NYPD Blue on Blu-Ray? (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

Next week, the great Shout Factory is releasing the 12th and final season of NYPD Blue on DVD. But on Jan. 9, the group "NYPD BLUE TV SHOW" on Facebook posted a message saying:

Roundabout Entertainment Breathes New Life into NYPD Blue

In a project for 20th Century Fox spanning nine months, Roundabout Entertainment restored and remastered the first eight seasons of the classic procedural police drama NYPD Blue. More than 170 1-hour episodes were scanned and finished in 2K.

It included this picture:

NYPDBlue

• Sam Favate
• Jan 11, 2017

That news is backed up by this article from last May:
https://news.creativecow.net/story/881906

What do you think? Is NYPD Blue headed to blu-ray after Shout finishes with the DVDs?

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Next week, the great Shout Factory is releasing the 12th and final season of NYPD Blue on DVD. But on Jan. 9, the group "NYPD BLUE TV SHOW" on Facebook posted a message saying:



It included this picture:

NYPDBlue

• Sam Favate
• Jan 11, 2017

That news is backed up by this article from last May:
https://news.creativecow.net/story/881906

What do you think? Is NYPD Blue headed to blu-ray after Shout finishes with the DVDs?

I dunno.

This might just be for streaming and syndication, if anyone runs the show anymore.

I can't see Fox taking it back for Blu, and has Shout even done a TV show on Blu?

I wonder if Olive would be involved in a hypothetical deal since they have a relationship with Fox and have released King of the Hill S13 on Blu.

 

[Dave B Ferris]

I'm a big fan; I'll (happily) own all 12 seasons on the 17th, or shortly thereafter, but I would be stunned to see this series released on Blu,

I'm remembering that, traditionally, hour-long dramas are not considered valuable (or as valuable) for syndication compared with 30-minute sitcoms - and I'm thinking that same thinking applies to other areas of the home entertainment experience. When Obsolete Man wrote, "if anyone runs the show anymore", I've only seen it recently on an OTA sub-channel called "Heroes & Icons" (and even there, only on the weekends).

 

[AndyMcKinney]

m remembering that, traditionally, hour-long dramas are not considered valuable (or as valuable) for syndication compared with 30-minute sitcoms - and I'm thinking that same thinking applies to other areas of the home entertainment experience. When Obsolete Man wrote, "if anyone runs the show anymore", I've only seen it recently on an OTA sub-channel called "Heroes & Icons" (and even there, only on the weekends).

True, hour-long dramas don't hold much syndication value these days. Usually, only very-recent shows get syndicated anymore (like ABC's Scandal) and, as you say, only on weekends (or basic cable) and only for a few years beyond their life after cancellation (I think Private Practice has vanished from one of my local OTAs in the past year or two, probably replaced by Scandal).

However, I'm sure that they might be looking to make a streaming deal with Netflix/Hulu/whoever, as there are a lot of one-hour shows on those outlets, and I'm sure having them in HD and widescreen would make them far more valuable for such a deal.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

True, hour-long dramas don't hold much syndication value these days. Usually, only very-recent shows get syndicated anymore (like ABC's Scandal) and, as you say, only on weekends (or basic cable) and only for a few years beyond their life after cancellation (I think Private Practice has vanished from one of my local OTAs in the past year or two, probably replaced by Scandal).

And during the 80's, they would syndicate hour-long shows of that decade by either airing them like that, or chopping them up into half-hour versions.

 

[Alf S]

I watched a couple of episodes (in HD?) on a Directv channel not too long ago, but the channel name escapes me.

I really enjoyed the show when it was on. Mainly the earlier seasons though.

 

[jperez]

The channel is Audience (160 on DirecTV). It's now showing NYPD Blue weekdays at 7:00 p.m., followed by Prison Break.

 

[Alf S]

Awww..that was it! It's in HD too correct?

 

[jperez]

Yes.

 

[Sam Favate]

If the work on the HD upgrade is done, as the article says, why wouldn't Fox or other company issue it on blu-ray? Isn't the bulk of the cost the upgrade? If they have a syndication or streaming deal, wouldn't blu-ray just be icing on the cake?

 

[AndyMcKinney]

If they have a syndication or streaming deal, wouldn't blu-ray just be icing on the cake?

Not if the DVDs sold badly. They'd want a blu-ray release to at least turn a profit, otherwise, why would they even bother? As a public service? It's all about whether something will make money or not. If they don't see a blu-ray release as profitable, they won't throw any kind of time or resources into it, even if the remastering was already paid-for by streaming/syndication deals.

Must've sold badly enough for them to let Shout! have a crack at it.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Not if the DVDs sold badly. They'd want a blu-ray release to at least turn a profit, otherwise, why would they even bother? As a public service? It's all about whether something will make money or not. If they don't see a blu-ray release as profitable, they won't throw any kind of time or resources into it, even if the remastering was already paid-for by streaming/syndication deals.

Must've sold badly enough for them to let Shout! have a crack at it.

But it sold well enough for Shout to finish it, so would it be a bad deal for a company like Shout or Olive to take a crack at?

I mean, we all know Shout will abandon ship if something doesn't sell, so for them to wrap up the final half of the show it must've at least made a little money.

 

[jcroy]

Maybe they'll outsource the bluray to VEI ?

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Maybe they'll outsource the bluray to VEI ?

Ugh.

There are HD masters. VEI would wind up using VHS recordings made from ABC, with original commercials and say that's all that was available.

 

[jcroy]

Ugh.

There are HD masters. VEI would wind up using VHS recordings made from ABC, with original commercials and say that's all that was available.

Only way around this problem ^, is if Fox demands complete supervision and oversight on creating the bluray masters.

 

[jcroy]

But it sold well enough for Shout to finish it, so would it be a bad deal for a company like Shout or Olive to take a crack at?

I mean, we all know Shout will abandon ship if something doesn't sell, so for them to wrap up the final half of the show it must've at least made a little money.

(This is purely speculation).

In the case of Shout Factory (or Olive, etc ...), I strongly suspect the decision to release something is even more highly dependent on wheather the big retailers are willing to carry it, such as: Walmart, Target, etc ...

If Walmart and Target are not willing to carry it, then most likely it will never be released. (Or if Shout strongly suspects this to be the case).

By the time a title is being dumped at places like Costco, most likely it is already "game over" for that particular title.

 

[jcroy]

At this current time, I wonder whether it is even still viable to release older catalog tv shows on bluray on a season by season basis over a multiyear period of time.

Or is the only viable strategy left, is to release a complete series bluray set ? (Or releasing all the bluray season sets on the same day?). For example, such as the Mill Creek released Universal bluray tv series sets, the original Battlestar Galactica, Lost In Space, etc ....

 

[jcroy]

(More generally).

At this point, it appears Shout Factory isn't really keen on doing larger complete series sets. (Not since Hill Street Blues, the Bob Newhart Show, WKRP, etc ... in 2014).

Recently I noticed the Hill Street Blues and Bob Newhart Show complere series sets were being dumped at a local Costco.

 

[Kenshiro]

I've re-watched the first 4 seasons of the show that I had on DVD from years ago, wanted to watch the remaining seasons as I haven't seen them since they were first aired on ABC.

If HD masters have been made I'll probably wait for them to be added to one of the streaming services or (hopefully) a Blu-ray release.

If somebody has viewed the HD masters, are the earlier seasons cropped then? It appears so from the frame comparisons in the OP.

If I remember correctly ABC didn't start broadcasting the show in HD until the tail end of the shows run.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Its probably cropped, most likely Super16 originally (like Homicide, wish Universal would do something with that) as well.