Some brief DVD news from our trip out to L.A. - FOX/PARAMOUNT: UPDATE & APOLOGY JUST ADDED Pg. (1 Viewer)

[Michael St. Clair]

If you mean that because it is the Internet we should assume or expect a lower standard of reporting than another form of news delivery, I disagree. Seems to me that the full range of credibility is available in print journalism. From the completely credible to the completely not. Hopefully, Ron and others that report over the Internet seek the highest standard of reporting and credibility.

Who said nobody here seeks credibility? It was just an honest mistake and/or miscommunication that occurred somewhere between FOX and HTF. No credible news source would apologize to the degree Ron has or feel that they had been made 'fools' of over such a minor incident. And there would be no need to do so! A simple correction/retraction is all that is needed.

Now, the New York Times are certainly fools regarding the whole Jayson Blair affair!

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Like all the others, no biggie Ron. But I find it amazing that, given your reputation with these execs, they couldn't trust you to sit on the info until a specified date, or maybe told you what was going on and that if you were asked to just say an announcement on this release will be forthcoming in the near future, or something like that.

 

[TedT]

No apology necessary. You were given wrong information on purpose! FOX should be apologizing to YOU!

 

[Chris Farmer]

Agree with the others here Ron. I'm not interested in Lost in Space, but when you report info direct from the horse's mouth and the horse lies, there's not much you can do about it. Fox should have told the truth and just asked you not to post it right away, there's no fault of yours here at all. It's not like you were repeating things that a brother's sister-in-law's aunt's cousin's nephew's former roommate said, this was direct from Fox.

 

[Cees Alons]

Fox was obviously days away from making a Press
Release announcement on Lost In Space and
My Darling Clementine. Obviously, Fox
did not want us breaking the news on the net early.

Of course that's a possibility.

But to be fair to Fox (and Peter Staddon): from my experience with large projects (of a different nature ), I know that it's possible they really didn't give you any false information.

Perhaps they did have reasons at that moment to think they would make the intended deadline. But made it after all.

Often it goes the other way - and then some people on the fan-sites would have been even more angry!

Cees

 

[TonyD]

It's no big deal, it's just the internet, not the Wall Street Journal. No harm, no foul.

well that certainly is a retractable statement and somewhat of an insult to places like the HTF.

anyway i don't see why you apolagized ron. did they say this is off the record or anything to that effect.if not then why wouldnt you report it?
almost seems like a deliberate attempt to mis-inform.

 

[Bill Burns]

David wrote:

The amusing thing is that, a bajillion years ago (okay, roughly six months ago, probably...I'm not gonna go look it up) Amazon posted a boatload of release dates for Fox TV product early. The farthest-off title was Lost In Space. Fox asked them to take down those listings because they were premature, and the dates might not be correct.

The LiS listing way back then said...January 13th! So we've really come full circle, eh?

Almost. Their new listing also says the 6th, rather than the 13th:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...v=glance&s=dvd

Where are DVDEmpire, Amazon, and DVDFile getting that date? It's only a week, no big deal, but the descrepency between these sites and the press release seems odd. If Amazon updates their listing again, forget I said anything.

 

[David Lambert]

The source of that date is a an official Fox information system that retailers use to get those dates...it still says the 6th. Until Fox updates it there, retailers will retain the date. Normally I would use that date the most, but an official press release that says the 13th overrides that date in my book.


So...did I use the word "date" enough in that paragraph?

 

[Dan Hitchman]

If anything Ron, Fox should be apologizing to you and the rest of their guests from HTF.

Dan

 

[Rob Tomlin]

If anything Ron, Fox should be apologizing to you and the rest of their guests from HTF.

You took the words right out of my mouth Dan!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Fox owes me no apology.

They have been the most supportive of any studio
to this forum. When we needed help to stay
fincially afloat, Peter Staddon came to our rescue.

I don't believe for a moment that it was anyone's
intent to provide us with misleading information
to print on this forum in order to cause embarrassment.

Things happen -- sometimes words are misunderstood.

I would greatly appreciate our membership not
pointing fingers and calling anyone a liar nor
suggesting apologies are in order.

Thanks.

 

[Bill Burns]

I'm happy to hear that, Ron -- I mentioned earlier that I found it very difficult to believe Fox had intentionally mislead anyone. I thought there may have been the expectation of a delay that never materialized, or perhaps a misunderstanding (there's still this business of the 6th and the 13th, depending on where you look), but not intentional misinformation. Of course, I wasn't there, but Fox's participation on this forum suggests their respect for it, and I trust the respect of their customers for the quality of their product is well established.

If I may, though, Ron, I think it was this section from your update that lead a few members down the wrong road:

on why we were not
given confirmed information....

Fox was obviously days away from making a Press
Release announcement on Lost In Space and
My Darling Clementine. Obviously, Fox
did not want us breaking the news on the net early.

However....

If Fox would have confidentially told us the
information and asked us not to print it, we
would have heeded their request. We have been
told many private things that we have never posted
without authorization. It's a trust that we have
never broken.

Meanwhile, I am given false information and I
end up looking like a fool.

That's an excerpt, not the entire update, but it does sound as if you were worried you were intentionally mislead (you offer the opinion that false information may have been given to you and others to avoid any early leaks of info the studio would soon be issuing in a press release). I think this is how a few members read the above, and they were quick to criticize Fox. Just a thought.

At any rate, I'm very glad to hear that none of this has impacted your long-standing relationship with Fox. Keep up the good work.

 

[JimmyWilson]

Don't expect the Batman TV series on DVD
anytime soon from Fox Home Video. There are huge
unresolved rights issues with licensing and Warner
Brothers that will probably keep this show off
video shelves for quite a long time. Fox would
really like to get this show out on DVD, if they
could.

Not surprising. This one's been an ugly mess for years with Fox owning rights to the series and DC Comics (aka AOL Time-WARNER)owning rights to the Batman character and properties. How to slice up that pie??!! Greedy, greedy, greedy. The hunger and yearning for this cult-status TV series to be released on video grows more voracious all the time amid an ever-increasing fan base. Forget finger-crossing; just PRAY!
:frowning: :frowning:

 

[Jay E]

Another plea for Fox to release some of their great Film Noir titles onto DVD.

Add another disappointed Jerry Lewis fan to the list:frowning: