Re: Shout factory doing great job
If the Shout critics need to 'give it a rest' I think the same should be said of those who feel a need to praise them to high heaven as the greatest studio releasing TV on DVD and who seem to carry that further to an attitude of "Oh gee, I wish this were being released by Shout!" Shout's track record is ultimately no better and no worse than any of the major studios that we have been quick to condemn loudly in the past like CBS/Paramount. CBS/Paramount has released some winners with no problems of note (Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O) and they have released substandard material with edits (Odd Couple) and we have also seen less than admirable conduct with the Fugitive prior to the S2 V1 debacle. Shout has likewise done some releases great (Adam-12, Paper Chase, That Girl, McHale's Navy) and some not so good, but where they earn my criticism is how they have strung along fans of "Ironside" and "Bill Cosby Show" into thinking future releases were still coming and then after a long waiting period dashing those expectations. In the case of "Cosby" when the decision not to release just one more season of a show that had once made it to the Amazon pre-order phase with a date set, stings a lot more when Shout then decides to spend money on a title of substandard quality elements wise like "Rhoda" and then also chooses to committ to two releases of "Peyton Place" before there's any chance of gauging sales figures of a first set. That's not a business model I can admire,and while I don't want to have to repeat those sentiments at every chance I can get, I think maybe a little less of the undying effusive praise for Shout! in general and getting things back to an even keel where we just evaluate things on a case by case basis in terms of what we think about the studios and how we judge them, would be more in order.
