I Love Lucy: Possible Paramount DVD release soon? (2 Viewers)

[Ronald Epstein]

Ahh, understood.

My apologies.

 

[Jeff Koch]

If space is at a premium for some people, I suppose boxed sets are important but what about PRICE!!!??? I give Paramount a big for pricing. You can purchase these discs FOR A THIRD of what Columbia House is selling them and they're the same damn thing. CH is over $30 per disc and Paramount is under $10. If you want this series bad enough and these are the only two options available, the savings far outweight the space problem in my opinion.
Jeff

 

[MatthewA]

And here's DVDfile's news:

More classic TV is on the way this summer, when Paramount releases I Love Lucy Season 1 - Volume 1 and Volume 2 on 7/2. I'm a bit surprised Paramount is going this route instead of releasing each season as a box set, but here goes. Each volume features four episodes ("The Lost I Love Lucy Pilot," "Girls Want To Go To A Nightclub," "Be A Pal," and "The Diet" on Volume 1, and "Lucy Thinks Ricky Is Trying To Murder Her," "Quiz Show," "Audition," and "The Seance" on Volume 2), and each episode is presented in full frame with English and Spanish mono tracks. Extras include the original series opening, flubs, a behind-the-scenes audio featurette, a radio show, more special footage, and guest cast info. Retail is $14.95 per volume, and I assume if sales are good, we should watch for more volumes in the future...?

Frankly, I'd rather have season sets, but I really want the show.

 

[Jeff Koch]

Season sets, boxed sets, whatever you call them is not important to me. PRICING is important and I just ordered both volumes. Keep 'em coming Paramount!

Jeff

 

[Cynthia]

Jeff Koch wrote:

If space is at a premium for some people, I suppose boxed sets are important but what about PRICE!!!??? I give Paramount a big for pricing. You can purchase these discs FOR A THIRD of what Columbia House is selling them and they're the same damn thing. CH is over $30 per disc and Paramount is under $10. If you want this series bad enough and these are the only two options available, the savings far outweight the space problem in my opinion.

Ultimately, this is going to cost fans more than season box sets would.

 

[Jeff Koch]

Quote:

"Ultimately, this is going to cost fans more than season box sets would."

How? Paramount is putting four episodes on each disc, the same as Columbia House. And I'm talking Paramount vs. Columbia House.

Jeff

 

[Greg_S_H]

At a guess, I think she means it'll cost more for us to buy single discs from Paramount than it would a single boxed set. Not even counting Columbia House.

It's just unfortunate. I assume even the early Lucys were around 30 minutes, correct? They could put more than four per disc (at least one more, without adversely affecting the quality), and put them in a single box. I'm not sure I'd buy Lucy anyway, but I know I won't now. The main problem for me is, it continues the single disc trend. That increases the chances that a series I do want will be in this undesirable format.

 

[Cynthia]

Greg_S_H wrote:

At a guess, I think she means it'll cost more for us to buy single discs from Paramount than it would a single boxed set. Not even counting Columbia House.

That's what I meant. Thanks.

I, also, would've considered purchasing "I Love Lucy" in season sets, but for a casual fan like me- single discs are out of the question.

 

[David Lambert]

There were 180 episodes of I Love Lucy, including the Christmas Special in the middle of Season 6.
At 4 episodes per disc, that's 45 discs even!
The shows were 30 min. each...8 could fit onto one dual-layer DVD (a la M*A*S*H) with no quality issues.
Season 1 could be a 6-disc set, with room for extras.
Seasons 2-4 could be a 4-disc set each, with no extras.
Seasons 5 & 6 could be 4-disc set each, with some extras (especially the Chrismas Special, "Jingle Bells").
That would be a total of 26 discs, surely "cheaper" by any standards! A max of 30 discs, if a "bonus" disc HAD to be included with each season's box set (a la X-Files).
Figuring $75 street price at a B&M for the Season 1 set and $65 each for the other 5 (I'm leaning on the "expensive" side...this is Paramount), all six box sets should come to about $400.
But at $10 per disc at the DISCOUNT WEB SITES, we should be assuming the B&M's get a price in the $12.99-$14.99 range. For 45 discs, we're talking well around the $600 range for comparable B&M-type purchases!

 

[Jeff Koch]

I was not comparing boxed sets vs. single discs. Read my previous posts. I was comparing Paramount vs. Columbia House pricing. Again, if these are the only two options and you want the show bad enough, Paramount is the only way to go. It doesn't appear that boxed sets will be an option so it's pretty academic at this point.

Jeff

 

[Brian W.]

After looking at the features on DVD Empire's web site, I now believe the Greg Oppenheimer rumor is true -- these are the EXACT same extra features as on Columbia House. I'll bet you anything they're the same discs, which is going to be a big disappointment for those who were upset with the transfer on the CH discs (personally, I thought they looked very good, after the introductory disc).

Simply repressing the CH discs under their own label would certainly explain the price.

 

[David Lambert]

I was not comparing boxed sets vs. single discs...It doesn't appear that boxed sets will be an option so it's pretty academic at this point.

Jeff, we all UNDERSTAND that this is what you were saying.

What we are upset about is "WHY ARE BOX SETS NOT AN OPTION?"

After the torture of the Star Trek TOS single-disc releases, Paramount "learned' with TNG to do box sets. So we don't understand why they are backtracking now.

They had two choices: Re-release the CH discs as-is, which Martin Blythe pretty much said here on HTF would *not* happen. Or remaster them and put them out properly, and by that we hope they meant box sets.

It seems that Paramount made a decision other than what Martin indicated to HTF, and that the results are "not a proper release", by our standards.

Naturally we are all upset, and asking questions! If it is an acceptable situation to you, then you need say nothing more on the matter, in my opinion. You'll be quite happy!

 

[Chuck L]

Well in thinking of how the business tends to work at times, I could see them do a Star Trek again....

Release the series in Volume sets then when completed, "Oh, now we are going to do season boxes and we will even give you die hards some extras so you buy it all over again!"

This kind of thinking worked with that series and it may just work for the Friday Series...these are all titles from Paramount that I am wanting...I just wish we had the power to get them the right way.

At the same time, with the time that we have waited for this series to arrive on DVD...I am almost certain that the people that really want this would have given them even more time to do it right. It seems that the only way to really get what you want, at least in the way of presentation and respect, you HAVE to be a Star Trek: The Next Generation fan...yet, Paramount, keep in mind, had it not been for Lucy, Desi and Desilu Studios...Star Trek would never have happened for you either.

 

[Jeff Koch]

David,

I understand perfectly about the desire to have boxed sets. You don't need to explain that to me. Yes, I'm happy given the only two options are either CH or Paramount (price). I'd rather have boxed sets as well but that's not going to happen.

Now let's can move on and discuss the particulars of the Paramount release which is my real concern. Can someone obtain advance copies (Ron) and compare to see if indeed these are the same transfers that Columbia House is using? I cancelled my subscription with CH because I had issues with the video and sound quality. The show is in need of a proper restoration. Looking forward to a review as soon as possible!

Jeff

 

[Andrew Budgell]

The reason that there won't be any season boxed sets, is most likely there aren't enough volumes released by Columbia House to make a complete season. There are only 5 volumes, and no plans to make more.

Andy

 

[Brian W.]

That is not true, Andrew, there absolutely are plans from CH to make more. It was posted here:
Link Removed
In addition, I recently received a card from CH stating that more volumes are planned, but that vols. 1-5 are all they have at the moment.

 

[MatthewA]

So this means that basically we'll have to wait for Columbia House to release more volumes before we get anything else, right?

 

[Brian W.]

Well, we don't know yet, 'cause we don't know for sure whether or not these are the actual Columbia House discs. We'll have to wait till they're released to find out, I guess.

 

[paul o'donnell]

I'm afraid I won't buy single disc releases of the show. I wanted a boxset of season 1 as a gateway into the show that I have never seen. I won't buy a single disc and then - once they hit big - buy a season boxset.

Sorry Paramount, other things to buy.

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

David and others...
True, you could cram 8 episodes on a single disc but where would the extras go? I think the "die hard" I Love Lucy fans would agree and appreciate the original openings and credits. I also like the flubs (out takes)and the half-hour radio show on each disc.
If it was up to me, I would have the original openings replace the later heart on satin logo and include the commercials just as the show aired on television uninterupted. Also keep the radio show and maybe add some behind the scene info?
I am NOT one for bare bones shows/movies/discs.
But what specs we have been presented with thus far all indicates a repackaging of the Columbia House masters being released as CH did and Star Trek TOS.
Guess we'll have to wait for the Paramount rep to shout out so we can know for sure!