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"Go On" And Pardon My Rant (1 Viewer)

Frank Soyke

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I saw yesterday that there is a planned release for the Matthew Perry cancelled series "Go On". I have trouble understanding why the studios persist in releasing full season sets of recent season one and done shows like this when there is so much true classic TV left in the vaults. If it's all about sales figures, I'm not really buying that there is more of a market for something like "Up All Night" then stuff like Green Acres, Big Valley, or Love Boat. I know my examples are from different distributors but you get my point.

No offense to fans of "Go On" and "Up All Night" by the way
 

Ron1973

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Same here, Frank. I get Twitter updates from TVShowsonDVD and I am absolutely amazed at shows I've never even heard of getting DVD/Blu-ray releases.

While I'm not advocating buying bootleg, if you look around the Net it's not too hard to find bootleggers selling complete series of stalled/unreleased shows. I grant you they're probably crappy quality and edited but the average consumer doesn't know this. I've given CBS HE a piece of my mind more than once on their FB page telling them THEY are the very reason bootlegs are thriving. When they stall out shows like The Beverly Hillbillies 1/3 of the way done (not even that really-they didn't even releases S1) and Barnaby Jones, collectors will find a way to get them.

I don't want to offend fans of newer shows but most of the time those are found in reruns pretty easily. Classic television is becoming harder and harder to find in ANY venue.
 

Ejanss

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Frank Soyke said:
I saw yesterday that there is a planned release for the Matthew Perry cancelled series "Go On". I have trouble understanding why the studios persist in releasing full season sets of recent season one and done shows like this when there is so much true classic TV left in the vaults. If it's all about sales figures, I'm not really buying that there is more of a market for something like "Up All Night" then stuff like Green Acres, Big Valley, or Love Boat. I know my examples are from different distributors but you get my point.
But they have to. Because RERUNS ARE DEAD. That second-run post-series boost of money doesn't have any place to come from anymore.
Maybe, if it's a Viacom series like Everybody Loves Raymond, it might get syndicated to those poor "orphaned" ex-UPN UHF stations, the ones that didn't become CW stations, and now get by being the only ones to show syndicated Friends/Seinfeld aitcom reruns from the 90's-00's, if TBS won't take them. (Unless it's a CSI, House or Law & Order rerun that a Fox affiliate can air at 2am, while the network affiliates have the late-nite hosts and all-night news.)
But if it's a normal series that aired on the networks, they won't be back. EVER. Except on a disk, or on the streaming site. Because the networks don't have time to go back and show old shows anymore, until the new ones come in--Every bit of broadcasting time has to appease the sponsors, pick up the production tab, and give the network's parent corporation something to sell in real tangible marketing cash. Like, disk boxsets, for instance.

(We're at the point where we're basically logging network television now instead of sitting down weekly to watch it, but at least you can go back and look over the captain's broadcast logs after the fact when necessary.)
 

Frank Soyke

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Ejanss said:
But they have to. Because RERUNS ARE DEAD. That second-run post-series boost of money doesn't have any place to come from anymore.
Maybe, if it's a Viacom series like Everybody Loves Raymond, it might get syndicated to those poor "orphaned" ex-UPN UHF stations, the ones that didn't become CW stations, and now get by being the only ones to show syndicated Friends/Seinfeld aitcom reruns from the 90's-00's, if TBS won't take them. (Unless it's a CSI, House or Law & Order rerun that a Fox affiliate can air at 2am, while the network affiliates have the late-nite hosts and all-night news.)
But if it's a normal series that aired on the networks, they won't be back. EVER. Except on a disk, or on the streaming site. Because the networks don't have time to go back and show old shows anymore, until the new ones come in--Every bit of broadcasting time has to appease the sponsors, pick up the production tab, and give the network's parent corporation something to sell in real tangible marketing cash. Like, disk boxsets, for instance.

(We're at the point where we're basically logging network television now instead of sitting down weekly to watch it, but at least you can go back and look over the captain's broadcast logs after the fact when necessary.)
I think you put this real well. Re-runs have, for the most part, disappeared. The main issue I have though is that with the disappearance of reruns of more recent shows, reruns of classic TV shows have mostly disappeared save for a handful of specialty channels like Me-TV and those channels can only show a very tiny portion of classic series Gone forever unless they see a DVD release. So what happens to those shows? My main gripe is that it seems that the new SOP of the distributors is to release a set for EVERY show that aired the previous season. The amount of DVD releases for cable shows are even more ridiculous. It seems that almost every reality series that is currently being aired on any network shows up on a DVD release very quickly.
 

jcroy

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Even some past and current long running tv shows which had some recent success in off-network syndication reruns, are slowly disappearing too.

I use to like watching "Without a Trace" in reruns. It doesn't seem to be around anymore on my cable system.

I use to like watching CSI franchise reruns every day around 5-6 years ago. On my present cable system, CSI and CSI:NY are hardly on anymore in off-network reruns. Though CSI:Miami is still on quite often.


More generally, at times I wonder how much of the market for off-network syndication reruns of old tv shows, has been effectively cannibalized by dvd season sets and flat-rate streaming services like Netflix, amazon, etc ...
 

Ejanss

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jcroy said:
More generally, at times I wonder how much of the market for off-network syndication reruns of old tv shows, has been effectively cannibalized by dvd season sets and flat-rate streaming services like Netflix, amazon, etc
It all started with cable, as I recall--
Back when the Disney Channel got tired of showing old Zorro and Disneyland reruns at midnight, they started releasing Disney Treasures "Collectors' sets" of all the reruns, which fans snapped up at once--That way, they reasoned, when they bounced the vintage shows to make room for more original-programming, the network could reply, "Well, why should we bring them back? You can buy them on disk!"
Cartoon Network followed shortly after, getting all their Hanna-Barbera onto "collectors' sets" so they could ethnically-cleanse house.

Nowadays, ALL cable channels are interested in original programming, which means the studios that used to get all that syndication money (like Universal with all their old Buck Rogers and Hulk reruns on SyFy) now have to get it themselves direct from the consumer.
 

Frank Soyke

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The distributors for the most part have pretty much confined themselves to releasing shows that are no more than 20 years old for their newest target market. That's why Shout has abandoned their classic TV releases in favor of schlock early 90's Nick shows and CBS wants to move toward releasing stuff like Touched By An Angel and Becker which IMO are not quite classic TV releases by any stretch.
 

JamesSmith

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Frank,just what exactly, specially, do you want to see come out. I feel let down myself by the lack of releases of older programming?I, myself, want to see some children's TV movies like The Enormous Egg, some Miss Pickerell movies. how's that for obscure?Maybe it's the nostalgiaJames
 

JamesSmith

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I do think year there will be a slight increase in the number of shorter, lived cult programs from WB Archives and Paramount.as some series such as Matlock, Touched By An Angel, Family Ties, Perry Mason finish their DVD runs. I'm guessing Twelve O Clock High and The Magician will make it out in 2014. Gentle Ben was a surprise. If it wasn't for the fact that Gunsmoke and Bonanza are so far away from being completed, we might have a few more shows out from CBS Paramount.James
 

Frank Soyke

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JamesSmith said:
Frank,just what exactly, specially, do you want to see come out. I feel let down myself by the lack of releases of older programming?I, myself, want to see some children's TV movies like The Enormous Egg, some Miss Pickerell movies. how's that for obscure?Maybe it's the nostalgiaJames
My list personally is not a lengthy one. Completion of Hillbillies, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, Silver Spoons, Maude, and Daktari. Run For Your Life, T.H. E. Cat, Defenders, Hawaiian Eye, 77 SS, He and She, Tightrope, and Richard Diamond. And two 80's short runners I'll never see releases for, Open All Night and It's Your Move.
That is 16 shows and my own bet is that I don't really have a decent shot at more than 4 or 5 max (Hillbillies, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, and Daktari) assuming three of those aren't stalled (or re-stalled in the case of Cannon) which it looks like they are. I am also not real convinced that the reported remastering of Hillbillies means that much as far as future releases go. After all, they have had 5 additional remastered seasons of Love Boat sitting on their shelves for several years and haven't done a thing with them.
Point being that while I am very thankful for what has come out thus far, I become very disappointed when I look at my list and then see what they are releasing in their stead.
 

Jack P

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"Twelve O'Clock High" won't be coming out anytime soon because that's a Fox show. It'd be nice if it did but for now we can't assume optimism about any title controlled by Fox (the only cheapskate studio in the world that would still release movies in pan/scan format on DVD).

The "Naked City" announcement means there are five incomplete/stalled titles of the 60s left for me. Two I know will be finished by Warner Archive eventually (The FBI; Tarzan) while the other three continue to annoy me with their perpetual stalled status (Burke's Law, The Big Valley, Ironside). Finish those five and give me comlpeted Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Hart To Hart for the 70s and I'd be prepared to call myself contented completely with anything else that comes down the pike a nice throw-in.
 

Gary OS

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While there are still plenty of releases I'd like to see, both initial and continued seasons, at this point I'm close to being completely satisfied. Sure, I'd like to see things like Big Valley, Barnaby Jones, Mr. Peepers, Make Room for Daddy and many other series get off the snide. And yes, I'd love to see shows like The Wonder Years, It's Your Move, Bachelor Father, The Dakotas, and dozens upon dozens of others, get an official release. But at this point I'm resigned to the fact that the great majority of what's left that I want the most (b/w 50's and 60's TV) will likely never see the light of day. And that's fine. I've got plenty on the shelf. The only holy grail I'm still awaiting is The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet. And I'm really doubtful that series will ever be released in its entirety. I hope I'm wrong and Sam Nelson gets the job done, but I'm honestly not holding my breath for all 14 seasons. Seems like pie in the sky at this point in the TV on DVD game. But yeah, if that happened I'd be an utterly contented collector even if nothing else ever came available.


Gary "all this assumes Rawhide S7 is just around the corner" O. :cool:
 

Jack P

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Barnaby Jones I'd love to have the rest of too.

Gunsmoke I'm satisfied with now that the half hour run is complete.
 

derosa

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JamesSmith said:
I do think year there will be a slight increase in the number of shorter, lived cult programs from WB Archives and Paramount.as some series such as Matlock, Touched By An Angel, Family Ties, Perry Mason finish their DVD runs.If it wasn't for the fact that Gunsmoke and Bonanza are so far away from being completed, we might have a few more shows out from CBS Paramount.James
From CBS I'm waiting for Early Edition season 3 and 4 (season two came out, like 4 years ago)
and my holy grail show... a complete Love Boat.
 

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Speaking of Fox and recent one-season wonders, the one such show I wish would get a disc release is Fox's outstanding TERRIERS (2010). It got tons of critical acclaim, lead actor Donal Logue has been appearing lately in two reasonably-popular series simultaneously (COPPER, SONS OF ANARCHY), and Netflix even has pressed rental SD discs of it (plus streaming), and yet... no brick & mortar or online retail disc release. If any other studio had it, other than the current Fox regime, I'm sure it'd be on my shelf, probably on blu-ray, today.

The older shows I still want most:

T.H.E. CAT
WKRP IN CINCINNATI (fixed & complete)
RAWHIDE (to completion)
CORONET BLUE
ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS (last 2 seasons... and I remember TVShowsOnDVD posting something about Universal displaying an upcoming Season 6 set --with no release info-- in a flyer in late-2012/early 2013)
THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR (+ SUSPICION)
THE IMMORTAL (Christopher George)
DRAGNET (legit '50s series release)
BATMAN
ONE STEP BEYOND: Remastered (to completion)
DECOY: Remastered (Camelot/Timeless)
WAY OUT
PANIC!/NO WARNING
THE BOB NEWHART SHOW (the last 2 seasons)
AMOS & ANDY
LONGSTREET

I wish they'd at least stream these, so I could get a good look at them, anyway:

BUS STOP
THE DAKOTAS
CAPTAIN NICE
THE MAGICIAN
THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS
KLONDIKE/ACAPULCO
DIANA
G.E. TRUE
JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN
THE MILLIONAIRE
THE LINEUP
WICHITA TOWN
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
NYPD
THE ROGUES
HE & SHE
MY WORLD AND WELCOME TO IT
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH
HAWK
BEN CASEY
 

clambake

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Nice to see others here appreciate 'It's Your Move' too. The Dregs Of Humanity episodes are classic.
 

MattPriceTime

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I'm not sure we really should call reruns "dead" but the game has changed. Televisions's distrbution of older material went down towards the tale end of the 90s and the early 2000s because they had to compete with the internet. They used to count on people sitting around watching tv for long periods of time as a given. It's how lots of us got most of our pop culture, In those days television channels had tons of reruns and wider schedules.

But as time went on it gave way to the idea of long blocks and focus on the modern, as they hoped if people really liked something they could run it for hours and keep people watching. Instead of people only tuning into the channel at the spot a week when the re-run of x show came on. And as DVD basically shot VHS out of the water and TV shows could actually be bought on home media, you get the affect described above. And then on top of that cable channels had to fight Netflix which as i have said in the past is the idea of a library or home video store on speed.

But if you look at the average channels today with back libraries some do a relatively good job rerunning things. Some however are absolulety horrible at using what the have (looking at you Cartoon Network/Boomerang/Adult Swim) but i think a lot of us agree we'd rather have things on disc or on streaming then watching it on a tv channel.

Overall i do think cable channels are slowly going further down the hill. Network tv's schedules really haven't changed that much but most the people who want to watch re-runs are going to find better alternatives on DVD, Blu, and streaming. And it brings the point if you don't want to watch the current shows, you're never watching that channel.

I'm sure Netflix moving into original programming is a sign that we could even wipe out some of their new content. Hell it may even be feasible to do direct to video shows. You could get a whole season in one buy, sales numbers instead determine if they make more, no network games of scheduling, air-time, blah blah.

Maybe i'm just too close to cord-cutting and others may disagree but in my cases the channels i've watched this week are mostly my local NBC affiliate and H(istory)2.
 

Ron1973

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I wonder sometimes why I don't "cut the cord" on Direct. I watch Cardinals baseball, Hee-Haw when it's not in reruns (yes, yes, I know they are ALL reruns....lol) and sometimes Encore Western. Every now and then I'll see some science show that looks good. I saw one the other day explaining how holographic images were produced in Star Wars. Past that? It's really not worth it.

We do a lot of classic stuff on Netflix. We just got done watching Emergency and now my middle son has The A-Team pulled up watching it. I caught Ripcord on YouTube the other day and can find a lot of classic TV on YouTube, at least until it gets removed (I had a whole playlist set up for Hogan's Heroes S1 from some user who had posted all the episodes and they wound up taken down).

I look as time goes on for everything to go streaming.
 

MattPriceTime

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At the same time though a lot of said channels are still in business, so they're either doing some stuff right or have the rights things to cover. But at the same time in this day and age it's alot more convenient when you have so many legal and illegal (i do not endorse it but it's effect on this variable shouldn't be ignored in that respect) ways to get a hold of re-runs instead of how it used to be in the past.

But as we move forward if the other companies follow WB it may make even bigger of a discrepancy since imagine if at the end of the decade WB offers people a legal way to watch the majority of their properties whenever they want. Going to sound a lot more appealing to younger kids who may not even know what it means in some respects to wait for re-runs on cable.

I'd say the silver lining of the digital takeover (even though i'm still adament physical will remain a successful minority during that for a long period of time) is that distribution will more than likely be at an all time high. Where now we can have access to a lot more things legally that in older days we were at the mercy of cable. It also bodes well for older properties. Most of the internet hate campaigns are fostered by the people who grew up in the time when distribution went down, so if these things are slowly made more and readily available it increases the odds for new discovery and family pass down, keeping the longevity of a lot of brands for much more time. Since we can see some signs of this in some brands that on the internet circa the early 2000s were passed on are now making decent waves on social media in the 2010s.

All in some cases you really need is give people some distribution and see it be remembered and make new fans. But cable channels are not really the place for it anymore. While in some channels i'd say distribution now is better than when it was in the 2000s but not as large as the 90s. Which i guess is a step forward and with more and more things being made for purchase and companies like Netlfix and Hulu always having nice amounts of money to spend on contracts, the bigger picture isn't that bad with everything looked at in one glance.
 

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