After Bionics, What Time-Life should do? (1 Viewer)

[Charles Ellis]

There's a reason why the reruns stopped after 1970 or so- by then, such established stars like Arte Johnson, Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne and Joanne Worley had left. It's kind of like asking, 'do you want to see the 1975-80 Saturday Night Live or the crappy 80-81 season with Charles Rocket that followed?'. On the other hand, SNL did bounce back in the fall of 1981 thanks to the likes of Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I do remember the final seasons from my childhood, so it would be interesting to see dumb blonde Sarah Kennedy (remember HER?) again.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by Charles Ellis

There's a reason why the reruns stopped after 1970 or so- by then, such established stars like Arte Johnson, Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne and Joanne Worley had left. It's kind of like asking, 'do you want to see the 1975-80 Saturday Night Live or the crappy 80-81 season with Charles Rocket that followed?'.

Was it really that bad? I knew the last season is out of circulation because George Schlatter, who didn't produce them but owns them now, hates them.


The only pre-existing popular music I can recall was used in some of the first season episodes. They wrote their own songs, so I'm assuming this would be easier than something like The Carol Burnett Show or any of the many musical variety shows in the 1960s and 1970s.

 

[Stephen Wight]

I'd like to see Time-Life release the 80s SNL season sets,but,I guess if Lorne won't let them be released on his own label he wouldn't let them be released through Time-Life,either. I'm not sure if they'd be able to do this,but August will be the 30th anniversary of MTV.Perhaps a retrospctive set detailing the history of the channel and what a pop cultural bohemoth it would become,sprinkled with historical videos (ie Video Killed The Radio Star,Beat It,Thriller,Jump,etc). Also along the lines of music,Friday Night Videos,Solid Gold and Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

 

[Bryan^H]

LASSIE...The Complete Series.


Yup, the whole thing.

 

[Charles Ellis]

Originally Posted by Bryan^H

LASSIE...The Complete Series.


Yup, the whole thing.

That will need some major restoration of the source materials- as I recall, some of the later color shows are either lost or only exist in B/W form. That was the situation about a decade ago when PBS did a special about the history of Lassie and the narrator explained why certain scenes from late 60s- early 70s shows were being shown in B/W. Hopefully the situation has improved by now and color prints or negatives have been located.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Charles Ellis




Was it really that bad? I knew the last season is out of circulation because George Schlatter, who didn't produce them but owns them now, hates them.

The reason the Trio reruns only went for the first 70 episodes (which included 4 or 5 episodes of season 4, which was the first season without Goldie Hawn) was that as a cost-saving measure, they only bought the rights to the first half of the episodes at a reduced cost, the theory being that if they performed well enough, they'd go back and buy the "back" half of episodes.


That seems to be a trend these days: stations negotiating a deal for reruns in smaller "packages" for reduced fees, rather than the complete run. TV Land did this with shows like Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Fernwood Tonight, where they only bought the first 35 shows of each, the thinking beig if they were popular, they'd add on another package. GSN has recently gotten into the "package" kick now that they no longer have blanket access to the Sony and Goodson libraries. With G-T shows, they're buying them 200 episodes at a time. With Sony shows, I think it's either 150-200 shows or one season's worth at a time.


So, the fact the Trio run was only half the episodes had nothing to do with the later season being "bad", just that they negotiated a deal for half the episodes at a lesser cost (maybe the only way they could afford it), and never bought the rest (as their deal with the first 70 seemed to last about as long as the channel itself did).

 

[JamesSmith]

In the past few years, Time Life has released their annual "biggie" in late November, and . . . . since it takes about three months production time to get going on it, we should hear in the next two-three months what the Big Release will be this year. I'm guessing it'll between the Adam West Batman, WKRP in Cincinatti, or 8 is Enough.


Who knows, if Time Life makes it an annual tradition - - - it'll only take 20-30 years to get so many major releases done.


James

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by AndyMcKinney









The reason the Trio reruns only went for the first 70 episodes (which included 4 or 5 episodes of season 4, which was the first season without Goldie Hawn) was that as a cost-saving measure, they only bought the rights to the first half of the episodes at a reduced cost, the theory being that if they performed well enough, they'd go back and buy the "back" half of episodes.


That seems to be a trend these days: stations negotiating a deal for reruns in smaller "packages" for reduced fees, rather than the complete run. TV Land did this with shows like Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Fernwood Tonight, where they only bought the first 35 shows of each, the thinking beig if they were popular, they'd add on another package. GSN has recently gotten into the "package" kick now that they no longer have blanket access to the Sony and Goodson libraries. With G-T shows, they're buying them 200 episodes at a time. With Sony shows, I think it's either 150-200 shows or one season's worth at a time.


So, the fact the Trio run was only half the episodes had nothing to do with the later season being "bad", just that they negotiated a deal for half the episodes at a lesser cost (maybe the only way they could afford it), and never bought the rest (as their deal with the first 70 seemed to last about as long as the channel itself did).

The way it was explained to me was that it was a cost saving measure. TV Land, back when they actually ran rare shows that people cared about, used to buy 2 of this, 4 of that, a few of something else. Rarely would they buy a full run of anything. The reason was that it was cheaper to re-air episodes than to run new episodes of a series. Crazy, right? But it was less money to run the same episodes over and over than it would have been to air new episodes of the same series.

 

[Neil Brock]

Originally Posted by JamesSmith


In the past few years, Time Life has released their annual "biggie" in late November, and . . . . since it takes about three months production time to get going on it, we should hear in the next two-three months what the Big Release will be this year. I'm guessing it'll between the Adam West Batman, WKRP in Cincinatti, or 8 is Enough.


Who knows, if Time Life makes it an annual tradition - - - it'll only take 20-30 years to get so many major releases done.


James

Considering what they paid for $6 Million Dollar Man, it may take 20-30 years for them to make their investment back.

 

[derosa]

Originally Posted by JamesSmith


In the past few years, Time Life has released their annual "biggie" in late November, and . . . . I'm guessing it'll between the Adam West Batman, WKRP in Cincinatti, or 8 is Enough.



James

Someone is living on Fantasy Island if they think those three are coming on DVD from TimeLife or anyone else for that matter....

Not that i'd mind moving there myself if your picks turned out to be correct!

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Neil Brock





The way it was explained to me was that it was a cost saving measure. TV Land, back when they actually ran rare shows that people cared about, used to buy 2 of this, 4 of that, a few of something else. Rarely would they buy a full run of anything. The reason was that it was cheaper to re-air episodes than to run new episodes of a series. Crazy, right? But it was less money to run the same episodes over and over than it would have been to air new episodes of the same series.

That's kind of what I was saying: rather than take a risk on purchasing a full run of anything, the channels (including Trio) would negotiate a shorter run/package at a reduced fee.


The TV Land "rare" stuff you're talking about (mainly aired in the "Kitschen" and "Ultimate Fan Hour") were what were referred to as "dipping" at the time. The licence holders, I guess hoping to make some money rather than none at all, would let them hand-pick half a dozen episodes or so from a short run series (like Shazam!) if they didn't purchase rights to them all (which they did do for some shorties like Square Pegs). For these "dips", they were allowed to pick-and-choose the episodes they wanted (a contact of mine said he was consulted by TV Land's "Paul", who won the Ultimate Fan contest, as to what were good episodes to select).

 

[JoeDoakes]

Originally Posted by Charles Ellis

There's a reason why the reruns stopped after 1970 or so- by then, such established stars like Arte Johnson, Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne and Joanne Worley had left. It's kind of like asking, 'do you want to see the 1975-80 Saturday Night Live or the crappy 80-81 season with Charles Rocket that followed?'. On the other hand, SNL did bounce back in the fall of 1981 thanks to the likes of Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I do remember the final seasons from my childhood, so it would be interesting to see dumb blonde Sarah Kennedy (remember HER?) again.

Although she was great on Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was a bad as most of the rest of the cast on SNL. I always figured she was hired for her looks.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by AndyMcKinney




That's kind of what I was saying: rather than take a risk on purchasing a full run of anything, the channels (including Trio) would negotiate a shorter run/package at a reduced fee.


The TV Land "rare" stuff you're talking about (mainly aired in the "Kitschen" and "Ultimate Fan Hour") were what were referred to as "dipping" at the time. The licence holders, I guess hoping to make some money rather than none at all, would let them hand-pick half a dozen episodes or so from a short run series (like Shazam!) if they didn't purchase rights to them all (which they did do for some shorties like Square Pegs). For these "dips", they were allowed to pick-and-choose the episodes they wanted (a contact of mine said he was consulted by TV Land's "Paul", who won the Ultimate Fan contest, as to what were good episodes to select).

I remember TV Land's "Kitschen." I also recall a voice-over promo during the credits of Fernwood 2Night, the last great Norman Lear series as yet untouched on DVD; it said "if you're easily amused, you'll enjoy it."

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by MatthewA




I remember TV Land's "Kitschen." I also recall a voice-over promo during the credits of Fernwood 2Night, the last great Norman Lear series as yet untouched on DVD; it said "if you're easily amused, you'll enjoy it."

Yeah, and there were "host" segments between commercials with Martin Mull and Fred Willard, too.


I'd really like to see some Fernwood and the second season America 2Nite on DVD myself.

 

[Fridaythe1st]

I agree with Derosa, I doubt we'll be seeing Batman, WKRP or Eight Is Enough any time soon. Although I'd sell my kidneys for a professionally produced release of Batman. (My wife would sell my kidneys for Eight Is Enough.) I don't know what TimeLife paid for the Bionic release, but from the posts, it sounds like they may not break even. Which brings me to my question: would it be acceptable for TimeLife to release a set that was already released but is long out of print? That includes a ton of new bonus features? Such as...the Monkees, or Fantasy Island, or Mork & Mindy, or the 70's Spider-Man (released on VHS anyway). It might be a way for TimeLife to save some money this time around, and yet have something to offer. BTW, when is the accouncement of this year's big release?

 

[Regulus]

I was hoping (Beyond Hope) , that the hubbub with BJ and the Bear indicated that maybe this Series (and possibly its Spinoff - The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo) could be this year's project, but that's been dismissed as a :f RUMOR :f

 

[Radioman970]

Add me to Wonder Years and WKRP w/ original music. Batman. I'd buy all of these just like I'll buy the bionic shows eventually.

 

[Stephen Wight]

I agree with Derosa, I doubt we'll be seeing Batman, WKRP or Eight Is Enough any time soon. Although I'd sell my kidneys for a professionally produced release of Batman. (My wife would sell my kidneys for Eight Is Enough.) I don't know what TimeLife paid for the Bionic release, but from the posts, it sounds like they may not break even. Which brings me to my question: would it be acceptable for TimeLife to release a set that was already released but is long out of print? That includes a ton of new bonus features? Such as...the Monkees, or Fantasy Island, or Mork & Mindy, or the 70's Spider-Man (released on VHS anyway). It might be a way for TimeLife to save some money this time around, and yet have something to offer. BTW, when is the accouncement of this year's big release?

Why won't we see Eight Is Enough released in season sets? I'm surprised that the 70's Spider Man wasn't released long ago. Like when the movies were raking in hundreds of millions of dollars and breaking box office records,in the process.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Why won't we see Eight Is Enough released in season sets? I'm surprised that the 70's Spider Man wasn't released long ago. Like when the movies were raking in hundreds of millions of dollars and breaking box office records,in the process.

I'd say there's probably some rights situation with Spider-man. I agree, you'd have thought it'd be out by now (but not from Time-Life: it wouldn't make a big enough set), which makes me think there's a rights issue. I know that Charles Fries Productions distribution rights came to and end quite some time ago ('90s if I remember correctly).

 

[JoeDoakes]

I'd say there's probably some rights situation with Spider-man. I agree, you'd have thought it'd be out by now (but not from Time-Life: it wouldn't make a big enough set), which makes me think there's a rights issue. I know that Charles Fries Productions distribution rights came to and end quite some time ago ('90s if I remember correctly).

As a kid in teh 1970s, I was a huge Spider Man fan. I think I watched the live action tv show once. My recollection is that person cast to play Peter Parker was completely unsuited for the part and that the special effects were less believable than most tv special effects of that era. I preferred the 1960s cartoon.