Mad About You Collection 2/8/2005 (1 Viewer)

[Joel Vardy]

Glad to see any form of MAY come to pass. I thought the whole thing was dead.

Joel

 

[Linda Thompson]

Juan --

One point which I think you have failed to consider is that the general public is not as fanatic about this hobby as most of us who frequent this site. We're into this stuff up to our necks (some of us well beyond!)...but some people only dip a toe to test the waters.

There are some shows with fanbases large enough, or fanatic enough, that the success of season sets is a foregone conclusion. The X-Files, Buffy, Angel, M*A*S*H, Seinfeld, Friends, etc.

Then there are some shows which TPTB may have originally THOUGHT fell into this category, but consumer response proved otherwise. MAY obviously falls into this category. Two season sets were released, but expectations were not realized. Hmmm... TPTB scratched their heads and tried to figure out what went wrong. The demand that they thought was there...wasn't. I'm sure they were as surprised (and as disappointed) as we were...even if for different reasons. (Corporate greed, you say? Imagine the audacity of a business actually trying to make a profit! How dare they! Whatever.) So, being a business, they made a business decision to shelve what they considered to be a failed project. Objectively, I can't blame them.

Now, they've decided to give it another go, in another form. They're not going to try the same thing -- which didn't work before -- again, at least not until they've tried something else first. This is that "something else". Hey...at least they're trying.

But, you see this move as totally illogical. I don't.

Here's my take on it:

If there's a show I like enough to want on DVD (like MAY), yes, of course I want ALL of it, ALL seasons, in perfect, convenient season sets. I venture to say that holds true for the vast majority of us here. I have both S1 and S2 of MAY, and I would dearly love to have S3 thru S7 in the same form. Again, that holds true for many of us here (in this thread specifically).

But, say my neighbor's Aunt Sophie just sort of liked MAY...she's caught some of the syndicated reruns on Lifetime, and she enjoyed them, but not enough to commit to plunking down the cash for 7 full seasons. Yeah, she likes it, but not THAT much.

My own logic tells me that she isn't likely to buy any one particular season. That instinctively smacks of commitment -- most people have some degree of "completist" mentality, even if it's quite latent. Intensified, of course, with anything offered in serial form or in sets. Sort of like a bride completing her china or silverware patterns. By golly, she might not have the whole sets before her fiftieth anniversary, but she's sure gonna try along the way. Never mind that she'll never actually need or use the whole sets...she's still gotta work toward completing them. Why? Just because they're there.

On the other hand, though, I find it highly likely that Aunt Sophie will at least CONSIDER picking up a nice, tidy, self-contained bite-size "best of" set which contains episodes gleaned from the entire run of the series -- the beginning, the end, and some of the important parts that came somewhere in the middle. If she sees it on the shelf at Wal-Mart, she might actually pick it up and drop it in her buggy, where she would most likely just pass right on by the season sets without so much as a sideways glance. The "best of" set is neat, clean, and easy. No muss, no fuss, no commitment, nothing further to seek out, wait for, or plan to collect. No loose ends, and no strings attached. A lot of Aunt Sophies tend to like that sort of thing...

So...if enough of us fanatics (those of us who would have bought all the season sets without hesitation) pick up the "best of" set, and ADD OUR OWN NUMBERS to all the Aunt Sophies who just happen to stumble across it and think "Oh, yeah...I remember sort of liking this show...I think I'll get this", it could actually generate sales numbers that might make TPTB think twice about just totally dumping ALL future plans for the show. If even that much happens, we (the fans who want ALL of the show) are better off than we were before this set, since, previously, ALL hope for future releases was lost.

So, I can see the possible method to the madness. It's a gamble by TPTB. If it pays off for them, it may end up paying off for us too. Or, we might both lose. Either way, I'm in the game. I'll pre-order mine as soon as it's made available.

I think I might order one for my neighbor's Aunt Sophie too. I think she'll enjoy it...it's just her size.

I hope she'll recommend it to Cousin Albert...I think he used to sorta like the show too... Not enough to buy 7 full seasons, but I really think he might go for a "best of" collection.

At least now we'll have a chance to find out.

 

[David Lambert]

Linda Thompson: Very well said! Thank you...I couldn't have said it half as well. A round of applause for the lady!

 

[Larry Geller]

I will NOT buy Best-of sets--ever. I would RATHER have nothing now & wait for a possible change of management at CTSV to someomne who RESPECTS their shows. Or, if sales are so poor, why not licence the show to someone like Image, who seems more ready to take a chance on slow-sellers?

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Ok, here is why Studios don't like to license out stuff. What is CTS licensed this show to image and they turned it in to a big hit on DVD, not likely but there is a long shot possibility. Sony would rather hold on to something than watch some other studio turn a profit with a property that originally belonged to them.

As for a change in management marking a change in philosophy towards respect for the shows. Management is not hired to have respect for shows, management has been hired to well...manage. They are supposed to have respect for company stock holders who might not exactly be thrilled to see a show lose money on 7 different DVD releases because someone in management says: "We've got to respect the show." Said manager would be an X-manager before they finished the quote.

The people that put these sets together have respect for the shows, but sometimes that respect has to be reigned in. A balance must be struck, if a studio brought in a fan of Mad About You for example, they could probably go through the vaults find a whole bunch of cool footage maybe get the stars to help make extras and put together 7 nice sets. But someone has to come in and say to that fan that you have to scale back because you've gone over budget or that such a set while great for the fans might not be so great for the profit margin.

Any company has to strike the proper balance here. Fans can recognize a shotty product and wouldn't purchase such a thing which is why these things have to be handled properly. But studios have to see a profit for them to stay in business and part of that is staying on budget and producing a product that the market place actually wants.

As Linda said, maybe the general marketplace just wants a best of Mad About You and doesn't want the season sets because perhaps not everyone in the general market is as hardcore about complete season sets as we that post on HTF or vote at TVShowsOnDVD.com happen to be, especially when it comes to a show that they might only be a borderline fan of.

Last but not least, I agree with David, Linda that was one awesome post.

 

[John McM]

I don't see why not just release one set a year for a show then if it's not a power-seller (ala, not Friends or something). Mad About You peaked in it's middle seasons arguably, so Sony should take that into consideration that the first season wasn't as popular as the fourth and the second season wasn't as popular as the third.

 

[John McM]

I think Sony should just bite the bullet and do season 3, the most popular season in MAY's seven year run... if season 3 once again does not live up to standards, kill it then, but 1 and 2 is just anticlimatic when season 3 was arguably the biggest and best year.

 

[Tony S]

Maybe they should change their accounting methods. Instead of looking at each MAY release as selling say 80,000 copies, they should look at the series as a whole selling 80,000 times 7 or 560,000 copies. That should make the numbers more attractive.

 

[Juan Books]

Linda, your theory holds true only if: [number of casual people buying the best-of] > [number of fans who bought the complete first two seasons that are disgusted by being let down like this and will pass it by]. I would bet that inequality does not hold. If it doesn't, then the sales from this aberration will be inferior to the ones from the complete sets, and thus there will be less incentive for further releases. And if there is such a huge demand for best-ofs, where are the X-Files, Buffy, Seinfeld and Chapelle best-ofs?

As for corporate greed, let me assure you Sony did not loose a cent from the previous two releases, they just didn't get rich by them, and if you meditate on this for a while, you will realize this kind of attitude is a colossal threat to our culture. If only the biggest acts in music/cinema/tv get produced and distributed, we are left with a world brimming with reality shows, spider-man movies and Eminems, to the exclusion of a rich diversity of art and culture that makes life worth living. Let me quote you from another thread:

 

[John McM]

I agree, MAY season 1 wasn't a bad seller, Season 2 flopped because it was $10 more for 3 additional episodes, not enough a difference to justify it. Sony should reissue season 2 at the $29.98 pricepoint like season 1, and release season 3 at $29.98 as well... and sales will go up.

MAY DOES have a following, Sony just doesn't realize that just because it used to air on Thursdays alongside Seinfeld and Friends in the mid-90's, that it doesn't mean MAY had a Seinfeld/Friends sized audience.

 

[John McM]

I think Sony should take a cue from Fox and release "Mad About You, season 3, pt. 1", and "Larry Sanders Show, season 2, pt. 1", etc..... and retail them for $14.99-19.99... kinda like how Fox is doing with Lost In Space, surely MAY season 3, pt. 1 is a better idea than a "Best Of" DVD set with episodes the fans already bought.

 

[Tony S]

I just don't understand how it is that Paramount can announce multiple releases of Taxi, Andy Grifith, & The Brady Bunch, before the first season was even released. Yet Sony has to watch and scrutinize each release.

If they are making some profit on each release, why not hire more people so they can have the resources to get the sets together and still put out the higher priority stuff? If they can do that and still make a profit on MAY, AITF, Larry Sanders, & The Jeffersons, etc, that would mean more profits for the stockholders.

Each of these shows might sell in small amounts individually, but if you put them all together, it adds up. Why leave money on the table? If they don't release these, that's just more money that we can spend on Paramount tv releases.

 

[John McM]

I think Paramount has seen the way people scrutinize Sony's releases. They know Taxi might not sell like MASH, and that 7th Heaven might not sell like Friends or whatever... but Paramount recognizes when a fanbase is there. They understand that 50,000-75,000 loyal fans per show is still a profit, even if it's not the profit Seinfeld gives them. Sony needs to take a page or two from the Paramount school, or even the Fox school (where there's cards advertising the release of next season in the seasons set). Seinfeld may be their only blockbuster, but they have so many other shows that do have a fanbase, if only they can realize you're not going to expect 227 or Who's The Boss to sell like The Simpsons.

 

[Mark To]

I guarantee you with the down and dirty releases the Sony does (no extras, no remastering) and the fact that MAY had no music issues, they did not LOSE any money. They just didn't make enough to make the suits happy. That's a far cry from losing money. And while I stuck with the show all the way through and I love Helen Hunt, the show started to falter around midway through and it definitely lasted too long. As a completist I would buy the whole run but as a realist I could live with the first 4 or 5 seasons and not feel I was missing a great deal.

 

[Joel Vardy]

Thats a great point, Tony. This incremental look at profitability does not seem to me to be a 'smart' way to run this end of the business. If this approach was taken on some of the best long-run tv series we might never have had M*A*S*H*, All in the Family, St. Elsewhere, Hill Street Blues and many other groundbreaking shows that showed good profitability (including perhaps Seinfeld) if their success was only measured by early viewership numbers.

MAY was both a critical and commercial success during its run but like several more interesting series had a bit of provincial content (NYC humor) than some might like. I can see, similarly, that American Dreams is targeted at an older niche audience and only picks up younger viewers (teens) through some of its universal coming of age themes. If this trend continues the demise of the 3 original networks will accelerate while cable/satellite picks up the pieces.

By being somewhat shortsighted and micromanaging the releases of our TV culture we are losing some threads to our past when the opportunity to archive this period is forfeited to incremental profits. Ironically, they may indeed be 'leaving money on the table' but in their spreadsheet-driven business risk models they are possibly hurting both their and our (speaking as an HTF fanatic) interests.

I don't know exactly if a writing campaign would make a difference. Would emailing be more effective than a letter writing campaign?

Joel

 

[Rodrick]

Never Fear MAY Season 3 is coming out Febuary 3rd 2007