Oh No Paramount Going Split Seasons (1 Viewer)

[Dave Scarpa]

TV on DVD is reporting that Paramount/CBS will release a box set of Half the Episodes from Season 1 of Perry Mason. Geez We could Always count on Paramount for Full seasons. Will I have to buy half a season of Have gun will travel now Too ?

 

[Random Hero]

Well, according to TV.com the first season of Perry Mason consists of 39 episodes. It might be a bit pricey to release a large set and a Season 1, Volume 1 release might be better.

Was this a 30 minute show or an hourlong show? If 30 minutes, they might need around 6-8 discs depending on special features, and it would make more sense for a split release.

 

[FrancisP]

Perry Mason is a hour long show with 39 first season shows. You would be talking about a pretty big set to release all of them at once. Paramount has not abandoned season sets because they are releasing Wild Wild West, another hour long show, in season sets.
Hopefully sales will warrant a regular release schedule. I don't see them taking 10 years to release
the 10 seasons the show ran.

 

[Jeff Willis]

As much as I dislike waiting for "V2" of any series I'm collecting, it may increase sales by the 2-volume approach. I wonder if there are any #'s to support the theory regarding other split-volume TV/DVD sets? Lost In Space, etc?

 

[Random Hero]

That's right. Now I remember Perry Mason being an hour long. They'd probably need 3 volumes for Season 1, then. 13 episodes apiece.

 

[FrancisP]

I can't quote numbers but I can give you anecdotal evidence. The two-volume season set came about because the
first season set did very poorly in Walmart and Walmart was
not very happy. They were taking about not stocking any more unless the price was lower. They eventually did stock
all the sets so one would assume that sales were better for the two volume sets.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

...And then the DVD producers had to work through their lunch breaks without pay, and were also forced to stay 2 hours late without pay.

 

[John*D]

2 volumes for a 39 episode 1hr long season is reasonable. Although some people might wait for volume 2 to be released in order to get in on a discount, a la BSG!

Lets hope MATLOCK isn't too far away...

 

[Steve...O]

It's going to be 2 volumes. One will have 19 episodes and the other will have 20.

Seasons 2 - 9 of Mason have between 26 to 30 episodes each with most seasons having 30. I would suspect that these releases will continue to be split. I would much rather Paramount do that than go to double sided discs.

I just hope that sales justify "fast tracking" Mason the way the other Paramount series were.

Steve

 

[Bill Thomann]

Mission Impossible is another Paramount show & I believe had 39 episodes (the norm back then for most shows). I hope they don't split it up but I wouldn't be surprised. Not only are those old 50's & 60's shows 39 episodes which has over the decades gradually petered down to 22 for a "full season" but I believe they ran close to 10 minutes longer for an hour show. Nowadays a 1 hour show minus commercials is about 43 minutes & from what I remember of my old Columbia House MI episodes they were around 51-52 minutes.

 

[Paul McElligott]

Of course, this being Paramount, the split seasons will probably cost what we would expect to pay for a full season from someone else.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Paramount, if they really wanted to, to draw up for support for the series, since fans would continune to invest in the series should give fans all 39 episodes of a season 1 set at the standard 22 episode series price. It would be an added boon since there would be untapped potential in the series from new fans.

Why? Say there are 39 full length episodes and new fans wouldn't be interested in buying a split season set, like with what Universal did with Battlestar Galactica Season 2. If Paramount would release the premiere set at 39 episodes for a retail of $59.99, they would draw new fans to the series who would be skeptical of getting into a new series that they wouldn't buy otherwise. This would bring those new return fans for future sets.

I know I would be interested in Perry Mason if Paramount did this, ensuring at least one new fan buying the series. Since I've never seen the series except for a few of the movies that were televised specials. If Paramount breaks the seasons up, at around 20 episodes per set for around $39.99, it wouldn't be enough of an incentive to get me to buy the set.

What needs to be understood is that studios would bring in more revenue from new fans picking up their sets on a Season 1 release and ensure them ono returning to buy future sets at the full price or broekn up sets (for example, the split season sets). It just makes more sense, don't you think? It's a tricky thing since Paramount has been known for high priced season sets via the Star Trek series.