Please sign my DVD Petition! (1 Viewer)

[Alina_D]

I know this mught sound a bit silly but I'm really hell-bent ont the networks not giving great TV serials a half-assed chance on the air. My latest obsessions are MDs and Century City. But I didn't make the mistake of not taping it, but since I'm a believer in public opinion I think that the voice of the viewers can be heard, so here's my pitch:

I represent all the fans of quality television entertainment and the frustration of fans who see their latest favorite get axed because the Nielsen numbers don't satisfy the suits in the boardroom. An example of this was the ABC serial MDs. This was a TV serial that premiered in the fall of 2002 and was not given a proper chance to flourish despite its fanbase and excellent cast of characters and acting talents. It was funny, endearing, and our lead surgeons were Hollywood's underappreciated but amazing William Fichtner and John Hannah. ABC had stated that it "showed patience" with the show but in reality they gave it a poor time slot. So with the successful phenomenon of TV on DVD we would like to see it a part of out video collections. My Big Fat Greek Life, Boomtown, The Critic, and Dilbert are success stories that have made the popular transitions from TV to DVD. So let's make it happen for MDs!

If not and you've got them lying around on VHS anywhere, I'm a responsible tape trader/seller so maybe we could work something out so e-mail me for petition URL or if you want to do business....

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I think that the TV on DVD boom has really changed the way some studios view TV shows, and if it hasn't then it should. The best example, of course is Family Guy which is now back in production because of good ratings on Cartoon Network and also because it was the top selling TV on DVD product last year. I've made the point that even if it doesn't do well in the ratings should it make it back to Fox, that it won't upset them all that much because they'll have another volume of DVDs to sell.
I think that these 1 season shows or whatever might do some decent business if they're produced in limited numbers and have a good price point. There are a number of shows that I can think of that had short runs that I would buy on DVD if the price were right, and it wouldn't even have to contain extras.
The key is for the studios how to determine which of these short run series to release on DVD. I think that's where sites like TVShowsOnDVD.com can be a real benefit to the studios and to the consumers a way to get their voice heard as far as demand for a show. Does that consumer voice always translate to sales, no but it is at least a starting point.

As to the other interesting thing the first post mentioned it is more appropriate for the TV Programming discussion, but I'll hit on it here. I think that the Networks are going to have to start changing what they believe and expect good ratings to be. It may even mean that the rating system itself has to change. The reason I say this is that as the advent of Cable and Satalite TV and the rising popularity of Video Games the Internet and home video/DVD rentals and sales there is just not going to be as high of ratings for shows as their used to be. I'm never surprised when I hear that overall network viewership is down, of course its down look at all the other channels people have to watch that aren't network, or the Internet or whatever takes them away from the big3 or 4 networks. I don't think the networks have totally figured out this concept yet, but I think they'll have to start redefining what is a good rating these days, because its not right to expect the same types of ratings the networks got 10 years ago.