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Where Are We With CBS? (1 Viewer)

Frank Soyke

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I noticed that after Gentle Ben is released tomorrow, they're are no classic TV releases on CBS's upcoming schedule. The current period of published releases would include the rest of October up through early February at the least. This is making me seriously wonder what they are looking at as far as future plans. I can't remember a time where so many months have gone by without a single release of at least a classic title or two. Keep in mind as well that even the past several months have been very dry for them as well. Outside of the BH and PJ retail releases, they have put out very very little for the past 3 months (August, September, October) as well.
I wanted to get everybody's take on what they feel is happening with them. I know it's all conjecture, but I'm curious if it appears to others (as it does to me) that they are slowing wrapping up their classic DVD releases.As many of you know, I'm no great fan of westerns, but I thought we would have seen at least one announcement for one the the big three (Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rawhide), they have in their pocket. Additionally, I think it is becoming clear that their MOD program was clearly more of an experiment for them that they abandoned very quickly (2 releases?). According to the sydication bible, no additional seasons of BH or PJ have been remastered, so even if they do plan on continuing those, it will surely be a while.So where do we stand? Are they still a major player, or should we thank them for all the wonderful stuff they brought to us the past decade and pack out bags and head for WA.
 

Mr. Handley

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I'd like to think that we'll see more Gunsmoke and Bonanza soon as I've been faithfully collecting those, although I'm a little behind as they were releasing them fairly quickly there for awhile. It appears that the BH and PJ sets are selling pretty quickly. They have so much good stuff still to be released, that I hope they don't totally quit on classic TV DVDs.
 

smithbrad

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Didn't we go over this just a few months ago?

I have no concerns with CBS and future releases. We have to remember CBS remasters many of their series to HD and this takes time. CBS released two and a half seasons of Gunsmoke and two seasons of Bonanza this year. Not to forget the recent PJ and BH releases. My guess is that they caught up with what they had available and are currently working on new seasons of each. I seem to recall the CBS syndication bible listing Bonanza season 7 as currently being remastered. Best not to focus so much on a release schedule, but what there recent past history is. If they went six months without a single release then maybe we can have this conversation, but anything before that I think is premature.
 

Silverking

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I'm confident CBS will be back with a bang in 2014 & we will see their regular series releases continuing. & maybe some surprises.
 

Astairefan

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Honestly, I'm not worried yet, either. I mean, this conversation just seems to keep coming back around, but I really don't see CBS totally relying on their current shows alone. They need some of the older shows throughout the year. With the westerns, part of the problem may be just how fast they can release them and still have them sell. I mean, Gunsmoke saw 2.5 season released this year, when in previous years the most we saw released was 1.5 seasons, and Bonanza saw 2 seasons released this year, same as last year. And I know the tv show Dynasty only seems to see releases once a year, and maybe Rawhide might be a similar case. And of course, there is also the idea of further exclusives. We don't even know if the recently seasons of PJ and BH are the only titles that might have exclusives. For all we know, Love Boat, which everybody keeps saying had multiple seasons remastered several years ago, could easily be released as an exclusive. The only thing with exclusives being whether we would have warning ahead of time like we did with PJ and BH, since I thought part of the reason tvshowsondvd.com didn't cover exclusives before was that the exclusives were sometimes just discovered in stores without a warning beforehand. So I am not worried just yet.
 

TVonDVDJunkie05

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I agree with Brad,

I don't think there is any reason to panic over the lack of releases as the first part of the year is always a slow period due to people going on a spending binge for Christmas. January and February are usually slow months as far as sales go for most retail businesses including DVD sales. I think you might start hearing some announcments for February or March releases.

Also. another thing to note is that this year CBS finished off 6 series so the number of unfinished shows that they could release is shrinking- especially the number of series that are good sellers and make them money which is afterall why the release anything in the first place. Based on current patterns (which may change), I think its a good bet we will see the following released in 2014:

Final 2 seasons of Dynasty & Rawhide (they usually release only 1 season per year but since these shows only have two seasons left I think they may fast track them and release both next year)

More Bonanza & Gunmsoke (these appear to still be selling well which means they will keep releasing more seasons)

Season 7 of Laverne & Shirley (If season 6 did well then I think you will see season 7 released and eventually season 8 as well)

Final season of Becker via MOD

Aside from those, you may also see some surprises (shows you did not think would get released, some recent ones that come to mind are Bob, Father Dowling Mysteries & Gentle Ben). Here are some wild guesses at what I think may get a release:

Brooklyn Bridge (Gary David Goldberg passed away earlier this year, as a tribute to him this show might finally get released)

The Love Boat (One can hope?!)

Promised Land (Spin-off of Touched By an Angel, they might try a release of this to capitalize on the recent releases of Touched by an Angel as the fan bases for both shows is similar)

Barnaby Jones & Phil Silvers Show (If Beverly Hillbililes & Petticoat Junction have been re-started then I think these shows have a shot of seeing another release)
 

maskedmala

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Hoping they'll be releasing a lot of good classic TV shows in 2014 and completing a few series along the way too.
I'm still hoping for the three remaining seasons of Sgt. Bilko. I can't believe this very good series won't be available in a complete form on DVD
 

Frank Soyke

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smithbrad said:
Didn't we go over this just a few months ago?

I have no concerns with CBS and future releases. We have to remember CBS remasters many of their series to HD and this takes time. CBS released two and a half seasons of Gunsmoke and two seasons of Bonanza this year. Not to forget the recent PJ and BH releases. My guess is that they caught up with what they had available and are currently working on new seasons of each. I seem to recall the CBS syndication bible listing Bonanza season 7 as currently being remastered. Best not to focus so much on a release schedule, but what there recent past history is. If they went six months without a single release then maybe we can have this conversation, but anything before that I think is premature.
I don't know Brad... did we? Going by simple math and your arbitrary time frame of 6 months, other than Gentle Ben, no classic DVD non compilation release has come out since mid August (Family Ties) and since the schedule has been released till February, that would make... hmmm, let me get out my calculator... Whaddya know, it's 6 months. IMO that regardless of what you guys want to believe, CBS is slowing moving away from classic DVD releases. If you sense sarcasm, it's only because of the condescending "didn't we go through this already comment." Disagree with me if you if you wish. It's your right. I just don't need the crappy editorial comment attached.
 

Gary16

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Frank Soyke said:
I don't know Brad... did we? Going by simple math and your arbitrary time frame of 6 months, other than Gentle Ben, no classic DVD non compilation release has come out since mid August (Family Ties) and since the schedule has been released till February, that would make... hmmm, let me get out my calculator... Whaddya know, it's 6 months. IMO that regardless of what you guys want to believe, CBS is slowing moving away from classic DVD releases. If you sense sarcasm, it's only because of the condescending "didn't we go through this already comment." Disagree with me if you if you wish. It's your right. I just don't need the crappy editorial comment attached.
You started this thread. I can assure you they are not moving away from classic DVD or possibly even bluray releases. Time will tell.
 

smithbrad

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Frank Soyke said:
I don't know Brad... did we? Going by simple math and your arbitrary time frame of 6 months, other than Gentle Ben, no classic DVD non compilation release has come out since mid August (Family Ties) and since the schedule has been released till February, that would make... hmmm, let me get out my calculator... Whaddya know, it's 6 months. IMO that regardless of what you guys want to believe, CBS is slowing moving away from classic DVD releases. If you sense sarcasm, it's only because of the condescending "didn't we go through this already comment." Disagree with me if you if you wish. It's your right. I just don't need the crappy editorial comment attached.
Wow...excuse me, but I seem to recall a thread discussing this very point a few months ago. I just asked if this wasn't a repeat of a previous discussion. No sarcasm...no condescending attitude...no attack.

Your initial post just referenced classic TV release, of which PJ and BH classify from last month. So if in February 2014 no releases or announcements come out then I will worry, until then I won't. I offered my opinion based on the thread title and your initial post. Just let me know next time if opposing viewpoints are unwelcome and I will resist responding going further.
 

JoeDoakes

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Gary16 said:
I think you'll see a big release coming in Feb and March (just my opinion).
Do you have an opinion as to what this big release will be? (You can pm me if you want, if it doesn't pan out, I won't hold it against you).
 

Frank Soyke

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smithbrad said:
Wow...excuse me, but I seem to recall a thread discussing this very point a few months ago. I just asked if this wasn't a repeat of a previous discussion. No sarcasm...no condescending attitude...no attack.

Your initial post just referenced classic TV release, of which PJ and BH classify from last month. So if in February 2014 no releases come out then I will worry, until then I won't. I offered my opinion based on the thread title and your initial post. Just let me know next time if opposing viewpoints are unwelcome and I will resist responding going further.
Honestly, Arguing aside, I don't have time to do it, but I would like to research the last time CBS went 6 months or more without at least a Bonanza, Gunsmoke, or Rawhide release. One or the others. I'm not certain, but I'm guessing this hasn't happened since they started those 3 series.. By the way, opposing viewpoints always welcome, I was the one who took the heat on my opinion, not you. Regards
 

smithbrad

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I looked up Gunsmoke as an example, below are the releases:

07/200701/200805/200812/200805/200905/201012/201010/201112/201108/201210/201212/201202/201305/2013 (2 releases)08/2013 (2 releases)

As you can see this past year marks more Gunsmoke releases then any other previous year, In addition, there have been multiple lapses of six months or more, and in a few cases a year. There past history seems to indicate they aren't going to follow that close of a schedule, most likely due to remastering efforts across multiple priorities. I think it is a safer best to just look at how many releases they make in a year and what that trend tells us. And in this case the trend is up for Gunsmoke, not down.
 

classicmovieguy

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Do you think CBS will be considering releasing the 1991 "Dynasty" Reunion miniseries and the 2 seasons of "The Colbys". I've been purchasing "Dynasty" from the UK, where the series has been released in it's entirety, except for these.
 

smithbrad

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Now, here is Bonanza (full season two pack releases):

09/200910/201107/201210/201202/201307/2013

As you can see Bonanza started out with a two year delay then a nine month delay, and a steady two seasons per year for the last two years.

I would expect to see two more seasons of Gunsmoke and Bonanza at some point in 2014, and I think the past history supports this.
 

smithbrad

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And since you had exception to my comment about us discussing this not too long ago, I looked it up.

You started the thread "Next Tuesday 9/10 Will Tell A Lot About CBS" approximately 6 weeks ago that resulted in 80 responses dealing with basically the very same subject matter. I just didn't think that much would have changed in a six week period regarding CBS releases, especially when we just had CBS release two stalled shows from somewhat out of nowhere. Just my opinion of course.
 

Frank Soyke

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smithbrad said:
And since you had exception to my comment about us discussing this not too long ago, I looked it up.

You started the thread "Next Tuesday 9/10 Will Tell A Lot About CBS" approximately 6 weeks ago that resulted in 80 responses dealing with basically the very same subject matter. I just didn't think that much would have changed in a six week period regarding CBS releases, especially when we just had CBS release two stalled shows from somewhat out of nowhere. Just my opinion of course.
I believe you have missed the point of my post. It wasn't about a singular title, it was about all these releases as a whole. The point when have we gone six months without a Bonanza release OR a Gunsmoke release OR a Rawhide release?. It hasn't happened very much, I'm sure. As far as my initial post being 6 weeks ago, since that time 2 more months releases have been announced (Jan and Feb), which obviously means nothing will be released after Gentle Ben (today) and at least the end of February. And as I initially said, since only the 2 Wal-Mart shows have been released already since mid August, the bottom line is I think that merits concern. To put a cap to this "haven't we covered this before business," my point was that to introduce your point with the irrelevant comment directed at me was not necessary and was rude. It was not intregral to the content of your post and could have been easily not been included
 

smithbrad

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You asked a question, I asked a question back and voiced my opinion as have some others, and from what I am seeing there is no merit for concern at this time. It appear others generally feel the same (six weeks ago and now). Yes, it is very possible we won't see any more releases this year because many titles were already released and they are in process for the next series of releases. I would expect to hear of some new announcements coming for early Spring. yes, we have had dry months as such in the past, but If you look again at the whole picture from a year to year perspective instead of smaller junks you would have to admit Gunsmoke and Bonanza at least did better this year (even with no more releases in the coming months) then any year prior. That is a trend in the positive not negative. I would expect to see two more seasons of both Gunsmoke and Bonanza next year (as well as other titles). There is plenty of time for that to happen and maintain positive momentum even if announced for after February 2014.

My comments were neither hostile, sarcastic, or condecending. If you felt they were then they were misconstrued. No biggie, I don't need to post any responses, I just did so to add my thoughts to the discussion. I'll just hold on to my thoughts going forward to any of your comments/questions to prevent any further potential for conflict.
 

HenryDuBrow

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I'm not too worried either, there's always the MOD route if they slow down on standard DVD. Hopefully we'll see some good Barnaby Jones news next year, that'd make it four years (same time between the stalled and remastered Streets of San Francisco seasons). Also, look how well Warner's been doing with their classic crime shows like The F.B.I., that should indicate to other studios that eager audiences are still very much out there.
 

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