CBS Home Video/MOD RIP (1 Viewer)

[jcroy]

... then this may yet prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Not necessarily. It might even be a "devil in disguise" which would be even worse.

For example (hypothetically), if all the key decision makers at the pre-merger Paramount and CBS home video divisions took an early retirement "buyout offer" with this merger, and ViacomCBS ends up hiring an industry veteran executive who formerly worked (or managed) in a hardass home video divison at another company (such as Disney or pre-merger 20th Century Fox).

 

[jcroy]

I think to know anything for sure, I would be watching for what future CBS mod releases show up at:

https://www.moviezyng.com/m15-CBS.aspx

 

[bmasters9]

Not necessarily. It might even be a "devil in disguise" which would be even worse.

For example (hypothetically), if all the key decision makers at the pre-merger Paramount and CBS home video divisions took an early retirement "buyout offer" with this merger, and ViacomCBS ends up hiring an industry veteran executive who formerly worked (or managed) in a hardass home video divison at another company (such as Disney or pre-merger 20th Century Fox).

And what if that executive decides that only current shows/films are to be released in the future (and rereleased, and rereleased, and so on, such that no other vintage shows come out for a long time to come)?

 

[Lecagr]

This is why people don't buy them: we now have movie theater-quality picture and sound in the home. It's not a pipe dream anymore, but an everyday reality. Yet they still cost more than they should for the lack of effort put into them. The "half-season" thing was a price-gouging scam through and through, not doing complete series sets of the few classic shows that did get Blu-rays was a mistake, and you still can't even guarantee uncut episodes that don't look like they were fished out of a dumpster. It's like a freaking roulette wheel with this studio!

If the people who are no longer at the studio are the same people who said no to licensing music on Cheers, Family Ties, Laverne & Shirley, Gomer Pyle, Odd Couple, et al*, the people who said no to remastering Angie, Barnaby Jones, Cannon et al before VEI got them, the people who said no to finishing The Beverly Hillbillies, Happy Days**, Webster, and other shows left hanging, and the people who decided one season of I Love Lucy should cost as much as five seasons of Charlie's Angels, then this may yet prove to be a blessing in disguise.

*And forgot to check the clearances for the Andy Griffith theme song, which are about a thousand dollars per whistle these days.
**From now on "Mork did it" is the only explanation for any post-Shark Jump anachronisms. Think about it: Mork and Mindy was not set in the past, yet he was able to appear in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin of the 1950s before settling in the Boulder, Colorado of the 1970s. How else do you explain their ability to have things no one else in the late 1950s and early 1960s had?

Good comments, I agree. Over the years CBS has been hit or miss with their DVD's regarding editing. They seem to have done a great job with Mannix, no issues with edits in those episodes as far as I know. When VEI got Cannon from CBS and released the complete series, episodes weren't remastered but they are complete/uncut, unlike Barnaby Jones where the majority of episodes are the edited/syndication versions. With sitcoms, CBS went all out for Lucy and her shows but Gomer Pyle has several episodes edited because of music.

 

[jcroy]

For reference, I would also watch the Paramount mod releases showing up at:

https://www.moviezyng.com/paramount.aspx

 

[jcroy]

And what if that executive decides that only current shows/films are to be released in the future (and rereleased, and rereleased, and so on, such that no other vintage shows come out for a long time to come)?

Game over for future less popular releases, if they run the operation like the old Disney and/or Fox home video divisions.

 

[MatthewA]

Fox was so much worse in terms of the quality of masters they offered for TV shows. When the bare-bones M*A*S*H sets outsold the extra-laden Mary Tyler Moore Show sets of the first two seasons, that set the tone for the rest of Fox's releases.

CBS/Paramount at least got stuff out to the market and tried to remaster as much as they could, since those masters would also be used for non-disc distribution.

 

[Arthur Powell]

If the people that screwed up by putting the wrong discs in my Our Miss Brooks sets are gone/fired, I won't be losing any sleep.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

Game over for future less popular releases, if they run the operation like the old Disney and/or Fox home video divisions.

I hope not!

~Ben

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

I do not believe the MOD division is really dead. If anything, I think they are really just re-organizing it, possibly switching vendors from Amazon to MovieZyng.

I still hope that the following will be out, whatever comes of this in the end...
The Cara Williams Show (1964-65)
Slattery's People (1964-65)
He and She (1967-68)
Barefoot in the Park (1970 TV series)
Funny Face (1971)/The Sandy Duncan Show (1972)
Me and the Chimp (1972)
Love Story (TV series) (1973-74)
Caribe (1974-75)
Archer (TV series) (1975) - also includes the made-for-TV movie Underground Man (1974)
Kate McShane (1975)
The Cop and the Kid (1975-76)
Serpico (1976-77)
Busting Loose (1977)/The Ted Knight Show (1978)
Blansky's Beauties (1977)
Szysznyk (1977)
Mulligan's Stew (1977)
Who's Watching the Kids? (1978)
Brothers and Sisters (1979)
$weepstake$ (1979)
Makin' It (1979)
Out of the Blue (1979) - spin-off of Happy Days and Mork & Mindy
Working Stiffs (1979)
Struck by Lightning (1979) - only three episodes aired in the U.S. out of about 13 produced
The Associates (U.S. TV series) (1979-80)
A Man Called Sloane (1979-80)
Goodtime Girls (1980)
Foul Play (TV series) (1981)
Making the Grade (1982)
Madame's Place (1982-83)
Star of the Family (1982)
The New Odd Couple (1982-83)
The Renegades (1983)
Ryan's Four (1983)
Brothers (1984-89)
Call to Glory (1984-85)
Mr. Sunshine (1986)
All is Forgiven (1986)
Gung Ho (TV series) (1986-87)
The Cavanaughs (1986-87, 1988-89)
The Tortellis (1987)
Bronx Zoo (1987-88)
Duet (1987-89)/Open House (1989-90)
Marblehead Manor (1987-88)
Day by Day (1988-89)
Dear John (U.S. TV series) (1988-92)
Brooklyn Bridge (1991-93)

Made-for-TV movies wanted:
Seven in Darkness (1969)
The Silent Gun (1969)
Quarantined (1970)
Weekend of Terror (1970)
Assault on the Wayne (1971)
Dr. Cook's Garden (1971)
Escape (1971)
Terror in the Sky (1971)
Women in Chains (1972)
Night of Terror (1972)
The Heist (1972)
The Weekend Nun (1972)
Poor Devil (1973)
Call to Danger (1973)
A Time for Love (1973)
Egan (1973)
Locusts (1974)
Delancey Street: The Crisis Within (1975)
Law and Order (1976)
Red Alert (1977)
Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night (1977)
Flesh and Blood (1979)
The Gift (1979)
The Top of the Hill (1980)
The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything (1980)
The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Dynamite (1981)
Command Five (1985)
James Michener's Space (1985)
Roman Holiday (1987)
Shooter (1988)

~Ben

 

[Josh Steinberg]

This could really suck.

I’m hoping that this is just about a corporate reorganization and that this work will be assigned to another department in the newly reformed CBS/Paramount entity.

But if not, its a sucky dose of reality. Content producers are not non-profits. And it’s not realistic to expect a business to make choices that will cause it to lose business. And unfortunately, large corporations work unit by unit so it doesn’t matter to them if the losses from one department are more than made up by the profits of another.

But MOD was supposed to be a way to keep physical viable by reducing overhead, production costs and storage and distribution expenses, and if that’s failing now as a business model, that’s very troublesome.

And yet, on some level, I get it. Not all content is created equal and not all content retains equal value. Not every book ever written remains available. More plays than not will never be performed again. Most music fades away over time. Until relatively recently, most shows and films disappeared forever after their first runs. This idea of having this much content perpetually available to a wide audience is relatively new in human history.

There would probably need to be some massive systemic changes to create a viable system where works that ceased having financial value to their copyright holders could still be made available to the relatively small number of people interested in them. MOD was supposed to be a piece in that puzzle.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

This could really suck.

I’m hoping that this is just about a corporate reorganization and that this work will be assigned to another department in the newly reformed CBS/Paramount entity.

But if not, its a sucky dose of reality. Content producers are not non-profits. And it’s not realistic to expect a business to make choices that will cause it to lose business. And unfortunately, large corporations work unit by unit so it doesn’t matter to them if the losses from one department are more than made up by the profits of another.

But MOD was supposed to be a way to keep physical viable by reducing overhead, production costs and storage and distribution expenses, and if that’s failing now as a business model, that’s very troublesome.

And yet, on some level, I get it. Not all content is created equal and not all content retains equal value. Not every book ever written remains available. More plays than not will never be performed again. Most music fades away over time. Until relatively recently, most shows and films disappeared forever after their first runs. This idea of having this much content perpetually available to a wide audience is relatively new in human history.

There would probably need to be some massive systemic changes to create a viable system where works that ceased having financial value to their copyright holders could still be made available to the relatively small number of people interested in them. MOD was supposed to be a piece in that puzzle.

I do hope they can iron this out!

~Ben

 

[John*Wells]

The one thing I would really like as far as CBS/P Properties is a full uncut (ie No Music Rights Edit) of Gomer Pyle USMC I know I am hoping against hope on that but if Shout were to get a license maybe they would be able to pay for those Edited Scenes. I remember when Mister Ed was first released, there were syndication Edits in Season 1 original release. That was corrected when the Complete Series release came out from Shout so, I purchased it despite having purchased Season 1-5 individually.

 

[Sky King]

I'm REALLY hoping that who takes over the reins of the CBS-mod division, releases the remaining seasons of Ben Casey. I'm hoping it sold well enough to warrant this.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching season one even though the picture quality IMHO, was a 3 out of 5.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

And I’m enjoying the recent Our Miss Brooks and would pick up more of that too!

 

[bmasters9]

The one thing I would really like as far as CBS/P Properties is a full uncut (ie No Music Rights Edit) of Gomer Pyle USMC I know I am hoping against hope on that but if Shout were to get a license maybe they would be able to pay for those Edited Scenes. I remember when Mister Ed was first released, there were syndication Edits in Season 1 original release. That was corrected when the Complete Series release came out from Shout so, I purchased it despite having purchased Season 1-5 individually.

Do you still have those individual Mister Ed seasonals?

 

[GMBurns]

I've been loving the huge uptick in the release schedule of Gunsmoke. Fingers crossed they will still release season 20 this year. It would be so frustrating if they release seasons 14-19 in the space of 12 months, and then season 20 never sees the light of day.

 

[bmasters9]

I've been loving the huge uptick in the release schedule of Gunsmoke. Fingers crossed they will still release season 20 this year. It would be so frustrating if they release seasons 14-19 in the space of 12 months, and then season 20 never sees the light of day.

If they do pull that kind of bait and switch, that would indeed be unforgivable (at least to me)!

 

[Lecagr]

The one thing I would really like as far as CBS/P Properties is a full uncut (ie No Music Rights Edit) of Gomer Pyle USMC I know I am hoping against hope on that but if Shout were to get a license maybe they would be able to pay for those Edited Scenes.

Along with Barnaby Jones, I'd also be in for a re-release of Gomer Pyle with all uncut episodes.

When I posted earlier I forgot to mention Streets Of San Francisco, that's another series CBS seems to have done a good job with, no edits in those episodes as far as I know.

 

[Lecagr]

I'm REALLY hoping that who takes over the reins of the CBS-mod division, releases the remaining seasons of Ben Casey. I'm hoping it sold well enough to warrant this.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching season one even though the picture quality IMHO, was a 3 out of 5.

I've been thinking about buying season 1 of Ben Casey but haven't got around to it yet. I'm going to wait a little while longer but I might order it in a month or two.