Simon&Simon-Season 6

I had to look it up. I couldn't believe a show like that could run for 8 years. Amazing.

I am still going through season 2.  Haven't gotten to season 5 yet

I have S1-S4 on dvd, but did not buy S5 as it was Shout Factory Direct. I will wait to see how things play it self out with Simon & Simon as i am non-commital on purchasing directly from Shout Factory.

 

 

 

I have season 5, but have not watched it yet.  If Shout does not put out seasons 6, 7 and 8 I guess I will go to "other sources".

Madman will be releasing Simon & Simon on DVD in July (I emailed them, asking about the series and whether they would release it, a few weeks ago). I'm assuming they'll be starting back at the beginning with the first season. So I'm hoping they'll get to Season 5 and after that.

Let's hope they put out seasons 6, 7 and 8

Same here. I'm assuming it all depends on how well Seasons 1-5 sell (if they are starting with Season 1 next month). If Madman do get to Season 8 but don't include the 1995 reunion TV movie with it, at least it was included with Shout! Select's release of Season 5. I gathered from Madman's email reply that Simon & Simon (and Quincy, M.E.: Season 3) will not appear on their website until their release in July.

Season three of Quincy, M.E. is scheduled for July 20th, along with the fouth season of both McCloud and McMillan and Wife. No news re: S&S.

Great news S&S fans,

 

Season 6 will be released on Feb. 21/12 as a Shout! Select title. (http://www.shoutfactorystore.com/prod.aspx?pfid=5257666)

 

I guess this means that the music issues have been resolved and judging by the price tag ($49.99), I would say that its a safe bet that all music will be intact.  A little on the expensive side IMO (especially since its not being sold in retail), I wonder how many people will shell out 50 bucks to buy this?! 

 

 

Edited by TVonDVDJunkie05 - 12/20/11 at 12:00pm

This isn't an early April Fools joke for 2012 is it? If not, this is a turnaround...and many thanks for sharing this news.

 

 

Regarding the $49.99 price. Not that bad to be honest. The fifth season, also a Shout! Select title, was the same price on Amazon.com Marketplace. And like with Fabulous Films' Tour of Duty: Season 1 set, the price isn't that bad if the music is mostly or completely intact. Now because the sixth season of Simon & Simon consisted of 22 episodes, the price is fine. If, IF, the seventh season is released, the price should be dropped down a bit (as there were only 16 episodes).

Edited by WaveCrest - 12/20/11 at 2:42pm

Yes the price for season 7 and 8 should be lower due to fewer episodes in those seasons. Hope we see them soon.

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Edited by vnisanian2001 - 12/21/11 at 5:39pm

I don't mind paying the full retail price. I want this series.

 

 

He is contradicting himself here- on the one hand he says we can't afford to sell them cheaper when we sell them one at a time and on the other hand he says they produce full runs?!  If these are not available in retail and will be sold one at a time then why are they producing full runs??  They should produce a limited run and look to sell those first and if they do sell out then print up another batch.  A smaller run would mean your costs are lower since you are not producing as much thus you would be able to lower the price a bit.

 

Its too bad VEI couldn't get its hands on Simon & Simon, I am sure they would have released all 8 seasons and we wouldn't have to go through this long waiting process which we are going through now with Shout! and their stupid Select program where they take forever to release another season.

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Edited by vnisanian2001 - 12/21/11 at 5:39pm

Overall costs might be lower, but not necessarily the cost attributed to each set produced. I'm betting there are standard costs that are attributed to any run. So the larger the run increases the raw material costs but not the standard cost. Like many types of production, you would get savings on each item produced by doing larger runs, not smaller ones. Following your suggestion would probably increase the price, not lower it.

Now doing larger runs puts them at more risk because they footed the bill upfront and it takes longer to recoup the costs selling in smaller quantites then in bulk to distributors, which is why they keep at the SRP price and don't have the sales as often or to the same degree as an Amazon would. If an item showed it had a large consumer following it would most likely be distributed in bulk to an Amazon but obviously sales have shown it has a smaller following.

At least this is how I understand typical production concepts.

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Edited by TVonDVDJunkie05 - 12/23/11 at 5:37pm

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Edited by vnisanian2001 - 12/21/11 at 5:39pm

 

Thanks for your insight, It seems my logic was incorrect regarding costs of production.

 

According to your statements, it appears as though this select program Shout! has implemented whereby they self direct to consumer is a bit of a gamble and not necessarily the profit producer one might think it is?!  Producing larger runs appears to be cheaper than smaller ones but on the other hand they have more stock to sell and if they don't sell enough they might wind up losing money.  I wonder then what the incentive is for them to sell things in this manner, since not only are the costs about the same (probably only slightly lower then retail) but they are now limited the consumer base they are selling to- Select titles are targeted mainly at die hard fans instead of all potential fans of the series (hardcore and casual)?!
 

 

The incentive I would say is obviously to still make money. Luckily, small profits to a small company is still worth while, which can't be said for the big studios. However, it is a risk that is probably most visible in the fact that Shout! Select titles are not coming out as fast as some would like.

As a typical consumer I would like to see more titles released, but at the same point I watch my money and try to make purchases that provide good value to me. Example, I own the first few seasons of "Mister Ed". At around $20 a season I considered it a good value, but not at closer to $40 of the Select price. On the other hand, I did eventually pay the Select price for "Father Know's Best". So when it comes to the higher price of Select titles "diehard" fan really comes into play when determining what to release.

TVShowsOnDVD news article about Simon & Simon: Season Six:

 

 

Simon & Simon: Season Six - TVShowsOnDVD.com news article

 

 

 

The impression I've got from the discussion on here, since the initial TVShowsOnDVD news article about the sixth season (back in February this year), was that Shout wouldn't be continuing Simon & Simon on DVD, due to "astronomical music costs". Now if it was on hold, wouldn't that mean it would be delayed? Something must have happened which changed things, that the sixth season is after all being released.

 

The important thing is Season 6 is being released. Just wondering how much of the music is intact. Also, there was a criticism of the fifth season set (released as a Shout! Select title), that some of the episodes had a visual problem.

 

Finally, assuming if it's the same Amazon.com Marketplace seller who has sold the Season 5 set on Amazon.com, then Season 6 should eventually be sold on Amazon.com Marketplace.

Edited by WaveCrest - 12/20/11 at 4:22pm

At the start of the 1986-87 season, CBS' Thursday night line-up consisted of Simon & Simon (taking over Magnum, p.i.'s 8 pm timeslot. That series moved to Wednesday nights at 9 pm against Dynasty), Knots Landing (moving back an hour to 9 pm) and new show Kay O'Brien.

 

Simon & Simon's competition in the 8 pm - 9 pm timeslot, at the start of the 1986-87 season, was the following:

 

 

8 - 9 pm:

 

 

ABC: Our World

 

 

8 pm - 8.30 pm:

 

 

NBC: The Cosby Show

 

 

8.30 pm - 9 pm:

 

 

NBC: Family Ties.

 

 

Simon & Simon's fifth season finished 29th with a 17.2 rating for the 1985-86 season. The 1986-87 season saw the show finish outside the Top 30 (The Cosby Show and Family Ties were the top two shows for that season).

 

The following season would see Simon & Simon starting on 3rd December 1987, the same night which saw Knots Landing's 200th episode premiere.

 

During the spring/summer hiatus of 1987, Jameson Parker shot the John Carpenter-directed film Prince of Darkness.

 

Can't be certain, but in the 1987-88 season Simon & Simon may have taken over new show Wiseguy's Thursday night 9 pm timeslot.

I think the point Shout! is making is that the Simon & Simon discs are not a Manufacture on Demand program, like the WarnerBros. Archive program.
We have no information about the quantity of discs being pressed, ("full" or "limited" is are subjective terms that could mean any number)
but production runs are different from MOD. Basically, the point is that Shout! has done an economic analysis of the situation, and concluded that
it is likely to be more profitable for them to sell the sets directly from their webstore for the suggested retail price, and not through Amazon for a discounted
wholesale price.

Making the discs is the least of their worries, it really comes down to how many sets they can sell. At some point there is a convergence between the retail price
and how many people will pay "x" for a set. Cheaper usually means more sales units, but when dealing with a specific fan base, it's not always likely that lowering the
price will increase sales, especially of a season set later in the show's run. (obviously lowering the price means they make less on each set.)

In my opinion, people on amazon aren't likely to just randomly pick up season 6 of a show, making it an instant huge seller, unless it was super cheap.
That leaves fans of the show who have bought previous seasons, and those fans are more likely to track down the set from whoever is selling it on line.

This has changed a great deal from just a few years ago, when many customers would expect to be able to walk into a store and find shows on the
shelf to take home. We're now dealing with a much smaller market of potential dvd buying public as the potential fan base.

I haven't seen it, but I was wondering if this is a case where the show changed over to video editing like other shows did around then? (Boy, shows got ugly when they did that.)

I have S1-S4 of Simon and Simon, but did purchase S5 as it was only available through shout factory direct. I do not like the cost of shipping from shout factory, especially in lieu shipping is free from amazon.ca.

I may change my approach with shout factory direct if i am able to bundled orders together, especially if season 7/8 come out.

There were a fair few US shows which changed to editing on videotape. Can't be certain with Simon & Simon's sister show Magnum, p.i in the same season (the 1986-87 season). It's look apparently changed when Tom Selleck became a producer (and later executive producer) on the show, but not sure if it edited on videotape in the last few seasons. It could very well be the case that Simon & Simon went this way from the fifth season onwards.

 

If the Season 6 set is exactly like the fifth season set in terms of packaging and disc menu presentation, expect the following:

 

 

- for each of the hopefully six discs (hard to tell from the small 3D front cover artwork in the TVShowsOnDVD news article, and on Shout's website), one episode menu screen (with no video clip from a selected episode (from either one of the episodes on the disc or the whole season) with a list of the episodes on the disc

 

- the version of the theme tune from Season 2 onwards playing on the episode menu screens

 

- a list of the episodes with original CBS airdates on the inside of the DVD sleeve artwork.

 

Brian Ward posted on the Shout! Community forum (in a thread for Simon & Simon: Season 6) nearly three weeks ago that "the episodes are intact". Very surprised (but very pleased) by this.

What's to be surprised? When the show aired on RTV for several years (ending last Summer) they ran uncut episodes, so those transfers must be the ones supplied to SHOUT!

However, there could have been the possibility that the episodes had music substititions (as an episode in the third season set had a music substitution) and that the episodes have not been supplied by RTV. And with the uncertainty over whether Shout were going to be releasing the sixth season of Simon & Simon, due to the reason being high music costs, the fact it is being released at all, along with the episodes being intact, is a surprise.

 

 

*****

 

Have asked the Amazon.com Marketplace seller who sold the Shout! Select title Simon & Simon: Season Five, about whether they're going to be selling the sixth season set. They will not be selling the set.