Sony Stalling Some Classic Shows: Why Sony Why? (2 Viewers)

[Ron1973]

Ron1973, music licensing is the number one cause of why TV shows aren't released and all the complaining that it's not true, I suggest you direct your questions to Bill Hunt at Digital Bits or Gord Lacey at TVShowsonDVD. It's obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. ChiPs, WKRP in Cincinitti are some of the shows that used a lot of classic music from the 70's and 80's of which they didn;t have the lciensing rights to that music for home video releases.

Sony, Universal, MGM, Fox ... all of these studios need to pay for the licensing rights for the music that is included in those episodes. 99% of the time, the shows are never released. Instead, all we hear is moaning and temper tantrums from the fans of these TV shows because they seem to think that music licensing should be free and that the artists who created that music should not be compensated.

If you expect these TV shows to be released, you need to start complaining to the movie studios to pay for those music licensing costs.

Disagreed. I highly doubt music is the #1 cause. Does it rank high on the list? I'm sure it probably does. Again, you're not going to exactly win friends or influence people when you talk down to them.

If you can find even ONE instance where I said or even suggested musicians shouldn't be compensated, I'll do handstands in the middle of the road and post it here (I jest....lol). Just how much compensation are they entitled to? I'm all for a free market economy and making as much money as you can but at some point, common sense says you're pricing yourself out of the market. While I don't think the studios are exactly clean as a whistle, at some point they have to make a decision to have replacement music if there's a holdout.

Music licensing seems to be a thorny point for CBS is all I was trying to point out. You have The Beverly Hillbillies, Room 222, Gomer Pyle, USMC, Petticoat Junction, My Three Sons, The Fugitive and many others that have suffered with cut and/or replaced music and it's been well documented. But, hey, it's all the fault of the consumer that the releases don't sell and other seasons get stalled according to you.

It isn't just the music companies who are greedy but the studios as well. I remember well watching Phil Donahue back in the 80's interviewing Donna Douglas (he may have interviewed Buddy Ebsen and Max Baer as well but I don't remember). Donahue said that they attempted to get a 30 second segment of The Beverly Hillbillies from CBS to air on the show and they wanted $10,000 for that short segment. If you'll go on YouTube you'll find the cast together on The Jerry Springer Show (before he went trash TV) and you'll notice no clips of the show. I'm sure CBS wanted the same nonsensical amount of exorbitant money to show a clip there as well.

I see that Universal had no problem clearing music for The A-Team which did include popular music of the day including a whole episode devoted to Boy George. No music cuts there. Warner managed, to my knowledge anyway, to keep The Dukes of Hazzard intact even with all the musical guest stars. Boss Hogg was always setting up speed traps and catching the popular artists of the day such as Buck Owens, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison, The Oak Ridge Boys and others. We're talking POPULAR music here, not incidental background stuff. Now tell me again that music is why 99% of shows don't get released.

Quit making assumptions and start looking at facts.

 

[exposed]

I think it's the fault of consumers. Sure, you have voting power with your wallet but it also guarantees that future releases won't be forthcoming. Take a look at WKRP, the set failed to sell because nitpicking fans of the TV series didn;t appreciate the replaced music and that ended any possibility of future releases as well as ending the studio's involvement in even trying to license the original music.

With shows like WKRP that have a lot of replaced music, opting not to purchase sets with replaced music often have a boomerang effect and it's not the kind of effect that fans of these shows hoped for.

 

[LeoA]

Not buying WKRP did the exact opposite of hurting the fans. It has opened the chance for it to hopefully be done justice in 2014.

Having no regard for quality isn't anything to be advocating for...

 

[Ron1973]

I think it's the fault of consumers. Sure, you have voting power with your wallet but it also guarantees that future releases won't be forthcoming. Take a look at WKRP, the set failed to sell because nitpicking fans of the TV series didn;t appreciate the replaced music and that ended any possibility of future releases as well as ending the studio's involvement in even trying to license the original music.

With shows like WKRP that have a lot of replaced music, opting not to purchase sets with replaced music often have a boomerang effect and it's not the kind of effect that fans of these shows hoped for.

No. Just no! I guess you settle for the "something is better than nothing" ideal but I don't. Are you some saddle-sore studio executive or something? When the studios don't do it right and people let it be known that they are unhappy it generally leads to either the ship being righted or another company stepping in.

I'll go back to a music reference. When Mercury Nashville came up with what was claimed to be The Complete Hank Williams, they flubbed it up something terrible. I was one of the ones complaining about it enough that I got nasty e-mails from Colin Escott and Kira Florita, the producers of the set. I wasn't the only one complaining either.
Fast forward several years and Hank's heirs were awarded ownership of the Mother's Best recordings that Hank did in 1951 for WSM. Hank, Jr. and Jett didn't fool with Mercury Nashville. They went straight to Time-Life and they did the set right and also eventually released other rare recordings. When The Garden Spot shows surfaced recently on Hank, the heirs didn't fool with Mercury Nashville instead opting for Omnivore Records. You see, the major studio shot themselves in the foot and the Hank estate knew the fans would be cautious if Mercury Nashville was given a shot at those recordings.

 

[MaxMorrow]

I believe consumers have to hold some standard of quality for themselves. I'd personally never purchase something that I felt to be thoroughly and blatantly inferior. However, I also get that there are some situations where I'm not going to get a pristine, complete, dirt-cheap experience from products I'm really excited for. And while I'm not happy about those situations, I grok that there's factors involved that are put in play to make every release date Christmas for me. Music publishing *is* a factor in why some series don't make it to DVD. So is the fact that some studios haven't done a particularly good job in preserving their assets up to this point, and the cost of restoration becomes prohibitive in a dwindling market (which is short-term thinking at its worst, of course.)

In the end, I figure if it's something that I'm attached to enough to recognize that a scene is missing or a piece of music hasn't been cleared, then I've done my thinking before purchase and considered not only what might not be on that disc, but why. When WKRP comes out and Pink Floyd isn't heard, I'll be disappointed, but not upset with either the band, the studio, or the publisher. If NONE of the original music is present? That's a different matter.

Anyway, forgive my rambling and disjointed thoughts on a rather huge topic

 

[DeWilson]

If music licencing is holding back shows, both the publishers and the studios lose. I think it's time both sides sit down and work out new,fair blanket deals for both sides.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Fox's failed WKRP set wasn't just cut for music, they had to take the scenes apart as well because it's videotaped with the music live on the soundtrack. That's why it tanked in sales, because fans were on to that fact so further releases wouldn't have made anything better probably. Fingers crossed S!F can sort it out in acceptable fashion, otherwise announcing it at all is way too risky we know how much they value sale numbers.

 

[FanCollector]

Have we gotten to the point where we can have a hint as to any of the Sony properties Shout is planning to continue releasing?

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Wish there's more Police Woman, Police Story and Rookies coming. They seem to like the '80s shows especially, so from that decade I hope they'll take on further T.J. Hooker. Of unreleased stuff I'd like to see there's Crazy Like a Fox, Mike Hammer and from the '90s the baseball flop A League of Their Own.

 

[HugeBensonFan]

Well, I was really hoping for Benson to be the one being released, as that series is also 'sliding' into the 80's, (as the earlier poster mentioned) but it's the Facts of Life. Congrats to the Facts of Life fans! I wasn't a huge Facts of Life fan, but I'll probably wind up getting the complete series to add to my collection and help TV on DVD sales. I could've sworn that same earlier poster said (sorry I forgot their name) 2 from the list of Archie's Bunker's Place, Jeffersons, Maude and One Day at a Time, and 2 others not mentioned. Since Facts of Life is one of them, that means there's one left that wasn't mentioned. Can anyone give a hint? Please? Could it possibly be Benson?!

 

[Randy Korstick]

Could Be Different Strokes

 

[HugeBensonFan]

Totally forgot about Diff'rent Strokes. And it kinda makes sense since Shout has released seasons 3 and 4 previously. I wouldn't mind a complete series set of Diff'rent Strokes. I'd definitely buy it.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Totally forgot about Diff'rent Strokes. And it kinda makes sense since Shout has released seasons 3 and 4 previously. I wouldn't mind a complete series set of Diff'rent Strokes. I'd definitely buy it.

Diff'rent Strokes has never been a major priority for me. The start and stop release schedule also put me off buying it. But I'd almost certainly pick up a complete series set.

I've just gotten so tired of season by season releases with no firm commitment to finishing them. I mean, I trust CBS to keep pumping out Star Trek seasons, but everything else? So Shout and other companies who release complete series sets are just what I'm looking for.

 

[HugeBensonFan]

Any sign that Shout! could pick up Benson for a complete series release?

 

[Ron1973]

Any sign that Shout! could pick up Benson for a complete series release?

I don't know if you follow Cardinals baseball or not but last night they had Tim McCarver announcing for us. He just kept yammering on about stuff instead of calling the game. It reminded me of the "Go Home, Clayton" episode where the governor kept yammering away while Clayton and Benson were about to be kidnapped. Lol!!!!

 

[younger1968]

I think it's the fault of consumers. Sure, you have voting power with your wallet but it also guarantees that future releases won't be forthcoming. Take a look at WKRP, the set failed to sell because nitpicking fans of the TV series didn;t appreciate the replaced music and that ended any possibility of future releases as well as ending the studio's involvement in even trying to license the original music.

With shows like WKRP that have a lot of replaced music, opting not to purchase sets with replaced music often have a boomerang effect and it's not the kind of effect that fans of these shows hoped for.

There are multitude of issues to why things are not released as such it is not one area. Sony like other studios does not put allot of substance into the dvd market. If Sony or other studios were interested in releasing content they why not use shout factory or other 3rd parties to released the set.

I think some people put way too much substance into the music and that is an issue to me. Yes, music for some shows has key set up, but it never replaces the plot and/or the acting. I watched WKRP because of the plots/acting and not just for the music.

 

[Regulus]

Mill Creek is re-releasing seasons 1 & 2 of The Flying Nun.

Where in Blazes is Season Three?

 

[Seanhtf]

Mill Creek is re-releasing seasons 1 & 2 of The Flying Nun.

Where in Blazes is Season Three?

Some FLYING NUN trivia that may interest you--or not. Both the season 1 DVD set and the current syndication package include the show's one hour pilot, which is what aired when the show debuted on ABC. However, there is also a short version of that pilot, edited to thirty minutes, which was what stations buying the syndication package got back in 16mm days. The bulk of the footage in the short version is drawn from the one hour pilot, edited and condensed, through Sister Bertrille's first flight. All the business in the last third of the episode about her crash landing in the military base and about the Reverend Mother deciding whether or not she can stay at the convent was dropped.

There is an interesting difference, though, between the long version of the pilot and the short version. In the long version, which is what's on DVD, Carlos has his "religious experience" when he sees Sister Bertrille flying alongside his private plane. In the short version, that was dropped and replaced by a new scene of Carlos having his religious experience on his yacht, when he sees the Sister sitting on the mast and then flying away. If you watch episode two, "The Convert," the flashback footage that opens the episode has Carlos seeing Sister Bertrille on his yacht, not while on his plane. That's why. Back in the day, Screen Gems recut that hour long opener to a conventional half-hour because they knew stations buying the show for syndication purposes wouldn't want a single one hour episode in a half-hour syndication package. For reasons best known to themselves, they opted to change the footage involving Carlos's religious experience.

The only other new footage in the short version of the pilot is at the end of the show. There's footage from the long version of the Reverend Mother and one of the other sisters discussing the day's strange events. Then, in new footage, there's a loud crash heard offscreen, the sisters (in new footage) race to the window, and discover Sister Bertrille, who has crash-landed in a pile of garbage cans, and offers a cheery, "Hi!" as the episode ends.

Sean
(Who knows all this because he owns a 16mm print of the 'short version' of the pilot')

 

[FanCollector]

Very happy for fans of the music show, "The Midnight Special," which is coming out in various compilations from Time Life. But can anyone explain how they can clear 11 discs worth of music and performances for that show, but "Maude" is too music-heavy to release?

 

[Kasey]

Very happy for fans of the music show, "The Midnight Special," which is coming out in various compilations from Time Life. But can anyone explain how they can clear 11 discs worth of music and performances for that show, but "Maude" is too music-heavy to release?

I guess these decisions are made on a 'return-on-investment' basis. TimeLife figures there is a large demand for The Midnight Special. Shout turned down Maude about four years ago because the music was deemed too costly for the expected sales. But then again, they actually lost money on S5 of The Facts of Life yet a Complete Series set is forthcoming. I still pray we'll eventually see the same for Maude. The series has gotten alot of exposure and new fans since 2010 thanks to Antenna TV's airing of the show.