Stalled series? There's Hope! (1 Viewer)

[RickER]

This brings up a good point, a friend of mine was telling me he was having a hell of a time getting good discs of Gunsmoke season 2 vol. 1. They were all scratched, stepped on, wouldnt play, stuff like that...and they were new discs to boot. Anyway, i told him i stopped buying DVD-18s because of the problems with them, and i also dont like buggard up brand new discs. So, when it ceases to be fun, when it becomes stressful, just to get good product for your hard earned cash, its time to let it go, and dont buy their cheap s**t. I have other things to spend my money on. We dont HAVE to buy it if its crap.

 

[RichieMagoo]

Very true, RickER! Within the last year, I've found myself having to exchange quite a few DVDs- something which I had never had to do in the past. A while back I purchased the entire series of Little House On The Prairie....and had to end up exchanging HALF of the season sets because of damaged dics!!! 2 seasons out of 5 that purchased of The Simpsons had to go back..... I mean, what is going on?! 2 out of 4 of The Odd Couple.....

If we were discussing this a year ago, I would've said that I've never had a problem with defective discs.

 

[Jay_B!]

another great example is Universal's treatment of Kate And Allie. Before the set was even released, I called it out and predicted that the show would be abandoned (6 episodes, several which were syndicated edits, for $30, same price as many full sitcom seasons), yet the show has been doing a great job in Canada because VCI was smart enough to release seasons 1 and 2 together.

 

[RichieMagoo]

YIKES! That even beats Mother And Son!!! You really have to wonder what kind of incompetants are running these studios! I wouldn't pay $30 or even $15 for only 6 eps of any show!

Now I see from this board that Cannon has been released.....but as a split season! -Another one i wouldn't mind having(Haven't seen that show in decades!) but won't be buying because of the absurd marketing!

Truly disgraceful!

 

[MatthewA]

Paramount is another WTF studio after that Fugitive thing. I might have bought the show at some point, but not now. That's a different issue. Split season sets strike me as being penny wise and pound foolish.

Kate and Allie is lucky because Universal, who did it in the USA, only has domestic rights and doesn't own it outright. FremantleMedia, successor in interest to the production company, does.

Fans don't roll over and say "thank you sir, may I have another" to everything the studio does. Unfortunately, market research doesn't take that into account.

 

[Stephen Wight]

So there isn't a dropoff between sales of season sets of current shows?Each season,of a current show,sells just as much,or more,than the previous season?

 

[TravisR]

I'm sure there's less of a drop off (or at least, it is still selling enough copies to keep the studio happy) between seasons of current shows or studios would be pulling the plug on current series as quickly as they do on older ones.

 

[RichieMagoo]

I'd love to see the sales statistics of the currently-on-TV crap, vs. the classics!

I can imagine lots of people going out of their way to buy favorite shows that are no longer airing...shows that they may not have seen for many years.....but how many people buy shows that are currently on...that they can watch repeats of, and which will be run for years to come in syndication?

I'd put my money on the classics! -especially as the economy goes south.

 

[bmasters9]

I purchased all of "Hardcastle and McCormick," an ABC series that was on during my childhood (1983-86), and as such, it is the only completed series that I have. VEI of Toronto did a great job with that series, even though there weren't any bonuses until the #3 release, and even then, it was just a photo gallery. It also had some minor edits in the first two releases-- one episode of the first did not have the opening titles, and one of the second did have the titles, but without the "how Milt and Mark met" segment. What really matters, though, is that VEI, I believe, was really committed where the music was concerned. Even though the studio only mentioned the music on the back of the S2 release, I do believe that VEI did keep all the music on all the releases. In the last season, VEI changed packaging-- the first couple of seasons were 5 discs among 3 slim cases, but in the third and final, they changed it to a clear Amaray case, with the first disc in its own compartment on the left as the case was opened, and the last four stacked atop each other. They also changed the disc labeling-- in the first two, while the packages were labeled "The Complete First Season" and "The Complete Second Season," it was labeled "Season One" and "Season Two" on the spine of each case, the spine of the box, and each individual disc. However, for the third, they still used a "Season Three" label on the spine of the box, but the discs were now the same labeling as the front of the box-- they were now called "The Complete Third and Final Season." The change in direction on packaging, however, did not take much away from the fact that I, for one, had my first completed series. Like I said, VEI of Toronto did release all of "Hardcastle," in a very timely manner and with (I believe) all the music cleared, and I believe that they should get a blue ribbon for that.

 

[whisperintherain]

Why do you feel the need to spit on current TV shows to defend the classics? I like the classics a lot, but that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying some of TV's current offerings. And just because the shows that are remembered are the good ones doesn't mean there wasn't as much crap on TV back then as there currently is. The average viewer has a limited attention span as was already stated, and doesn't necessarily remain a devoted fan of shows that went off the air years ago. It is not uncommon to hear people referring to shows from the mid-90s as "old". Most people don't yearn for years gone by and just move on. IMHO, you can't blame them for that.

 

[Bryan^H]

Let's face it, many people treat current tv dvd's as a glorified Tivo. It's just a better way to watch(if you don't mind waiting for the release) a show you like.
I think current always outsells classic tv for a simple reason. Most of the buying crowd wants to sink into a series they have never seen before, or doesn't know how it's going to end up.
I like both, but classic tv dvd's outweigh my collection by a long shot, and I wish there were more of them.

 

[RichieMagoo]

I don't spit on current TV to defend the classics- I spit on them because just about every one of them are garbage, which I find insulting to my interlligence and moral values. (Hence the reason my TV is not connected to the outside world- i.e. I do not have satelite/cable/antenna).

(Although I have to admit to liking Seinfeld and the pre season-11 Simpsons)

Ya know- I've been watching All In The Family since it's debut in '71 when I was 9 years old- that's 37 years- and I still love the showe and watch it every day...and it still makes me laugh out loud...and I love it more now than ever. Ditto The Odd Couple and The Honeymooners[early 1950's] (even though there are only 39 eps of the original Honeymooners!!)- could you imagine any current show that people will still be avidly watching and buying when these shows are 40-50 years years old?

Some of the classics are timeless. (Some of them were also junk, too!)- the only "modern" shows I can see living on as timeless classics, may be the Simpsons and Seinfeld. Maybe.

 

[TravisR]

In addition to The Simpsons and Seinfeld, great shows of the past 20 or so years like Twin Peaks, NYPD Blue, The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Lost and Battlestar Galactica will be the shows that are already or will be regarded as classics in 10 or 20 or 30 years. Just because you don't like them doesn't mean that they aren't good.

 

[Robert13]

I kinda have to agree with you there. Not knocking it if someone else does enjoy current shows but, let's face it, there isn't nearly as much good tv on anymore like there used to be. A lot of people I have had tv conversations with lately don't even know what's on anymore. I've heard current tv described as "trash", "crap", "it's all reality now", "nothing good on anymore"... bare in mind this is just with family and my circle of friends. But, these are also people who don't have nearly as strong a passion for classic tv as I do. With internet and busy lives, tv has become more of a minor activity in most households I would guess.

 

[70sTVlover]

Let's not forget Frasier here!
I like both classic and current TV shows but in all honesty I do not find That Girl! or The Odd Couple funny at all, then again give me Mary Tyler Moore show and Bob Newhart and I'll be laughing...
Frasier Cheers Seinfeld - I love but then shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm do nothing for me

 

[Corey3rd]

I can think of a dozen shows in the past year that have been good - granted a majority of them are on HBO, Showtime and other cable channels.

 

[RichieMagoo]

Good point! Frasier is a quality show. I never had the opportunity to really watch it...but from what I've seen of it, I could see myself getting the DVDs! Thanks for reminding me. (Cheers is on my want list too)

To respond to Travis: I could never foresee a show like the Sopranos becoming an enduring classic. I think it's apparent popularity is something that is tied to the present popular culture which values such things as brashness and vulgarity. I would hope that future generations would find such things offensive, just as past generations have.

Our society is in sort of a crisis right now, as our traditional values are being attacked in an assault to try and alter them- but this culture which has been created as a result of that will not endure (and can not endure- it is unsustainable, and contains the conduit for it's own destruction) and will be considered strange, irrelevant and offensive by the future generations who do endure.

Only time will tell who is right. But I don't see the people(nor the culture) who value things like The Sopranos, enduring. (And I'm Italian...)

When you look at the classics that have endured- they are all either shows which transcend popular culture, and which emminate ideas which are universal to people of any time period (i.e. not just based on the narrow trends of the popular culture of their time) and/or shows which portray a time when life was better. I can not iomagine anyone watching the Sopranos 40 years from now, and saying "Wow! Those were the good old days!".

 

[Jay_B!]

god Sony sucks. All the stalled shows like The Jeffersons, All In The Family, The Facts Of Life, Maude and so on that are in dire need of another set and they decide to rerelease Seinfeld season 1?

Don't get me wrong, I love Seinfeld, but already have the complete series, there are so many other opportunities in the Sony vault to do the fans right by instead of just putting season 1 of Seinfeld out on its own.

 

[whisperintherain]

But see, that's exactly my point. People don't necessarily feel the need to look at the past with fond memories. Most people live with their times and are perfectly fine watching current programming. Sure enough, they're probably not huge TV fans, but I don't see anything wrong with not living by the "everything was better before" motto. There are people out there who don't mind jumping from one show to another and let the past be the past. I can't see anything wrong with that. I say "to each their own". You don't like current TV programming and that's perfectly fine by me, but someone must be liking these shows or they wouldn't stay on the air. Just so we're clear, I'm just stating the obvious here and not trying in any way to diss the classic shows.

 

[70sTVlover]

Is anything actually happening between studios? All the hype has seemed to have died down now and the only real stalled series that is being picked up is Adam-12... When can we expect news on anymore??