UHD Review Castle Rock – UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

As a kid Henry Deaver (André Holland as an adult and Caleel Harris as a kid) goes missing for 11 days, only to resurface shaken but alive in the company of local sheriff Alan Pangborn (Scott Glenn). In present day Henry is summoned to return to Castle Rock by a mysterious prisoner who is discovered in the bowels of Shawshank Prison. The Kid (Bill Skarsgard) seems to cause mayhem and murder in his presence to everyone but Henry, Pangborn and Henry’s dementia-addled Mother, Ruth (Sissy Spacek). Ruth and Pangborn have become an item in the years since Henry’s father’s death during the search for Henry, and it’s been widely speculated in town that Henry was the cause of his father’s downfall. Throughout the season the layers of mystery ebb and flow, ultimately to answer: Just who is the Kid and what is his relationship to Henry...

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[Sam Posten]

Anyone grab this?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Not I - big Stephen King fan, but just did not enjoy the show, with a couple exceptions. It felt like a massive chore to sit through, and I do not anticipate watching it again. And if I change my mind, it's still available in its entirety on Hulu.

I don't really understand why any web-based show is being released on physical media. If I'm Hulu, having Castle Rock be exclusive to my service means that if someone wants to view the show, they have to pay me to see it. And it doesn't matter when they hear of the show; if it's always exclusive to my site, it'll always be fresh to people seeing it for the first time. It also means that if someone likes the show and wants to revisit it, they need to maintain a subscription or reactive a dormant one. That creates value for my service which doesn't diminish over time. Once it's out on disc, there's no reason for anyone to sign up for my service to pay me for it, and the show and service both lose value, since it's just another offering that any consumer can get from almost any place.

As a disc fan, I'm happy to see them out on my preferred format, but if I was the person in charge of deal making at these services, I wouldn't let any of my original content be put out on another medium until I was sure that all possible value from that show that could be extracted by my service was. And while the Season One run may be over, the content will be in demand again when the second season begins and new and old fans want to catch up on what came before.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I don't really understand why any web-based show is being released on physical media.

Off the top of my head:

1. Not everybody has access to the caliber of broadband that New York City does.
2. The quality of a disc-based presentation still exceeds a streaming presentation.
3. With the number of streaming services ever proliferating, it becomes very cost prohibitive to subscribe to all of the ones that have content you're interested in. Sometimes it's easier to make a one-time, up front purchase than it is to subscribe to yet another service and then remember to cancel once you're done.

If I'm Hulu, having Castle Rock be exclusive to my service means that if someone wants to view the show, they have to pay me to see it. And it doesn't matter when they hear of the show; if it's always exclusive to my site, it'll always be fresh to people seeing it for the first time.

Absolutely, if you're Hulu. But if you're Warner Bros. Television, you don't want to be restricted to one revenue stream on a series you've sunk a lot of resources into. A time-limited exclusive window, followed by a many-year non-exclusive license, is a compromise between Hulu's position and Warner Bros.'s position.

 

[Wayne_j]

I picked this up but I haven't seen it yet.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Absolutely, if you're Hulu. But if you're Warner Bros. Television, you don't want to be restricted to one revenue stream on a series you've sunk a lot of resources into. A time-limited exclusive window, followed by a many-year non-exclusive license, is a compromise between Hulu's position and Warner Bros.'s position.

For sure. I totally understand why Warner would want a physical release. I guess I’m more surprised that Hulu in this case didn’t have the leverage to insist upon terms that were more favorable to them. I’m kinda surprised that all the streaming services haven’t grouped together to hold firm on this point. I mean, the disc release more often than not benefits me, so I’m not complaining.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

For sure. I totally understand why Warner would want a physical release. I guess I’m more surprised that Hulu in this case didn’t have the leverage to insist upon terms that were more favorable to them.

Bad Robot had the rights to the Steven King intellectual property, and Bad Robot has a long-term deal with Warner Bros. Television. Warner Bros. had all of the leverage since they could have found another home for the series if Hulu tried to play hardball. And Warner Bros. is far more aggressive about releasing its TV product on disc than any other studio.

The one that always surprises me is "Stranger Things", produced in-house by Netflix but released on disc as a Target exclusive. I thought the first season release was just a marketing tactic to hook more subscribers, but then the second season came out on disc as well.

 

[Carlo_M]

I picked it up but haven't seen it yet. I have a bit of a backlog viewing queue so not sure when I'll have time but hopefully soon.

And even though I have very robust internet (benchmarks over 300Mbps routinely) I still suffer the occasional stutter in the video which is annoying. So if I really like something, I buy it on disc. Also, as with everything else online, there's no guarantee that the content will be there forever. At any time, your digital viewing access can be removed. If you own it on disc...well barring disc rot, it's yours forever. Or at least for the rest of your natural life.

 

[albert_m2]

For sure. I totally understand why Warner would want a physical release. I guess I’m more surprised that Hulu in this case didn’t have the leverage to insist upon terms that were more favorable to them. I’m kinda surprised that all the streaming services haven’t grouped together to hold firm on this point. I mean, the disc release more often than not benefits me, so I’m not complaining.

Same reason other networks haven't stopped physical releases. The owners of the show have another revenue option.