I have seen banner ads for CBS/Paramount shows.
As for the indies, Shout! Factory deserves kudos but needs to work with the studio to obtain better source materials. A&E is okay, Anchor Bay has gone downhill since Starz took it over. Image did some great stuff but has done nothing lately. Rhino has all but ceased to exist. S'more Entertainment is one to look out for in the future as is Arts Alliance.
