The consolidated thread for NYPD BLUE season 3 (1 Viewer)

[Sam Favate]

I'd also like to see the rest of the series released. The one-hour retrospective that aired before the finale is just screaming for a DVD release.

 

[Bruce Morrison]

Fox released the first two seasons of NYPD Blue on DVD and then...nothing. Apparently sales were disappointing (surprisingly since the show has remained popular enough to survive for more than 10 years). Does anyone know whether Fox have totally given up on releasing more seasons or are they just waiting for the right moment to resume the releases?

It crossed my mind that they might be waiting until the last season of Homicide has been released (due shortly), as that is probably seen as a direct competitor to NYPD Blue. If that's the case, then with any luck we might see Season 3 of NYPD Blue later this year.

 

[Joe*R]

I sure hope NYPD Blue will be released in its entirety. It was a darn good show, but who knows because I know sales weren't good for S2. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

 

[John Stell]

TV Shows on DVD reports Season 3 is slated for January 2006!!

 

[Sam Favate]

Yeah! Looking forward to this one a whole lot! Here's hoping more seasons follow.

 

[Bruce Morrison]

Great news! Maybe my theory about not wanting to clash with Homicide was right - the last season of Homicide has recently been released, so Fox now have a clear run with NYPD Blue. Whatever the reason for their change of heart, it's very welcome.

 

[Rob P S]

I hope they release all 12 seasons - I just started watching the (chopped-up) reruns this year and regret not getting into it sooner. Great, great stuff.

 

[Sam Favate]

Haven't heard anything further on Season 3 coming in January. Fox announced a bunch of other January titles, including Hill Street Blues, which would seem a natural fit with NYPD Blue.
Should we be worried?

 

[David Rain]

I hate the idea that this show may not be selling and/or is simply taking forever to come out. I need naked bottoms !

 

[Richard Ringenbach]

I would like to know what Foxes problem is with releasing further seasons of NYPD BLUE. They recently announced HILL STREET BLUES which I would like to have but I will not buy this release if they are going to pull the same stunt they are pulling with NYPD BLUE! Fox,lets release further seasons of NYPD BLUE. There is a demand for this series,along with HILL STREET BLUES.
Thank you!
Richard A. Ringenbach

 

[Ben King]

I believe that Fox do have plans to release season three of NYPD Blue in the new year.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Ditto on that, Richard. I'd love to see this series' release continue.

Ben, where did you hear about S3 coming out next year? Is that an R1 (US) release? Just curious.

 

[Doug Wallen]

See news item from tvshowsondvd that was posted 08-03-05.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3823

That does indicate that it is coming, don't know if any particulars have changed.

 

[Ben King]

Season three of NYPD Blue will apparently be released on 21st February.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Season three of NYPD Blue will apparently be released on 21st February.

Season three may be released on that date. TV Shows on DVD was told by a couple of fans that Fox had given the February 21st date in response to recent e-mails, but the site cautioned that they have been unable to confirm the information with Fox, so for now they're treating it as a hopeful rumor.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

It's now been officially announced for February 21, and with a surprising amount of extras for a set that nearly didn't happen:

Disk 2 side 1:
*"Sorry, Wrong Suspect" Commentary with director Michael Robin

Disk 3 side 1:
*"Head Case" Commentary with director Randall Zisk and actor Gordon Clapp

Disk 4 side 2:
*Special Features:
**Season Three Overview featurette
**Fathers and Sons featurette
**Women of NYPD Blue featurette
**The 15th Precinct featurette
**Fathers and Sons featurette
**FX: NYPD Blue TV Spot

As you can see, the dreaded double-sided discs have been introduced for this release, but at least it's coming.

 

[Jay_B!]

why did Fox wait until now considering the long window between season 2's release and now? they should've tried to get three out in time for the series finale back in March. For crying out loud, Warner Bros. were practically crapping out Friends sets trying to get as many out on the market in time for it's series finale.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Here are all the details if you want to read about them:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4435

Gord

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

For crying out loud, Warner Bros. were practically crapping out Friends sets trying to get as many out on the market in time for it's series finale.

1) Friends went out on top, still enormously popular and the finale was expected to be a record-setter. It was ending because its cast was ready to leave and because their last contract had made it so expensive to produce that the network could no longer justify the cost - no matter what the ratings. NYPD Blue was going off the air because its ratings had been declining for years and the producers wanted to give it a decent wrap-up rather than try to hang on for one more year and face cancellation before the end of the final season.

2) Experience has shown the studios that - as a rule - a series will sell roughly the same number of copies of each eason set. So if S1 does well, they can be confident that S2, S3, etc. will do just as well. At that point it is no longer a question of whether the later seasons will be released, but when. That can depend on the amount of time needed to prepare extras, availability of cast and crew to contribute to those things, any restoration that needs to be done on the original elements and production and marketing considerations.

Conversely, if S1 doesn't make a profit or sales aren't good enough to justify giving the show space in the production schedule that could go to a better-selling show, there's generally no reason to expect the later seasons to do any better, and the series release will not be continued.

3) Some shows are "on the bubble", with sales right on the edge of the normal "go/no go" cut-off line. (Mary Tyler Moore and NYPD Blue seem to be two examples, with Blue doing somewhat better than the first season of MTM.) With a bubble show the studios may look at reducing extras to reduce costs, changing their advertising and marketing strategy to improve sales, and market research to see if there are enough potential buyers out there to make another attempt.

************************************************** ***

Given the extremely different circumstances of both the broadcast and DVD histories of the two shows, I don't see any mystery in Fox's actions. At the time of the Blue series finale they probably hadn't made up their minds about continuing the series at all, and may have specifically wanted to avoid a release at the time of the finale hype because this might have inflated the S3 sales numbers beyond what they would normally be and give them a false basis for deciding on S4. Warner Bros., meanwhile, new Friends was doing so well that they were probably producing extras for multiple seasons at the same time. (They did this with Babylon 5 after the surprisingly high - to them - S1 sales numbers came in. When they interviewed actors for S2 they also shot questions and answers to be used on the subsequent sets, and they later moved up the production schedule to reduce the wait between seasons from six months to about three.) They knew they'd get their investment in those extras and all that prep work back, just like Paramount did (for different reasons) with their Trek franchise. Starting with Next Generation they effectively did everything except replication and shipping for each entire series before they shipped season one, which is what allowed them to pop the sets out as quickly as they did. Again, contrast with Fox which was not so confident about Blue that it was going to spend millions getting multiple seasons of the show ready to go out the door at a momement's notice.

I'm just glad we're getting season three, and I hope it sells well enough (and is advertised heavily enough) to justify S4. A couple of more years of reruns since the first set appeared may have increased the audience enough make this a non-issue after S3 - another good reason for waiting.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Sam Favate]

I'm happy to hear Season 3 is on the schedule. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time. I am encouraged by TVShowsOnDVD's suggestion that these may not be DVD-18 discs, but rather DVD-14. I hope that's right. In any case, I'm glad to have this show breathing again on DVD.