I've been wondering this too! It's been over 6 months. Sony is moving slow with this one. I thought they would amp up the FOL dvd releases to get to the late 80s seasons when George Clooney was on the show. You know that's gonna sell. I hope we see Season 4 come out soon with the inclusion of FOL Goes to Paris as a bonus feature.
In a past thread someone said the S1/S2 set sold "as well as Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie". S3 could not possibly have had that much of a drop-off, could it?
And as I said, they could always be working on ironing out mastering or licensing issues (the use of song "Celebration" and possibly others) so they can get it done steady-and-right instead of fast-and-shoddy.
The movie could be what's holding it up; it was shot on film and I assume post-production was done on film, too (the Australia movie had post-production on videotape). Perhaps it needs to be restored (it's possible; All That Jazz, a film only three years older, was in a deplorable condition when Fox was prepping its original DVD release), and since an episode from late in this season ties into it, they are concerned about its presentation quality. Hopefully it'll get its own disc instead of increasing the number of episodes per disc.
Great points, Matthew! I hope Sony is working on it and making it the best quality possible. I am willing to wait for the set with the inclusion of complete episodes and the Paris movie restored.
I hope we at least get 4 this year. My partner and I are both huge fans of the show since childhood and want to see more seasons released, I have some season 4-9 episodes taped off Nick At Nite and through other sources but I want the whole series on DVD, I even liked the Beverly Ann seasons.
I agree. FOL is one of the only shows I really care about finishing on DVD that I don't have complete already, or nearing the end (Roseanne) or currently airing. I love the later years of the show and definately want to legally own them (I have episodes downloaded from the last few years)
Just wanted to bump this thread to show there is still a strong interest from fans wanting the rest of this show on dvd. I can't tell you how many message boards, blogs, etc. have people asking "Where is Season 4?" Hopefully, Sony has licensed it out so another company can get on with releasing the remaining seasons.
All in the Family hasn't even been released in it's entirety. Bewitched is limping there.
I can think of very few long running series in Sony's catalogue that have been completed... Good Times, Sanford and Son, and I Dream of Jeannie are the only ones I can remember off the top of my head.
Sony just doesn't seem to be a studio that is big into classic TV on DVD. Odds are, sales weren't up to their expectations, the plug was pulled, and we'll have to wait for some company to license the series out to see the rest of it.
as someone who has about 85% of the episodes on DVD through boots of seasons 4-9, I personally think season 3 was the nadir besides the first and last seasons. Every single episode was "A very special episode" that year. I like the show better when it had more comedy to it, which was mainly lacking in season 3, which felt like Afterschool Specials.
If season 3 didn't sell well, I believe lack of promotion had something to do with it. The combo of seasons 1 and 2 supposedly sold as well as Bewitched and I Dream Of Jeannie, which have never been off the air in 40 years. Not bad for a show that basically disappeared from syndication in 1990 along with 99% of other 1980s sitcoms, got put in USA Network's lousiest time slots for the five years they had it, and seemed to do OK on Nick at Nite (they ran the introductory marathon again a month later) but disappeared after a year. They were promoted. The cast (including Nancy McKeon, who usually opts out of these) were on the Today Show to promote the DVD, while season 3 had no promotion at all. I didn't see any. You'd think with the minisodes they try to spoon-feed us they'd want to say, "Hey, if you liked this, you'll love the complete versions which are available now on DVD."
Sony, I've got some money I need to get rid of. You can help me get rid of my money by re-opening the vaults. Hulu and iTunes releases of previous DVD releases don't cut it. I want physical media.
Yeah, yeah, Seinfeld is Sony. However, I don't consider Seinfeld "classic". Nothing against the show, but I just can't call something from the past 20 years "classic TV" yet.
And as for the quality debate... I have a soft spot in my heart for the "trainwreck" seasons of any show... The Kotter-less Season 4 of Welcome Back Kotter, season 5 of Sliders, and the Beverly Ann years of Facts of Life. So I'd love to see the rest of the series released at some point.