Mad About You Collection 2/8/2005 (1 Viewer)

According to this News Item from TVShowsOnDVD.com it will be a 4 disc set listing at just under $40 and will contain episodes from all 7 seasons, and participation from the 2 main stars on special features.

I never bought the 2 previous season sets but I might spring for this collection. If for no other reason than to get the season 3 episode where Carl Reiner guests as Alan Brady.

Its sad for the shows bigger fans that they aren't continuing with a season 3 at least at this point, but for someone like me this is an awful tempting collection.

Half of the episodes are from the last 3 seasons, which is after the showed jumped the shark, IMO.

Me too. I'm all over it.

I'm sure I'll end up buying one for me and one for my sister-in-law; we're both nuts about this show...every season!

Like it or lump it, whether you're an advocate of season releases or not, this is perfect for the casual fan. Looking forward to the Larry Sanders release in this format too

how do we know Season 3 is never going to happen? Remember Friends and Married With Children?

Well, both Friends & MwC started out with best-ofs and then switched to season sets. Mad about you is the other way around... certainly not a good sign.

It sucks big time, that's for sure. I just wish I didn't love the show as much as I do. :frowning:

Chris

Is the episode with the parakeet (sp?) featured on any of the discs in this set?

I'm not a big fan of this--Hunt's character drives me nuts--but there are individual episodes that are outstanding and many of them appear to be on this set. But, can anyone tell me if the Jerry Lewis or any of the Mel Brooks are there?

PatH

You guys will buy pretty much anything right? Columbia/Sony must be real happy with you all

Juan, thanks for making that a personal insult to anyone who's interested in this release. :rolleyes

I'm sorry, but exactly what was the insult you refer to? Let me ask you the following: would you rather buy this set, or a complete third season? I thought so. That makes my previous statement accurate. I've said it before, I'll say it again: if you buy crap, companies will put out crap, specially if they can save money by doing so. If a large number of people will buy "best ofs", pan & scan movies, and cut episodes, studios will just save the money needed to produce superior releases and keep putting out inferior products at an accelerating pace. Columbia/Sony has an atrocious record in my beloved DVD hobby, destroying movies and tv shows I love, so honestly I find it nauseating when people are just willing to passively submitt to their greed, mediocrity and sheer lack of vision. "Settle for nothing now, and we'll settle for nothing latter".

Nah, Juan, you kind of miss the point of why we're not getting a Season 3. Seasons 1 and 2 didn't sell very well. That's it, end of story. Sony had no interest in continuing with season sets of a show that - while among my favorites, and that of a number of like-minded people - was to them essentially a loser.

Instead of giving the fans "nothing", they decided to have another go at it with a best-of release. They hope it will find an audience this way that will make sense to their ledgers.

If this one doesn't sell, you can kiss MaY on DVD goodbye; it will never darken your door again.

I find it reprehensible that you would proclaim judgement on fans who would like to show their support by getting this set and not see their last chance fade away with no effort at all.

We do agree on one thing, though: "Settle for nothing now" (i.e., don't buy this DVD release) "and we'll settle for nothing latter [sic]" (i.e., no more DVD releases will occur for Mad About You...ever!)



In conclusion, it's obvious that your philosophy doesn't match some of ours on this. That's fine, we can agree to disagree. However, your response went beyond simple disagreement, and was meant to make anyone who expressed interest in buying this release feel bad. I refuse to feel bad when I'm fighting for the survival on DVD of a series I love, whether or not you agree with my tactics.


That's it, I've said my piece. Anything stronger and I'll get a note from an admin, so I'm done here. All I want to convey is that you should feel free to disagree, but please don't try to make anyone else feel bad in the process. Thanks!

So you are assuming more people are interested in a best-of than in complete seasons? You postulate the survival of the show on DVD depends on sales of this release, yet you say previous releases' sales (complete seasons) were unacceptable to the suits at Sony, then how come sales from this less desirable best-of will be incentive enough for them to release more, when higher sales from previous releases weren't? Your logic is flawed. It only works if more people will buy a best-of than a complete season set. If that turns out to be true, you can kiss this hobby goodbye!

I personally think Sony should've been smart and took off all season 1 and 2 stuff and made it "Best Of seasons 3-7".

Season 1 of MAY was not a sales failure at all, season 2 was probably another story tho. But I do remember MAY season 1 doing very impressively when it came out.

if this set does well, will Sony CONSIDER a season 3 set? Season 3 was it's biggest season ratingswise. 1 and 2 compared to 3 in ratings was like the first 3 seasons of Seinfeld compared to seasons 6-9.

Juan,

I don't know how long you have been around this board, but if you ask around you will quickly find out that David Lambert is one of the most-knowledgeable people on the planet about TV on DVD. To attack him is ridiculous. He is privy to alot of inside information and graciously shares as much as he is allowed to.

The point you seem to be missing is that, in their own opinion, CTHE did not recognize enough profit from Seasons 1 and 2 to justify releasing full Season 3. The "best of" release will accomplish one of the following:

1. Poor sales = the death of MAY on DVD.

2. Mediocre sales = Leave MAY in the running for future releases in some form.

3. Excellent sales = Show that there is still support for title and either spur a renewed interest in full seasons releases or another best of release.


I understand your philosophy, but studios do not recognize a "silent protest", they only read the balance sheets. That is why like with Friends and a couple other titles, those of us who want better products are forced to double dip sometimes.

Mark, you didn't address my point: for that logic to hold, a best-of would have to sell more than the complete season sets, which I doubt since people clearly prefer season sets. That "testing the waters" argument doesn't hold because the waters have already been tested with the previous releases, and if demand was found to be unsatisfying, how would a best-of set change that?? Also, this infamous new set contains as many episodes as a complete season, and retails for around the same amount, so why not go ahead with releasing the third season which you know people are waiting for, instead of a best-of which is very widely acknowledged as an inferior option? That's why when I labeled sony/columbia as greedy, mediocre and lacking in vision, I wasn't just abusing the language. Possible explanations for their behavior include sheer stupidity, crass negligence in finding out what their salary-payers want, or simply greed, in making people buy a release they don't want or need by fooling fans into believing they are supporting their favorite show and advancing the cause of future season sets. Given their past behavior (like selling foolscreen-only movies labeled as widescreen) I'd surmise plain corporate corruption was a big part of their decision.

My girlfriend loves this show, and has 1 and 2, and would love to have 3-7 (I liked it, but didn't watch religiously, and would like to go through the discs 'someday').

I love The Larry Sanders Show, and would love to have seasons 2-6.

These 'Best Of' compilations... we'd LIKE to show 'fan support' for the releases, see the extras, try to embrace the 'better than nothing' philosophy, but... We'll wait. If the price is irresistable or we should suddenly become flush with disposable income, sure- we have SOME 'interest' in adding these to our collections, but... it's not what we really WANT, which is complete collections. So they'll go towards the bottom of our Want lists. Sony/Columbia TriStar doesn't get our sales, and yeah, bummer- lack of buyer interest in these jeopardizes the likelihood of ever getting more releases... but we should probably ALWAYS be able to find copies of these... it's okay if we pass them up 'for now'.

MAY 3 or Larry Sanders 2 would be immediate first-week purchases for us, though. Weird.

I'll have to make my mind up based on price. For me the set is almost worth it just the "The Finale" which in my opinion are probably the most emotional episodes they ever produced. I'm just not real convinced the rest of the episodes on the set really live up to that triplet.