Anyone feel a bit letdown by Shout! Select?

If not for Shout! Select, we would not have IRONSIDE Seasons 3 and 4 – and likely beyond. 

 

That’s enough to put them on the plus side for me! 

I'm grateful the Select program allowed "Ironside" to continue as well, and also that it finally allowed completion of "The Bill Cosby Show".   Those were the two titles that stuck out in terms of what I felt was wrong with Shout! policy beforehand, so I can't complain about the procedure.    The other titles that have been released only through Select are I have to admit not ones of particular interest to me (though I did get Room 222 S2).

Add me to the list of those that are grateful, not disappointed, with the Shout Select program.  I'm looking at seasons 5 & 6 of Father Knows Best, one of my Top Ten favorite shows of all time, because of the program.  You'll never catch me speaking negatively about it.

 

Gary "I think it's a great program and has kept Shout right at the top when it comes to releasing vintage TV on DVD" O.

i am glad that they are finishing off kojak. i hope they manage to acquire other unfinished shows such as t.j. hooker, swat, black sheep squadron, quincy, police woman, and the rookies.

I would been happy if adam-12 was completed this year. There is only two seasons left and would have been nice they completed this before releasing other shows.

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I'm on your side here too, although I don't collect Ironside, it's "kudos" to Shout for rescuing the shows that the majors have stopped their releases with many series'.

 

Cliff, thanks for posting here.  The info is appreciated by many here.
 

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Good point and I know Gary and I see this one the same.  We've discussed this many times as well as others on this forum.  I'm just glad that I get all of my TV/DVD's at online stores and know the site locations to shop.

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Ditto.  As for Adam-12, it's always been on my auto-buy list.  Looking forward to seeing this one completed.
 

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10-4, Gary.  They have my support as well and it's clear that they rescued the older series TV/DVD collector camp with their releases.

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I'd love to see Black Sheep Squadron completed by Shout.

 

Cliff, any possibility on this one?  There are 13 episodes that Universal didn't release for this series.
 

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I'd like to have this one completed this year too but the good news is that it's coming :) (Cliff posted that info in the "Police Story 1973" thread).
 

 

They've been releasing Mystery Science Theater 3000 (including the upcoming Gamera set which seemed unlikely to happen), the rest of Dragnet, all of It's Garry Shandling's Show, put Rock N Roll High School out on Blu-ray, released lots of out of print low budget 1970's movies and they did what I assumed would never happen and released The Larry Sanders Show in its entirety. They get a big thumbs up from me.

I used to be rather anti-Shout because of one reason: My gf is the buyer for a prestigious museum store and inquired at Shout about carrying some of their product. Despite numerous attempts to contact them, she never even got a courtesy call back. Every other studio and DVD manufacturer was happy that she wanted to market their products so that was kind of a turn off to me, but as she's gotten over it, I have too and in the meantime I have come to regard them as a very viable and, particularly now, necessary company for the continuation of the home entertainment hobby.  I am happy to support them and buy their product. 

 

We all have our favorites that we would like to see released or continued and I'm sorry that they can't appease all the fans all the time, but at some point we all have to remember that these companies are not public service outlets or government funded entities, they are a BUSINESS. I find this expectation that these companies need to  create and maintain our individual preservation archives very unrealistic and, at times, very unappealing in what it says about us and the hobby. I yield to no one with my anti-establishment stance regarding big business, but even I have to respect the reality that a company, no matter how altruistic their intentions, can only lose so much money.

THere are several titles that for a long while have only needed just one release to be completed.     SWAT, Here Come The Brides, Flying Nun (Sony) and Night Gallery, Hardy Boys, Baa Baa Black Sheep (Universal).    I have always wondered though if an independent label like Shout purposefully shys away from a title that only needs one season to be completed, as if they prefer a title in which automatically there'd be more than one release.

I don't mean shows that lasted only one season, I mean picking up a title started by another company that had only one season left to release before it stalled out.    I have *never* seen a company do that.    The only one that comes close is Timeless finishing "Alias Smith And Jones" with one release, but that was two seasons worth of episodes.

I am so happy Shout has not gone the DVD-R route, cause i will not buy them.

 

Also, count me in for more Adam-12, and i would buy Black Sheep Squadron as well!

 

Cliff, thanks for hanging out with us...much appreciated!

I feel like every show I like never gets completed but if I had to choose between MOD or Shout Select I would choose Shout hands down. And if I had to choose between MOD, and nothing I choose nothing. I don't own any MOD discs and while I am sure they are decent quality I am not paying those prices for a DVD-R. It may sound stupid to do without but I buy many Shout releases from Corman tiltes to TV shows etc , I buy Blu if I have the choice. I won't do MOD though.

After completing "The FBI" release from Warner MOD, I don't see a dime's bit of difference quality wise between that and a regular "pressed" release.    Heck, Timeless puts out obscure shows from inferior source material for prices that are pretty much the same or even more.

 

      Yeah, you would. Madman had them out years ago, which is where I bought my seasons 3 & 4.
 

 

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I own a few WB mods and it depends on the quality of the source material used.  It's my guess that the MOD holdout group disagrees with the pricepoints that WB has established for their MOD discs (vs pressed prices used by most other studios).

 

I own several Shout TV/DVD sets where the transfers are better than a few of my MOD movie discs.

 

The other issue with most MOD holdouts is the question about DVD-R lifetime[s].  I haven't had any issues yet with the few WB MODs that I bought.  I only have a few movie titles from the MOD store at this point though, no TV/DVD sets yet.  However, there are numerous posts over at the movie forum that have reported playback issues and defects with MOD discs.  So far, all of mine have played perfectly with no defects.
 

 

 

Sorry, I work within my region!  :-) 

 

But, what the heck, Shout!  Please try to complete Night Gallery and continue Alfred Hitchcock Presents!!  Then, I'll have even more praise! 

 

 

 

Video quality of a release is all about the source used and what compression or other digital manipulations are performed. It has nothing to do with being released on MOD or pressed disks (i.e, bits are bits). When people discuss quality differences between MOD and pressed it is usually in reference to factors such as the possibility of stability and longevity differences. I'm not trying to introduce the debate to this thread or state a view (it's been discussed in plenty of other threads), but just trying to clear up what looked like a misconception of what the debate is about and nothing more. Enough said.

 

Edit: Jeff beat me to it, I type to slow apparently :)

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Brad, good points and thanks for mentioning the technical points here (compression, etc).
 

 

Good stuff from many posters in this thread.  The bottom line is that I think Shout should be commended for doing all they have with their Select program.  And it's been pointed out before, but I think it's unfair to compare Shout to a big time studio like WB when it comes to print quality.  Why?  Because Warners has the ability to clean up whatever they deem worthwhile, while Shout (a much smaller outfit) is really at the mercy of the source material they are given from studios to work with.  They simply don't have the funds and facilities to remaster things like WB can.

 

 

Gary "I'm just happy that Shout is still cranking classics out - most of the big boys have slowed down a lot" O.

As for the question presented.

 

I'm all for titles being released, period. So no letdown in the least for me. Now I do have preferences as to how I would like releases to be produced and distributed. And when they differ I may be a bit more selective on which one's I buy for various reasons. But there are too many stalled and unrealeased shows to quibble over the different release approaches used. My guess is that if we didn't have various strategies in play (e.g., largely distributed pressed, select titles, MOD) we'd have even fewer releases per year. The attempts at new approaches by a variety of players has probably given some titles new life and others opportunities for releases that may never have come before.

I haven't really collected many Shout! DVD's but any company that is willing to put out the best product that they can in order to satisfy the fans of the old and not in high demand TV series, definitely rates high in my book.

I own a lot of Shout releases of classic TV shows, and outside of having to mute their annoying logo screen at the start of each disc, I've been very happy with the diversity of their products. It's great to have 'Father Knows Best,' 'That Girl,' 'The Patty Duke Show' and many other shows complete in my collection. I also appreciate their release of two 'Electric Company' compilation sets, though I think at least one more is needed as there are still many classic bits that should be on DVD.

 

My only complaint with them is their bailing out on 'Room 222.' An earlier poster mentioned how fans have to remember that companies are not public service outlets to maintain our individual preservation archives, and I understand I may be indulging in that now. But this is not just a good show - it is an important show. In the midst of turbulent times it had something of merit to say about America's schools, about race relations, about prejudice. It was created and written by some of the most respected people in series television. It deserves to be seen and to be made available both to its original fans and to those with a serious interest in quality television.

 

I don't like it when studios start shows and don't finish them. But it's their property and they can do as they please, and we still have the hope that somewhere down the line they might complete them, even if they do so with MOD. What many love about 'Shout' is they finish shows that other companies abandoned - yet with 'Room 222' they sought out the series and then treated it no better than Paramount treated 'Happy Days' (among others) or FOX treated 'The Bob Newhart Show.' And their anti-DVD-R stance sounds noble until one realizes that when the choice is DVD-R or nothing, there are many of us who would prefer to have the episodes. The first two seasons of 'Room 222' looked like crap anyway - not Shout's fault, but it's not like they are protecting a high A/V quality standard by not releasing the rest of the seasons this way. I don't know what sales goals they set for the series when they acquired it, but I have always believed that cream always rises, and at some point this show would sell enough sets to make their investment worthwhile, IF fans knew they were getting all of the seasons. But if they don't want to bother, I hope they will give someone else a chance.

 

Now that is the one complaint I have.
 

 

I think we are very lucky for Shout! Select.  It really shows a commitment to the material to keep with a show even if the potential for profit is small.