Why aren't there more free pilots on DVD? (1 Viewer)

With Fox giving away the first two episodes of 24 season 2 on DVD, does anyone wonder why more company's aren't doing this (and why fox didn't go the logical step and include the first two episodes of season 1)? Studios could bundle together pilots from various shows that they have coming out on DVD and give it to customers free (or free with purchase of one of that studio's movies) with a rebate inside.

I know that for economical reasons some studios couldn't do this for example Paramount with Star Trek. Still, they could probably bring out Star Trek: Beginnings 2 disc set with the first episode of ST:TOS, ST:TNG, ST: DS9, ST:Voyager and just for fun the pilot for Enterprise. Have a rebate offer for the shows and price it around $15.

Uh, that's 9 hours you're cramming on 2 DVDs there, and not necessarily a great promotional tool.

Where I think this could be useful is something like the Jake 2.0 giveaway Paramount was doing - launching a new show is hard, and giving away an episode that a potential viewer can check out at leisure can't hurt much. I think it would only be doable for corporate siblings (new Universal shows on NBC/USA/Sci-Fi, new Paramount/Viacom shows on CBS/UPN/MTV/Nick/VH-1/Spike, new Fox shows on Fox/FX, new Warner/New Line/Castle Rock shows on WB/HBO/TNT/TBS, new Touchstone/Miramax/Disney shows on ABC/ABC Family/Disney) because of rights issues.

You're forgetting that there's no commercials. Every pilot except TOS is 90 minutes long. Disc one could have 225 minutes and disc to could have 180 minutes. I know that's pushing it on disc one but the M*A*S*H discs have close to 4 hours on each disc and I didn't notice any of the picture quality compromised. If worse comes to worst, they could take of Enterprise.

Obviously the best time would be before the boxed set is released. I think that mini series such as Roots, Shogun, etc. would also benefit from this.

John,

It's hard for companies to determine the purchases that were obtained by something like this. How many people weren't going to buy the DVD set but did after getting a free disc? They probably have no idea...which is why few companies are willing to spend the money to create the discs. Remember, all this stuff is on TV already so they aren't exposing many people to new stuff like with Jake 2.0.

Gord

I got sent a pilot DVD for "Arrested Development" unsolicited, for free. Can't beat that, and I also heartily endorse the concept.

Has anyone actually received the Jake 2.0 pilot? I haven't, nor did I get any e-mail about it.

Not yet.

Since it's free and all, and took almost no effort to "qualify" for, I just put it out of my mind. If it shows up, great. If not, then I haven't lost anything. I hope it DOES show up, though, and has the pilot on it. It's the only one I missed!

actually, the offer said it would have TWO episodes on it.

True, Rick.

Hey...I just found out that the pilot ep is being rerun this coming Friday, the 26th! Since Joan of Arcadia is also a rerun that night, it's a no-brainer...I'll finally catch "The Tech"!

It sounds like a good idea for new show launches. For something like Star Trek, people already know it and know if they're going to buy it, but I'm sure Arrested Development can use the promotion. I hear that's really funny, but as I'm addicted to Alias, I haven't been able to catch it.