CBS series: Switch(Robert Wagner), Dan August(Burt Reynolds), Crazy like a Fox(Jack Warden) (1 Viewer)

[jdee28]

Originally Posted by Gary OS
Quote:

Henry, maybe I'm not being clear. I'm not saying we aren't going to have a few more nice releases coming in the next few months. We are. I don't think this is anything big because we've had a CBS exec already come on and tell us to watch for Fugitive news. So I'm not spilling any beans by saying this: look for The Fugitive, Season 4, Vol. 1 in early November. We also were told that The Lucy Show Season 3 would come if Season 2 sold well, so this isn't spilling any beans either: look for that to happen in late November. I'd say chances are good we will see PM S5, V2 that same month, along with HGWT S5, V1. So I'm not saying we won't see some releases. Just that the schedule has been significantly scaled back. It's just a matter of quantity. It's nothing like it has been in years past and it's nothing like an earlier, long range schedule said it would be. And that's all I'll say as far as specifics go.

I loved that first season Barnaby Jones set. I really want a second season release. Probably as much as anyone else here. But don't get your hopes up to hear about anything by Christmas. I honestly believe that one has been abandoned. /img/vbsmilies/htf/frown.gif

Gary "would definitely like to see a Switch release, but think it's a major long shot at this point" O.

The HGWT news is a pleasant surprise for me. I thought they would have abandoned that show for sure. And to release Season 5, Volume 1 so soon after Season 4, Volume 2! My goodness!

If it could happen to Have Gun, maybe there's some hope for more Gunsmoke, if it sells well?
How about Bonanza? Do you think Season 2 will come out this year, or has that stalled out?

I wish CBS/Paramount would try to release one Western show every quarter. They could cycle through all their Western shows; Gunsmoke one quarter, Bonanza the next, Rawhide the third, Have Gun the fourth. At least TV Western fans would get something.

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdee28
How about Bonanza? Do you think Season 2 will come out this year, or has that stalled out?

I wish CBS/Paramount would try to release one Western show every quarter or every other quarter. They could cycle through all their Western shows; Gunsmoke one quarter, Bonanza the next, Rawhide the third, Have Gun the fourth. At least TV Western fans would get something.

I'm sure we will see a Season 2, V. 1 release for Bonanza. December sounds about right to me for some reason. /img/vbsmilies/htf/smiley_wink.gif

And I love your idea about a quarterly offering from CBS with one of their 4 "big" westerns headlining each. Of course if they were going to go this route they'd need to abandon the pathetic split season release schedule and give these series to us as full season sets.

Gary "looking more and more like I'll have to finish my Rawhide collection via Encore Westerns" O.

 

[silverking]

Well, everyone has their views & it seems Gary & I are very much in the glass half empty camp.

I accept that we don't know for sure, but you have to weigh up the available factors to reach what seems to me a logical conclusion.

There was a boom in classic TV releases a few years back but even then a lot of series stalled or were abandoned. The evidence for me is on my shelves of uncompleted series.To suggest the trickle we are now experiencing is a lull due to the recession is, I believe, hopeful in the extreme.

As for the specifics, HGWT was revived & may continue but I suspect this is because of the Encore screenings which may have contributed to the cost of DVD preparation. Hawaii 5-0 is near complete. I'm not even sure we will see Perry Mason much longer. The reviews on Amazon have been fairly scathing about the price of the last couple of volumes with some potential buyers declining to invest.

Yes we should see Bonanza S2 in Dec. A few months back I was able to speak to the attorney for the series who is involved in this & he confirmed it. I also asked him about sales for S1. His response was to pull a wry face with the comment they were "just OK" with emphasis on the "just".

I have also heard that the merger between NBC & Comcast may have a negative effect on the deal Timeless had to release old NBC material. SFM/Infinity have also cancelled planned releases so it isn't just the majors.

Sorry if the negativity disappoints the optimists amongst you but I always try to see situations as they actually are rather than as I'd like them to be.

 

[Gary OS]

Thanks, again, Chris for another excellent post. I'm with you in that I honestly do see the glass as not only half empty but draining at a quicker pace as each month passes by. The stats and facts, I believe, bear this out beyond any reasonable doubt. As you said, anything can happen. I mean, it could snow here in Florida tonight. But the chances are pretty darn miniscule. For me the chances of us seeing another Classic/Vintage (50's & 60's) TV on DVD boom like we did in the mid to late 2000's is infinitesimal. There are many factors involved in my conclusion. And these are not necessarily in order of importance:

1) The economy tanking. As Chris said, that's a part of the problem but it's far from being the only problem. And if people think this particular industry will suddenly rise back up if/when the economy gets better they are fooling themselves, IMHO.

2) The advent of other formats. This is just simple logic. Formats don't last forever. As we move further away from the inception of standard def DVDs it's only natural that we will see less and less titles in this format. We've now got Blu ray, streaming options, rental options, MOD programs, and the new push for 3-D from the studios. I still have my doubts about that last one catching on, but I know for a fact that some studios are going to do their best to push this format. That comes straight from a high ranking studio exec - and I'll say no more.

3) Many of the most popular titles have already been released. Not all of them, mind you. But some of them. With the economy in the tank most companies just aren't going to invest in anything they don't think is an absolute lock as a big seller. Therefore some of the shows that were maybe second tier and yet still getting released in the hay day of the boom are now not being released and likely never will be. This is where my gratefulness for Shout and Timeless and other smaller operations comes in. They can take a chance on stuff that the majors won't do. And I still feel both those companies will give us some neat, older material in the coming months and years. The majors though... I just can't honestly say I have a lot of hope in them putting out second tier, lesser known titles at this point.

4) Retailers deciding they were not going to allocate as much shelf space to older classics on dvd as they use to. Combine that with some of the larger chains going belly up and it's a recipe for failure in terms of us seeing more, instead of less, classic shows being released. If a studio feels it can't get the exposure for a show it's not going to release it. The exception, for the moment, is when a company like Shout creates an in-house exclusive dvd. But short of that, there's not many other options.

5) Legal issues. Seems like since this boom happened we are getting more people trying to have a slice of the pie (I'm talking obscure relatives and such) and that's held up some releases in the past. And that doesn't even factor in all the legal issues surrounding music clearance and such. So legalities aren't always helping matters as we move further along.

6) The ever shrinking consumer market for older shows. As each day, week, month and year passes the target audience for 50's and 60's TV is dying out - literally! So the longer a show stays in limbo (as opposed to being released on dvd) the greater the chance it's not going to to be a big seller. Many of us buy the older material because we either grew up watching it live as kids or seeing it on reruns in earlier decades. As these shows stop getting airtime on TV the potential buying market dries up because no new potential purchasing generation is rising in the ranks of consumerism. They don't know these shows and they don't care about them. So the situation can only get worse, in terms of potential buyers, as each day passes and an older series sits in a vault somewhere.

Sorry again to be such a downer about this. As Chris said, we have had a great run. And the run is not over yet. It's just that the finish line is closer now. We've passed the mid-way point of the race for sure. Now it's just a matter of time until we see another format (streaming/downloading - yuck) rise up to replace SDVD releases. And that's fine. As I said, no format lasts forever. My biggest concern is the last point I made. Regardless of any format change, will 50's/60's TV have another chance? Do we have any prayer of seeing and owning other golden era series on any format in the future? Or has the time passed us by? Was TV on DVD our last real chance to see our favorites in a format we could own? These are my questions and my concerns as I see this particular format wind down.

Gary "sorry for being so long-winded" O.

P.S. I just want to emphasize once more that I'm not saying we'll never see any more classic TV shows released on DVD. I'm sure we have another couple of years (at a minimum) left and that CBS will give us a few bones and that Shout and Timeless will give us enough to keep us smiling. In fact I suddenly feel really good about Timeless being extra nice to us in the near future. /img/vbsmilies/htf/smiley_wink.gif

 

[phenri]

Gary O. and others,

Thank you for your comments. I agree with you. With the economy this bad, the major studios are scaling back like never before. I'll accept that. You are just being realistic.

I also agree that the most popular shows have already been released. Most of my favorite shows have already been released in their entirety, to which I am grateful. I'm currently interested in Hawaii 5-0 and the Lucy Show continuing, which will most likely happen. I just finished Season 1 of Barnaby Jones, which far exceeded my expectations. I would love to see this series continue, but wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.

Now to my big concern. Will Mannix continue? This is THE show that got me started with TV on DVD in June of 2008. I know that CBS has remastered all eight seasons, but the feeling I've get from this forum is that it may be stalled. Does anyone have an opinion about whether this show will continue or not? Again, I appreciate your comments and honesty.

Thanks.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

I certainly agree these are slim times in many ways, but an interest classic TV fans have doesn't just go away over night so to believe people's demand is suddenly dwindling I can't agree with if anyone's suggesting that. Has Barnaby Jones even been HD'ed beyond the first season, by the way? S2 is pretty long. As far as Bonanza goes that's an even longer wait in release strategy which is the point I made, unless people have confirmation on what's canceled and what's not it's all speculation. I sense Gary's preference is for 50s/60s shows, mine's for 70s/80s primarily, if the economy changes I think it's rather grim to suggest (like Sony) they'll all just ignore classic TV. It's not like they're ignoring it now completely, we did get some of these CBS shows even in this 'crisis'. Remember what Obama won on; hope and change... /img/vbsmilies/htf/laugh.gif

 

[smithb]

Originally Posted by HenryDuBrow
I certainly agree these are slim times in many ways, but an interest classic TV fans have doesn't just go away over night so to believe people's demand is suddenly dwindling I can't agree with if anyone's suggesting that.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that. It has probably maintained fairly constant. However, that does not mean that the big studios have been happy enough with the returns to make it worth their while to continue. For them I don't think it is a matter of making a profit, it has to also be big enough to keep them focused on it instead of some other venture. It could be that the heyday of TV on DVD releases never lived up to executive's expectations. That's why the small shops might continue because their ROI might not be as high.

The fact that they tend to jump from one show to another leaving many stalled is another bad sign. It shows me that they give up easy and keep cyclying through trying to find a gravy train series. So far, it appears only a few have gained that status like "Perry Mason" so that it continues moving along (even with all the complaints about cost vs. episode count, it must still be selling well enough). However, others haven't favored as well. Maybe some studio's are ready to call it quits (they've seen enough of the TV on DVD experiment).

Then there are all the complaints about releases having music replacements, being syndicated, not being cleaned up, having split seasons, to expensive, and no extra's. This isn't necessarily an undemanding crowd. Then there are those that say don't buy until they do it right. Send a message to the studios. I can't say whether the vocal crowd are actually heard by the studio or influence anything. But if the studio's do pay attention, it may not bode well for future release if the profits aren't worth the headache. Not saying these aren't worthy attributes of a release because they are. I'm just saying that it is quite possible that "do it right or don't do it at all" might be coming back to not doing it at all.

As has been mentioned, there are certain titles that will continue moving along, but many stalled one's might just remain that way for good. And many never released titles might just stay that way. The Shouts!, Timelesses, and other small shops might be the only players for the older classic TV shows, and as long as the big studio's are willing to license we may continue to get some decent releases. But if some continue to not license or others stop, well some shows may never see the light of day. Then there is also the concern of getting all those attributes we like. It might be harder if remastering has not already been done, or originals are not available to the smaller shops.

As you say, speculation can go either way, but based on how the wind appears to be blowing, I don't think it is all speculation that we are reading. I'm definitely preparing for leaner years ahead.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Taking into account what has been said about the state of the hobby, I still hold out some hope for RAWHIDE. I could be wrong, of course, but have a vague feeling the stalling/abandonment of its DVD run may have been more about remastering Seasons 4+ for both DVD and TV distribution (notice that the announcement for RAWHIDE's debut on Encore-Westerns took place a couple of years ahead of time) than about especially horrible sales. This may be the same reason why HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL was recently unstalled, after such a long hiatus.

The fact that RAWHIDE is a (top-flight) western show, starring the still-popular/revered Clint Eastwood, gives it a marketing edge beyond most other western series, black & white or otherwise. Not that I have any special inside insight, just thinking (and hoping) aloud.

I'm sure my dream of a T.H.E. CAT: The Complete Series set is about as certain of happening as Carrot Top winning the Miss Universe pageant, but I sure wish some well-heeled benefactor/fan would step in and bankroll a restoration, ala Hugh Hefner with the Basil Rathbone SHERLOCK HOLMES film series. Yeah, I know, that'll never happen, either.

Anyway, at least the extras-packed, complete (Boris Karloff) THRILLER is coming, in less than a month!

 

[smithb]

Originally Posted by Peter M Fitzgerald
Taking into account what has been said about the state of the hobby, I still hold out some hope for RAWHIDE. I could be wrong, of course, but have a vague feeling the stalling/abandonment of its DVD run may have been more about remastering Seasons 4+ for both DVD and TV distribution (notice that the announcement for RAWHIDE's debut on Encore-Westerns took place a couple of years ahead of time) than about especially horrible sales. This may be the same reason why HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL was recently unstalled, after such a long hiatus.

The fact that RAWHIDE is a (top-flight) western show, starring the still-popular/revered Clint Eastwood, gives it a marketing edge beyond most other western series, black & white or otherwise. Not that I have any special inside insight, just thinking (and hoping) aloud.

I also would have thought RAWHIDE would have done better and not been stalled. The Encore announcement could provide a clue to its future. One can hope. But then I also think about BIG VALLEY that only got through half of season two. BIG VALLEY was in color, less seasons to go through, and had a pretty good cast in it's own right. One could think that BIG VALLEY would have succeeded as well or even better then RAWHIDE, yet it appears dead in the water. Makes you wonder if the studio's set too high of expectations for some of these releases.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

One thing I've noticed is that, like Brad wrote, the studios tend to give shows one quick chance and a quick drop again. Not sure if the production costs are smaller and expectations differ there, but other countries it seems tend to have less a jump ship operation. So if all else fails fans do have other regions. Looking forward to that Karloff box from Image as well!

 

[jdee28]

was recently unstalled, after such a long hiatus.

But if you watch Have Gun-Will Travel on Encore, they're airing old, faded, beaten up prints. I don't think any of the episodes they've aired have been restored.

Who knows what to expect with Rawhide. I hope they at least give it the remastering they gave the hour long Gunsmoke episodes. But for Gunsmoke, those were done back in 2002, when Encore first started airing the 60 minute shows. Who knows if anyone still has the budget to do that for Rawhide.

 

[Jack P]

The market is indeed drying up but 2010 has surprised me with a lot of loose ends from my standpoint being taken care of last. First and foremost, the rescue of "Dragnet" from five years of one and done hell. Seeing Shout! finally do right by finishing "Bill Cosby Show" and restarting "Ironside" in an acceptable way was also a big thrill, and the fact that this year will also bring "Ellery Queen" and the resumption of "McMillan And Wife" plus the completion of "Mary Tyler Moore" and "Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea" has made it overall a very good year from my standpoint at a time when I do see the window overall closing. I am really down to just two series titles that I am mad about in terms of stalling ("Burke's Law"'; "The Big Valley") whereas others have a sufficient number of episodes out to at least let me get some good watching in whenever I want ("Barney Miller" for instance at least got to the great "hash brownies" episode) without getting angry about it.

"The FBI" remains the only title of major importance to me that has had no release whatsoever of any kind and that is a testament to the sorry nature of Warner and TV in general. "Girl From UNCLE" is one title that SHOULD have been released with the full MFU set a few years ago and I fault Warner for not doing that. I would have sacrificed several of the bonus discs to have gotten a full GFU in the set instead.

 

one of the reasons the market is drying up this year is because these bonehead studios won't
release any more of the tv classics and because of the president we have

 

[Mr. Pacino]

still nothing as far as the 3 series is concerned.
i remember that someone told here that madman in australia plans to release -switch- on dvd but it didn´t work out

 

[bronson]

What happened with the Australian release of the Robert Wagner series "Switch". Why didn´t Madman release it?

Why don´t "Switch" get an American release?

Has ist something to do with the Universal fire some years ago?

 

[Neil Brock]

What happened with the Australian release of the Robert Wagner series "Switch". Why didn´t Madman release it?

Why don´t "Switch" get an American release?

Has ist something to do with the Universal fire some years ago?

Elements issues and yes, most likely did have something to do with the fire. No company is going to pay several hundred thousand dollars to go back to the 35s to re-transfer Switch. Just not going to be that big of a seller.

 

[DaveHof2]

I started reading this thread without looking at the dates on it - all posts except for the last two were from August of 2010. And most of them pronounced the TV-on-DVD market on life support, particularly for older series. Now I certainly don't think we've had anything that could be called a major revival since then, but do any of these 2010 posters wish to amend their positions, given how many titles have come out in the last three years? To refresh you memory:

Alice
Maverick
The FBI
Gentle Ben
Naked City (the complete series)
The Edie Adams Show
new seasons of Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction
Nichols (if that can get out, there's still hope for Switch!)
The Jack Benny Program
Born Free
Shazam!
Harry O
Daktari
The Courtship of Eddie's Father

...and many more I'm sure I'm forgetting?

 

[Jack P]

Nichols (if that can get out, there's still hope for Switch!)

Not if the tape masters were lost in the Universal fire. You can kiss off any show that was lost in the fire from ever appearing on DVD because while the film elements still exist for theoretical new transfers, it's not going to happen so long as Universal has these exorbitantly high transfer rates.

 

[Ron1973]

Not if the tape masters were lost in the Universal fire. You can kiss off any show that was lost in the fire from ever appearing on DVD because while the film elements still exist for theoretical new transfers, it's not going to happen so long as Universal has these exorbitantly high transfer rates.

Nichols isn't a Universal property. It's a Warner property and has already been released through their archive program.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CJMBEBYwCA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftvshowsondvd.com%2Fnews%2FNichols-The-Complete-Series%2F18878&ei=vp65UtG0BMaQ2QXKuIGYBw&usg=AFQjCNFfdmZUV8vqK9obvQ_e0efxU9zJVA&sig2=8T76PlrZMOv8CuMRvk3jAA&bvm=bv.58187178,d.b2I

 

[FanCollector]

I think Jack was talking about Switch. As I mentioned in another thread, Madman instituted a worldwide search for video or 16mm prints of Switch and came up empty. At this point, my one real hope is that those proposed decade-based classic TV channels become a reality and that they do well enough to spur the transfers of some shows only on 35mm originals like Switch. If that happens, then there seems to be enough motivation from smaller companies to get DVDs out. If not, I don't think we can expect Switch anytime soon.