The second death of tv season sets on dvd. (1 Viewer)

[Bryan^H]

It just keeps getting worse. It's bad enough when you commit to owning a complete tv series on dvd, and the studio pulls the rug out from under you by cancelling that show,(The Larry Sanders show, Mad About you) but Warner Brothers has really pulled a doozy this time around.
These television favorites discs are going to be the new indicator of a first season set even being released. Problem is simple. THEY WON'T SELL. Nobody wants a handful of episodes, if they are even remotely interested in a show, they would most likely buy the season 1 set. I'm a huge fan of Alice, and if I want a release of the first season I first have to buy the television favorites disc, so WB can decide if the sales are strong enough for a season release. This is pathetic. I used to like Warner Brothers. There is only one company I can trust, and that is Anchor Bay. Their track record is near flawless, and they would never try and pull crap like WB. I tell everyone who will listen, do not buy the Television Favorites discs, this will just encourage them to continue this absurd practice. At all costs, boycott bad decisions of big studios.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Um... would this be the same Anchor Bay that distributed Carsey-Werner's syndicated cuts of "Roseanne" and "3rd Rock" and Cannell's music-free releases?

Not that that invalidates the good work they've done, but the point is nobody's track record is flawless or even nearly flawless....

 

[ElijahS]

I fail to see how this is the "second death" of TV DVD. You're saying this is worse than a studio putting out a season set, then cancelling future sets. There is some truth in this, since an unsuccessful best-of disc might result in no full season sets. However, for older series such as Alice, which have little or no current exposure, most people would probably be more comfortable purchasing a sampler disc than a complete set. I know that there are only a few shows that I've purchased "blind-buy" (Smallville, Veronica Mars, 24), and while all three are among my favorites, I would hate to have been stuck with a set that I ended up not liking.

 

[Bryan^H]

If I'm a fan of a show, I will buy the season set, even if it is a syndicated cut. I guess it doesn't bother me that much because most of these shows I watched in syndication anyway. If your a television purist, then you every right to be angered about that, but the fact that season sets are being released at all is better than nothing.

 

[John*D]

With Anchor Bay they have to license a show to release it on DVD. They already know they want to sell the show in its entirety because they had to pay just to get the rights to release any of the episodes. Why would they waste their time and money with single disc "best of" releases when they probably have a limited time to release a show on DVD and are a smaller company? I don't believe the connection is there, but I too am annoyed at the recently announced "best of" discs for Family Mattes, Step by Step, and the Drew Carrey Show.

I'll leave it up to others to spend the $30 to buy these 3 discs, as I'll spend that money buying a complete season of another show. Hopefully the WB will eventually release those 3 shows in complete season sets regardless of how well these single discs sell.

 

[Jay_B!]

actually, people keep freaking out over this...

Warner released one of these sets for The Dukes Of Hazzard, a show that we already know season 5 is coming soon of.

 

[Bryan^H]

Here's my view on the Anchor Bay thing. If they can afford to release each of their properties in season sets,(in a timely manner) why can't Warner Brothers? Yes, Warner Brothers already have the rights to all their shows. Are the manufacturing costs really that steep for them?

 

[ElijahS]

Anchor Bay has to pay to get the rights, and it's probably everything at one time. It probably is more beneficial financially to release multiple sets of a series, even if it doesn't sell particularly well, than to release one and halt production afterwards if sales are poor.

 

[Ravi K]

Five dollars for a 3-4 episode disc is a decent price to test the waters on an unfamiliar show. This can be beneficial to the wary consumer, but is it a good idea to use these discs to gauge demand for full season sets? Why do I need one disc of 3-4 episodes if I am fairly certain I will buy a season set?

 

[David Rain]

If it takes buying a compilation disc to get the season sets later then I'll do it. I bought the Designing Women disc as soon as it came and now finally the 1st season set is supposedly coming.

Just to add to things, Married With Children had 2 different best-of discs and they are now several seasons into their sets. Whatever it takes to get my favorite shows.

I hope anyone here who likes Alice submitted their list of favorite episodes. The better that disc is the more likely it will sell.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I see that but I think that this works all ways. Some sets I don't want to get 'the whole thing' - but just a few episodes. I did this with 'F Troop" and 'Freinds'. I liked it but not THAT much.

But with others I have to get the entire run, and now I'm waiting until the whole thing is out. I did this with 'ST Voyager'. I waited until the last volume came out.

Then I decided not to get all of 'Law & Order' - but just three seasons, 4, 5 & 6. They aren't out, but season 14 is? Ok, that is the last one but I'm not even going to think about 1, 2 & 3 until after I get 4-6.

And what happened with "McHales Navy' and 'One Day at a Time'? I thought they were going to come out this year, and yes, in this case, I would have bought any and everything that they put out, but here it is almost November and not even a best of. What are they thinking?

Glenn

 

[Ethan Riley]

I understand the philosophy behind the 'favorites' series. They're simply trying to test the waters; see if there's any interest in these older titles. It's actually good marketing. I don't buy them simply because they haven't done any titles that I want, either as 'favorites' or as complete season sets. I may be faced with with a dilemma should they ever get around to one of MY 'favorites." lol.

Seems to me that formerly popular shows like "Welcome Back, Kotter" would be big enough to go ahead and release as a season set. Apparently, Warners was more timid than I would have been. But really, "Kotter" is more popular than half the junk that gets released on a regular basis.

 

[Bob Hug]

I’m neutral on these one-disc sampler sets; true fans will always want complete seasons and full runs of their favorite shows on DVDs but, for casual fans who may only want a few episodes for their collections, these single disc compilations are fine.

The big problem that I have with them (at least with Warner’s Television Favorites line) is their availability at brick & mortar stores. They’re easy to find online but try finding them at your local retailer. For instance, Wal-Mart had copies of “Maverick” and “Chico & the Man,” and an exclusive cover art version for “The Dukes of Hazzard,” but they did not even carry “Cheyenne” and “F-Troop.” And I had no luck finding any of these titles at Target or K-Mart. Therein lies a big part of the problem . . . if Warner is using these “sampler” releases to gauge demand for these series, a whole segment of the market that does most of their buying at brick & mortar stores will never even be aware of these releases nor have the opportunity to purchase them. That, likely, has negative consequences for seeing some of these series in full season releases. People will buy these releases if they know they are available. At the two Wal-Marts in my area, all of the “Maverick” and “Chico” DVDs were sold out. So while “Maverick” and “Chico” may earn a chance at season sets, that’s probably not going to be the case for “F-Troop” or “Cheyenne,” since those two releases are hard to find at traditional retailers. Sales figures may not present an accurate picture of the real demand that may exist for these shows.

 

[John*D]

The SRP is actually going to be $10 for 3-6 episodes (episode count hasn't been announced), but you may find them lower/higher in stores/online.

 

[Ravi K]

I don't want to have to do this. Its like a mandatory rental (and $5-10 payment) to send the message that I want the show on DVD.

 

[Scott_F_S]

Wow, what's with the Chicken Little panic? I don't know if these things are anything more than a way for the studio to sell a few DVDs.

 

[Steve Phillips]

I've seen these Warner favorites for as low as $5.50. For some series, such as "Alice", I think it's enough for me.

 

[Steve_Knutzen]

Didn't Warner have a promotion where they had compilation or single episode discs available by mail and they came with a coupon towards season sets of that show? It seems to be a great idea would be to include coupons in these new best-of discs.

 

[Bob Hug]

That was Fox that released four DVD samplers of season 1 shows, including "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "24," "The Pretender," and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." MTM had four half hour episodes, and the others had two hour long episodes. I bought the MTM and "The Pretender" samplers and ended up buying the full season 1 of MTM and received a nice $10 rebate back. "The Pretender" was OK, but I didn't like it enough to go for the full season set.

The major difference with the Fox and Warner Brothers samplers is that Fox used the samplers to try to get you to buy pre-existing season 1 sets. The Warner samplers appear to be "testing the waters" for possible full season releases, with the lone exception being "The Dukes of Hazzard," for which season 5 on DVD was recently announced. Should Warner decide to issue full season sets for any of the shows in the "Television Favorites" line, they should give buyers of the sampler discs some sort of credit on the full season sets, e.g. send in the UPC seal or some other proof of purchase and get $5 or $10 off the price of the full season set.

 

[ElijahS]

Warner also had a deal with the pilot episodes of a few series with a rebate if you purchased a whole season set.