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

[FrankHW]

Something we've all forgotten is how times and tastes have changed dramatically. The most glaring case I can think of is Family Ties. This was the number 1 or 2 show for years, but have you ever watched an episode in syndication? The humor is horrifically corny, the "life's lessons" are simplistic and borderline preachy, and the dialogue is sometimes painful to bear.

 

[ElijahS]

That seems to apply to many sitcoms from the eighties, save Cheers, Murphy Brown, Roseanne (late 80s, I know), and maybe a select few more.

 

[Gary OS]

Frank, while I don't consider FAMILY TIES to be the greatest sitcom of all time I still think you should have added an "IMHO" to the end of your post. Facts are that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the show did fairly well in the ratings while it was on.

Gary "heck, there are tons of shows that are already out on dvd that I consider much less worthy of a release than 'Family Ties'" O.

 

[Ravi K]

The "IMHO" is implied, since he is expressing his opinion. I'm not sure what Family Ties has to do with this thread, though.

 

[FrankHW]

I was simply trying to illustrate that changing tastes might make a once-successful show difficult to sell (and therefore, not worth developing) as a DVD set. Family Ties was a great and even ground-breaking sitcom in the 80's. I readily admit to being a huge fan of it back then...but after 20 years that included the peak years of Cheers, Seinfeld, NewsRadio, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, few people I know would want to watch it in reruns.

I apologize for leaving out the IMHO.

 

[Gary OS]

No need to apologize, Frank. I just wanted to make the point that what's worthy of Full Season releases versus "best of" releases (or no release at all) is, as I mentioned above, in the eye of the beholder.

Gary "I'd probably pick up a 'Family Ties' set if it was released, but that's mostly because Justine Bateman was one of my teen TV crushes at the time" O.

 

[Mike*SC]

I hardly think it's crazy to release a "Best of" of a show like "Alice." "Alice" ran, what? Nine seasons? Even if the season sets (if they ever did them) were priced on the low end -- say $25 for a season -- that would be a $225 investment for a show that, while not exactly forgotten, isn't very prominent anymore. Will collectors shell out that much for a complete set? Some will. But don't mistake collectors (such as those of us here) for the public at large, who are unlikely to unload that much for a marginal show. (Yes, IMHO.) I'm not making a judgement about the show "Alice," which I saw maybe twice during its entire run (not my personal cup of tea, but then nobody asked me). But it's not exactly going to sell like "CSI" or "Seinfeld."

I also think the subject title here is a bit on the hyperbolic side. How can TV on DVD die twice? It didn't, of course, despite "Larry Sanders" being abandoned. (And believe me, nobody in the world would be happier with a complete set of "Larry Sanders" than I would be, but I also know that if more people had bought season one, I'd have that set by now. How can I blame Sony for that?)

 

[Sean.S]

Animaniacs. The Flash. Seaquest DSV. Pinky & The Brain. Yogi Bear. The Huckleberry Hound Show. And, those are just a few of the shows never before released on DVD coming within the next few months. DVD TV dead? I think not.

Sure, I would love for every show ever made to have uncut, unedited season/volume set releases with reasonable MSRPS. And, actually, 90% of the time that is the case--from Star Trek: Voyager to Pokemon to I Love Lucy to Batman : TAS to Hogan's Heroes and numerous others.

Just like you have to think of how low the murder rate is (40 year low) in relation to what you hear on the news, you have to think of how low the bad release rate is on DVD when you hear about a best-of--a best-of that could lead to a season set!

 

[Bryan Tuck]

I guess the Best-Of sets do make more sense for casual fans. However (and I mentioned this in another thread) I've never understood the "testing the waters" business. If people are wanting to buy season sets, then it seems to me that they would not buy the Best-Of sets, because they are waiting for seasons. And the people who do buy the Best-Of sets are probably more likely to be content with that and not buy season sets.

Obviously, there are exceptions to this, but I still just don't think sales of Best-Of sets are a good way to determine whether or not a season set release is feasible.