How Come JAG Hasn't Come Out? (1 Viewer)

[Jim Beaver]

I've never seen JAG but seeing it has been on for so long I've been wondering lately why it hasn't come out yet? It's on the Top 10 list at TV SHOWS ON DVD so obviously it's pretty wanted. But I haven't heard of a rumor that it's coming or nothing. Is it a syndication thing? Is it a music rights issue? Or is is just that it hasn't been put on dvd yet?

 

[todd s]

A year or two ago. Martin Blythe asked everyone to choose whether they wanted JAG or the Sentinel on dvd. It was back and forth as to which one ended up higher. It seems fan groups of both shows found out and came and voted. Since then nothing has come about for either. I amhoping for the Sentinel. I am also sure either Gord, David Lambert or even Martin can explain better.

 

[David Lambert]

Todd, that was in March 2003. Martin posed that question here at HTF, and if I recall correctly a poll was created. At TSoD, Gord posted a news item for each show telling fans that Paramount was interested in what fans thought about these two series and encouraging fans to (responsibly) vote.

After a while, both at HTF and TSoD, it became clear that both shows were popular and deserved a release based strictly on responses at each site. Martin thanked everyone and that was that. As Jim says, JAG is a hot item at TSoD and currently at #3 position on the list of unreleased-to-DVD shows. Sentinel is #24. Each has about 98-99% of voters wanting season sets.

So what did Martin do with that info? I dunno, and I suspect Gord doesn't know, either. Bear in mind that Martin was INFORMALLY asking us for our thoughts, and that the research probably wasn't going end there. He probably needed enough ammo to get each of them put in place for more general research with the market at large for interest. Don't forget that not every DVD consumer is represented by the internet, so internet-based research can't tell a studio whether or not the mass market is going to go for a particular item or not. They have to do off-line studies as well!

Then, if that's also positive, they actually have to start producing the sets themselves, and that can take longer than you think. Projects have to be proposed and approved, budgets worked out, materials gathered, decisions made about extras, boxes and disc labels designed, menus generated, etc. If they were working on these solidly for the past year then they still might not be done yet!


I think its a cinch that JAG will come to DVD sooner or later. Not too long after Martin had his poll, the producers of JAG realized that the show was popular enough to spin off NCIS, another hot show in the ratings. JAG has been on long enough, been put into our conciousness enough, been talked about on Entertainment Tonight and Hard Copy enough, that I think it's pretty much a "classic" show by now, or headed toward it. JAG will come to DVD sooner or later, mark my words. Its an obvious money-maker. I would be surprised if the first season or two didn't make it to market in the 2005-2006 timeframe.

But I'm just working things out logically, and don't know for a fact either way. Only Martin could say for sure.

 

[Paul Sandhu]

I hope JAG comes out soon, especially since I barely recall the first few seasons.

 

[David Lambert]

Sorry, folks! I heard VERY recently that the reason JAG hasn't come to DVD is probably because of syndication deals. It looks like it's not going to happen until those contracts run out, whenever that is. Ouch.

My brother's very depressed about that...it's his favorite show and he desperately wants DVDs of it. :frowning:

 

[todd s]

Dave, did your contact say anything about the Sentinel??

 

[David Lambert]

Nope.

 

[Jim Beaver]

Thanks Dave. Cool to have an answer. Sucks about the syndication thing, hopefully it comes out soon. I wonder how long the syndication deal is till?

 

[Valerie G.]

Sigh. That really stinks. I just started watching JAG last year, and I would really love to be able to see all the seasons that I missed. JAG is really on my "my most wanted" list right now, just because I missed so much of it, and it would be awesome to have so many "new to me" episodes to watch if it was on DVD.

I'll keep hoping, though....

 

[Mark Maltais]

Big, Big HUGE JAG fan here...this sucks!!!

I can't imagine them not making money on this (there is a decade worth of seasons here folks), Oh well thank god for the history channel

 

[Paul Sandhu]

Yes.... thank god for the history channel.

 

[David Lambert]

It didn't come up.

 

[Paul Sandhu]

I watched the pilot on the History Channel today (boy does DJE look young) and was thinking could the reason its taking so long is because of the first season being on NBC? Could that be complicating matters? Has Paramount always been the ones behind the show?

 

[todd s]

If you want to see a young David James Elliot. Watch the New Untouchables series that ran in the early nineties. It was very good and had a good cast...John Rhys Davies, Tom Amandes(on Everwood) and William Forsythe.

 

[Paul Sandhu]

I actually used to watch that in syndication too. It doesn't come on the History Channel anymore. I think it was replaced with JAG, running three times a day.

 

[Jim Beaver]

Check this out it's a fairly recent interview with Bellisario about JAG on DVD. The answer is certintly interesting as Dave pointed out in January that JAG is held up because of syndication issues.

"Writer-producer Don Bellisario has a sizable shelf of shows on DVD, including Magnum, P.I. and Quantum Leap. Two more arrive Tuesday with Airwolf: Season One (Universal, the pilot movie plus 10 episodes, two discs, $39.98) and Baa Baa Black Sheep: Volume 1 (Universal, pilot movie plus 10 episodes, $39.98).

But when I talked to Bellisario recently, I was more interested in getting the answer to a question readers often ask me: When is Bellisario's JAG coming out on DVD?

``I've asked the same thing of Paramount (the studio distributing it),'' Bellisario said. He expects it will start coming out ``within a year'' but is disappointed that it hasn't appeared sooner.

There's been talk that Paramount has been slow with JAG because its audience tended to be older -- and so less likely to embrace the DVD. But my e-mail has suggested there are plenty of people ready to pay for the show, and Bellisario didn't think the old-viewer theory made sense.

``Certain studios are just not as aggressive in the merchandising and sale of DVDs,'' he said -- pointing a finger directly at Paramount.

Universal, by the way, made a very odd -- and so far unexplained -- decision with the Airwolf packaging. A couple of photos on the box include Barry Van Dyke, who was not part of the first-season cast; he joined the show several years later."

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradent...d/11718019.htm

 

[Kevin EK]

The NBC year of JAG has no impact on any DVD release. NBC and CBS only had the right to exclusively broadcast the first two airings of each episode. After that, the episodes revert to Paramount, which controls the syndication and any eventual video sales. Paramount will probably put the series on DVD, but I wouldn't expect it for a while.

 

[Jim Beaver]

I have a good feeling that JAG will finally be coming out next year. Not only by Bellisario's comments from a few months ago but have you noticed alot of the shows that are on the top ten unreleased list at tvshowsondvd.com are finally coming out? (SeaQuest, Brisco County Jr, Get Smart, Wings & Facts of Life) 2006 is shaping up to be a good year for TV DVD.

 

[Jay_B!]

out of curiosity, where did you see Facts Of Life coming out??? that is #1 on my most-wanted DVD list and I don't recall reading about that until now

 

[Jim Beaver]

Jay I think I might have heard about it over on Sitcoms Online but I don't remember for sure because it was probably about 5 months ago.