Most disappointed with in 2009/2010? (1 Viewer)

[JamesSmith]

Dear Guys:


What tv releases in the past year, year and a half, didn't happen that you were totally bummed out that didn't get released.


I was really hoping that more Saturday Morning in the 60's, 70's, and 80's would have come out by now. I really enjoy those nostalgic visits with those shows, but I'm also saddened that so many of today's generation would be bored with the limited television animation and sometimes repeitious writing of that period.


But hey! I still liked it.


I was also saddened that Xiaolin Showdown set 2 didn't come out. I know, I know. Poor sales, but again I liked the series.


Somebody else on this site has been disappointed that Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea hasn't been finished up. And I can appreciate his pain, but I looked at it, as Fox trying to get and cram all the extras they could get on the last volume.


So what continuing DVD series that stopped coming out has ruined your day?


James

 

[Jack P]

In 2009-2010? Tough because I'm still mad over the abandoned titles from 2005-06 that haven't been restarted. But for recent stuff that's stopped dead in the last year I'd say:


1-Burke's Law. I want S2 darn it!


2-Night Gallery. We waited four years to finally get S2 and loaded with bells and whistles no less, so why the heck don't we have S3 to finish the run???


3-Barney Miller. Four year wait to get S2, then 14 months for S3, now stopped dead once again at 16 months and climbing.


4-Love Boat. I want more than two seasons.


Everything else was still abandoned and leaving me annoyed when 2009 began. That said, 2010 though has been a great year for some of those titles getting unstuck: Mary Tyler Moore, McMillan And Wife, Dragnet, Ironside, Bill Cosby Show, All In The Family, the release of Ellery Queen, and now the news that Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea will be completed at last.

 

[Stephen Wight]

Me too. I'm also disappointed that Family Ties hasn't been finished yet.

Originally Posted by Jack P

4-Love Boat. I want more than two seasons.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Biggest Disappointments:
Still no "Maverick" -- I broke down and subscribed to Encore Westerns.

Still no "Batman" 1966 -- I've just about given up on ever seeing a studio release of this title. With the Green Hornet movie coming up you'd think they could at least release the Batman/Green Hornet crossover ep.

Biggest Surprises:

* Announcement of the completion of "All in the Family".


* Announcement of the release of the "Six Million Dollar Man" and "Bionic Woman".

 

[cajunhillbilly]

I was really hoping for more Mod Squad and more Jake and the Fat Man

 

[Gary OS]

Well, there's two ways for me to look at 2009/2010. In one sense I'll always maintain that the peak of the mountain for vintage TV on DVD being released was 2008, especially that last quarter of '08. I really did about go broke buying so many classics leading up to Christmas that year. In '09 we definitely began to see some slowdown in dvd releases, especially when it came to older material. 2010 has been about the same. I don't believe we will ever see the wave quite as strong and as high as it was in '08, so I could say these last two years have been down years and be right about it.

On top of that, because I personally know about quite a few shows that were originally scheduled for '09/'10 and have been canceled, it's been a tad tough. There were some wonderful series I was looking forward to continuing, and they've been left out in the sun to dry. I'll name some that I was told were coming and then were pulled, some that other people with contacts said were coming, and some I thought would probably get more releases but haven't:


Rawhide, Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, Hec Ramsey, Family Ties, Happy Days, Love American Style, One Step Beyond, Big Valley, Hazel, Mr. Peepers, Quincy, Chips (only for the 3rd Season Christmas ep), Wagon Train, Naked City, Route 66 (so close to finishing), Trackdown, In the Heat of the Night, The Donna Reed Show, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (which we now know, thankfully, will be released).



On the other hand, I have to admit I had no idea Shout Factory and Timeless were going to dive into the vintage TV on DVD waters as deeply as they have. So there have been some pleasant surprises for me, including:


Complete Leave it to Beaver (my set of the year), more Father Knows Best, Frontier Circus, Whispering Smith, the restart of Have Gun, Will Travel, Flipper (on MGM MOD), supposedly Highway Patrol (also on MGM MOD), Barnaby Jones (although I fear it may be one and done), The Patty Duke Show, Mister Ed, Tales of the Gold Monkey, Sgt. Bilko, Dragnet, The Virginian, Sue Thomas F.B.Eye (huge family favorite for wife and kids), and of course the upcoming Bionic sets. So the year has been nicer to me than I initially thought it was going to be. As I said above, I knew the major studios were going to be cutting back on their vintage material (and they really have - trust me), but the emergence of Shout, Timeless and a few other smaller companies have really helped keep things afloat and at least keep us at decent output levels.


Bottom line, there were both negatives and positives for 2009/2010 in terms of what I'm most interested in - Classic TV on DVD. I do fear this may be the last hurrah for us as far as standard def dvd goes. As other mediums continue to grow and the studios look at newer models for distribution I can't help but feel we will continue to see a shrinking release schedule in the coming months and the next few years. But that's for another time and another discussion.



Gary "just getting the complete LITB makes this year a great one for me" O.

 

[younger1968]

It is very disappointing that recession/downturn has been root of some of the problems around dvd sales. I for one am very disappointed when S1 comes out and you buy it, then nothing happens for several years. I have so many shows were i only have S1:


1. Benson

2. Growing Pains

3. One day at a time

4. SWAT

5. Fantasy Island

6. WKRP


I still collect the shows and i am quite a happy with releases of shows, like


1. Emergency!

2. Adam-12

3. Hawaii Five-O


I also collected recently shows like:


1. Night Gallery (S1 and S2)

2. Outer Limits (1963)

3. Patridge Family (S1-S3) - Walmart had it on sale for like 9.83. I could resist paying this price for that show


I am hoping that 2011 will be a better year for dvd sales. We are so closed to completion of shows like Hawaii Five-O, Adam-12, Vegas, Matt Houston, Dallas, Melrose Place, etc. It would be nice to see these shows completed.


I am so disappointed in today's show that the only tv i watch is my dvds. I rather watch an old classic show then some of the shows today. Classic TV still rules with me!!

 

[Jeff Willis]

"Word" to Gary's post. I also see it the same way. That last qtr of '08 was going to be hard to top, imo.


As Gary mentioned, '10 will be remembered for several surprises, LITB, the Bionic news.


I'm also waiting for news about many stalled sets, Barney Miller, several CBS/P sets.


I still like to view the TV/DVD release era as overall an overall positive experience, since 2003-04. There are many sets released that I wouldn't have bet on being on my shelves.


As far as disappointments, I'd rank the many stalled (or abandoned) shows as the top issue. I see it that way since we've seen many of the big-name shows released, even from the late 50's-60's eras. Sure, everyone has a wish list but there are a lot of the mega-name shows that we've been fortunate to see available.

 

[Steve...O]

+1 to Gary's post


Shout and Timeless are doing great work (and should be applauded), but they are still limited given their financial constraints. Edited episodes, poor print quality, limited distribution, and lack of subtitles are just a few of the issues one has to consider when purchasing their releases.

CBS/P also does great work but I continue to be annoyed at their seemingly random decisions as to which seasons get full releases and which go half season by half season. Matlock, Five-O, Mannix, Mission Impossible (among others) all get full seasons but most B&W series get split up. I understand why retailers may push for lower priced half seasons, but I don't understand how the determination gets made on which get full vs half. Space constraints are no longer an issue; CBS/P's packaging can fit 6 DVDs into a standard size case.

The move toward MOD is greatly disturbing to me. No offense to the studios but these are, in my opinion, overpriced authorized bootleg quality releases. Essentially you're paying $20 to not have the TCM logo in the bottom corner for 30 seconds every half hour. If (when) MOD and downloading replace pressed releases I'll get out of the hobby.

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Willis

"Word" to Gary's post. I also see it the same way. That last qtr of '08 was going to be hard to top, imo.


As Gary mentioned, '10 will be remembered for several surprises, LITB, the Bionic news.


I'm also waiting for news about many stalled sets, Barney Miller, several CBS/P sets.


I still like to view the TV/DVD release era as overall an overall positive experience, since 2003-04. There are many sets released that I wouldn't have bet on being on my shelves.


As far as disappointments, I'd rank the many stalled (or abandoned) shows as the top issue. I see it that way since we've seen many of the big-name shows released, even from the late 50's-60's eras. Sure, everyone has a wish list but there are a lot of the mega-name shows that we've been fortunate to see available.

All valid points, Jeff. The stalled shows have to be the biggest disappointment if I'm focusing in on one area, with music substitutions to backscores being the second biggest disappointment for me personally. But overall, you are correct in that we do have a pretty high percentage of the top tier shows from the 50's and 60's. Certainly there are many more golden nuggets to be mined from that era, but I can't complain too much even though I could name off more shows I want that would undoubtedly number into 3 digits.

Originally Posted by Steve...O

+1 to Gary's post


Shout and Timeless are doing great work (and should be applauded), but they are still limited given their financial constraints. Edited episodes, poor print quality, limited distribution, and lack of subtitles are just a few of the issues one has to consider when purchasing their releases.

CBS/P also does great work but I continue to be annoyed at their seemingly random decisions as to which seasons get full releases and which go half season by half season. Matlock, Five-O, Mannix, Mission Impossible (among others) all get full seasons but most B&W series get split up. I understand why retailers may push for lower priced half seasons, but I don't understand how the determination gets made on which get full vs half. Space constraints are no longer an issue; CBS/P's packaging can fit 6 DVDs into a standard size case.

The move toward MOD is greatly disturbing to me. No offense to the studios but these are, in my opinion, overpriced authorized bootleg quality releases. Essentially you're paying $20 to not have the TCM logo in the bottom corner for 30 seconds every half hour. If (when) MOD and downloading replace pressed releases I'll get out of the hobby.

Steve, you've hit on something important here. Two things, actually. The first one that is truly maddening is the criteria that CBS uses (if they even use any real criteria) to determine if a show gets a full season release versus a split season release. Unfortunately, many of my faves are coming in as split season releases and it's taking twice as long to get them finished. The second issue you brought up is a sore spot with me as well. I'm talking about the MOD program, especially when DVD-Rs are used. It's a disgrace as far as I'm concerned and like Steve, when that and downloading/streaming become the norm and replace the pressed disc, I'll be out of the hobby as well.



Gary "great comments, my friends" O.

 

[Jack P]

Well, since so much of my collection beyond the realm of TV on DVD is taken up by DVD-R I can live with MOD if in fact they are still using the best possible source elements. That may not be the most ideal way to do it for some people, but I really found no difference quality wise in how I experienced "Flipper" S2 from S1.

 

I have been disapointed with 2010 becuase no seasons of mannix have been released so far

only one season of barnaby jones and one half season of cannon have been released

also no seasons of peticoat junction have been released

 

[BobO'Link]

Gotta add my voice to Gary's. His comments are spot on even though a few shows he mentioned are nowhere on my radar...


And I'll add my voice to those comments about MOD as well. I don't like the trend and have so far resisted purchasing any title on a MOD disk although there are *more* than several movies I'd love to add to my collection. I'd just as soon wait for 'em to appear on TCM and make my own. I can't see it being much worse. Although there *are* a couple of TV shows I'd probably spring for. I'll not mention them in fear of a studio rep. seeing too many mentions of "yeah, I'd get XX on MOD if it's the only way" and just planning that type release.

 

[jdee28]

Originally Posted by Steve...O


The move toward MOD is greatly disturbing to me. No offense to the studios but these are, in my opinion, overpriced authorized bootleg quality releases. Essentially you're paying $20 to not have the TCM logo in the bottom corner for 30 seconds every half hour. If (when) MOD and downloading replace pressed releases I'll get out of the hobby.

Couldn't agree more with this.


No doubt we'll eventually see a MOD program for TV shows on DVD. CBS DVD will probably be in the forefront. They had something similiar going in the VHS era with Columbia House, overpriced tapes that they sold over the mail. With the Warner Archive in mind, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they did something similar, with unremastered shows on overpriced DVD-rs. I'm sure they'll carry over their split season philosophy to this, or even better, maybe they'll charge by the disc, 4 episodes per, like they tried to do during the dying days of Columbia House from 2001-2003.

 

[Duane Alford]

Most disappointing for me has been the abandonment of CHiPs and the split season set of Vega$ ( I would have bought it if it were complete season sets). Just as disappointing as Vega$ is the return in split season sets of Have Gun Will Travel. It was 3 and done for me, well until I went through "another route" and got the last 3 seasons, complete!

 

[HenryDuBrow]

So for no more releases (still only possibly), I suppose we can thank those not buying because it's volumes, thanks for the support folks...

 

[younger1968]

It has been a slow year for releases. However, that is ok with me, because it enable me to pick up previous releases shows at good prices, such as night gallery, outerlimits, partridge family, etc. I am looking forward to the following releases


1. Hawaii Five-O (S9)


2. Adam-12 (S5)


3. Thriller


4. Marcus Welby, MD (S2)


5. Simpson (S13)


6. Bionic Woman


7. Six Million dollar ma


8. Voyage to the bottom of the Sea (S4, V2)

 

[Fredbloggs]

Still no sign of Harry O!

 

[WaveCrest]

 

Originally Posted by JamesSmith

So what continuing DVD series that stopped coming out has ruined your day?

 

James

Early Edition, Mannix and Quincy, M.E.

 

[Stephen Wight]

I can't get over the fact that Family Ties has been abandoned. I thought if a show like The Odd Couple,which premiered forty years ago,had no problem getting all seasons out,then Family Ties would have no problem being completed either.