Everwood (1 Viewer)

[Jay_B!]

personally, I think Warner sets too high standards for their shows. The holy grail is Friends for sitcoms (I'm not sure what would be the holy grail for dramas... Smallville? Gilmore Girls? Dukes Of Hazzard?), everything that cannot match Friends gets screwed in the long run.

As much as I used to complain about Sony, at least Sony accepts the fact that Seinfeld is a once-in-a-library sitcom (much like Friends is for Warner and Golden Girls is for Buena Vista) and that they don't penalize every other show because it doesn't sell those numbers, instead they seem to put "smaller" but still popular shows (Good Times, AITF, Sanford, Facts Of Life, Married With Children...) as the standard by which the rest of their catalog is judged. I am sure if Growing Pains was a Sony or Fox property, we would've seen a season two by now, but because it likely sells (at best) 1/10th what the average Friends set does, it's not good enough for Warner.

I honestly think Warner and others should do for DVD's what they do for music... license. Warner could license a lot of their "no plan" shows to a smaller company, but retain 75% of the sales for it, and I'm sure that those companies would be gracious to be releasing shows like Everwood, Murphy Brown, Night Court, Without A Trace, etc... Much like how smaller companies will reissue Warner CD's that may not be a big enough deal for the label, but that the smaller label will still be glad to distribute for Warner.

 

[Katherine_K]

Madonna is an artist who will continue to produce music and CDs. In the music industry the volume of CD sales is a measure of popularity used to determine radio play and concert scheduals. A television show, with the exception of those currently on the air, is a static property the measure of which determines the value of the studeo's catalogue.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Warner Bros evaluates each title on an individual basis based on estimated sales, cost to license music, and the cost to produce bonus material, DVD masters, menus and packaging. They have a much, much lower expectation of other sitcoms than they do of Friends because they know Friends will be popular.

Gord

 

[Ethan Riley]

Joe, please cut and paste any comments that you consider rude. I thought the Everwood boosters to be very polite and complimentary. Also, I note that the 4th (and last) person to mention Everwood didn't ask a question; that person simply thanked WB for considering a future release. That's supposed to be embarrassing? I really don't understand your problem here. And even though I did not participate in the chat, I realize that it went on for several hours, in which time people are free to come and go. New participants don't necessarily scroll up to the beginning and read what's already been asked (even though they should). You call the Everwood fans a "tiny, rude and obnoxious minority" when the fact there's so many lobbying for Everwood dvds that it makes them a majority. Rude? Uh, where? Because the questions were asked more than once? That's rude? Okay.... Obnoxious? Only to people who don't care about Everwood, I guess. And what are "boorish" sales, anyway? I've never seen that adjective in the Wall Street Journal financial pages. Really, I think the tone of this thread indicates that the Everwood fans shanghied the WB chatters, attacked and chastised them. Where? I don't see it in the transcript. I see repetition of the question, but I don't see the rudeness.

 

[Scott-S]

Ethan, I believe the transcript that was published was edited to remove the posts in question.

At least I assume so. What was published certainly didn't come across as "swamped with posts"

I wasnt there live, so can't be sure.

 

[LuisGar]

I am on a different scenario to the one of most of posters here, so I would like to express my view on the ongoing Everwood/DVD saga.

I had never seen Everwood on TV. Unfortunately the series are not regularly aired in Spain since even big US TV hits do not necessarily do well here (e.g. Lost S1 only had marginally good ratings).

I only got to know this jewel because three months ago I took the wise decision to purchase S1 DVD on Amazon.com. I tend to trust Amazon reviews and reviewers when they are majoritarily praising a given product, and in Everwood's case the consensus was so solid that in view of the interesting pricing I couldn't resist. I got so hooked on the characters, on the actors, on the wonderful writing, on the series in general from the first episode that I was done with S1 in about a week and went to Amazon to purchase the following season and see as soon as possible the end of the Colin Hart cliffhanger.

I found there were no more DVD's available and then I started to investigate in different forums. I soon (and sadly) found what was the status of the series. I soon realized what was going on and that because of the low sales of S1 there won't seemingly be any further releases. And I feel cheated now.

I understand the point being made by some people here about the fact that this is simply economics and WHV not being a charitable institution, but I believe that as a WHV customer I also have the right to receive a complete product, and in the case of a TV series it comprises from the first to the last (I think 98th in this case) episode, not only from 1 to 23. As of now, I have only been given a crippled and incomplete product and I don't see a good deal of a reason for that.

I just wanted to give my angle on this and basically support the many customers that have been venting their "Everwood DVD's frustration" here and in many other furums. I know my opinion will mean nothing to WB, but writing here at least made me feel better.

Excellent forum BTW

 

[ThomasDE]

Th transcript was edited because there were two somewhat nasty comments made in the chat that are not present in trans. All of the other Everwood questions were (as i remember) polite. But I do know that some of the people were new and didn't know that Everwood questions were no longer being addressed and the rest of the chat is not there to look over beforehand.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Luis, what you bought WAS a complete product. They sold you Season 1, not season 1 and the promise of 2, 3 and 4. The last thing we need are legal disclaimers on the packaging as to what people are actually getting when they buy a set.

Gord

 

[Doug^Ch]

Maybe Warner needs to rethink their pricing strategy on Everwood. They are obviously able to make money with La Femme Nikita priced at $99.95. I say this because Warner is clearly going to release that entire series. I do not believe for a second that LFN has a more rabid or loyal fanbase than Everwood. Since Everwood can't meet profit expectations at $59.99; price it accordingly. I would pay more to get this wonderful series out.

 

[Ethan Riley]

The original price point worked against the first season release; that, and the fact that a lot of other high-profile sets were released that day.

 

[WolframM]

Exactly, among many other sets Without A Trace Season 1, American Dreams Season 1 and Everwood Season 1 were all released on September 7th '04, all three were abandoned and I'm waiting desperately on all three follow-ups.

 

[LuisGar]

I see things in a different way, Gord. The moment they decided to go for a S1 release they created, in my view, at least a moral obligation with their customers (yet not legal, I obviously understand that) to deliver the whole artwork. I have now an incomplete statue with just a couple of legs and sorry but I can't help the feeling that I have some rights to get the rest of it.

So they launch e.g. the first part of Titanic just to check how sales go and then if they don't get what is expected they would never issue the second part of the movie? No way this can be right.

Simply put, next time WHV is unsure about a given product, just don't release a part of it to test the waters: Don't release it at all.

Anyway, just my two cents. And thanks for the reply.

 

[Jay_B!]

Luis, I never thought about it that way but I kinda agree to an extent with what you're saying. TV shows are like movies to where they have beginnings and endings, granted they're a whole hell of a lot longer but still. Starting with season one, you kinda expect to get more and more until the last season comes and finishes the collection off.

I still think if Warner spent less time focusing on Friends, a series which has been completed, and moving onward to other shows, there'd be much less frustration. Who needs a "special box set"? they already did one of that sort LAST YEAR.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I agree with Luis above. He put it better than I could have. I also don't quite buy WHV's comment in the chat that music rights were a factor in not putting out Everwood 2, because at this point, I don't give a damn if feeble pop songs make it onto a dvd or not. Just change 'em and put it out. Who cares. Songs from WB shows are in 90% of the cases, absolutely superfluous to the action or story.

The absence of an Everwood follow-up is to me, the #1 reason not to keep buying tv shows on dvd. (American Dreams is the #2 reason!) When it came out, Everwood was a fairly popular show and there was no reason to believe season two wouldn't ever come out, anymore than there was no reason to believe the O.C. season two wouldn't come out, or anything else. I don't want a dvd case full of season ones. I really don't. Yet, that's what I have.

 

[DeWilson]

Agreed! Every major record lable has a "special products" division where they licence tracks and full albums to other companies. Heck,if it wasn't for that we'd never have had record lables like "K-Tel" and "Ronco Records".

So maybe what studios need to do is look at that design model. Maybe as far as licencing individual episodes (non-exclusive) for 'best of packages'.

 

[MarkHarrison]

Might I suggest that you start seeing things differently? The studios are NOT going to change how they do things. Regardless of your feelings on the matter, this is how things are done. The sooner you learn to accept that, the less disappointment you'll face down the road.

 

[Jay_B!]

right, some companies set higher expectations than others. There are a lot of shows Warner and Sony have for instance, that may have been "flops", but yet a company like Anchor Bay (which really only owns two "blockbuster" shows, Three's Company and Roseanne) or Image would've been more than satisfied. If Warner is afraid that Everwood season 2 won't sell enough, then license it to an offshoot company and receive 75% of the profits or whatever, and I'm sure these other companies would be more than satisfied with how it sells. I mean, Image saw fit to release the complete series of Hearts Afire, a John Ritter/Markie Post vehicle that has been largely forgotten (remember when he died, all you heard about was TC and 8SR, very little was said about Hearts Afire except for old interview footage on shows like E.T.), in six months time, while Markie's blockbuster hit isn't seen as profitable to release on DVD? please. Warner might have lofty ambitions for Night Court, but for another smaller company being licensed it, they would see Night Court as an asset to own.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The DVD presents the season one episodes as they were meant to be seen. The two episodes meant to be seen in widescreen are presented in widescreen, albeit non-anamorphic.
The DVD is OAR for Season 1, not the HD broadcast.

 

[ElizM]

I agree if Warner Bros. doesn't want to put out 2-4, license them to another company. Also many fans would rather have the series with replacement music rather than not at all.

 

[Juan Books]

That's the blockbuster mentality at work.

Only when the actual artists own and have control over their work will we see an improvement.