What's new

HD TV Programs Not On Blu-Ray (1 Viewer)

Bill Waits

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
163
Real Name
magicman
There are several programs that we'd all like to see on Blu Ray, but what I can not understand is why several of HD TV programs have not been released on Blu Ray. Granted some of them were aired in HD prior to Blu Ray, but it's rather surprising that they weren't revisited. (There are also some that has shows that spanned the SD and HD realms, such as The Simpsons and Law & Order). These are the programs that aired in HD that should be released on Blu-Ray

24
West Wing
Numb3rs
Law & Order (and their spin off's)
CSI (along with CSI: NY & CSI: Miami)
Rules Of Engagement
Till Death
Alcatraz [See Below]
The River
Merlin
Camelot
Batman: The Brave & The Bold
Arrested Development
My Name Is Earl
Desperate Housewives
Coupling
Dallas (2012)
Men At Work
House, MD
Terra Nova
The 4400
The Unit
Grey's Anatomy

...and so many others. Granted that I realize that some of these have sporadic seasons in Blu-Ray (Merlin, 24, etc..), and some may just be beginning (Batman: The Brave & The Bold), but the studios are missing out on a great opportunity with complete series releases (so long as they don't super overcharge for the releases on Blu-Ray like they did with LOST and a few others that I can think of. If you price it fairly, I wouldn't think that it would sell OK (Granted that I also acknowledge that since the opportunity was lost in the beginning, that some may feel that the DVD is "good enough"), but I am sure that others might trade up?

Anyone agree?
 

Walter Kittel

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 28, 1998
Messages
9,753
The absence of Blu-ray releases for shows broadcast / distributed in HD is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to sales of television media.

I can only assume that the demand for some of these shows is too small to justify the production costs / resources. Some shows have had a single season release on Blu-ray and sales must have been such that subsequent years have not been produced.

As per another thread on the HTF, House, M.D. is getting a comprehensive Blu-Ray release later this year. You can probably import it from Amazon or wait for a U.S. release.

In terms of wish lists, titles I would have snapped up on Blu-ray include:

Castle
The Mentalist
Legend of the Seeker
Swingtown

- Walter.
 

mattCR

Reviewer
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2005
Messages
10,897
Location
Lee Summit, Missouri
Real Name
Matt
Add to this list 'The Good Wife', which I don't think has a Blu release at all.

West Wing is one that stands out to me, I'd snap up Blu-rays of that immediately, considering the DVD release is poor and you can watch much better versions in HD at Amazon and Netflix right now.
 

Ethan Riley

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 12, 2005
Messages
4,280
Real Name
Ethan Riley
Pretty Little Liars. That one really bugs me--that there's no bluray. I wonder if WB thinks that shows that skew toward a female demographic won't sell on bluray? Is that why Dallas, Revenge, Devious Maids and other soap operas are on DVD only?
 

schan1269

HTF Expert
HW Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
17,104
Location
Chicago-ish/NW Indiana
Real Name
Sam
Walter Kittel said:
The absence of Blu-ray releases for shows broadcast / distributed in HD is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to sales of television media.

I can only assume that the demand for some of these shows is too small to justify the production costs / resources. Some shows have had a single season release on Blu-ray and sales must have been such that subsequent years have not been produced.

As per another thread on the HTF, House, M.D. is getting a comprehensive Blu-Ray release later this year. You can probably import it from Amazon or wait for a U.S. release.

In terms of wish lists, titles I would have snapped up on Blu-ray include:

Castle
The Mentalist
Legend of the Seeker
Swingtown

- Walter.
Did the first(only...) season of Swingtown ever get "finished"? On anything?

Imagine if DWTS had been able to lead into Castle and Swingtown*...

*Yes I know...different network...
 

revgen

Screenwriter
Joined
Apr 7, 2010
Messages
1,272
Location
Southern California
Real Name
Dan
Leverage (Entire show was shot on 4K Red One Cameras)
Cold Case
Without a Trace
NCIS
Charlie's Angels (HD Masters were made for Universal HD airings)
Hogan's Heros (HD Masters available for all seasons)
Murder She Wrote (HD Masters are available, and are streaming on Netflix)
Rockford Files (Same for Murder She Wrote)

I'll give Warners credit for making Person of Interest available on Blu-Ray from day one. Hopefully others will follow.
 

Bill Waits

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
163
Real Name
magicman
I can only assume that the demand for some of these shows is too small to justify the production costs / resources. Some shows have had a single season release on Blu-ray and sales must have been such that subsequent years have not been produced.

I suspect the reason why some of the single season releases were because they VASTLY overcharged when compared to DVD version. I remember when Lost came out on complete series, the cost difference between the DVD and Blu Ray was quite substantial (and the single season sets of other TV shows released in that time frame were also quite high). Bring the premium down a bit, and there shouldn't be a reason why it wouldn't sell well if promoted properly (keeping in mind that that they probably missed the greatest opportunity the first go round).
 

jcroy

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
Messages
7,916
Real Name
jr
Bill Waits said:
I suspect the reason why some of the single season releases were because they VASTLY overcharged when compared to DVD version. I remember when Lost came out on complete series, the cost difference between the DVD and Blu Ray was quite substantial (and the single season sets of other TV shows released in that time frame were also quite high). Bring the premium down a bit, and there shouldn't be a reason why it wouldn't sell well if promoted properly (keeping in mind that that they probably missed the greatest opportunity the first go round).
This statement may be false, for more recent tv on bluray releases.

There exists tv shows which were released on bluray which were not much more in price than their dvd versions (approximately $10 difference), but nevertheless were also discontinued on bluray after a season or two.

For example:

2 Broke Girls - season 1
Mike & Molly - season 1
Rookie Blue - seasons 1 and 2
Human Target - season 1


So even with a $10 premium of the bluray version, it still didn't warrant subsequent seasons to be released on bluray.
 

jcroy

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
Messages
7,916
Real Name
jr
Bill Waits said:
(keeping in mind that that they probably missed the greatest opportunity the first go round).
I don't know whether it would have made a difference, even if the bluray and dvd versions were the exact same price back in 2007 to 2011.
 

Walter Kittel

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 28, 1998
Messages
9,753
Did the first(only...) season of Swingtown ever get "finished"? On anything?
As I recall it ended with Susan Miller (Molly Parker) and Roger Thompson (Josh Hopkins) looking at one another awkwardly in a motel room, deciding whether or not they were going to take their attraction to the next step. Everything was very open-ended at the conclusion of the final episode, which was okay by me. I really wish that it had continued, but oh well.

- Walter.
 

jcroy

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2011
Messages
7,916
Real Name
jr
Walter Kittel said:
As per another thread on the HTF, House, M.D. is getting a comprehensive Blu-Ray release later this year. You can probably import it from Amazon or wait for a U.S. release.
(Going offtopic).

I recently decided to watch through the episodes of House season 6 bluray set, in sequential order.

After watching through half of the House season 6 episodes in its proper sequence, I really like how the show has serialized elements interwoven with the "diagnosis of the week" procedural stuff. A bit like how Person of Interest has been doing things in its current season 3, or season 9 of NCIS with the Harper Dearing storyline.

Previously, I only watched some of the season 6 and 7 episodes out of sequence in random order, mostly on reruns. When I first picked up the season 6 bluray set several years ago, I only really watched the first disc which had that hour-and-a-half episode with House in the looney bin. (I thought it was a crappy episode).

Watching the season 6 and 7 episodes of House out of sequence in random order, doesn't reveal much (if any) of the serialized storyline.

Do the previous seasons of House have this serialized storyline stuff interwoven with the diagnosis of the week procedural stuff?
 

FanCollector

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
5,010
Real Name
Lee
I think the industry has been generally disappointed with blu-ray as a medium. Sales never really took off and they are still dwarfed by DVD sales. I think that for most series, including current ones, there just isn't a significant market for blu-ray releases. A handful of classics with large or devoted followings and a handful of current series with either very large (The Big Bang Theory) or very devoted (Breaking Bad) followings have maintained an ongoing schedule of blu-ray releases, but most shows would only have a small number of buyers in the format.
 

Walter Kittel

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 28, 1998
Messages
9,753
Do the previous seasons of House have this serialized storyline stuff interwoven with the diagnosis of the week procedural stuff?
I don't recall all of the instances, but other seasons have interwoven story arcs. A few that come to mind - One involving House's ex and one involving a detective (David Morse) who tangles with House (for my money one of the best seasons of the show.) There are others but those are two that readily come to mind.

- Walter.
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,131
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
The remake of Hawaii Five-O has been issued on Blu-ray for all three of its seasons thus far; I've reviewed them all. I think it must be the only CBS/Paramount network show which has gotten all of its run released on Blu-ray.

I would buy a Blu-ray release of Elementary or The Good Wife in a skinny minute.
 

Bill Waits

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
163
Real Name
magicman
Not to get too far off topic, but the BBC missed a GOLDEN opportunity with the recently released Walking With Dinosaurs the movie...they should've also released the documentary of the same name on Blu-Ray (along with the others...Allosaurus, Prehistoric Beasts, Monsters, & Cavemen)
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,710
Messages
5,121,136
Members
144,146
Latest member
SaladinNagasawa
Recent bookmarks
0
Top