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Industry article on shows that are abandoned due to slow sales (1 Viewer)

Jay_B!

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I am surprised there was a drop between Seinfeld s1/s2 and s3, since they came out on the same day, most every Seinfeld fan I know bought them together, same with s5 and s6 which came out on the same day. I wonder if the people who sampled s1/s2 out just for the hell of it realizes that those are some of the weakest episodes period
 

Jonny P

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Very few people are going to want to purchase Season 2 of a show without having Season 1...and so on and so forth.

If you don't purchase a show during the first week of release, then the prices generally go up.

This spring, Best Buy offered Seasons 2 and 3 of "Monk" for 18.99 each. I'd always wanted to collect the show, but had missed out on Season 1.

Universal's shows (in my opinion) are priced pretty high as a general rule.

The $18.99 price enticed me to purchase both of those seasons, then later on I purchased Season 1 using some Reward Zone certificates.

Many people get "sticker shock" when it comes to TV shows.

Sometimes I will get into a show after it has been on a couple of seasons. I'd like to get the DVD sets to revisit the show, but sometimes at close to $50 a set (or more) it just seems like a big pill to swallow.

I'd like to see more "Buy 1 Season of a Show, Get Another Season of that Show 1/2 Price" types of deals for TV sets.

I am on a budget. I have to pick and choose. Often, two different shows I want are released on the same day. At around $40 or so for many sets, I really have to pick and choose what I am going to get.

Oftentimes, consumers don't even realize new seasons have been released. Ads in Sunday circulars are important. Sometimes the first season of a show is advertised, but later seasons aren't advertised. That can make it difficult for the consumer to even know something has been released -- unless they are die-hard TV on DVD fans like most of us.
 

Mark Talmadge

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Damn straight, guys. For me, Gilmore Girls, Smallville were never on my wish list but the minute they dropped to $20 for Warner's promotional selling season I picked up the first four seasons at that price on Gilmore Girls as well as purchasing Smallville Seasons 1-4. I was even prompted to spend $40 on Season 5 of Gilmore Girls because I loved the show. I even have Season 6 on my must-have list.

I think when studios release the introductionary season of a show I'll wait until an announcement is made for subsequent seasons before I purchase the intial set.

I think Seinfeld may have been abandoned as well since there have been no announcements about Seasons 7-10 being released.

I do have to admit that Universal seems to attach higher sticker prices to some of their more lucrative DVD seasons from popular shows than less than mediocre ones. Look at the Original Battlestar Galactica which fetched at almost $100 in a Best Buy store versus a season of Magnum PI that you can buy in their store for $40. I think Universal deliberately overinflates the prices on shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, INcredible Hulk and so forth so that they can get more money on these shows being flagship titles for their studio because they believe they can get that.

Only problem is that the pricing strategy regarding SHow A against Show B isn't rerally fair and balanced and sometimes that title suffers from some fans who really want that show but can't afford the higher price tag.
 

Jay_B!

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yep, I also figured that since we haven't seen 7 by now, they're holding it for the Christmas season, since I remember hearing that 4 didn't move anywhere as fast as 1-3 did, so they're probably saving the big guns for the holidays
 

Jonny P

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It just gets to the point where there are too many things to collect.

In theory, $40 isn't so bad. I mean, that is basically two or so movies on DVD.

The problem is that if you get behind, then you face the possibility of "having" to get multiple sets.

DVD sets are designed for those who tend to be "completionists."
 

David Rain

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Just because a show seems to have been abandoned doesn't mean it will never see the light of day again.

Two prime examples: Mary Tyler Moore Show & Once & Again.
 

Malcolm R

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It seems to make no logical sense to base the fate of a series on sales of Season 1. I can hardly think of ANY show that was a home run from the start. Most shows have a season or two of "finding themselves," before hitting their stride or fine-tuning the cast in Season 3 and beyond.

You can point to any number of series where Season 1 is the weakest/worst season. Why put out the worst episodes of the series and use those sales to make your decision?
 

Bill>Moore

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I have given up on a couple of shows partly because I ended up buying so many other shows (with a lot of seasons), that I just couldn't see myself continuing to purchase full seasons of everything. The "buy one, get one" thing helps quite a bit. I had decided against purchasing Smallville at it's $45 price, but when I was able to pick up the first two seasons for less than $20 each, I didn't hesitate to buy them.
 

Michael Alden

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You act as if the numbskulls making such decisions have the slightest idea as to this being the case? I've worked in the business for over 20 years and let me tell you, most people in TV don't watch TV, let alone have an intricate knowledge of old TV series.
 

Malcolm R

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Yep, I've made that observation several times. It's a crying shame and is the primary reason we'll never see TV-on-DVD live up to its full potential: the very people with in-depth knowledge of the actual product are shut out of the development process.
 

Jay_B!

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true that, but I can name many cases of shows where people weren't planning on buying until more than one set is available. Look at how well the MTM sets have begun to do now that half the series is out now, as opposed to when it was just season 1 and ONLY season 1. Same thing with The Jeffersons, now that 3 and 4 are out as well, sales picked up a bit.

I have no doubt this wouldn't be the case with other shows which were slow out of the gate, not every show is an immediately blockbuster like The Simpsons or Seinfeld
 

Sean Aaron

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In the UK they often release partial season sets alongside complete ones to fight the "sticker shock;" (it also allows for a release of a long US series as it's airing with the complete series after the airing has finished). This might be a strategy to also let people try the show without buying a zillion episodes.

I don't get releasing a series with obvious cult appeal and a limited run (like, oh, Upright Citizens Brigade) in season sets. UCB had three sets and a potentially limited audience. Why not just release the whole thing in one go and potentially maximise sales whilst also leaving room for other things?
 

Brett*H

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Another factor that the studios should take into consideration is that not everyone can afford to buy all of these 1st season releases right away.

Hell, I've got a list as long as my arm of tv shows on dvd that I want. Wanting and the ability to buy them all at once are two different matters.I have all of these selfish little luxury needs like food, house pmts, car pmts, etc that have to come first.

Someone (like myself) may put Season 1 of show XX on their want list but meanwhile they're trying to purchase 2nd and 3rd season sets of tv shows that have already been released to keep the releases coming.

I've got shows on my list that run from the 1950's to present that I want, yet I can't afford to buy all of these 1st seasons on the release date.Eventually, I'll get 'em all but it's going to take a while.

Logic dictates that I purchase my most wanted shows on dvd first and the subsequent seasons that are released. The secondary "dvd wants" will have to wait.

So,deciding on whether or not to release any further seasons of any show based on sales around the release date is just foolish, IMHO.
 

TravisR

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While I'm sure they take into account that people prioritize their purchases, 1st week releases have the best real estate in stores, they're in ads, and they have fan awareness so they sell better than they're probably ever going to sell. In other words, if the sales are not up to expectations in the first week, they probably aren't going to suddenly shootup later.
 

MishaLauenstein

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Of course they're comparable. They both take the same amount of resources to put out.

Let's say you're a courier, and you've got three packages you can deliver, but you can only deliver two per day. Each of the three requires you to walk 20 miles and each weighs 50 pounds. Two of the three pay $10,000 and the third pays $100.

Which two are you going to deliver today?

Or are you going to ask what's inside them before you decide?
 

MishaLauenstein

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Nowhere in that article did it say that Warner is comparing Night Court to
Friends.

The writer of the article compared Night Court to Friends.
 

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