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The Cosby Show - Season 1 Announced (1 Viewer)

Patrick Mirza

Supporting Actor
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Mar 12, 1999
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Ventura Entertainment, via their UrbanWorks Entertainment label, has snagged DVD distribution rights to The Cosby Show. The first full season is due on August 2nd with bonus features yet to be finalized.

The distribution deal also gives Ventura the right to release all six seasons of the spin-off series A Different World. That series is due to hit disc next January.
 

Jay_B!

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does anybody know what extras Urbanworks has planned for this set? It's a childhood favorite and the first 2 seasons are definately going into my collection (each season afterwards declined a little further from the previous, except for season 6 which I felt was the best year since season 3 imo)
 

Antonio_G

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Mar 8, 2005
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I'm glad that The Cosby Show is finally coming to tv box set and I will have to pick up this one to add to my collection...
 

Vince Maskeeper

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I'm wondering how a 3rd tier distributor like Ventura got the rights to this series. Is the Cosby show SO out of date that the major studios didn't want to release it?

It seems odd that a distributor best known for bad direct to video film and Ultimate Fighting collections would net the gig to produce and release one fo the top sitcoms of all time. Granted they did do "Highway to Heaven"- but seems odd that the Cosby property didn't go to someone bigger, heck even Rhino.

Maybe Ventura had an existing relationship (or a financial tie) to Bill Cosby, as they released some of the Fat Albert stuff to DVD...

Hmmmph.
 

MatthewA

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And they seem to have screwed up with Fat Albert and Highway to Heaven. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
 

Gord Lacey

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Highway to Heaven is A&E.

I think it probably had something to do with the Urbanworks line, and then also have Fat Albert. I know I was shocked as well, especially since I know some of the other companies who wanted the title.

Gord
 

StacyV

Second Unit
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Oct 13, 2003
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Not sure if this link works anymore, it's not working for me at the moment, but I copied the relevant part of the article when I found it online months ago.

http://www.dvdexclusive.com/graphics/DVDX-TVAnni.pdf.

UrbanWorks Entertainment president Jeff Clanagan says that while his personal taste leads him toward more current TV fare, his bottom line can’t let him forget the past. “We know the fans [of old TV shows] are out there,” he says. TV DVDs make up about a quarter of UrbanWorks’ home entertainment business. Clanagan is counting on seminal ’70s cartoon
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids to make its mark on the company’s balance sheet. He hints that securing the DVD rights to Fat Albert from U.K.-based Entertainment Rights was helped by his existing relationship with creator Bill Cosby, adding that UrbanWorks’ expertise in marketing urban product gave the company an edge over more well-monied DVD bidders.
 

Pavan_P

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Sep 1, 2004
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The episodes are syndicated prints (same as TBS, WGN, and locals). Our (SitcomsOnline.com) review of the set is coming tomorrow.
 

Jay_B!

Screenwriter
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Jun 4, 2005
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and Urbanworks is charging $49.99 retail for this? I love The Cosby Show, it brings back childhood memories, but I'll hold off on this in case the backlash will cause them to sell it for cheap, like they did Alf season one. I hope Urbanworks hears the outcries and restores seasons 2-8 and A Different World to it's original uncut version
 

John*P

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May 27, 2004
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Pavan...are you serious? Wow...that is just terrible. I was really looking forward to seeing the original NBC versions of the TCS episodes, as I have seen the syndication prints countless times. I probably won't even buy this now. It would be a waste of money, since I can see the same versions of the eps on multiple TV stations. Un-freakin'-believable...

If Roseanne is edited, I will be nothing short of furious...
 

ElijahS

Supporting Actor
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Jun 24, 2005
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With Anchor Bay and Roseanne herself guiding the process, it shouldn't suffer the same problem (fingers crossed).
 

CynthiaH

Agent
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Apr 14, 2004
Messages
31
Well, I guess I can hold off on buying this now. I'm heading into a patch of unemployment, so I've been trying to decide which titles to weed out. I recently started taping off of TBS and WGN-if I would just be buying those syndicated versions, then I'm better off getting something that isn't on tv 17 kajillion times a day.
 

John*P

Second Unit
Joined
May 27, 2004
Messages
417
If this is true, Amazon must be mistaken. They have the runtime for the Season 1 set at 575 minutes, which is what it would be if the episodes were uncut. Edited, the runtime should clock in at around 528 or so...

I was going to buy all 8 seasons of this show for sure. Now that they might be edited, that is definitely not going to happen. I'm sure as hell not paying $34.99 for an edited Season 1 that I can watch and record for free off TV. Oh well, more money for other DVD companies...
 

Christian Preischl

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Oct 11, 2001
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I was on the fence on this one, but now the decision is easy. No sale. Just wish I'd have had the same advance warning with ALF, but at least that one didn't have an SRP of 50 bucks.

CHris
 

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