Paramount's No Extras Policy: Time to Revolt? (1 Viewer)

[Dane Marvin]

I used to dwell on extras, but I have so many DVDs to watch now that I doubt I'll even get a chance to see most of the extras included. It's always nice to know they are there when it's at no extra cost. Thus far, the lack of extras on Paramount TV DVDs (which are mostly the "classic" shows) has not bothered me. But "The Brady Bunch" is such a cult AND mainstream classic that, at some point, Paramount has to seriously consider extras -- especially given the fact that the cast is always actively participating in interviews, reunions, and remembrances of the show.

At least give us the "E! True Hollywood Story" on there.

 

[William0]

The extras are nice with deleted scenes, bloopers, interviews with the cast members, etc. but who watch them more than once or twice? So in my view, the extras can be uncut episodes with closed captions with excellent audio/video quality which can be viewed frequently. Paramount offers good prices on their tv shows on dvds without "extras".

 

[Brandon Gantt]

The Brady Bunch just had a reunion/anniversary special air on TV Land. Since they're both from the same corporate family, perhaps Paramount could include this.

 

[Paul Miller]

I think it depends on the people who do them, I really enjoyed the documentries on the Looney Tunes Golden Collections and Hanna Barbara Sets and have watched a lot of them more than once. I also thought the first You Bet Your Life set by Shout Factory had some great extras on it with old out takes and a radio show cut from a bit with Groucho Marx & Bob Hope.

As Casey said too earlier in the thread, the commentaries on the Simpsons & Futurama episodes are pure fun. With the Futurama commentaries at least for me, it is like having twice the amount of episodes in one set listening to the voice actors and writers talk about the episode.

I think ADV did a good job with the first Farscape Starburst Edition too.

Paul

 

[David Lambert]

Yep!

 

[Amy Mormino]

Perhaps Paramount might consider trying dual releases for certain shows, one with extras and a cheaper version without. Or even a separate DVD release of just extras. Certainly a lot of people don't care about extras, but fans of certain shows do. And when there are known extras for older shows that aren't being used, that just seems lazy on the studio's part.

 

[Steve_Knutzen]

Mr. Lambert, do you know something that you want to share with the rest of us but can't just yet?

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

If a show has extras, great, but the lack of extras wouldn't stop me from buying as long as the image and sound quality are first rate, and the episodes are uncut. I would prefer NOT to pay extra for extras or gimmicky packaging. Pricing is a major consideration with so much product competing for my limited dolars.

I doubt we'll see seperate releases of extras/no extras for TV shows.

Get the quality of the episodes right first. The rest is window dressing.

 

[Robert Crawford]

That type of marketing might work for films on dvd, but I'm not so sure that a television series will sell enough units of the more expensive dvd set to make it a cost effective alternative for Paramount.

As stated by others, I'm more interested in a quality dvd presentation than extras.





Crawdaddy

 

[AnthonyC]

I'm sure one of the reasons they don't do this is that many of the shows (like Happy Days) lasted a long time, and there weren't enough extras for each release.

If there were two commentary tracks and a featurette on the HD season 1 set, people would expect that on every set, and Paramount doesn't want to go through the hassle.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

I like this strategy. Give casual fans of shows complete, uncut seasons on DVD (possibly commentaries), for an inexpensive price of $30 or so, and then maybe a DVD of interviews, bloopers, documentaries, deleted scenes, etc. for the bigger fans.

Andy

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

From the Paramount listings for February, it looks like the fourth seasons of Cheers and Frasier will be sans extras (but low-priced).

I don't know how accurately I'm guessing, but what I think happened is that Paramount decided that shows like Cheers and Frasier didn't sell well enough to justify the expense of extras (not that the extras were particularly good or expensive, but there is some extra money involved with producing commentaries, featurettes, and so on). So they've gone to a system whereby they release almost everything without spending any money on extras, which in turn allows them to sell the sets at a lower price, make back the modest cost of the releases, and do a lot of TV-on-DVD releases every month.

Now, my bottom line on the issue is that the only thing I absolutely demand is uncut episodes. Everything else is negotiable. Also, Paramount's bare-bones releases to not have the rather chintzy mastering and packaging that plagues a lot of Columbia's bare-bones sets. But still, it seems to me that they're not really evaluating these things on a case-by-case basis -- that is, spending less money on one show, more on another, depending on how well they sell. What I'd like to see is for them to release first season sets bare-bones, and then, if the first season establishes high sales, start doing some extras on future seasons (because it's been established that this show justifies the expense). My impression is that they're just going to release everything without extras, regardless of how well they sell, and that is a little disappointing.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

But an extra is an extra. It is not required. If it was, it wouldn't be called an extra now, would it?

You have to get into the habit of expecting everything to come out bare-boned, and if you get something extra, then great!

Glenn

 

[Amy Mormino]

From today's news on TVShowsonDVD.com it looks like there will be extras on The Brady Bunch set in the form of three commentaries and a new featurette! I'm very happy that all the speculation that there would be no extras was wrong. Perhaps exceptions will be made for other shows with strong followings in the future as well.

 

[John McM]

may I ask why is it a "hassle"? I don't think Paramount keeps a close enough eye on the competition. Have they ever seen Fox's DVD's? One of the reasons Fox is so well-loved is not just because they have quality product, but also that they go the extra mile for the consumer. Why would a commentary track on Happy Days be a hassle when on The Simpsons, there's a commentary track for every single episode, as well as other goodies?

 

[David Lambert]

I have now shared it!

 

[Asim]

I totally and wholeheartedly agree with this. I barely have time to watch all the good movies out there. no way in heck am i going to have time to watch extras as well. I'd rather pay 10 bux for a good transfer/sound than 20 bux for a bunch of extra hoopla i will never have time (nor desire) to watch. perhaps they should release 2 copies of everything - one for those that just want that one thing and another for those who want everything including the kitchen sink about the topic.