Law & Order: Criminal Intent Series 3? (1 Viewer)

Anyone else find it odd? I understand the marketing angle and all, but in this case you have a show with only 3 series total and one already out on DVD...surely they could have released 2 & 3 before series 4 starts? It seems a bit bizarre that just because SVU and the original are having the most recent released they should do it with Criminal Intent.

Why's it odd? What it's looking like is that this is becoming standard procedure with Universal - release the most recent season x months after it finishes. Treat TV series like movies, where there's a relatively constant break between the initial release and the video release.

Of course, if this does become policy, it could create a real annnual logjam in September if Universal winds up with a lot of series on the air, which makes me wonder if part of Fox's plans for year-round programming is to stagger series DVD release dates.

I also do not like this new strategy for all of the L&0 series, but if they go back and release the older seasons in quicker time, I won't have as much of a problem with it. I would like to L&O Season 3, L&O:SVU Season 2 and L&O: CI Season 2 in December or January 2004. With two more releases before September 2005 when I assume they will release the upcoming season.

The real trick, I think, is to understand that they are trying to utilize the strategy of using DVD sets to promote the upcoming seasons, as we've seen in the past with The Sopranos, 24, etc.

Yes, they are interupting the flow of season set releases by jumping out of order. But the recently-finished 14th season of the original show being made available soon before the 15th season starts up in the fall means that the DVD sets and the fall premiere of the new season help promote each other. And that 15th season DVD release happens after the summer reruns of the 15th season, so they get their "money" both ways.

The strategy tends to make more sense when looked at from that angle, and hopefully the studio intends to come back 3-4 months later with a release of S3 on DVD, to pick up right where they left off. Another 3-4 months later they could release S5, and maybe even squeeze in S6 before a full year has passed and they release the recently-completed S16 just in time to promote the on-air broadcast premiere of S17. Get it?

Back to the show that this thread is about: L&O:CI. Yeah, it makes less sense to do this strategy when the show's only 3 seasons old. But hopefully a S2 release happens quickly and makes up for the oddity. For my part, I'd probably buy the S3 set and put it aside until S2 came out, so I could watch them in order.

If anyone at Universal happens to be reading this, and wants to "go on record" about this strategy, then I'd love to hear from you! I imagine my theory, as stated above, has to be pretty close to the mark. I can't imagine anything else that makes this concept "profitable".

I'm definitely going to get the latest season releases (got used to seeing a Law and Order series every other month lately!); probably save the original for last and get CI first because it won't be as jarring as the other two gaps -- no way am I putting it aside though! It would be lovely if they had a further release calendar as well to reassure people looking for the middle series of the shows.

I understand the marketing logic behind this sort of thing but it's still veeeeerrrrrry annoying for the average viewer (such as myself). When can we expect Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 2-4? I'm definitely going to wait to buy the 5th season until they release the others. Why would I want to watch it out of order?

It's Law & Order... episode-to-episode continuity isn't much of a big deal.

True, but the cast does rotate and SVU series 1 ended with threat of someone getting removed from the team and series 2 begins with identifying who that is followed by the introduction of Ice-T to the show. Instead we get thrust into the midst of a new dynamic years into it. I'll still buy it, but I was more looking forward to seeing how the show evolved at the start of the next season. Same goes for L&O series 14 which is light-years beyond series 3 and features nobody from the original two years of the show!

Well, no-one says you have to buy something the first week of release. I think Universal (and most studios) don't really look at TV-on-DVD as being sold to first-time viewers much - the size and price tag makes it unlikely - so "skipping" over seasons (which isn't really what they're doing; they're running two release patterns in parallel) isn't a real problem.