Facts of Life s4 and Living Single s2 (1 Viewer)

[Shawn_C]

Are there any plans for both series to be released on DVD?

 

[MatthewA]

Facts of Life: Maybe. We all know about Sony. It was 2 years between Jeffersons S2 and S3 and three years for Mad About You. They're always full of surprises.

Living Single: Doubtful. Warner's track record on getting sitcoms past season 1 is not good; only shows that start with an "F" seem to get past their premiere seasons (Friends, Fresh Prince, Full House, F Troop)

 

[Robert13]

It seems a lot of fans are waiting for more Facts Of Life. Yet, Sony hasn't released the next set in a year. I fear they are doing the same thing they did to Diff'rent Strokes. They released the first 2 seasons and then nothing. And there are so many seasons of FOLleft to release. They should just go ahead and release 2 sets at a time like First Look.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Ive had a close eye on the sales rank on amazon for facts of life, and I can definitely say its been selling much much better than strokes.So they cant use that as an excuse.

 

[Robert13]

Sony hasn't announced anything new in several months apart from King of Queens and Seinfeld. I think this Monday is the final week for announcements of 2007. After that, anything else will be slated for 2008. While all the other studios have had several announcements of new titles, Sony has been very quiet.

 

[MatthewA]

I still believe the Blu-Ray push is part of the reason why we haven't seen more TV-DVDs, especially from Sony.

 

[Jon Martin]

There was just a big Sony sale on Amazon. I got the first two FOL sets for half price. I don't know if that helped sales at all.

 

[Shawn_Sm]

Sony basically did nothing in 2007. They got no further on any 70's series except one season of The Jeffersons in the beginning of the year. They also managed to finally put out a season of Maude. If Blu-ray was part of the reason, that's just more reason for me to continue to ignore both high-def formats.

 

[Robert13]

Yeah, I don't get the whole high-def formats idea. I mean, they spend so much time on how to make a better format that the idea of the actual piece of entertainment becomes lost in the quest for a better format. Honestly, we all want our screens to have excellent clarity but if we spend so much time on that, we would never watch anything without scrutinizing every line on the screen. But, I guess it makes money. Some people go for that sort of thing. Personally, I wish they would concentrate on preserving more shows on dvd since it is a better format than VHS tapes. Besides, I can't see them re-issuing all of the shows they have already released on high-def formats. Some may make the cut but not all of them. I think we need to stick with one format. Just my opinion.

 

[MatthewA]

Norman Lear/Embassy shows were all shot on analog SD tape. The only benefits of redoing taped series in Blu-Ray would be:

—Fitting whole seasons on 1 disc, or whole series in one set.
—Including uncut versions of cut episodes
—Finally adding the extras they should have done the first time around.

Filmed shows would have a benefit of added detail that SD-taped shows wouldn't, but I don't think we'll see them for awhile, if ever.

But this is Sony we're talking about. They made a pan-and-scan Annie with DTS sound. They're only now revisiting the Three Stooges video release strategy that hasn't been modified since Coca-Cola owned Columbia. They started shows this year that while I'm glad they're out, I would rather they waited to finish the ones they started first. They should be done with All in the Family and The Jeffersons by now. We should be at Edna's Edibles by now. Common sense is not a phrase in their vocabulary.

 

[Jay_B!]

I think we have a much better shot of seeing more Facts than Living Single. I am surprised that LS hasn't sold better than it has considering Queen Latifah's popularity, as well as the fact she was in one of the most popular films this summer (Hairspray).

Facts is a matter of when, not if. The show still has it's audience, Sony just seems to treat it's shows like garbage. Hopefully with King Of Queens and Seinfeld finishing up, Sony will start going back to the 70's and 80's shows. I want more Facts, Maude, One Day At A Time and Diff'rent Strokes.

 

[Don3996]

Just curious, anyone hear any news at all about Facts of Life? Im hoping it hasnt been dropped completely but its been over a year since the last release and the first 2 releases were only 5 months apart

 

[Jay_B!]

I have a feeling the latter seasons of FOL are going to be riddled with music rights hell. There were countless contemporary (1985-1986ish) songs played in the background in the Over Our Heads episode. A major one that comes to mind is where Natalie breaks up with the himbo and "Everytime You Go Away" plays in the background and fades out to it. And there's also the "Cruising" episode from season 6 where the girls are driving along and singing to You've Lost That Loving Feeling and you hear Dancing Queen also. Also the El DeBarge and Stacey Q episodes too. I have a feeling that there'll be no way you can legally acquire the latter seasons because of the greedy music companies.

 

[MatthewA]

Sony's track record with clearing music isn't terrible, save for the Married with Children and Dawson's Creek themes. They cleared all of the stuff from the first three seasons including I Love Paris, This Masquerade, Cuando Caliente Del Sol (Love Me With All Your Heart), and two songs from South Pacific. Not to mention other series which had some pricey stuff (The Nanny comes to mind, which had Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and The Beatles among others). Of course now you see them drop everything just so they can release the next seasons of two long-abandoned shows. It's not even cathartic to bash Sony anymore; constructive criticism still falls on deaf ears (they still never addressed any edited episodes but seem to have gotten better about it on newer releases), and head-scratching choices are made in regard not to what does get released, but what does NOT and on which format (Groundhog Day and Taxi Driver triple-dipped on DVD but not released on Blu-Ray, even after the former was on HDNet Movies!). Their HD format pretty much won the "war", now can we have our TV shows again? I'll wait for them not to screw it up, but not until I'm old and gray; by then we'll be watching them on Hologram-disks.

I've been advocating for changing, by any means necessary, to a royalty-per-unit system. The current structure does not work. Only a phalanx of lawyers is keeping the music industry alive.

Let me guess what we'll get for extras: a Barney Miller minisode?