CBS Press Release: The Beverly Hillbillies Season 4 (2 Viewers)

[Frank Soyke]

the website is supposed to cover tv shows, which they only selictively cover - so they should be called onlytvshowswewanttocoverondvd.com and no not heated, just direct and to the point, amazing the younger people who can not think and also have been brainwashed to avoid facts

Troll somewhere else. I disagree with these folks sometimes but they are all very seasoned on classic TV and have great insights no matter their age. Even though they often can't stand my own opinions, we have good,respectful dialog here.... Well, most of the time anyway. LOL

 

[Ron1973]

Let's not feed the trolls. The moderators will make the problem go away soon enough. It's unfortunate that so many threads have gotten derailed so far.

With regards to the topic at hand.....TBH is not one of my favorites but I'm pleased that it is coming out for those who are fans. I do have a question for the fans of this show: at one time, this was one of the most popular syndicated shows around and various episodes had records for being the in top 10 most watched episodes on TV. Yet, it apparently has proved to be a tough sell on DVD judging by the slow pace of releases. Why do you think that is? Is it because it was overexposed at one time or has it simply lost favor with the most recent generation?

I think it comes down to various factors.

Number one, CBS/Paramount should've had these out 7 or 8 years ago when the economy was better.

Number two, the show has been put out by every little bitty company out there due to the first two seasons being in the public domain. CBS/Paramount made absolutely no differentiation between their releases and PD releases.

It just seems that the show is an afterthought to them. If nothing else is going on, they release it but they give them awful cover art and hardly any push on their Facebook page. All the years Lucy has been out, they still push Lucy on their FB page ad nauseum sometimes (and, yes, I do like Lucy). The season 4 cover art looks just as bad as the other two releases have.

 

[Rob_Ray]

I think it comes down to various factors.

Number one, CBS/Paramount should've had these out 7 or 8 years ago when the economy was better.

Number two, the show has been put out by every little bitty company out there due to the first two seasons being in the public domain. CBS/Paramount made absolutely no differentiation between their releases and PD releases.

It just seems that the show is an afterthought to them. If nothing else is going on, they release it but they give them awful cover art and hardly any push on their Facebook page. All the years Lucy has been out, they still push Lucy on their FB page ad nauseum sometimes (and, yes, I do like Lucy). The season 4 cover art looks just as bad as the other two releases have.

Good point, Ron. The official DVD releases of both "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Petticoat Junction" don't look any different than all the myriad public domain releases that have been on store shelves for years. At least now they can boldly pronounce that these latest releases are IN TRUE COLOR to distinguish them from the PD entries.

 

[Kasey]

Yet, it apparently has proved to be a tough sell on DVD judging by the slow pace of releases. Why do you think that is? Is it because it was overexposed at one time or has it simply lost favor with the most recent generation?

My response is simply an opinion and not meant to offend any rabid BH fans. I own the MPI sets and the Official Season 2 set but I admit I bought them at bargain-basement prices. While I appreciate the show for it's legacy, it is one I can only really enjoy in small doses when the mood strikes me (see also Gilligan's Island and Laverne & Shirley--though the writing on BH was miles better). It is my least favorite of the Henning trilogy behind PJ and GA. To me, it just doesn't have the same rewatchability factor as some of the other '60s sitcoms.

1) In the '90s TBH did not air in prime time on Nick @ Nite so did not have the opportunity to gain new, younger fans the way Bewitched, Jeannie and I Love Lucy did. When it finally arrived on Nick, it was in the 2000 post-Internet era and viewers had more choices.

2) The DVD market has been flooded with those awful public domain releases for a decade now so by the time CBS got around to releasing Official seasons, the casual consumer was uninterested/confused and didn't care.

3)The Andy Griffith Show is also a 'rube' sitcom and was swiftly completed on DVD so I'm not sure if the 'fly-over' argument is that valid.

Perhaps it's an eternal mystery why the Clampetts are such a tough sell, but those are my thoughts.

 

[Ron1973]

Let me add on to what I was TRYING to say....lol

For the last 20 years, it has been next to impossible to find unedited episodes on TV UNLESS they were the poor 16mm copies of the PD episodes and even those had music replacement usually.

I think CBS dropped the ball by not advertising these as newly HD mastered and complete episodes. They brag about the "astounding" job they've done on Bonanza remastering it (and, yes, I know the demand for Bonanza is bigger). Why not brag about the newly minted HD transfers?


And as far as better cover art, sheesh, it was hard to tell any huge differences between S2 and S3. MPI's release of the Henning Estate copies looks MUCH better on the cover art. CBS's releases look like something off of a dollar bin release and I would say that includes the upcoming S4.

 

[Gary Seven]

My opinion, for this and many other shows of vintage, is the studios start releasing DVDs at Season 1. Then they do Season 2. etc. They are either just plain stupid, or stupidly greedy.

Fans of these shows know they didn't start to get "good" until S3 or S4. That's what the majority of people want, not the S1 and S2. But the marketers figure the fans will buy them all anyway, so they start at the beginning thinking they'll capitalize. The early seasons don't sell enough, because people are waiting for the good ones. They stall the whole show's release on DVD.

I'll bet a lot of the decisions are made by people who really haven't the slightest clue about a show, they are working from "numbers" based on past experience with "similar" shows. To be fair, the people making these kind of decisions are probably quite junior, and I wouldn't expect them to even be able to judge since they didn't live at the time the shows were current so can't judge the audience "connection".

I'm not sure what to make of that opinion. Quite frankly, the first few seasons of these shows are generally the BEST of the series... TBH, definitely falls in that category (others are Superman, Get Smart, Batman, Hogan Heroes, to name a few). The novelty of this show began to wear off after season 4.

The core audience of these shows are baby boomers and since they are aging and outside the purchasing demographic, I find that a more plausible explanation for its lackluster sales compared to contemporaries. Being black and white, these shows are a turn off for younger viewers, particularly since they are not shown much in syndication anymore so they may not be familiar with them.

I think the best seasons of TBH are the first three and that is probably the only ones I will buy.

 

[maskedmala]

My humble opinion on the cover art for BH season 4 is that it really looks like a budget-oriented (cheap) release. CBS releases of season 2 and 3 were distinctive from all the rest of the PD releases and very well done but season 4 isn't.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Let's not feed the trolls. The moderators will make the problem go away soon enough. It's unfortunate that so many threads have gotten derailed so far.

With regards to the topic at hand.....TBH is not one of my favorites but I'm pleased that it is coming out for those who are fans. I do have a question for the fans of this show: at one time, this was one of the most popular syndicated shows around and various episodes had records for being the in top 10 most watched episodes on TV. Yet, it apparently has proved to be a tough sell on DVD judging by the slow pace of releases. Why do you think that is? Is it because it was overexposed at one time or has it simply lost favor with the most recent generation?

TBH on DVD has had several difficulties. Relatively early in the DVD era, the Henning family licensed the pd prints for the first season and a half to MPI along with the theme song. There was then some dispute about the theme song with CBS, but CBS eventually agreed that the Henning family owned it. All that prevented CBS from releasing any TBH DVDs until the heyday of tv shows on DVD was already over, and they never released a first season set, imo probably because of provisions of the Henning Family/MPI agreement. Then for whatever reason, CBS poorly marketed TBH. The covers for seasons 2 and 3 were almost identical, and both looked like pd type releases (TVSHOWSONDVD even remarked about how terrible they were). Moreover, although I saw Peticoat Junction in my local Walmarts, I never saw either season of TBH in my local Walmarts. On the Thursday after the Tuesday season 2 was released, I did see a name plate for the release at one local Walmart, but no DVDs. I never saw actual TBH DVDs from CBS at any local Walmart. I kind of think that season 2 was pulled, and that CBS deliberately kept them out of Walmart stores. I have my personal theory about that, but now the series is resuming, I'll keep it to myself. Anyway, I once saw someone on this site say that CBS's sales numbers for Peticoat Junction were better than for TBH, and assuming they did not sell TBH in most Walmart stores nationally, that would be why.

 

[BobO'Link]

Let's not feed the trolls. The moderators will make the problem go away soon enough. It's unfortunate that so many threads have gotten derailed so far.

With regards to the topic at hand.....TBH is not one of my favorites but I'm pleased that it is coming out for those who are fans. I do have a question for the fans of this show: at one time, this was one of the most popular syndicated shows around and various episodes had records for being the in top 10 most watched episodes on TV. Yet, it apparently has proved to be a tough sell on DVD judging by the slow pace of releases. Why do you think that is? Is it because it was overexposed at one time or has it simply lost favor with the most recent generation?

I pretty much agree with the other opinions as to why TBH has done poorly on DVD.

I tend to feel CBS not releasing a "remastered" S1 set bears quite a bit of the burden for whatever lack of sales the series has experienced. Many people will purchase S1 and a few more seasons but will not start with S2 or further if they can't find that S1 release with the perception being they'll "miss something" if they jump in the "middle" of a series.

While you *can* get S1 it's only available "officially" from MPI in *3* releases (if you want the Christmas episode) that are not identified as being "S1". I think that has hurt as well. If people knew they *could* get S1 they might just purchase those MPI sets and then continue with those from CBS.

I've held off purchasing those MPI sets hoping CBS will finally get their act together and release a proper S1 set. I figure that'll happen just as soon as I suck it up and purchase the MPI sets.

 

[Ron1973]

I pretty much agree with the other opinions as to why TBH has done poorly on DVD.

I tend to feel CBS not releasing a "remastered" S1 set bears quite a bit of the burden for whatever lack of sales the series has experienced. Many people will purchase S1 and a few more seasons but will not start with S2 or further if they can't find that S1 release with the perception being they'll "miss something" if they jump in the "middle" of a series.

While you *can* get S1 it's only available "officially" from MPI in *3* releases (if you want the Christmas episode) that are not identified as being "S1". I think that has hurt as well. If people knew they *could* get S1 they might just purchase those MPI sets and then continue with those from CBS.

I've held off purchasing those MPI sets hoping CBS will finally get their act together and release a proper S1 set. I figure that'll happen just as soon as I suck it up and purchase the MPI sets.

The MPI sets are "okay" and certainly beat the scratchy, spotted 16mm films I saw presented on local TV in the 80's (they were unedited at least). My gripe is that absolutely none of them have the integrated cast commercials as the CBS releases do. Okay, I think it's pretty easy to mate up which cast commercial goes with which episode and I could probably (if not copy protected....they probably are) make homemade copies and integrate the cast commercials in. How hard would it have been to have done this to begin with, though?

 

[smithbrad]

The MPI sets are "okay" and certainly beat the scratchy, spotted 16mm films I saw presented on local TV in the 80's (they were unedited at least). My gripe is that absolutely none of them have the integrated cast commercials as the CBS releases do. Okay, I think it's pretty easy to mate up which cast commercial goes with which episode and I could probably (if not copy protected....they probably are) make homemade copies and integrate the cast commercials in. How hard would it have been to have done this to begin with, though?

I think that may depend on what the Henning estate had to work with. If I understand it correctly, CBS was able to use what they had in the vaults, but MPI was limited to what the Henning estate had on hand, which I'm assuming was 16mm prints. So maybe they weren't available to them. Just a guess on my part.

 

[Ron1973]

I think that may depend on what the Henning estate had to work with. If I understand it correctly, CBS was able to use what they had in the vaults, but MPI was limited to what the Henning estate had on hand, which I'm assuming was 16mm prints. So maybe they weren't available to them. Just a guess on my part.

I think you misunderstood my point. The cast commercials were included on the MPI sets but were separate from the main episodes on a different disk.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I think that may depend on what the Henning estate had to work with. If I understand it correctly, CBS was able to use what they had in the vaults, but MPI was limited to what the Henning estate had on hand, which I'm assuming was 16mm prints. So maybe they weren't available to them. Just a guess on my part.

That's what I have heard previously.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

ATTENTION

This forum will not be used as a means of trashing TVSHOWSONDVD.COM

This kind of trolling will cease immediately.

 

[Ron1973]

My response is simply an opinion and not meant to offend any rabid BH fans. I own the MPI sets and the Official Season 2 set but I admit I bought them at bargain-basement prices. While I appreciate the show for it's legacy, it is one I can only really enjoy in small doses when the mood strikes me (see also Gilligan's Island and Laverne & Shirley--though the writing on BH was miles better). It is my least favorite of the Henning trilogy behind PJ and GA. To me, it just doesn't have the same rewatchability factor as some of the other '60s sitcoms.

1) In the '90s TBH did not air in prime time on Nick @ Nite so did not have the opportunity to gain new, younger fans the way Bewitched, Jeannie and I Love Lucy did. When it finally arrived on Nick, it was in the 2000 post-Internet era and viewers had more choices.

2) The DVD market has been flooded with those awful public domain releases for a decade now so by the time CBS got around to releasing Official seasons, the casual consumer was uninterested/confused and didn't care.

3)The Andy Griffith Show is also a 'rube' sitcom and was swiftly completed on DVD so I'm not sure if the 'fly-over' argument is that valid.

Perhaps it's an eternal mystery why the Clampetts are such a tough sell, but those are my thoughts.

Andy Griffith, though "rube," did lighten up on the "hick" aspect after the first couple of years. Barney still added a funny aspect but the "stupid country sheriff" act practically disappeared. I think by the color years the whole "rube" aspect was completely gone.

I really don't remember exactly what time slots TV Bland had the Hillbillies in. I was under the impression that N@N had them in a pretty plumb time spot but I never watched it on there and rarely watched on TV Bland. I have an aversion to watching shows that I know to be butchered, especially when the syndicating company is Viacom and the station airing it is Viacom owned.

 

[John Hermes]

Andy Griffith, though "rube," did lighten up on the "hick" aspect after the first couple of years. Barney still added a funny aspect but the "stupid country sheriff" act practically disappeared. I think by the color years the whole "rube" aspect was completely gone.

I really don't remember exactly what time slots TV Bland had the Hillbillies in. I was under the impression that N@N had them in a pretty plumb time spot but I never watched it on there and rarely watched on TV Bland. I have an aversion to watching shows that I know to be butchered, especially when the syndicating company is Viacom and the station airing it is Viacom owned.

I think about halfway through season one you could see the shift starting in TAGS. Much better show from that point on.

 

[Ron1973]

I think about halfway through season one you could see the shift starting in TAGS. Much better show from that point on.

Agreed. I think the b&w years were better but the whole "stupid country sheriff" thing was not among my favorite parts of the show.

 

[Hasslein]

I think BH didn't do well because everyone knows it ran for many seasons, the high price, and the first few seasons were black and white. I have only purchased season two because I found it at big lots for $8. If I knew there would be a release of every season, I would have been more enthusiastic, but said to myself, this show will never be completed, so I'm not paying $30 for a season.

 

[Ron1973]

I think BH didn't do well because everyone knows it ran for many seasons, the high price, and the first few seasons were black and white. I have only purchased season two because I found it at big lots for $8. If I knew there would be a release of every season, I would have been more enthusiastic, but said to myself, this show will never be completed, so I'm not paying $30 for a season.

That's the way I am with most shows. I want to invest in both Gunsmoke and Bonanza but until I know all 20 and 14 seasons are coming to DVD I simply refuse to invest. I know people say it's counter-productive to getting the shows released but if I can't get the whole enchilada, I don't want to be stuck with incomplete sets. Bonanza might be an exception since Encore is showing the later years uncut.

I guess what kills me is I taped the first 6 1/2 seasons unedited on local TV (S7 was spotty with about 1/2 the season missing and no S8 or S9 at all) during the late 80's/early 90's. They were "always" on TV and I thought that always would continue. I was low on money and needed videotapes to record something else.....yeah, you can figure the story out from there. I managed to save 7 or 8 episodes but of those I can only account for 4 or so. I had dubbed them off to DVD, have lost the DVD's somewhere and I ditched the VHS tapes after dubbing. Thankfully, I have about 50 unedited color episodes via the old Columbia House tapes.

 

[Ron1973]

I posted this already in a topic but lookie what I just got in my inbox:

Dear Ron Reagan,
We've added a release for "Beverly Hillbillies, The" to the site. "The Complete 4th Season (Walmart Exclusive)" will be released on 10/01/2013. For all the information, you may visithttp://www.TVShowsOnDVD.com/releaseinfo.cfm?ReleaseID=13796
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