Ben Casey Fans (1 Viewer)

[Sky King]

Flashgear,

I have the season one DVDs also.
The quality isnt bad, but these 16mm transfers to tape, which made up this DVD set, were done in the 80’s. Some prints look better than others.
I’ll take the remaining seasons this way after all, beggars cant be choosers.
Great screen caps btw.

John

 

[Lecagr]

They should just go ahead and release the complete Ben Casey series on DVD and be done with it. This one season at a time approach is no good because it makes it too easy for the series to get stalled, which is what has happened with some other classic TV shows. Give the fans what they want and release the whole thing in a complete series set.

 

[smithbrad]

They should just go ahead and release the complete Ben Casey series on DVD and be done with it. This one season at a time approach is no good because it makes it too easy for the series to get stalled, which is what has happened with some other classic TV shows. Give the fans what they want and release the whole thing in a complete series set.

While that's good for the fans, I'm not sure it's financial wise to those putting together the release, which is why it's not generally done most of the time. The stalling is generally due to a lack of necessary fan support to continue with additional seasons.

 

[Lecagr]

While that's good for the fans, I'm not sure it's financial wise to those putting together the release, which is why it's not generally done most of the time. The stalling is generally due to a lack of necessary fan support to continue with additional seasons.

Perhaps the complete series DVD could be offered as a manufacture on demand item for those who are interested?

 

[smithbrad]

Perhaps the complete series DVD could be offered as a manufacture on demand item for those who are interested?

Yes, but they still need to go to the expense of preparing the files for DVD, whether starting on tape or prints. They have to author the disks and print the covers. Even with MOD it is cheaper to do a limited "pressed" run. It's one thing to do that one season at a time, its another to do it for all seasons at once when you don't yet know how well they will sell or how big of run to do. My understanding is that the smaller the run the higher the cost per unit.

I totally get where you are coming from. I purchased Ben Casey as soon at it was released. I purchased all MOD seasons of My Three Sons as soon as released. I purchased Defender, Room 222 and all the Peyton Place releases as soon as released. I support the releases as best I can to get further seasons. Unfortunately, that does not always mean further seasons will come. Those preparing these release have to see a return on investment early or they have to rethink the viability of future seasons. I'm betting some of these companies like Shout! have many times licensed for more seasons just to have to sit on them because the potential loss in releasing more seasons is greater than the money already spent on licensing.

It's a bummer for us consumers but appears to be a reality on the business side.

 

[Sky King]

Hi all,

From what Neil stated, additional seasons of Ben Casey were ready to be processed and released on DVD, then the CBS mod division was closed with the Paramount aqusition.

John

 

[Lecagr]

Hi all,

From what Neil stated, additional seasons of Ben Casey were ready to be processed and released on DVD, then the CBS mod division was closed with the Paramount aqusition.

John

Perhaps there is another studio that could possibly negotiate a deal and continue releasing the seasons of Ben Casey?

 

[The 1960's]

Perhaps there is another studio that could possibly negotiate a deal and continue releasing the seasons of Ben Casey?

You're the second member here who asked that question. Why don't you guys be a little more proactive and give a call to MPI Home Video? (708) 460-0555 Ask for Julie.

 

[Purple Wig]

You're the second member here who asked that question. Why don't you guys be a little more proactive and give a call to MPI Home Video? (708) 460-0555 Ask for Julie.

Sorry Neal, I only call numbers I’ve found scrawled on bathroom walls.

 

[The 1960's]

Sorry Neal, I only call numbers I’ve found scrawled on bathroom walls.

Anything interesting come of it?

 

[LouA]

They might be older transfers, but they're good enough for me...some of my screencaps from both CBS MOD season one volumes...more please!
View attachment 112236
View attachment 112233
View attachment 112234
View attachment 112235
View attachment 112227
View attachment 112232
View attachment 112228
View attachment 112239
View attachment 112229
View attachment 112244
View attachment 112245
View attachment 112241
View attachment 112242
View attachment 112246
View attachment 112249
View attachment 112243
View attachment 112230
View attachment 112237
View attachment 112238
View attachment 112231

Old transfers are good for me also!

 

[LouA]

They should just go ahead and release the complete Ben Casey series on DVD and be done with it. This one season at a time approach is no good because it makes it too easy for the series to get stalled, which is what has happened with some other classic TV shows. Give the fans what they want and release the whole thing in a complete series set.

 

[LouA]

I feel the same way, but evidently the companies don’t , and it seems there are no longer enough of us to matter. Some posters here agree as well.
The bizarre thing is that with MOD , the companies have very few complications. No inventory to keep, low quality thoughtless bland artwork , and in the case of Ben Casey , no attempt to remaster. But they’re still not interested.
So does what the fans want matter at all?

 

[Lecagr]

Old transfers are good for me also!

I am also fine with old 16mm transfers as long as the episodes are unedited, but I'm a completist and want to have the full series, not just the first season and then nothing.

I bought the 1st season of Burke's Law with the thought that season 2 would soon follow, and we all know how that has turned out. So now I try to limit my DVD purchases to complete series releases only.

 

[smithbrad]

I am also fine with old 16mm transfers as long as the episodes are unedited, but I'm a completist and want to have the full series, not just the first season and then nothing.

I bought the 1st season of Burke's Law with the thought that season 2 would soon follow, and we all know how that has turned out. So now I try to limit my DVD purchases to complete series releases only.

Obviously, your choice to make. However, you do realize that when they use season releases to gauge the merits of future releases, the numbers of consumers that follow that same waiting approach are potentially influencing the very stalls you detest.

I've gone the other approach of purchasing all seasons when released to try to influence future releases.

 

[Lecagr]

Obviously, your choice to make. However, you do realize that when they use season releases to gauge the merits of future releases, the numbers of consumers that follow that same waiting approach are potentially influencing the very stalls you detest.

I've gone the other approach of purchasing all seasons when released to try to influence future releases.

I suppose it's all in how each person chooses to look at it. Going back to 10 and 15 years ago, season releases were the common thing and there weren't many complete series releases. Nowadays that seems to have changed and complete series releases are more common. I've pretty much decided now to wait for complete series releases regarding classic TV shows I'm interested in that I don't yet have on DVD. If something I like doesn't get released in full, I'll just have to live without it, but I am thankful for all that has been released over the years. Many of my favorite old shows have been released on DVD, most are complete series, aside from Burke's Law and a few others.

 

[smithbrad]

I suppose it's all in how each person chooses to look at it. Going back to 10 and 15 years ago, season releases were the common thing and there weren't many complete series releases. Nowadays that seems to have changed and complete series releases are more common. I've pretty much decided now to wait for complete series releases regarding classic TV shows I'm interested in that I don't yet have on DVD. If something I like doesn't get released in full, I'll just have to live without it, but I am thankful for all that has been released over the years. Many of my favorite old shows have been released on DVD, most are complete series, aside from Burke's Law and a few others.

And I would never suggest anyone do anything but what makes sense for them. Personally, I guess I'm a half-full type in that I'd rather have something rather than nothing. Especially, when it is an episodic type show. And if a series does make it to completion I feel like I helped it along the way.

I believe the influx of more complete series releases now is based on the distributor and other specialized circumstances. For example, VEI just prefers going the complete series route. Shout!, on the other hand, tends to go by season but will go complete when they are picking up a series that already had some seasons previously released (i.e., getting some to repurchase seasons they already own to cover the fact they likely had to license all seasons). It seems MillCreek may have started out releasing complete series for Sony products already released individually. CBS is not generally known to do complete until after season releases because that is how they remaster episodes. However, they released "MI" on blu-ray as a full set since they already had HD masters on the shelf from the prior DVD releases. Universal is putting out the "Hulk" on blu-ray in similar fashion. As physical media wanes it may just be the strategy when prints are already available since who knows how long physical media will be profitable.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

My behind the scenes experience when I worked for a company that produced DVDs was that preorders and first week sales generally counted the most, and anything beyond the first quarter of sales was basically meaningless. It might not be fair but that’s how it often is. The reason in part is that these companies need to make decisions about whether or not to continue with a product line, and the best/only way to gauge that success is with the actual sales numbers. For years and years, people enthusiastically post on message boards, social media, direct outreach to the company that they’re interested in a certain title, and then the title comes out, and the number of copies sold more often than not winds up being just a fraction of those who said they were going to get it. Unfortunately, that means that such displays of enthusiasm aren’t reliable when it comes to planning what to release.

Much like the box office for theatrical movies, it’s the opening week that does the biggest business. If a new movie has a poor opening weekend, it is extremely unlikely that it will do better in following weeks. It’s very often the same with disc sales. If a title hasn’t sold very many copies after being out for a sales quarter, historically that’s unlikely to pick up in the future.

There are some titles where, for a variety of reasons, it might make sense to do a complete series set. (And in my perfect world that’s the kind of release I prefer.) There are many other titles where it doesn’t make sense to do that - the label really needs to see some of those units move before they can invest further in it.

 

[Purple Wig]

Anything interesting come of it? View attachment 112308

You’d be surprised. One might expect them to be “bad girls”, but they’re just misunderstood. 9 times out of 10 they just want a nice man to bring over a 6 pack of Schlitz and a pizza and keep them company while they watch Ben Casey.

 

[Purple Wig]

Just watched the first episode. Picture quality looked good to me. I’m going to be disappointed when I get to the end of the season and there are no more volumes available.