How do you feel about CBS/Paramount dvd releases?

Have you forgotten Taxi?

After a 4 year abandonment (which was started in the "golden age" of Paramount releases), Taxi was finished up within a three month span. The announcement for Taxi S5 was made before S4 even hit the shelves.

Same thing happened to Cheers. a long wait between seasons 8 and 9, but when they came back to the series, the final seasons were quickly released.

Plus, it all comes down to one thing... Sabrina must be selling, because they continue to release the DVDs. Happy Days, Mork and Mindy, Laverne and Shirley, the Hooterville shows... well, unfortunately, they didn't sell enough for CBS/P to keep releasing them at this time.

Even The Lucy Show is hanging by a thread at this point.

Mork and Mindy could easily be finished off, though... only one season to go.

Between the stalled series, syndicated episodes, replaced music, and split season releases, I can't stand them.

I'll buy a product when it's done right like season 1 and 2 of Petticoat Junction (Which is sadly now in the stalled category with no plans to continue), but I fall squarely into the cannot stand it category when it comes to CBS/Paramount.

Even when they do things right like Petticoat Junction, they still always seem to fall short of pefection. Every season 2 episode has the show introduction being cut short a second or two, which didn't happen with the season 1 release. Someone screwed up and it was never caught.

Any company that butchers a great show like My Three Sons is a company I'll never like or defend, so I have no loyalty or fondness towards them.

Instead of being happy today that a show I like has been announced for release, I'm wondering how they're going to screw it up.

I have no love or respect for CBS/Paramount. Their releases of The Fugitive and My Three Son, with the original music underscores altered, are a complete and utter disgrace. These releases single-handedly killed any enthusiam I had over the TV shows on DVD hobby. 

Butchering shows over music is a common practice at CBS/Paramount. With The Odd Couple,  they just deleted scenes containing music they couldn't clear. With Cheers, they just substituted other songs for ones they couldn't clear, like dropping "The Monster Mash" from one episode. 

From their handling of music clearances. to the the years that go by between season releases, not to mention their whole split-season approach to milk loyal fans of as much money as they can, CBS/Paramount just leaves way too much to be desired.

Where CBS/Paramount falls down is their treatment of music. Even though I'm VERY tired of the continued vilification of Mark Heyes, who was simply doing a job to the best of his ability on "The Fugitive," their fear of using music they plainly own is baffling in the extreme. It's the CBS lawyers and execs who should get the angry words, not Mark Heyes.

The point still holds even though Heyes' cues for the most part don't equal what they replaced. Most of them would likely have worked, though, were it not for some awful music editing that set gains at room-shaking levels. When the volume is correct, they generally work, though again the originals were better.

I have to give CBS/Paramount top marks for video remastering, however. With the exception of "Cannon," which seems to have been directly dubbed from film to DVD master with no cleanup at all, CBS/Paramount's video editing has been impeccable. "Mission: Impossible," "Jake and the Fatman," "The Invaders" and "Barnaby Jones" are bright and clean, while "Hawaii Five-O" almost jumps off the screen. Who knows what they had against "Cannon."

So, video gets top marks (except for "Cannon"). Music gets a C- at best.

i have enjoyed my hawaii five-o releases with the images being very crisp. It is disappointed when other shows are digitally re-mastered, like Falcon Crest, Dallas, Knots Landing. The images from these dvds are not very good.

My favourite show for re-mastering is Star Trek. I love what was done with star trek. It makes watching the old dvds of the show before re-mastering obsolete.

I agree with the previous writer about Cannon and it not being re-mastered. I still like the show, but, the images are very rough.

Generally I feel very good about them (The Fugitive snafu aside), they have been treating us with many classics where other major studios lately have failed this 'duty' miserably with very limited releases. Their remastered shows look great though Cannon looks only marginally better than the new poor R2 Kojaks, but I hope they (CBS) realize people are still buying them regardless.
 
They have a few shows started now that I hope they'll follow through with, stuff like Hotel, Barnaby Jones, Vega$ and Bonanza. And of course picking up with more Streets oSF again as soon as possible, maybe eventually giving The Magician its long-awaited DVD debut.
 
I don't mind those split volumes that much, a strange decision for sure that seem to irritate most fans, and it is funny now all of a sudden to get Have Gun Will Travel in volumes. I naturally would prefer all complete season sets, too. 

Really? I had heard from the producers of the dvd that The Lucy Show was one of their big sellers. It took a year for them to announce Season 2 because they were waiting for sales numbers. The people working on these sets are fans who have been doing this in their spare time. Hence, all the great bonus features. Plus, it won best tv-on-dvd award last year. So I don't think it's hanging by a thread. In fact, pre-orders for Season 2 have already been very successful. Let's face it, CBS/Paramount didn't have the confidence in this release until the fans spoke up and started a letter writing campaign. They took notice, released Season 1 and realized Lucy's fans extend beyond I Love Lucy.

I'm with Henry. CBS is just about my favorite label for TV releases, with Shout coming close behind.
I understand the frustration of some fans with The Fugitive score and other titles issues with music subs or cuts, but I see this as more of a fault of the greedy and clueless RIAA and music industry. CBS is far from the only studio that has had to deal with this stuff. I also can't blame them for not continuing to lose money on titles that don't sell, or for fast tracking titles that do. The more stuff they release that makes them money, the more often they will take a chance releasing lower profile titles I actually care about or continuing lines that don't sell as well.

I've been cutting back massively on DVD and Bd purchases this year, but the one exception was the  CBS sale at DD last month. I finally got to snag Barnaby Jones and some others, and now I'm kicking myself for not grabbing more titles while I had the chance.

CBS is such a mixed bag it's hard for me to gauge how I feel about them.  A lot of it depends on which aspect of their Classic TV on DVD releases I'm focusing on.  If I'm thinking about the quantity of vintage shows they've released from their vaults over the last decade then they get high, high marks.  Every other studio comes in 2nd as far as the number of 50's and 60's releases go.  But if I'm thinking about the amount of music subs, or weird censoring, then they go straight to the bottom of the heap.

I could forgive them for a few music subs here and there if it was about a huge pop song that would cost big bucks to license out.  But when they gut an entire underscore for no good reason at all it's beyond ridiculous.  They destroyed two classic shows doing this, and the sad thing is it was unnecessary in one instance for sure (The Fugitive), and probably unnecessary in the other (although I don't know that we've ever been told the real reason for the subs in My Three Sons).  The blame can't be placed exclusively on the "greedy and clueless RIAA and music industry", as was mentioned above, when it comes to CBS/Paramount's handling of The Fugitive.  They owned 95%+ of the music they subbed but they were too lazy to figure that out.  It's on them and not the music industry.  So I can't give them a pass there.

They also are notorious for stalling classic shows out.  They surely have left more 50's and 60's shows at the altar than any other studio.  In that sense they are a major tease.  


Gary "I have to rank Shout as first at this point in time when it comes to vintage releases" O.

If the show is selling I don't think they would purposely stale it for no reason. It makes more sense that a stalled show = one that is not selling well. Streets Of San Francisco is one of my personal favorites and the fact that no more volumes are forthcoming is frustrating- but apparently it was not a good seller. I can't expect CBS to continue taking a bath on it just because I, and a few others, want it.
The best I can hope for is that they fast track the stuff that does sell, because the sooner they get that stuff finished- and get the money from it- the sooner they will give these other runs another shot.

I really hope Barnaby Jones didn't bomb, because I would like to have at least another full season of it before it gets put on ice for a while.

As far as comparing CBS to other studios for TV releases- I would take them over Fox, Warner and Sony any day.
The recent WB TV/Animation chat was painfully funny as it consisted of almost nothing but "no plans at this time" whenever a vintage show was asked about. Over at Universal I'm still waiting for more seasons of McMillan & Wife and others with no continuation in sight. I'm not a big fan of the split seasons style releases, but I would be thrilled at this point to be able to get further McMillan or McCloud or Kojak in a split season. The music issues are a frustration, and it does look like in the case of The Fugitive it was CBS that was clueless- but then they did seem to at least put forth an effort to make amends. I appreciated the replacement set and never expected them to go to the trouble.
Putting aside audio for a second, the Video on just about all the releases I have has been superb.

For that reason, as well as the very broad selection of titles and genres and eras, I've been overall very happy with them- despite the occasional missteps.

Everyone else's MMV of course.
Edited by Paul_Scott - 5/4/10 at 8:11am

What a perfect world it would be if money wasn't the only thing worth doing things for. Imagine a place where we got entire seasons of our favorite shows without altered music, lovingly restored and chock full of bonus features, all in handsome collectible packaging. Unfortunately the studios are a business like everything else.

I like Universal by proxy.

They abandoned a lot of stuff in 2005-2007 (Leave it to Beaver, the Jack Webb cop shows), but now some of it is getting a new life through Shout Factory.

Still haven't quite forgiven them for the music butchering done to Quantum Leap, though. At least they learned by the fifth season that you don't screw with "Georgia on My Mind".

My take on them is mixed as are most here.  They've done a good job in releasing some of the 50's/60's shows and their remastering is mostly very good.  However, as Gary and some others have mentioned, after the Fugitive fiasco, my opinion of them changed considerably.  I realize that they released one volume of "restored" music but, after hearing about "My Three Sons, their stock didn't rise much, to me.  I'm a very cautious buyer with them as as result of the music edit issues.

Prior to the Fugitive, they were indeed on a pedestal as those ads claimed.  After that, they fell off the pedestal, imo.

they have gotten my business I have mannix,the untouchables,the fugitive,cannon,petticoat
junction and barnaby jones just to name some off

What Gary said. CBS/Paramount have lost a lot of currency with me, due to their treatment of The Fugitive, My Three Sons, and to a lesser extent, The Odd Couple. They are still one of the best of the majors, about neck and neck w/Universal-by-proxy (Thanks, Shane). Image Entertainment is still head and shoulders above all others when it comes to vintage TV on DVD, IMO.

CBS DVD have done an excellent job with the Region 1 and 2 DVD sets for Friday the 13th - The Series, Hawaii Five-O, The Invaders, Mannix, Mission: Impossible and Tales from the Darkside. It's just a shame that Hotel and The Streets of San Francisco have stalled.

I know it's said about Streets but I didn't have that feeling about Hotel, in any case, they'd probably split it in volumes now with so many episodes in the next season. Hopefully stalled doesn't mean abandoned forever, of course.

I sincerely hope CBS/P does not abandon The Mod Squad.  I also hope The Fugitive's Final Season comes to pass before 2011 does.

Has CBS stalled any series after only 1 season?

I find it interesting that Streets Of San Francisco got two full seasons, as did Petticoat Junction and Mod Squad and probably a few more that I'm not aware of. That to me seems to suggest a pattern- especially since, now that these are apparently shelved for the time being, we are seeing new titles like Barnaby Jones, Bilko, etc getting started.

We might just see these new titles get two seasons out, and if they don't get fast tracked, they will revisit the 'stalled' ones.

 

I know that other studios operate with a limited number of release slots each year. they just can't release any and everything they want or have- they have to budget which properties get released for the first time, which movies get double dipped to tie-in with an upcoming event, etc. It would make sense that CBS is operating under the same constraints and therefore has to mix 'sure things' with the new and unknown to continue functioning.

 

I'm trying to remain optimistic because right now I really want further seasons of all those seasons I mentioned, but I have a strong feeling none are coming anytime soon. Luckily I'm looking forward to Bilko and would be happy to see another season of Barnaby as well. I can be patient if it's just going to be a matter of cycling through the roster.

"Love American Style" stalled out after one season.

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As to your question about S1 stalls, off the top of my head I can only think of two that CBS/P immediately stalled: One Step Beyond and Love, American Style.  Some may think that OSB is too recent a release for me to come to that conclusion, but let me just say that it has indeed been stalled out after initially being scheduled for a S2 & S3 release this year to finish that series up.  And of course it's obvious that LAS has been stalled for quite some time.  And we almost lost The Lucy Show to a one and done, but fortunately that didn't end up being the case.  Some might think Bonanza is another casulty, but I think we'll see S2 before the year is done.  I do fear a little for Barnaby Jones, even though I have to admit it's early yet.

 

I'm not sure about the "cycling through the roster" thing, but I can tell you that CBS/P significantly scaled back their releases for this year, after having about twice as many releases planned.  They've pulled back and stalled out quite a few shows that, as of this time last year, they had on their long term schedule.  That's a fact.  Things like The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Family Ties, and the aforementioned One Step Beyond were all scheduled to see releases either late last year and/or early this year and of course that hasn't come to pass.

 

The only thing I believe we can deduce is that the tried and true consistent with TV on DVD releases is that there's a diminishing return as seasons move forward.  A Season 1 set will almost always sell better than a Season 2.  A S2 better than a S3, and so on.  So look at something like the Beverly Hillbillies with Buddy Ebsen.  I'm gonna assume that after the S3 release CBS/P looked at the sales figures and thought to themselves that rather than continue with S4 they'd take another Ebsen property (Barnaby Jones) and release a S1 of that, assuming it'd almost have to do better just because it's the first volume of a new series.  In that sense, I'd say the "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" philosophy probably does come into play more than we realize.  Even though one would think the Hillbillies would have more name recognition and iconic series power than Barnaby, the numbers told CBS to stall out the earlier, more popular, sitcom series in favor of the 70's detective show. 

 

 

Gary "just my two cents in trying to figure out the wacky world of dvd releases" O.

 

P.S. I had started composing my long post before I saw that Jack mentioned LAS in front of me. 

i would be just happy with Family ties being completed. I have the seasons 1-5. It is disappointed that the season 6 and 7 have not been released.

 

In the case of One Step Beyond, I have this sneaking feeling they may simply have abandoned those first plans of imminent S2 and S3 releases for annual Halloween (or there about) releases instead. Well, don't ask me why I think that but it's an idea/hope, and not an all bad or unusual one too actually, as I recall something similar with MGM's Midnite Movies some years ago. It's not like CBS is swimming in horror related titles, so they may be going this route with it.

hopefully they'll be picking up the releasing of titles for the Christmas shopping season. Maybe they figure Walmart is willing to expand their DVD section for the holidays. Why put stuff out if people aren't looking for them? Hopefully this Fall season we'll get the final volumes of The Fugitive and The Untouchables. They have a couple titles that they've been being regular about. They've also dipped back to release shows that others had termed abandoned. \

 

 do think it made zero sense that they had to split Vega$ while Matt Houston got a single season set release.

 

the positive thought is that DVDs aren't being phased out by Bluray like they did to VHS. Things will need to be released even if it isn't at the aggressive schedule that CBS DVD had in '08 and '09.

I'm still waiting for the eleventh and final season of 7th Heaven to be released which might be announced for a November/December release in a couple of weeks.  After that I'm hoping for a complete series announcement, with updated packaging and some extras.  Extras which up until now, have not been included on seasons 1-10.

Re: One Step Beyond...

 

I have waited years to get a good quality complete series and paid the high price for Season One not long ago.  But it would suck swamp water if they simply drop the series after hooking people on the first volume who spent their hard earned dollars in hope of completing the series.  I know that Amazon has a dropdown for Second Season but when it launches it goes only to the Season One disc.  Looks like even the old pre-order links have disappeared?

 

Let's hope they silently release it by October!

 

Eric

I am wondering what happened to the rest of vegas, bonanza, and the untouchables.

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I have a feeling we will hear/read some good news about these three very soon. 

 

 

Gary "not as positive about Vegas because it's not a show I'm collecting, but I'm really confident we will see the other two released in the last quarter of this year" O.