Entertainment Weekly slams Paramount Love Boat DVD release (1 Viewer)

Well, it looks like the fans are not alone in the bitter distaste of Season- Volume releases from Paramount.

In the latest EW (#981, March 7, 2008), a full page dvd review of the Love Boat follows a headline article entitled: Ship of Fools

From the first paragraph of the review...

"There are so many reasons not to buy the first ever Love Boat dvd set. For one thing, it's not even all of Season One. Instead, you have to settle for merely the first 12 of 25 episodes... There's also the matter of the bonus features or rather the almost complete lack of them (network promos are all you get here)..."

Paramount's List Price? 36.98
But you can get Season One (half) for 24.99 on Amazon.

Up next from Paramount? Dynasty Season 3 (1/2). Total hours of episodes on Dynasty Season 3?

9 hours and 31 minutes, confirmed by Paramount, reported by TV Shows on DVD.com

Wonder what they'll be charging for this 1/2 bag of goodies.

Actually, if you continued to read the review, it is a positive one, giving the set a B.

"But while The Love Boat may not offer gut-busters aplenty, you can't help but watch with a stupid satisfied grin plastered on your face. The punchlines may be corny and the plots all pretty much follow the exact same script — singles discover the loves of their lives, couples navigate rough waters — before sailing smoothly into port—but there's still something undeniably special about a cruise on the Pacific Princess."

Hardly a slam.

I did read the review, the entire thing.

However, when the first sentance of a full page review goes something like...

"There are so many reasons NOT to buy... " then in the same sentance states "...its not even a complete season..."

MOST people, the average Joes (not the enthuisast collectors) will read that first sentance and stop there. There's really no need to go any further. Why bother reading all the reasons why someone shouldn't buy it?

The first one being its not even a full season (with a full season suggested retail price) is good enough.

Still, I hope you love your Love Boat Season One (half) dvd.

I agree that's a pretty negative opening but if someone stops reading right there, they were probably never going to buy Love Boat to begin with.

I agree. I can't stand the fact that it's being released this way. But I am a fan of the show, and feel I have to support it, or there may not be another volume released! I don't know how to justify paying for 12 episodes when I'm almost certain that volume 2(if it even happens) will be released a year or more from now. I hate volume sets, but when a studio backs us into a corner, well.......for lack of a better phrase"If you can't beat em', join em"!

Another reason NOT to buy it: where are the 3 pilot films?

Maybe they'll include the third movie of the week as a bonus feature of Vol. 2 since there's 13 episodes remaining. The first two movies feature different crew line ups.

This half season info and just today TVShowsOnDVD.com has confirmed Paramount will release DYNASTY Season 3 Volume 1. I guess we will get all seasons of this show NEVER. They just dug a hole of poor sales due to a half season. I can watch a half season of this show in less than a week. I wish Paramount would stop releasing Half season sets it realyl makes the sales horribe and most consumers look down on the purchases because they feel the companies aren't backing the releases to their full potential.

You're probably right.

I think most people will see the B rating. That is what is most important. I routinely check the rating before the review.

Or, since the review was written by Dalton Ross (one of the magazines top writers who has a large following) they will read the whole thing.

Plus, according to sitcomsonline.com there are edits on this release.

This is the sole reason why I don't, ever, consider buying sets that contain half a season charged at the same retail prices as full season sets.

They may see the B rating and give it a thought but when they see the price, most likely, they'll put it back down.

Every other studio charges for a full season, what Paramount is delivering for half the product; same price but half the goods.

People aren't stupid... that's why it was the first thing mentioned in the article.

Me? I would definately have purchased Love Boat if they delivered a complete season... just like I would have bought Mod Squad and the upcoming Dynasty. No way I'm paying those prices for half the product.

Not to defend the studio (even though I purchased this DVD) and this is pure speculation on my part, but it's possible that the studio had to spend a lot of money to get clearances from some of the many popular guest actors that appeared in the show's first season. These increased costs may have left the studio with 2 choices in order to make a profit: release a full season at a price of $80 SRP or release a half season at a price of around $40 SRP.

They may have concluded (via focus groups or other market research) that people would be far more likely to buy a 1/2 season for $40 SRP (discounted by most retailers to $25) than a full season at $80 (discounted to maybe around $50 by retailers).

Thus, we get Season 1, VOLUME 1.

Nevertheless, I like the show and want to support it in the hopes more overpriced volumes will be released. Whether mass-market consumers help make this a hit remains to be seen, but one thing's for certain. If you love the show but refuse to buy it, you won't see another release of it, full season, half-season or otherwise.

Brett,
Down the line(say season 3 vol.1) are you going to pick it up, or you just going to skip it altogether?

Jejj, you've got it all wrong. The studio would have released a full season set for the same price. You're under the mistaken belief that a combined set would just apply double the price. It don't. More than likely, the price tag would be between $40-50. Not double the price of a half season set.

Most aren't going to pay $40 for a half season set let along $80 for a full season. Take a look at Gunsmoke. Season 1, the full season is listed at $40 at stores like Best Buy and Circuit City. Yet Season 2 Volume 1 is the same price for half the season set.

This is just the studios screwing over the consumers by trying to squeeze more money out of the sets that are already coming out. With DVD sales suffering, the studios are trying squeeze consumers and what better way to do that than break the season sets up.

Look at Battlestar Galactica. Season 1 (15 episodes) and Season 3 (20 episodes) both priced at $50 yet the Season 2 sets are half season sets and are priced at $40.

The fact that more and more shows are being released this way bodes ill will for fans of these shows. If this trend continues, and I'm pretty sure that more and more studios will begin releasing all of their shows in this fashion as the extra "squeeze" money from consumers will stand to boost the bottom lines and their profits at the expense of the consumer.

This is why there is such a problem with pirate sites such as bit torrent and rapidshare. I'm not saying that it's a good thing for the industry, and while I don't download any such material, I think that if these studios continue with their current of thinking, it's going to exacerbate the piracy problem to the nth degree.

The industry need to change its way of thinking and go back to doing business the old fashioned way. As production costs rise for DVD duplication and production, the studios will adjust their costs accordingly. But, most consumers will not make a purchase if it's priced out of the range of common sense.

I don't think there are any here who wpould spend $100 for a season set that contained 12-13 episodes. Not to mention the fact that when studios break up a season set into two releases, they don't pass those savings onto the consumer since the studios are saving money/making more money from this new business model.

But that's The Sopranos season sets.

CBS DVD is doing the right thing with Mannix - going full first season with Mike Connors as part of the extras. but will it payoff? Will they get the necessary numbers to not only continue it as full season series, but make sure that future dramas don't get the split. Will they give us the complete second season of the Invaders or bust up the 26 episodes?

And what are your options then, if you really want to acquire one of those shows on DVD? I wanted to get THE FUGITIVE. Am I supposed to do without the show entirely just because the studio decided to split the seasons up? Ridiculous.

No, you were supposed to have had the foresight to have recorded THE FUGITIVE off the airwaves onto high priced vhs tapes 30 years ago and then transferred it to dvd. Didn't you know that? LOL

Gary "the studios have us between a rock and a hard place, and they know it" O.

Where's my Vol2 of the Big Valley Fox? Split seasons are not always the answer.